Sentai Filmworks brings to blu-ray a treatise on self-actualization via the process of transubstantiation of the mind to obtain ultimate enlightenment. Nah, I’m just kiddin’. Let’s dive into this super pervy 3-part OVA!
Akira is Mayoko’s younger brother. Ever since a casual statement from Akira when they were kids that he wanted to marry Mayoko when they grow up, she has been living in a constant state of paranoia and suspicion that her brother still has machinations to lust after her and marry her. Of course, in reality he doesn’t seem to harbor any untoward attraction beyond just the normal affection a brother has for his sister, but that doesn’t stop her from immediately jumping to the wildest conclusions at every small comment or gesture. Some of her actions and comments even seem to apply that it is actually she who harbors a secret crush on him. What will become of these mixed up siblings?
Ane Log basically takes a single joke of Akira doing or saying something innocuous and Mayoko overreacting wildly out of proportion and extends it across three episodes. It’s based on a short manga in a weekly reader and it shows with each episode having multiple shorter vignettes involving Mayoko cooking for Akira (How could he act so comfortable as if they are already married!?!?), walking home from school (Oh no! By asking him to walk several paces behind her, it gives him the opportunity to leer lasciviously at her!!!) to of course that old stand-by, the visit to the beach (you can imagine the bikini jokes made here….). The premise is vaguely creepy to begin with and the jokes start to wear pretty thin. And frankly Mayoko comes across as certifiably insane most of the time with random outbursts about her pervy brother in the middle of class or when she’s with her friends.
The technical aspects on this one are on par with other releases from Sentai Filmworks. The video is clean as one would expect from a Sentai anime release and the Dolby 2.0 audio track is fine for what it is. The extras are skimpy as usual with the opening and closing animations and nothing else. And again, that’s a shame because this series also had a series of six 3-minute gag episodes that were included on the Japanese blu-ray release that could’ve been added here.
Overall I can’t say I was the biggest fan of this one with its wildly unsubtle pervy tendencies. But it also largely avoids anything actively creepy most of the time and did elicit a few chuckles from me, so it wasn’t a total bust. If you’re looking for a short, goofy ecchi comedy to waste a little time, you could certainly do much worse than Ane Log.