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I watched anime and I liked it. I'm in a weird situation, some of my mind says
I must read light novels but the rest of my mind says it is worthless.

I'm a bit busy these days (Learning German) so can somebody who has read the
novels could tell me: Are the Light novels exactly like the anime or is it
different?


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2014-10-03T10:35:59.457
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2015-03-01T06:20:40.260
2014-10-04T05:44:48.043
question
oreimo
Are the Oreimo light novels different from the Anime?


I've read the first six or so novels, covering up to the end of the OVAs for
the first anime series. [Note: now I've read them all, so I've edited to
reflect that.] There aren't any major plot differences between the novels and
anime, but there is lots of extra material in the novels that could be
interesting for big fans of the anime. I'll spoiler-tag major stuff. Some of
this material is also in the manga, which has an official US release, although
I'm not too familiar with the manga, so I can't say how much.

The first few novels follow the same plot arc as the anime, with Kyousuke
discovering Kirino's otaku secrets and helping her meet Saori and Kuroneko,
while also dealing with their parents and Ayase. The main difference is that
the novels are narrated in the first person by Kyousuke, so we get to hear his
reasons for some of his more inexplicable actions (for example, his screaming
bout with his father that was in Episode 3 of the anime was, in the novels,
depicted as a product of utter terror and desperation, whereas it looked sort
of calculated in the anime).

There are a few extra stories in these novels that weren't adapted to anime,
like one where Kyousuke buys Manami a present. The first major difference is
the novel-writing storyline, which is almost completely different between the
novels and the anime. In the novels,

> the woman who was Kirino's editor in the anime is actually a failed novelist
> herself, who steals Kirino's work and passes it off as her own. Kyousuke and
> Kuroneko infiltrate the publisher using Saori's connections and expose the
> plagiarism, after which she becomes Kirino's editor as in the anime.

Kirino's novel is never turned into anime as it was in the anime series.
Kuroneko has a much bigger part in this story than in the corresponding anime
story, which I enjoyed as a Kuroneko fan. The earlier Christmas date story
also has a slightly different emotional payoff than in the anime.

In the novels' equivalent to Series I, Episode 11, Kuroneko actually finishes
showing her picture drama about Kyousuke and Kirino's relationship. Not only
is it one of the funniest scenes in the novels, it also explains Kuroneko's
behavior towards Manami after she starts attending Kyousuke's school.

The anime's "good" ending doesn't happen in the novels; only the "true"
ending, where Kirino flies off to the United States, happens in the novels.

I have now read the novels that cover the second series, and the Sakurai
subplot, a major subplot explaining

> why Kyousuke changed to his current "take it easy" persona, causing Kirino
> and Manami's confrontation and Kirino's hatred for Manami, as shown in
> Episode 13 of Series II

was not adapted to the anime. This subplot takes up most of the eleventh novel
and contains a scene of temporary peace between

> Kirino and Manami, wherein Kirino even helps out at Manami's family's shop.

During this scene, Kyousuke recounts how when he and Manami were in elementary
school, he

> had a meddlesome, class president-like personality that led him to expend a
> bunch of energy getting a delinquent and nascent otaku, Sakurai, who of
> course is another cute girl otaku, to come to class. Kyousuke convinced
> Sakurai to come on their class trip, where he led her up a dangerous
> mountain peak. Sakurai fell off and was seriously injured; her parents
> blamed Kyousuke and moved her to a different school, and they didn't see
> each other again, until Kyousuke seeks her out to apologize in the present.
> After this incident, Manami convinced Kyousuke to stop being so meddlesome.

This led to the incidents between Kirino and Manami, and later Kirino and
Kyousuke, that we see from Kirino's perspective in Series II, Episode 13--
which is not in the novels. The events it covers are implied, but never
explicitly shown; in particular, the anime offers a definitive explanation of
Kirino's love for little sister eroge, which we didn't get in the novels as
far as I can remember.

It's debatable how much you're really missing by not getting the subplot from
the novels; I found it to be a huge, bloated digression that added very little
to the anime's much shorter overview of the events, and it

> adds yet another confession to the string of love confessions that Kyousuke
> rejects due to his relationship with Kirino, when Sakurai confesses to
> Kyousuke sometime between his confessions from Ayase and Kanako.

Disappointingly (especially for Kuroneko fans), the controversial ending of
the anime is an exact adaptation of the novels' ending, so don't expect the
novels to save you from that disappointment. (In fact, it's weird how many of
the anime's worst moments are direct adaptations of the novel.)

In general, the side characters are integrated into the novel more thoroughly
and relationships are explored at greater depth. We get little mentions of
things like the relationship between Kyousuke and Rock (Manami's little
brother), or between Kuroneko and Ayase. There are also some side stories that
shed extra light on certain characters (including Hinata Gokou, Kuroneko's
middle sister; Kouhei and Sena Akagi; and Mikagami, who posed as Kirino's fake
boyfriend in Series II) and show us things that happened offscreen in the
anime, or outside the main timeframe. There's even a crossover story between
Ore Imo and To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, where Kirino and Mikoto meet on a talk
show while Kyousuke and Touma Kamijou hang out backstage. There's a lot of
good humor and interesting exploration of the characters in this extra
material.

While reading the novels, it's pretty easy to see why all of these things were
cut from the anime; the Sakurai subplot introduces a not-very-significant new
character at the last minute, and I found the anime version of the main plot
perfectly intelligible without it. The rest has nothing to do with the main
plot, and is mostly of interest to hardcore fans. I wouldn't say you're not
missing anything by skipping the novels, but you're not missing anything
_essential_ --you can get about 90% of the Ore Imo experience, including 99%
of the bad parts, with just the anime.


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