In essence, this episode is all about Saori Bajeena, or to use her real name Saori Makishima. As the younger of two siblings, the young Saori is a quiet and reserved girl without any specific friends or interests and with a weak constitution that prevents her from really getting out into the world. This is in stark contrast to the elder of the two sisters, Kaori, and after a few years of pursuing outdoor activities Kaori's interests have shifted, in turn taking her to a point where her sister can get involved in her activities and circle of friends.
However, rather than joining in with a love of the things that interest Kaori (guns mostly, as it happens), she instead falls in with one of Kaori's friends, a budding manga author named Kanata. In essence, it's her who throws Saori headlong in the world of otaku-dom, only to leave her devastated as Kaori goes off and gets married which in turn ensures that the circle of friends around her slowly drifts apart. Ultimately determined to one-up her sister, Saori seeks to make her own circle of friends - cue the meeting which started this entire series.
Rather than offering up any particularly zany or comically rich scenarios, this episode was really about filling in the gaps in Saori's character, pure and simple - it's something that I can't fault the series for doing as it certainly needed to be tackled, but it still means that we're now three episodes in without succeeding in recapturing much of that old Oreimo magic. It's a bit of a worry, in all honesty - has the series simply lost its mojo, or does it have nothing interesting left to do with its characters? I hope it's simply that it's building up a head of steam slowly and that more interesting fare is on the way, but my confidence in the series is waning after these tepid beginnings.
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