Tomboyish Big Sister's Ear Cleaning ～If It's Bothering You, Should Your Sister Clean Your Ears?～

The big sister who just endlessly spoils you was amazing. The situation is: the protagonist comes home from the pool, and his big sister, fresh out of the bath, gives him an ear cleaning on her bare-legged lap pillow — it's a strong cotton swab sound throughout the whole thing. There's no scratchy feeling; it's more of a soft, fumbling rustling deep in the ear, with an occasional sharp "peri" sound now and then, so if you like stronger pressure, I think you'll be hooked. If you were expecting the title to deliver a real boyish feel, you might go "???", but as a work where a big sister heals you, it's a real hit! *Note: Tracks 1-3 are the split version, track 4 is the full compiled main story, and track 5 is the full compiled main story with a bit of the intro cut, so you can customize it as you like.

This is Kumaaji Bokujou's momentous 10th work. Back when they released the Yandere Android title, I remember being pretty happy thinking "This is a promising circle that puts out all-ages ear cleaning works!!" Now, this work is an ear-cleaning piece featuring a boyish onee-san. As others have written in their reviews, the boyish feel does seem rather faint. It's hard to put into words, but I got more of an impression of a reliable, gal-like onee-san. She's got that bubbly energy, but there's also a calm impression coming through in her words and conversation — that's the kind of onee-san she felt like. I think the listener is meant to be a shota of a fairly specific age, maybe like a 2nd-3rd grade elementary schooler or so. The ear cleaning sounds are on the crunchier side, and the onee-san's talking is pleasant and easy to make out, so it's a wonderful work that's perfect for falling asleep to or working alongside. Be sure to listen to the sample to get a feel for the atmosphere and sound before you buy!

While creators try to bring out their own unique color by focusing on elaborate, complicated world settings, this work instead takes an ordinary, but comforting, everyday scene as its subject. For ASMR works meant purely for listening, a setting is presumably best used as scaffolding to build atmosphere, but honestly, ones that try too hard to be elaborate can end up feeling tiresome. In that sense, this work, with its concept of simply "a big sister cleaning her little brother's ears," was very easy to grasp, and I was able to enjoy it in a relaxed mood. What you hear is just the sound of a cotton swab going round and round, rubbing scritch-scratch in the ear canal, faint breathing sounds, and the occasional conversation from the big sister as she talks to you now and then. The big sister is a little bossy and teasing, but not to an unpleasant degree, and there's nothing wrong with the voice actress's performance either. This was my first paid ASMR work, and the only thing I'd say is that the ear-cleaning sound pressure could have been a bit stronger, but aside from that, it was, on the whole, a satisfying piece of work.