Koi Kaze

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Koi Kaze was a manga series by Motoi Yoshida that dealt with a taboo relationship between two closely related, think familial, characters. Yes, the sweet and innocent portrait of the main character on the first volume cover was smokescreen.

Understandably, despite having an acclaimed anime adaptation and available in North America as a DVD release, the manga itself never had an official English translation. It’s a pity because the manga had a more complete tale than the anime.

Though the story had mature themes, the author handled it masterfully. The story certainly made you feel uncomfortable, but never was it gratuitous.

It all started when Nanaoka and ... Koushirou have a memorable encounter in the subway which ended up with the high school girl and salary man sharing a ferris wheel gondola. While suspended mid-air above the city, the two shared recent heartbreaks, with Nanaoka comforting the older man. After the ride, both discovered that the two of them were estranged siblings.

In Koi Kaze, the author has a well-written story and well-developed characters. The art style is highly effective in conveying the emotions of the characters. It is a beautifully tragic love story that explores the taboo subject in a mature and realistic manner.

I'm glad, that read it.

Much smarter than all mangas with similar topic I've read and not so mainstream as majority of manga in general - that's for what I loved reading the subj very much.

I think, the fact that the hero is an adult is really cool. There exist not so many such mangas, that I know (like Monster, Rurouni Kensin, partly Death Note, Gintama...) and it's much more pleasure to read them, 'cause you as reader aren't treaded as 13-year child, plot is mature and not so random and senseless.

Incest. One of the many taboos as dictated by the judgmental society. One that is considered immoral and wrong in every aspect. Metaphorically speaking, incest is a visually-disastrous model that no average painter nor photographer would ever pay attention to it; it's that ugly, regardless on which angle it is viewed from. Especially if this was to be discussed in my home country of the Philippines, known to be the only country in Asia whose predominant religion is Roman Catholic. The mere thought of one bringing up a discussion of this nature in my homeland would be enough to have him/her suspected of having such ... tendencies, and even worse, ostracized by society for a long time...

Story-wise, Koi Kaze tells the ordeals of 27-year-old Koshiro Saeki and 15-year-old Nanoka Kohinata, actual, blood-related siblings who have never seen each other for more than a decade. A fateful encounter between the two has set the stage for a breathtaking plot that slowly, but surely develops over the course of time. While many comment on the ending leaving the readers to speculate as to what will happen next, this is fully understandable in my case. If this was a real-life story, only one unseen 'Supreme Being' can answer the unspoken questions in the minds of those concerned about the two. After all, 'the future's not ours to see', as a line in a song goes. For Koshiro and Nanoka, 'whatever will be, will be'.

Sure enough, if the story wasn't realistic and powerfully compelling enough, I would have not minded to read a single page of this manga due to its artwork at first glance. However, the more I kept reading, my opinion on the artwork changed as well. Sure, it may not be as good as the artwork of even more recent and contemporary manga titles; however, given the nature of the primary theme of this manga and the pacing of the plot, the artwork appears mellow and relaxing for a change.

Character-wise, Koshiro and Nanoka have been portrayed in the most realistic way possible for an incest-themed story. The way they deal with their feelings for one another despite the obvious taboo of their developing relationship adds to the spice of the plot, and their efforts to keep such relationship away from the prying eyes and eavesdropping ears of society are what one would likely encounter in real life, should they know or be acquainted with someone in this type of relationship.

At first, when I first discovered this title from random searching in Wikipedia, I wasn't expecting that much, given the fact that I thought no other incest-themed anime and/or manga would satisy me other than the likes of Yosuga no Sora and Aki Sora. Koi Kaze, however, proved me wrong in many ways, and I was totally knocked off my feet. By the time I was done reading, I found myself having enjoyed Koi Kaze more than having enjoyed and being satisifed with the aforementioned two titles.

Overall, Koi Kaze is a must-read for those with an open mind towards the sensitive taboo subject tackled here, and something I would recommend with probably a dozen words of caution to those who have not encountered this theme in any work of fiction in any medium of presentation.