Overall Review: Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru

Nobody wants a sadistic and manipulative girlfriend, unless she's surrounded by far less interesting options.

When I first watched Oreshura, I was expecting a familiar and conventional harem series, and I was pleasantly surprised when the first episode wasn't quite what I expected. Both leads had more to their make up than it seemed at first glance, and while not necessarily anything new, it felt a little different. Both Masuzu and Eita are self-declared haters of love, and thus they make an interesting pair, though not one without a power relationship in Masuzu's favor. Their relationship is the single consistently unconventional development in the series, one that involves a freer and more realistic portrayal of intimacy (though most of it happens under guise of the fake nature of it all) and one which also gives Masuzu power over every other character in the series, which, I believe, gives it a slightly different spin than a harem with a more docile and traditional female lead.

The other reason I stuck with this series lies in its ability to make one uncomfortable. Much of the developments among the various girls and Eita himself are rather cringe-worthy and painful to sit through, if only because they're so embarrassing and often-times telling of the stupid things we do as teenagers. They may be more exaggerated to fit the anime format, but at some point in our lives, we all have our chuunibyou delusions we want to hide, or we act incredibly dumb in front of the person we like. That just makes it all the more mortifying to see people like Masuzu exploit those weaknesses for their own gain and amusement, though it does make for some enjoyable (albeit slightly twisted) material for this type of series.

That doesn't mean this series isn't a conventional harem through and through. While it is more open about certain things, it's also incredibly dense about others, and not everything is as interesting as Masuzu. Eita fluctuates rapidly between understanding and thick as a block of wood, and while he's a nice guy, he's hardly the greatest harem lead ever. The other girls are mostly copies of well known stereotypes, though not without their own little spin on each. Even Masuzu is based on the bitchy seductive type oft-seen as a side character in romcoms, but she has her position as official girlfriend to her advantage. The series also tends to justify the pushiness of the other girls despite Eita and Masuzu's dating status, which, while necessary to the harem plot, is hardly condonable behavior. It's little details like this that detract from the overall experience, which had the potential to go much higher had the series held the ambition to do so. The ending too leaves much to be desired, but all in all I don't think this was as bad as I was expecting it to be. At least my favorite girl won... sort of.