NAKAIMO – My Little Sister Is Among Them!

NAKAIMO – My Little Sister Is Among Them!

NAKAIMO - My Little Sister Is Among Them! anime series cover art
NAKAIMO – My Little Sister Is Among Them!

Series Overview

Unfortunately, NAKAIMO – My Little Sister Is Among Them! (Kono Naka ni Hitori, Imouto ga Iru! / この中に1人、妹がいる!) is an anti-siscon anime series. It’s all about a guy who doesn’t want to marry his little sister. Weird, I know. And the twist of the series is that anyone could be his little sister.

Okay, well, it’s not true that anyone could be his little sister. But, the premise of the series is that he doesn’t know who his little sister is. You see, after the death of his father, Shougo learns that he may have a half-sister he never knew about.

What’s more, this half-sister wants to marry Shougo. And, as a “functional member of society,” Shougo doesn’t want to marry her — whoever she is. So, when girls begin showing interest in him, Shougo does what anyone would do. He becomes paranoid and believes any of them could be his sister.

As you may be aware, I love trash imouto anime. I live for them. But, NAKAIMO doesn’t quite fit the mold. It’s not like Oreimo, Eromanga Sensei, or My Sister, My Writer. Those are all romance series about siblings.

While NAKAIMO is still categorized as a rom-com, it’s more of a mystery series than anything else. Though, as I’ll be explaining toward the end of this review, there’s not actually much of a mystery.

But, something I wasn’t expecting from this series is that it has uncensored ecchi content. And that may actually make it better. Usually, I don’t mind there being censoring in anime like this one. The ecchi content isn’t the main focus. That said, there’s so little going for NAKAIMO that the ecchi helps.

I also haven’t watched the OVA episode for this series yet. But, I’d imagine there’s plenty of ecchi content in it. (Update: there’s not.)

Little Sister Candidates

There are five main little sister candidates — if you couldn’t guess based on the cover art for the series. In order of my favorite to least favorite, they are Miyabi, Rinka, Mana, Konoe, and Mei. That’s an objective ranking, by the way, because I’m always right.

Let’s start with the best girl, Miyabi Kannagi. First of all, Miyabi is a cute name. Second of all, she’s a small girl with twin tails. And third of all, she’s a little bit of a tsundere. Miyabi is also a member of the school’s swim team.

Alright, so petite girls aren’t for you. Fine, I guess. The best of the rest is Rinka Kunitachi. She’s the rich girl of the group, which is a bonus. And since she comes from a rich family, her parents groomed her to be the perfect wife. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Shougo and Konoe from the anime series NAKAIMO - My Little Sister Is Among Them!
Shougo and Konoe

Mana Tendou is the student council president. But, she’s not like most student council presidents in anime. She’s very informal and she likes to have fun. She’s also pretty cute, even if she is one of the larger girls to choose from.

In fourth place, we have Konoe Tsuruma, the first of the girls we meet in the series. Konoe is down here for two main reasons. First, she’s large. And second, she’s pretty vanilla. She’s the plain choice of the five. But, she’s not the worst girl of the series. I’d still settle for Konoe if I had to.

The worst of the five is, unfortunately, Mei Sagara. When I first saw her character design, I thought Mei could compete with Miyabi for the top spot. But, Mei turned out to be the most boring of the girls. And that’s saying something considering Konoe and Mana exist.

Other “Little Sisters”

Beyond the five little sister candidates, there are three other “little sister” characters. This is where we’re going to begin straying into spoiler territory. In no particular order, these extra little sisters are Ikusu, Yuzurina, and Maiko.

Ikusu Mizutani is Shougo’s right-hand when it comes to his investigation. Her job is to help him figure out the identity of his little sister. And, despite what the other girls of the series believe, Ikusu is a girl too. She’s also basically Kanbaru from Monogatari, being a tomboy who likes to be naked.

Yuzurina Houshou is Shougo’s self-proclaimed little sister. Of all the girls in the series, she’s the only one who actually claims to be his sister. Spoiler, she’s not actually his sister. And I’m glad that’s the case because she’s a pretty boring character.

Maiko Kotori is 100% not a potential candidate to be Shougo’s little sister. Why? Because she’s one of his teachers. But, she’s the most petite of all the girls in the series, because anime. So, due to her size and general personality, I’m going to classify her as a “little sister” character.

Not Really a Mystery

It’s time to get to the true biggest problem with NAKAIMO. The mystery of this mystery anime isn’t much of a mystery. After watching the OP of the series, I correctly predicted who Shougo’s little sister was. I didn’t even need to watch the first episode.

Miyabi was always the obvious choice. And in the final episode, her true identity as Shougo’s sister is finally revealed. But, why was it so obvious that Miyabi would be Shougo’s little sister? How could I have guessed it that early on?

So, since I based my prediction on the OP, my choices were Konoe, Miyabi, Mei, Rinka, and Mana. Of those five, who looks the most like a little sister-type character? Miyabi does. It’s as simple as that.

Mei, Mana, Miyabi, Shougo, Konoe, and Rinka from the anime series NAKAIMO - My Little Sister Is Among Them!
Mei, Mana, Miyabi, Shougo, Konoe, and Rinka

Even if Miyabi didn’t look like a little sister, you should be able to figure it out before the end of the series. There’s plenty of evidence pointing toward Miyabi being Shougo’s little sister. And that evidence comes from all the other characters.

Konoe never felt like a true candidate to me. She’s the generic friend character. Is she a love interest? Yes. But it was established early on that she’s not actually Shougo’s sister.

Mei is allegedly older than Shougo, so that disqualifies her immediately. There was some question of whether she’s actually older than him. But, that was stupid bait that I doubt anyone fell for.

Rinka is the child of a wealthy family and there was never any real suggestion she could be Shougo’s sister. She only falls for him after he gets her out of an arranged marriage set up by her parents.

And although she’s one of the five, Mana’s never even a love interest. I don’t know why she’s included.

Conclusion

Overall, I’d say that NAKAIMO – My Little Sister Is Among Them! is a 4/10. It’s a bad anime. But, it’s not irredeemably bad. I still enjoyed watching it, for the most part. Even knowing who Shougo’s little sister was didn’t ruin my enjoyment.

I’d say that the thing that I disliked the most was Shougo’s irrational paranoia. Even after confirming certain girls aren’t his sister, he’s still too paranoid to be with them. Finding out his sister’s identity is all-consuming. It becomes an unhealthy obsession.

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