What would you do if you had a worthless older brother who was a NEET, staying in his room for two years playing video games? If you’re living in the world of Oniichan wa Oshimai!, you’d use science to change him into a girl. That’s the story behind OniMai: I’m Now Your Sister!, a fun gender-bending slice-of-life anime about an otaku who gets to learn how the other half lives.
Why Fans Are Loving Oniichan wa Oshimai!
Mahiro Oyama was a normal jitaku keibi-in or “in-home security guard,” a Japanese euphemism for a hikikomori who never leaves his room, watching anime and playing eroge all day. But one day he woke to find he’d been transformed into a cute girl, thanks to his sister Mihari, who used her science skills to create a potion that completely changed his gender. He thinks she’s doing it because she’s an evil mad scientist, but she’s actually carrying out her Big Brother Rehabilitation Project.
As a girl, Mahiro needs to learn several things, like that he needs to sit down to pee on the toilet now, and actually wear a bra. The adjustment is hard for him, not just because changing into a girl would be a challenge for anyone, but because he’s a NEET with agoraphobia and social anxiety, and hasn’t been outside in two years. Happily, his younger sister Mihari is happy to help him take the adjustment slowly.
Naturally, Mahiro wants to do what we’d all do in his place: experience masturbation with his new body. But because the female orgasm is 100 times stronger than a man’s, Mihari tells him that he might die if he tries it. Oh no!
Oniichan wa Oshimai! is based on a popular manga by Nekotoufu, which is somewhat less sexy than the anime. The animation is colorful, and the art style is fresh, something like a cross between Wataten: An Angel Flew Down to Me and Uzamaid…which tells you which fans the show is aimed at. The animation is done by Studio Bind, a newer studio formed in 2018 as a subsidiary of White Fox. Their main work has been the well-received Mushoku Tensei, which I loved. The studio definitely has my support on this new project.
OniMai, Because Boys Want to Become Anime Girls
Anime has a tradition of getting creative with gender to tell dramatic and humorous stories. Whether we’re exploring the French Revolution through the eyes of Lady Oscar, laughing as Ranma changes sex at just the wrong moment, or being exposed to the relationship of “cousins with benefits” Haruka and Michiru from Sailor Moon, playing with gender has always been part of the mystique that anime has offered.
Stories involving male-to-female body change, whether biologically through some convenient story mechanic, through isekai-style reincarnation, or through a personal choice to become an otokonoko are always fun. They’re popular in hentai, too, and when JAST USA started publishing visual novels in English back in the day, the first really popular series we released was the X-Change series of games, about a boy who changes into a girl through a series of science-related accidents. JAST USA has remastered these three games in a modern HD version that’s really awesome, which you can read about here.
The First Anime Controversy of 2023?
Apparent OniMai is setting up to be the first big anime controversy of the new year because of Crunchyroll’s “censorship” of the show’s first episode, which cut away instead of showing Mahiro’s girl body while he was getting out of the bath. In reality, two versions of the episode were prepared by Studio Bind, with the international version cutting out a small bit of sexy content, as well as the audio of a BL game Mahiro was playing.
While international fans might be disappointed, this is not evil Sony/Crunchyroll censoring your anime, but the animation studio themselves making pragmatic choices about how to avoid problems with international markets. While having extra steam added to the shower scene for the international release might be a bummer, I believe it’s more important that anime series do well on the various streaming sites around the world without generating problems, as happened in China with Mushoku Tensei. If absolutely necessary, fans can choose to “sail the high seas” to get the uncensored episode.
Thanks for reading this post about the new Oniichan wa Oshimai! gender-bending anime. Are you enjoying the show? Tell us below, or talk with us on Twitter!
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