Anime that has I (boku), sister (imouto) and love (koi) in title can have only one topic. And so it does, but actually in a very peculiar way.
Angel Sanctuary provided plot related excuse (in manga), poor but nevertheless - present. Better this than nothing. Onegai Twins decided to toy with 'possible' incest, catering to one's decency by the 'it's only possible, not sure' excuse, and Koi Kaze decided to show You what does it mean to break a taboo. Its creators put the money on emotional fallout of such deeds. And how the subject is treated here?
Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru tells its story in a way that no other anime before it did. It actually throws incest in because... because why not?
There is no actual explanation for Iori loving his sister Iku in that way. There is no actual explanation for her sudden deep feelings for him. Although here at least we are provided an excuse - he threatened her with "I'll leave for evah" banal.
Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru would be much better as an ordinary romance where two main characters should not love each other because of different social status, enmity between their families, or other disadvantages. But as it is, when it uses incest as a way to shock You and get Your attention it falls flat on its face.
I will reiterate last three paragraphs. While I believe incest to be wrong for many reasons: ethic, genetic, religious, social, psychological, etc. I do not hate it. It can be portrayed with originality, and it can be interesting, if given basis. Reason for existence. Simply throwing few quotes around, and never actually explaining why the incest in this anime occured robs it of any impact it could have had.
Animation[/b]
Decent. Movement of characters were drawn moderately well, backgrounds were standard for the time it was released. You will not find anything spectacular here though.
The sex scenes are more suggestive than exact. Do not expect nudity, or gratuitous fan-service. The art here tends to favor 'innocent' or beautiful over the erotic.
Character designs are interesting, they remind me of CLAMP's works. I could actually see that Iku and Iori were siblings. Though that did not help for romance story. I wondered why they had to make them 'not look-alike' twins and decided the answer to be 'because why not?' again.
Sound[/b]
If not for its scarcity, I would give it an eight. It is classical music used right. Violins are leading here, and the mood is set easily - violins always were romantic.
Unfortunately seiyuus of main leads have not really much to do, since their lines are rather embarrassing than challenging. I preferred to hear Modoka and Yano or parents - their seiyuus interested me more.
Story[/b]
As for one episode OVA not really much could happen here. Incest is used to generate drama, that is additionally complicated by adding love triangle. All that happens in hackneyed school settings, known so well to average anime fan that he could actually depict them even while blindfolded.
Definitely the most difficult thing about incest is to explain it. There are many reasons which cause people of different cultures to regard incest as 'bad'. It is labeled a crime for many reasons, and in many regions. Therefore, if one decides to commit it, his motivation must be spectacular, or at least compelling. And since compelling motivation for something like that is hard to come up with, usual anime-makers leave it totally mysterious, instead hinting that
it was meant to happen, or that since those two were kids, they were very close. Boku wa... is no diferent.There is no actual explanation for actions that main leads undertake, there is no reason for them to treat each other like lovers, even more, there is no reason for them to SEE each other that way. Instead of getting anxious at "will he kiss her" I was wondering "why does he see her like that", instead of falling for Iku's innocence when she thought about giving herself to Iori, I thought "doesn't she know what the word incest mean?".
No wonder it soon gets pathetic. Every time the mood somehow starts to be born, incest simply puts it out, instead of actually make viewer interested, because its superfluous and realized in a most tripe way possible.
And let us not forget about the church scene. That was for me the testimony to how bad can Boku wa... get with its 'shocking' incest and hurriedly improvised symbolism of a broken flower ring.
Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru uses incest in a very bland and boring way. It takes one cliche after another, and launches them at viewer hoping, that enough direct hits will make him 'feel' for characters, and grieve when they're suffering.
And talk about hackneyed lines! Seemingly cool quotes ("we're breaking a taboo!") are flying all over the place, unfortunately they totally miss their purpose, instead boring the viewer out of his mind.
Arguably, taking incest out, or replacing it with other circumstances that would make romance between two main leads 'impossible' (as mentioned earlier in the review) would have greatly improved the plot, allowing the viewers to concentrate on romance, that is not half bad.
Character[/b]
Father, mother and even more Modoka with her unrequited feelings were much more interesting than never explained main hero or main heroine.
Volumes can be said by that alone.
Yano with his 'don't bother me with Your stuff' attitude is the only shocking factor of "Boku wa...". I can hardly imagine taking so easy such news, yet he did just that, and thus he easily became more shocking than whole 'love story' here.
Modoka is only character I can relate to and like. Yet it's not possible for her to carry anime on her shoulders, especially after Iori and Iku get their parts.
What saddens mostly is that had this been ridden of incest related detriments, it actually could be a decent love story!
Because when I managed to look at it that way I actually started to see the romance here.
Iku is very girlish in her gradual admission of her feelings for Iori. She would have been even charming if not for him actually being her brother. Her envy, that later appears, and also the way he handles it are finely portrayed... for a lovers couple. Not siblings.
Judging characters makes one realize that incest instead of adding any value, deteriorated the otherwise decent love story.
Value[/b]
You want nudity, watch something else.
You want romance, watch something else.
You want incest... watch something else.
I do not know what You should want, to actually watch this.
