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Koi Kaze -- how many people accept it?

In the end, even though the story was really engrossing and even though it gave me more to think about than most series do, I still do not agree that the end justified the means. This relationship is still potentially troubled on so many levels. Age difference, family relation, verbal and physical abuse, pseudo-masochism, and an unnatural level of secrecy just to name a few. The idea that the end was intended to represent some sort of 'happily ever after' is incredibly naïve in my opinion. The sister could have been happy without taking her crush to it's ultimate possible conclusion, just like any other girl. The idea that here brother was the only possible man for her just doesn't match what I believe or what I saw on the screen.

This whole post is one big spoiler. Consider yourself warned.

If only he had kindly let her know that he was unwilling to let it go any farther than just a simple crush and gave her some space without being a jerk about it, she would have probably been able to find another boy her age to get all crazy over. It's not like the brother was the only male in her life after all, and it wasn't until he started treating her like shit and making a fuss about her being around other boys before she became miserable. The fact that she was willing to stick around and take such abuse without losing faith in her sick, abusive brother doesn't bode well for her own mental state either.

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I'd comment on more than this part, but the crux of the matter is here. The part I bold-faced is entirely irrelevant. This story isn't about whether or not she could be happy any other way; it's about her relationship with her brother.

I agree with Pleroma; I don't see where you're getting a lot of this stuff out of this series.

Granted, the relationship is definitely troubled; that's partly the point, as both age difference and family relations are BIG issues. There's no abuse involved at all, however, and I didn't see the ending as implying "happily ever after;" they were spoiler[contemplating suicide over having consummated their relationship] in the final episode, after all. Some people have interpreted the ending to mean spoiler[that this was just a one-shot thing and they would now go back to their normal lives], although I personally don't agree with that interpretation

Koi Kaze - at least the one I saw - was very deliberately made not to pass judgment on the rightness or wrongness of Koshiro and Nanoka's relationship; that's left entirely to the viewer to decide.

It seems odd to me that nobody thinks the line was about to be crossed even before he found out it was his sister.

I put ‘date’ in quotes because obviously it’s not a real date. However, it’s not exactly a typical encounter either. He initiates the encounter for no obvious reason at the time. He even gets sick over and over but he keeps forcing himself to continue on with it. He also gets surprisingly emotional even though at the time he has no idea that they’re anything other than complete strangers.

Richard J. wrote:

When a person's life ends, so does their suffering. A person left alive after rape suffers for the rest of their lives.

Your point of view can be easily interpreted as

1. A rapist-murderer is more merciful than a rapist, because the former ends victim's suffering. I wish you didn't really think that way.

2. Victims of rape could end their suffering by either ending their own lives or hide the fact and pretent as if they had never been raped. Similar thoughts have created additional victims because the criminal is still at large.

Oh, I don't think it was for "no obvious reason." He was coming off a busted relationship and saw an opportunity to spend time with a cute (albeit underaged) girl. A guy who's at emotional loose ends would find that a hard thing to pass up. I also didn't find it at all odd that he broke down in front of a stranger. The timing and circumstances were exactly right for that to be perfectly plausible.

Well, maybe in your life you've seen grown men reach out to little girls when they're on the ropes and maybe they even got all sappy about it, but this has never happened to me or anyone I know. Bumping into a young girl is "hard to pass up" simply because you've been dumped? Please. I'm about the most liberal guy I know and yet I find that line of thinking to be positively creepy.

If he had been kind instead of abusive and shown an honest desire to see her happy at the expense of his own fragil heart then maybe I would have felt very differently. But, as-is, he came across like scum while she seemed like a fairly normal girl who just happened to be in rather extraordinary circumstances.

I like Richard J.'s explanation on that part better than my own, so check out the second half of his post again.

While obviously such situations should be examined on a case by case basis, a point can be made for the civil Libertarian perspective (which I mostly adhere to) that as long as an action is by consent of all involved parties it is immoral to disallow or condemn it. From there the only point of issue whould be age of consent, where In my opinion biological maturity should be used as the benchmark and cases only investigated if there are claims of abuse.

PS: One detail I really liked about the manga was spoiler[Kohiro telling his mother he will never marry and Nonoka finding out later and then playfully teasing Kohiro about guys usually telling the girl when they propose. In other words, his promise makes a happily ever after ending more likely ]