Recap: Kuroneko makes her move on Kyousuke, much to no one’s surprise. Kyousuke prepares to give her an answer by the end of the make-up Comiket party.

Jel’s Thoughts: Well that could have been a lot worse. Once we got past Kyousuke’s pathetic… patheticness, this episode was surprisingly, refreshingly honest. Pretty much everyone came clean with something, whether it was Kuroneko confessing, Kyousuke accepting her offer while somehow proudly flying his freak flag for his sister, or the rest of the cast revealing how unsurprised they were that the two hooked up. Even Kirino got in on the action, showing concern for someone else for once in suggesting Kyousuke take Kuroneko’s confession seriously.

What I found most interesting though was the honesty in the Kyousuke/Kuroneko relationship itself. In the rare event an anime couple actually gets together, it almost always remains a chaste, asexual affair where the thought of even calling each other by first names sends everyone into a flutter. While this particular case may still have an idealized innocence to it, it was nice to see them acknowledge they actually have normal teenage human libidos. Kyousuke’s little dream sequence and subsequent headbanging was pretty amusing, as was Kuroneko’s response to his feelings later. I also like that Kuroneko is still pretty much in the driver’s seat here. Even if I don’t understand why she’s so in love with this loser, it’s very much her choice and not some act of desperation where she’s looking for a man to save her. Maybe that’s reading too much into things though.

As much as I enjoyed the developments this episode, we do still have the creepy incest vibes lurking beneath the surface. Kyousuke may have a picture of his sister in a bikini on his phone (not weird at all!), but I’d be more worried about Kirino at this point. Why was she banging her head on the wall the day before her fake date with her brother? I’d also leave the possibility open that her statement about a girl that really loves Kyousuke confessing soon could actually apply to her, but again, maybe I’m reading too much into it. I still don’t think Oreimo will ever really go down that route, but keep in mind there is always the “They’re not really siblings!” card to play. I’m pretty much not ruling that one out until the last frame of animation has aired.

It’s been said that successful romance stories are boring, but seeing as we’re just getting started with this one it may be too early to call it a “success”. While I’m hoping we’ll at least get an episode or two of weapons grade adorable romance, I’m sure it’s not going to be all smooth sailing from here on out. Maybe two brothers will show up to take Kuroneko’s “Destiny Record” to save their little sister… come on, tell me I’m not the only one who thought that! As another possibility, I’ll just leave you with this: