>>1759456Aww, somebody got to Rinko-chwan's dere side.
Good to see this thread's still around and kicking. All this discussion reminds me what I really like about the series. It's not a very complicated story, but the characters themselves are complex; lots of subtleties to their behaviors, lots of little things to pick up on.
Yeah, Kirino's a brat, but she has a weird hobby that she can't share with anybody she knows. That does strange things to your brain, and I think more people can relate to that (if not quite to the same degree) than are willing to admit it. Meanwhile, Kyosuke's MO for most of his behavior seems to be "This is going to be a pain in the ass for me, but I'm going to hate myself if I don't do something." It sucks being a stand-up guy, and I think anybody who's been there knows better than to expect anything for the trouble; it's part of why actual gratitude from Kirino shocks him.
You can read into the incest subtext if you like - not normally my thing but I admit I warmed up to the idea over time - but you could just as easily argue that's a red herring for a story about a guy trying to patch up his strained relationship with his sister. In any case I felt the characters were remarkably plausible given the premise, and even when the plot spun off in unreal directions the characters were deep enough to keep things grounded.
So, yeah. Long story short, was pleasantly surprised. And goddamn but Kirino was downright adorable at times.
