Oniisama e...



Oniisama e ("To Big Brother") is a Girls Love Manga series by Riyoko Ikeda, also the author of Rose of Versailles. Written in the 1970s and published in Shueisha's Margaret, it is one of the earliest examples of the genre, and seems to have had a considerable effect on the series that came after it. It was adapted into an Anime series in the early '90s.

Told through a series of letters written by the protagonist to her Cram School teacher and older brother figure, Takehiko, it is the story of Misonoo Nanako, an average girl who manages to be accepted to Seiran Academy, a prestigious girls' school for the wealthy and talented. Despite lacking the background and qualifications of her fellow students, she is soon invited to be a member of the Sorority, an elite group of talented and popular girls. This makes her an easy target for the machinations of her ambitious peers -- especially one Misaki Aya, who will do anything it takes to discredit her so she loses her place in the Sorority. And as time passes and Nanako meets more people, she becomes embroiled in the drama and complex, often angsty relationships between them.

And that's only the tip of the drama iceberg.

Currently streaming on Anime Sols.


 * Absurdly Powerful Student Council: The Sorority, sort of.
 * Ascended Extra: Tomoko gets much more facetime in the anime than in the manga, mainly thanks to a specific early incident being changed.
 * Adaptation Expansion: The anime adds quite a bit more to the manga's storyline. To give some perspective, the manga is only three volumes, while the anime consists of 39 episodes.
 * Anguished Declaration of Love:  delivers one to  .   also gives one to , although it turns out to be fake.
 * Bait and Switch Credits: The opening credits seem to be sort of thing suited to Shojo anime, but.
 * Bait and Switch Lesbians:
 * Bifauxnen and Ladette: Rei and Kaoru. Both are quite androgynous although Kaoru displays more athletic, tomboyish traits while Rei is more urbane with an interest (and talent) in art and music.
 * Big Fancy House: Fukiko's family have several, complete with greenhouses, rose gardens, huge pools, picturesque forests, and the odd Room Full of Crazy to even everything out. About all they lack is The Thing That Goes Doink.
 * Also, for a middle-class girl Nanako lives with his parents in a pretty large house. Likely to contrast with her "Oniisama" Takehiko's rather simple apartment
 * Mariko and her mom Hisako live in a really nice home too.
 * Bittersweet Ending: In the anime. In the manga, it's a full-blown Downer Ending.
 * Book Ends: Early on in the show, several of the school's Mean Girls circulate a petition to have Nanako expelled from the Sorority, for which she was chosen over Aya. Much later on in the show,.
 * Break the Cutie: Nanako, and in the past,.
 * Episode 15 also shows the devistating social/emotional consequences of, like it happens to   -- which also affects Nanako quite a bit.
 * Break the Haughty:
 * Broken Bird: Rei, aka Hana no Saint-Juste. Kaoru/Kaoru-no-Kimi and Mariko also have their moments.
 * Brother-Sister Incest: Or rather, Sister Sister Incest,.
 * Bury Your Gays:
 * Chekhov's Gunman: In the first scene of the anime, Nanako reminiscences about a pre-teen boy she once saw when she was a little girl, and who ran away from her when she tried to talk to him.
 * Costume Porn: The clothes worn by pretty much everyone are shown in VERY loving detail
 * Cram School: Takehiko was Nanako's Cram School tutor.
 * Crash Into Hello: How Rei and Nanako meet: Nanako had trouble trying to get off the bus in the first day of school, Rei pulls her out of there. Later Nanako is running away from other girls and crashes into Rei.
 * Does Not Like Men: Mariko.
 * Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Mariko, too.
 * Driven to Suicide:
 * Elaborate University High: Seiran's campus is only slightly less elaborate than that of Utena's Ohtori Gakuen, for which it was the inspiration.
 * Erudite Stoner: Rei; see Hyperspace Arsenal example.
 * Even the Girls Want Her: Kaoru and Rei both have sizable female fanclubs. Not to mention Nanako.
 * Fan Disservice: At some point in the anime, we have  stripping twice (one of them also including Kimono Fanservice). She's very beautiful, in a   way, but both times we see her naked, are in regards to how she   We don't get to see that, exactly, but the context will get your eyes blurry anwyway.
 * Earlier, Nanako and Mariko took a bath together after returning home from Mariko's birthday party, which seems to be pretty friendly...if it wasn't for the fact that  Brrrrrr...
 * Also, in the anime we're fooled into believing that Nanako and  will have a Girl-On-Girl Is Hot-like "moonlight swim".   The scene goes from prospect Les Yay to utterly chilling in few seconds flat.
 * Feminine Women Can Cook: Played straight with Supreme Chef Nanako and Lethal Chef Kaoru. Subverted with Tomoko, who's both a Supreme Chef and a Tomboy.
 * Funbag Airbag: No doubt happens whenever Nanako runs into Rei's chest despite the fact her chest looks male when hidden under her jacket.
 * Furo Scene: Mariko invites Nanako to take a bath with her.
 * We're also treated to our fair share of Saint-Juste shower scenes, including one in a later episode where Miya-sama confronts her about their relationship while in the shower.
 * And Fukiko gets a bath tub scene of angst in the anime,
 * Gayngst: Nanako has some when she realizes she's in love with Rei.
 * Girl with Psycho Weapon: Boxcutter Kaede could have taken a few tips from.
 * Hope Spot: In the manga,
 * Hyperspace Arsenal: Rei with drugs. But it was the seventies.
 * Ill Girl: Kaoru.
 * Intimate Healing: Kaoru strips naked to share body heat with Rei after she goes through an icy Shower of Angst.
 * Kick the Dog: Aya does this quite a bit, but an especially good example is when she mocks both Nanako's middle-class background and  Doubled when, some time later, she publically annunces to her classmates that
 * is like kicking a puppy repeteadly. Specially when . No wonder Kaoru hates her so much.
 * does this when she either  (anime), or when she   (manga).
 * Kick the Son of a Bitch: Mariko may be a clingy Yandere, but you root for her when she slaps Aya around to protect Nanako.
 * Kaoru gets a huge CMOA when she mauls Aya and her Girl Posse for being mean to Nanako in class.
 * Knife Nut: Rei/Saint-Juste has rather good aim with her throwing knives.
 * Late for School
 * Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Played straight with Nanako and Mariko. While cute, mild-mannerd Nanako sits firmly on the Yamato Nadeshiko spectrum, Mariko is a fair-skinned, raven-haired Yandere (with some elements of Tsundere) from day one.
 * Love Dodecahedron: Let's see: Mariko admires Kaoru but has a clingy obsession with Nanako ; Nanako loves Rei, who pines for , who  ; and Kaoru also loves   Phew!
 * Love At First Sight: . Arguably,
 * Melodrama: While there is some very real drama in the series, there's plenty of this, too. It is old-school shoujo, after all.
 * Moral Guardians: The animated series was broadcast on Wednesday mornings in France. Guess what happened after 5 episodes. Not even a Macekre could save it.
 * Naive Everygirl/Naive Newcomer: Nanako and Tomoko.
 * Names to Know in Anime: Yuko Mizutani and then Hiroko Kasahara (Nanako), Mami Koyama (Fukiko), Keiko Toda (Kaoru), Tessho Genda (Takehiko, Playing Against Type), Masako Katsuki (Aya), Sakiko Tamagawa (Mariko), Kenyuu Horiuchi (Takeshi), Sumi Shimamoto (Rei, Playing Against Type too), Rihoko Yoshida (Mariko's mother Hisako).
 * "On the Next Episode of..." Catchphrase: "Brother, there is no end to my tears!"
 * One Degree of Separation
 * One-Gender School
 * One Head Taller: Nanako and Rei.
 * Onee-Sama: Pretty much all of the eldest Sorority girls play the role, or are supposed to. Lampshaded by Nanako, who comments on how
 * Ordinary High School Student: Nanako, more or less. Tomoko is a more genuine one.
 * Parents as People: Mariko's parents aren't evil people, but they have... issues. Serious issues.
 * Pastel-Chalked Freeze-Frame: At least half a dozen per episode.
 * Poisonous Friend: Mariko at first.
 * Princess Curls: Fukiko and Rei.
 * Psycho Lesbian: Lots of them, but especially Fukiko.
 * Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Mariko.
 * Also "Mona Lisa" Komabayashi. Her "Mona Lisa" alias comes half from this, half from having a "mysterious" smile.
 * Repeat Cut: Almost as many as there are Pastel Chalked Freeze Frames!
 * Rich Bitch: The school is full of them, but Aya is an uber-example.
 * The Rival: Aya is this to Mariko.
 * Room Full of Crazy: Rei has two. One with stuff carved into the walls, one with mirrors everywhere.
 * Fukiko deserves an honorable mention for the room at her summer house full of creepy dolls and obsessively arranged items of memorabilia from.
 * Scholarship Student: Nanako.
 * Schoolgirl Lesbians: Yep, again lots of them, even though.
 * Schrodingers Cat:
 * Shower of Angst: Oh, Rei.
 * Situational Sexuality: Very situational, as it turns out.
 * Snow Means Death:
 * Stalker with a Crush:
 * Surprisingly Good English: Numerous scenes taking place during English class. For the curious, they're reading from Edgar Allan Poe's The Gold Bug.
 * The Three Faces of Eve:
 * The first years: Tomoko (Child), Nanako (Mother), Mariko (Seductress). More in the anime, though, due to Tomoko being an Ascended Extra.
 * The three School idols: Rei (Child), Kaoru (Mother), Fukiko (Seductress)
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Nanako and either Rei or Tomoko.
 * Expecially Rei, given that they fit the Japanese idea of a Butch/Femme role so closely.
 * Theme Tune Cameo: Nanako hums the opening theme in a couple episodes.
 * Tsundere:
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Arguably, Tomoko, if you see her and Nanako's relationship as a Romantic Two-Girl Friendship.
 * Yandere:
 * Also,  may count. In a variation, it's less about possession and more about
 * Also,  may count. In a variation, it's less about possession and more about
 * Also,  may count. In a variation, it's less about possession and more about