Recap: Ayase finds out about Kyousuke’s break up and for some ridiculous reason she feels responsible. She invites him to go with her to help Kanako at MeruFest, which also doesn’t make any sense. Kirino is planning on going to MeruFest but is running late at a photo shoot, so Kyousuke rushes out to get her.

Jel’s Thoughts: Apparently Ayase also wants in Kyousuke’s pants now? I’m really not surprised as there were enough flags here and there for it, but that doesn’t make it any less pointless. The logic for the transition between girls was pretty laughable. “Did you break up with Kuroneko because I got mad at you?”, seriously, why would anyone even think that? Also, how is inviting Kyousuke to go work at a concert supposed to make amends? None of it follows any kind of logic. I suppose it’s possible they could be painting Ayase, and by extension Manami, as the villain here, particularly with Ayase calling Kuroneko “that thieving cat.” Other than that though, Ayase’s newfound interest just feels creatively bankrupt and reeks of more fan pandering to the detriment of the story.

The bigger deal of course is how quickly Kyousuke ditched the pretty girl that likes him to go rescue his sister, not to mention the ensuing longing stares of… sibling admiration? Having at least three sisters myself, I am certain that’s not what that look is. Even if they aren’t really going there, they’re at least very heavily implying it. From the people at the shoot casually cutting up an undoubtedly very expensive dress so Kirino can go to an anime concert, to the ridiculous “OH NO IF I HOLD ON MY BREASTS MIGHT TOUCH YOUR BACK!” bike ride, to the disturbingly romantic sunset, not one bit of that entire sequence felt right. About the only thing that was mildly amusing was Kyousuke showing up on a Meruru bike, but no, I’m too mad at this show, I WILL NOT LAUGH.

I cannot emphasize how little interest I have in what happens in Oreimo at this point. I really felt like last week should have been the conclusion, and watching the writer find ways to keep the story going is just exhausting. Nevertheless, I’m in too deep now so I might as well bear witness to how bad of a train wreck this is going to turn out to be. With six episodes remaining (three more and then the three episode finale that will air all at once), I have no idea how they are going to fill all that time. I suppose there’s still a few girls left to come on to Kyousuke, so maybe we’ll just polish the rest of them off. Then there’s the incredibly divisive ending of the light novels that came out this past week, which doesn’t sound very encouraging either. I wish there was something, ANYTHING for me to look forward to but I’m just not seeing it. I’ll see you all in hell.