To be honest, I almost completely forgot that this OVA was going to come out in the first place. The only reason why I watched it was because someone asked me if I saw it. When I wrote my review for the OVA’s predecessor, I made a point of watching this when it was released, hoping that it could erase some of the sour taste that its predecessor left. Unfortunately, this OVA only left me feeling even more disgusted.
This 70-minute long OVA finishes the arc that the season ended in the middle of. Joro is challenged to a ‘popularity contest’ by Hose, the ‘protagonist’ of a rival school. The contest is over Pansy; whoever collects the most barrettes gains the right to continue associating with her, the loser has to cut all ties. With Himawari, Cosmos, and Asunaro have already given Hose their barrettes, Joro is in a 0-3 hole. If Hose gains one more barrette, he automatically wins--how will Joro get himself out of this predicament?
A lot of my complaints about this OVA will be a mirror of my complaints about the prequel. The thing that pisses me off the most about this show is that it has flashes of brilliancy. On its own, the parts of the show that are a parody of the rom-com/harem genre are excellent. I sill believe that the first arc of the anime was great. The problem is that it tries to be that AND a sincere rom-com/harem anime. There are ways you could still maintain the parody aspect of the show, now that there are no less than five girls in love with this wretched little cretin called Joro, but Oresuki decides to try to be both at the same time. The result is that the shows ends up neither being a good parody of the rom-com/harem genre OR a good rom-com/harem anime.
This OVA was supposed to build up the sense of anxiety that Joro could very well lose this contest and his relationship with Pansy, but I never felt any sense of anxiousness while watching this. The problem is that with a series like this that ‘the show must go on’, that being that the end goal of this series will not be railroaded in the process by something like this. While it would be potentially genius, but I can’t really see a series like Oresuki having the guts to pull it off. What you’re left with is a long and drawn out OVA begging for you to be nervous about what’s about to happen. I can’t find myself caring that much what happens when I already can tell how it’s going to end up.
Speaking of knowing how things are going to end up, the ending of this OVA was a huge stinker. As I said, ‘the show must go on’, but this ending really stunk it up. It’s almost like the author wrote the worst ending to this arc that they could think of as a part of a cruel joke. Maybe I’m just a moron that doesn’t get it. I do get that Oresuki does often explore the meta aspects of the rom-com/harem genre, but it isn’t smart enough to not fall into the same traps itself.
I would have given this OVA (and its predecessor) a lower rating, but I can’t since does have its good parts. If only Oresuki could execute and stick to the set-pieces it sets up, it could be a good anime. Until then, it will be stuck being a mediocre to bad anime that pretends that it’s better than what it’s parodying.
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