"Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru!" Anime Review

When I decide to give a show a formal review, I try to displace my own opinions when calculating the final grades for each category. I believe that even if I didn't like the show, you (the audience) should learn as much as you can without spoiling the show. I use the same format as AnimePlanet's review system.

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Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru! is an anime that aired this past season and while the initial premise really pulled me in, its inability to provide thought provoking plot twists and just a sheer amount of unnecessary content really dragged it down.

Story: 3/10
So like I stated above this show actually had a pretty interesting concept. The show revolves around Shougo who is to become the head of his deceased father’s company. In order to do so however he must complete a guideline set forth by his father. This guideline demands that Shougo must attend a certain high school, attract a mate, and marry before taking his spot as the head of the company (what an awesome dad). I didn't have a problem with this premise at all; in fact I thought just by hearing that first it could be an interesting harem. The story’s conflict arises early on when someone begins posting as his ill legitimate sister which could affect his position with the company. This is again another great idea to make the story more interesting. Where it goes wrong however is when it accuses every female character of being his sister. It’s also very easy (at least for me) to come up with a reasonable guess on who the real sister is very early on in the series. I guess where the series goes wrong the most is how predicable it is. There are really no interesting twists or misdirection that make me think, “Wow didn’t see that coming”. Another flaw in the overall story is how much pointless content is included in the middle episodes. I kind of feel like there was a struggle to make episodes the required length in episodes five through nine before the final “twist” was introduced. The show leads up to the final episode and in all honesty I felt like it was a letdown. Overall the story had a chance to bring something new to the harem genera but it ended up not hitting its intended marks.

Animation: 8.5/10
One great thing about this show is the stunning animation. Everything appears in very light colors and the use of reflections is done very well. The character models are all pretty detailed for both the main cast and some of the extras in the backgrounds. The scenery is colored much of the same way helping to keep the mood of the current scene. The main settings for the show, the school, Shougo’s room, and the café are all very detailed each time we are present.

 

Sound: 7/10
I am usually very picky on sound since most of my spare time is spent recording music or just listening to different genres. The music of this anime while not amazing is still pretty enjoying and helped set up some interesting scenes. The voice actors also did a pretty good job matching the personalities of their characters.

Characters: 6.3/10
This category is hard to score because while some of the characters did grow on me, every one of them are pretty generic. You have your elitist, airhead, tomboy, and cosplayer. We have all seen these roles countless times in other anime so why should we bother with these empty shells? That’s what I first thought when introduced to each character but to my surprise I actually grew to like some of these characters due to some character development. While some of them where pretty much cast aside without any development (Mana) most of the cast received one to three episode character arcs that pretty much set up why they fall for Shougo. The show should have done a better job fully utilizing the cast but overall they did a good enough job.

Overall: 6.2/10
While it isn’t a masterpiece, if you can look past some boring parts that lead to nowhere, predictable plot twists, and a forgettable anticlimactic ending, this show may offer you something worthwhile. There are some really good, sweet moments and some great animation and sound to be found here.