Ore wo Suki na no wa Omae Dake ka yo – 12

「俺が好きなのは。。。。。」 (Ore ga suki nano wa…..)
“The One I Love Is…”

Episode Impressions

Hear that? That’s the sound of a main character being brutally betrayed by the anime’s OP theme. And what a resounding twist it turned out to be.

Feeling downtrod by his inability to exercise control over the situation, and shocked that Pansy would agree to date Sun-chan on conditional terms, Joro teeters onto the brink of resignation. That is until Tsubaki highlights the crucial loophole in Pansy’s wording, in addition to based Sasanqua reminded him that he’s still a rotten bastard. So he goes balls to the walls as a scheming manipulator, throwing the gauntlet down on Hose in the hopes that he can resolve Pansy’s issues once and for all by banishing her demon away for all eternity.

His scheme is close to perfect. Being the upstanding individual he is, Hose would not shirk away from this challenge – forcing him to take up bad terms that would force one of the two to never interact with Pansy ever again. And probably him. Because in theory, it should have been extremely advantageous for Joro. The OP theme even starts playing jovially. You’d think it was all in the bag, only… his wish of having a harem transpires at the worst time possible. None of the girls on his side vote in the way he wanted, and Joro receives a face full of the Monkey’s Paw with regards to his harem aspirations.

All his good deeds come back to bite him, because in spite of his rotten aspects which have been fully acknowledged by the girls, they’ve come to develop feelings for him thanks to his genuine selflessness. Cosmos, Himawari and Asunaro openly confessing their feelings towards Joro and affirm their eagerness to do away with one of their biggest obstacles to becoming his girlfriend – eliminating Pansy as a rival. A top five anime betrayal of 2019 for sure, considering they are still meant to be her friends. And on that bombshell, we end on a cliffhanger. Unfair? Yes. Especially with no immediate prospect of a follow up cour to inform us about the outcome. But Joro seems determined as ever and with an OVA lined up for next summer and more source material to adapt from, you’ll bet this isn’t the last time we’ll be hearing about this.

Concluding Thoughts

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed OreSuki. Joro and Pansy are excellent leads to me, because I find it difficult to say no to rotten bastards with a heart of gold or smug and smart girls with sizeable oppai – though others will probably like them for their other merits. Story-wise, it offered a refreshing spin on the RomCom genre, bringing new ideas to the table and exploring them by repeatedly subverting expectations. Initially, the plotting and manipulation antics were definitely what I liked the most about OreSuki. So it disappointed me quite a bit when the series moved away from that type style going into the second half of the season. However, I was glad to see these elements return towards the end in the nick of time. Also, it was delightful how characters I formerly disliked were able to definitively redeem themselves – with Cosmos, Himawari and Sun-chan proving how they truly cared about Joro one by one for all their faults earlier on. And I’m protesting that Bench-kun didn’t receive enough screen time in these final two episodes. Absolutely thoughtless to leave out one of the most important side characters during the climactic part of this show!

My primary takeaway from this show is that everyone’s flawed in some way or another, and that second chances should be given, especially if thge individuals in question are genuinely conscious and remorseful about their mistakes. Also, depending on perspectives, the hero of a particular story might be the villain of another story. My verdict? I would wholeheartedly recommend OreSuki. For those standing with me at the finishing line, what an entertaining rollercoaster that was. And if you haven’t seen it, I need to let you know that you are missing out. Anyway, that’s about everything I wanted to discuss. As always, thanks for reading my posts till the end and catch you next time for the summer OVA to find out what happens next!