Incest in Popular Culture - Japanese Manga and Anime - Sibling Incest

Sibling Incest

Certain anime programs, such as Koi Kaze and Please Twins!, are serious, even sympathetic, studies of the characters as they struggle with their emotions and societal taboos. In Please Twins! this is because both girls fell in love with the protagonist, despite knowing that either of them could be his biological twin sister. Also the side character Matagu has shown an obvious sexual attraction to his younger sister, who is fully aware that he is a pervert. In Koi Kaze, a brother and sister fall in love without realising their blood relationship, and when they do find out, they struggle with continuing the relationship and hurting their parents or moving onto a platonic relationship and lying to themselves. They even consider a suicide pact, but they ultimately decide to continue the relationship and live together.

The incestuous feelings may be a source of trouble or angst for the protagonists. In shojo manga Boku wa Imōto ni Koi o Suru, Yori and Iku are twin brother and sister who have been extremely close all their lives and who now begin to fall in love with each other and have to face the consequences of it. It is later revealed that they are half-twins due to them being the product of a heteropaternal superfecundation (they have different fathers). At the end, Yori attempts to separate from her for 10 years but when he and Iku reunite, he says that he still loves her and it is hinted that they have resumed their relationship. In the manga Tsumi Ni Nureta Futari, Kasumi begins an incestuous affair with her younger brother, Yoshiki, after being separated most of their lives. Their friends and mother try to separate them, even by kidnapping and violence. At the end, Yoshiki fakes his death so he and Kasumi can move to Rome and be together for good.

In the manga series Oniichan☆Control, Noa's big brother Hirose Goushi is in love with her, but tries to control himself, as he knows he should not. However, Noa is fully aware of this and is in love with her brother, so she does everything she can to get him to stop restraining himself all while pretending to be an innocent little sister.

Shojo manga author Kaori Yuki has used this theme twice. In Godchild, the protagonist, Cain Hargreaves, is the product of the incestuous union of his father and his father's older sister, inheriting gold-green eyes and the curse of being unable to love anyone who was not blood related to him. Cain also has a love interest in his half-sister/cousin who doesn't return his feelings. Later, in Angel Sanctuary, she uses incest as a necessary plot device. Setsuna Mudo is in love with his sister, Sara, who returns his feelings. As it turns out, Setsuna is the reincarnation of the angel Alexiel, who long ago was punished to be reincarnated as a human, while Sara is in fact Jibril, the Angel of Water. They are so determined to stay together that they willingly abandon their family and future without a second thought and Setsuna searches relentlessly in Hell for Sara's soul.

Sometimes the incest is ambiguous or suggested. In Revolutionary Girl Utena, the character Nanami Kiryuu expresses sexual desire and jealousy towards her older brother Touga, who is the school playboy. Another character, Kozue Kaoru, uses her sexuality to elicit a frustrated protectiveness from her twin brother Miki. Incestuous themes between the central character Anthy Himemiya and her brother Akio Ohtori develop towards the end of the show.

Sometimes, these feelings end up happily. In Myself ; Yourself, twins Shuusuke and Shuri elope near the end of the series. In the epilogue, it is implied that they return to Sakuranomori and are a couple. In Yosuga no Sora, Sora has feelings for her twin brother, Haru, ever since they were kids. After their parents passed away, they moved back to the old house and Sora has been keeping her feelings suppressed while she fantasizes being with him. In episode 11 and 12, they had opened themselves to their feelings and decide to abandon their friends and home to be together.

Other times, the love story ends dramatically. In the manga series Flowers of Evil, Se-Joon has loved his twin sister, Se-Wan, ever since childhood. They eventually make forbidden love one night, which Se-Joon regrets. They attempt to redeem themselves by running away, during which Se-Wan dies. At the end, despaired over the loss of his beloved sister, Se-Joon committs suicide with a photo of him and her in his arms.

In some series, sibling incest is shown to be common or allowed in a particular setting. In anime and manga Vampire Knight, pureblooded vampires often marry siblings to keep their bloodline pure – Yuki Cross's parents were siblings, and it was stated that she was "born" to be Kaname's (her older brother) wife. In Tenchi Muyo!, the character of Ayeka was once engaged to her half-brother, Yosho. On Ayeka's planet, such a thing is not considered bad. She is later shown to have feelings for Yosho's grandson Tenchi, who is technically her nephew.

In other occurrences, the incest is the result of special circumstances. In Hitsuji no Uta, the two protagonists (who are twins) suffer from a strange disease that forces them to isolate themselves from society and develop an infatuation with each other as a consequence of that.

Sometimes, the incest is reserved to the antagonists. The anime and manga Black Lagoon alludes to an incestuous relationship between two antagonists, the Romanian young twins Hansel and Gretel. It is mainly used to enhance the repercussions of their highly traumatic childhood and illustrate their unbalanced mental state. In Shakugan no Shana, the Tomogara twin siblings Sorath and Tiriel publicly expressed incest through kissing each other. In the anime Twilight of the Dark Master, an incestuous relationship is hinted at/revealed between two of Tsunami's enemies, the Long siblings.

The incestuous feelings are not always returned. In the anime/manga series Shugo Chara!, the character Utau is in love with her older brother, Ikuto. She forcefully kisses him in both the anime and manga. Ikuto, though, does not return her feelings. In the manga series 17-Sai no Real, Ruri finds out that her brother, Keito, has feelings for her. He is very jealous of her relationship with Jyunya and attempts to rape her once. At the end, they reconcile and remain close.

Others use incest mainly for shock value and titillation. For example, in Ouran High School Host Club, two of the main characters, Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, are identical twins who often engage in romantic displays to titillate the female patrons of the Host Club; the two have a close bond, but there is no clear evidence that their romantic behavior is anything but an act. However, they do sometimes act affectionate with each other while no one else is around, and they share a bed as well.

In the anime and manga .hack//Legend of the Twilight, the characters Rena and Shugo, siblings, carry out actions that allude to an incestuous attraction to each other's in-game avatars. This is usually done through as a running gag, or more serious instances. Shugo's dedication to saving Rena when she disappears may be an incarnation for an incestuous romantic caring for her, although this is questionable.

There may also be cases, used for dramatics, where one or both of the characters do not know of their relationship, such as seen in Berserk where the character Farnese appears to house incestuous feelings for her (although unknown to her) half-brother Serpico. He knows and refutes her advances. In the manga Andante, Natsu discovers that his girlfriend, Mel, is his half-sister by the same father and they break up. Previously, Natsu had dated Mei after his father married her mother but they broke up when they became attracted to other people. In Jewelpet Sunshine, Kanon and Mikage break off their love relationship when they learn they are twins.

Other times, incest is just a passing reference. In Tenjho Tenge, Mana Kuzunoha, the deceased girlfriend of the deceased brother of Maya Natsume, Shin Natsume, once stated that Shin and Maya treated each other like lovers instead of siblings.

Sometimes, they may be the representation of a character's desire. In the manga After School Nightmare, by Setona Mizushiro, one of the three main characters, the teenage student Sou Mizuhashi, is often persuaded by his elder sister Ai into having sexual intercourses with her (he even loses his virginity to her). Though, it is later revealed in the story that this does not occur in reality, but it only happens in a sort of oneiric/subcounscious state of the characters' mind.

Even in other cases, the incestuous relationship happens when the characters are not themselves, by reason of brainwashing, amnesia or other circumstances. In the series Big O in Episode 9, it is revealed that Mr. Wise's 40 year old son is a child of incest with his sister, though this due to the fact at the time when all memories were wiped out at the time they were unaware of who the other was. In the series Ayashi no Ceres, Aya is nearly raped by her twin brother, Aki, when he is brainwashed by Mikagi.

In Maze, Mei and her brother, Akira, had an incestuous encounter when they were young and this led him to being viewed as an outcast by their parents. However, they are still in love with each other and remain together, despite their love being a taboo.

The manga series Densen Complex, portrays several stories of sibling incest.