Koi Kaze - 11: Spring Thunder

Title:Koi Kaze
Episode:11: Spring Thunder
Synopsis

Koushiro has opened his apartment door only to find Nanoka standing there. He steps back and falls on his back; Nanoka steps forward and falls on him; the apartment door closes, and the oranges in her bag fall out. Because she hurt her knee, he carries her to his couch in the central room (which doubles as his bedroom too).

Koushiro picks up the oranges and asks if they are for him. They were and as he picks up the food, she notices the food, used toilet paper (when he blew his nose), and empty food containers. She also sees the letter and sweater and wonders if she were a nuisance by sending him those things. She apologizes for breaking the promise not to see him again, then promises not to come by again. She stands up to leave, but the pain sends her back to the couch, where Koushiro catches her.

Koushiro asks her to stay. He says he read her letter, which makes her feel a bit better. She wants him to try on the sweater. So he steps out on the balcony and tries it on. In the distance, he can see the ferris wheel where it all began.

Meanwhile, Futaba at karaoke (with the same ferris wheel on the TV) blasting tunes and looking depressed. Her friends wonder why she's so out of it.

At work, Chidori looks at Koushiro's work station as she leaves. Odagiri is complaining about having to do extra work, but sees a girl in the file who looks perfect for him until he sees she's 20. Koushiro's father is at work on a construction site and his mother is at her home looking over an old photo album.

Back at his apartment, Koushiro comes in with the sweater on looking a bit sheepish. Nanoka is genuinely happy that the sweater fit perfectly. Koushiro goes to offer her a drink, but his fridge is empty execpt for a small bottle of soy sause and some other small container. He's about to rush out to do some shopping when she asks if he'd like her to cook for him. She's concerned for his health since he's not eating properly.

Since she's not in a condition to walk, Koushiro has her write down a list of things to get. She wonders what he'd like to eat, but they quickly run into a problem -- Koushiro still doesn't have a rice cooker. But Nanoka comes up with a list of food (sans rice).

At the market, he finds his depression has gone as he goes about getting the things on Nanoka's list, though he wonders why he left the house (his father's house?).

Meanwhile, Nanoka begins cleaning his apartment and fills several small bags full of trash. As she cleans, she comes upon a train pass and remembers Koushiro and Chidori traveling together. She trashes it and the doorbell rings. She answers the door and Chidori is there. Chidori is suprised to see Nanoka and asks for Koushiro, who of course isn't there. Chidori had left her train pass in the apartment and comes in to get it. Nanoka asks if she and Koushiro are dating. After a moments pause, Chidori decides to say they are dating and that Koushiro must not have said anything to Nanoka about it. This of course is not what Nanoka wanted to hear.

Meanwhile an unsuspecting Koushiro has bought a rice cooker but notices that people are giving him funny looks. Looking at himself in the mirror, he realizes his appearance isn't very good.

Back at the apartment, Chidori is looking for her pass, unaware that Nanoka has tossed it in the trash. As she continues to look through the small apartment, Chidori asks what Koushiro went out to buy. Since it was stuff for dinner, Chidori decides it might be a good idea to stay for dinner as well since Nanoka is preparing it. Nanoka wonders why, and as Chidori gives an explaination, she sees the pass in the trash and retrieves it.

Nanoka asks Chidori to leave twice because she's in the way of Nanoka's plans to spend the evening with her oniichan. Chidori asks why Koushiro's younger sister is giving her abuse, a cultural no-no in Japan. Nanoka bravely tells Chidori that she won't lose in a competition for Koushiro. Chidori replies that siblings can't fall in love like that and even in Japan they can't get married. Chidori believes this feeling Nanoka has is temporary and that once the feeling is gone, it will be painful for her. Nanoka's response is that her oniichan will hold a special place with her forever. Chidori laughs because of such a naive statement, saying that she can say such a thing because she's so young. Nanoka's retort is to call Chidori an old woman ("obaa"). Nanoka doesn't care what society thinks of her being with Koushiro in "that" way. Chidori tries to shake some sense into her, but Nanoka loudly asks her to leave. Chidori does, and as she leaves, she tells Nanoka that her parents will be sad when they learn the truth.

Koushiro is returning home with his purchase when Chidori runs into him. She's angry with him, especially since after she'd been worried about him, she finds him happily shopping. She tells him she saw Nanoka in the apartment and demands to know why he let her in. She tells she tried to make her by saying they were going out but it didn't work. Chidori demands to know what he's going to do now that Nanoka's hopes of starting a relationship with her brother are up.

Having a better understanding of the situation between Nanoka and Koushiro, Chidori keeps pressing Koushiro about the situation. She can't leave him alone knowing that he's destined for a life of misery if he and Nanoka continue down this road. He tells her not to judge since it might not be misery to them. She backs off, promising not to involve herself in his affairs again, apologizes for being nosy and leaves. Koushiro knows that he has lost Chidori.

Nanoka is waiting for him when he comes into the apartment. He knows he can still flee, but choses to stay instead. Nanoka acts like a new wife by preparing the meal, having Koushiro take a shower before supper, and clean up afterward.

Later that evening as they sit with their heads on the table, Koushiro asks if they should go someplace far away to live together. His thinking is to go someplace where no one knows they are siblings and they can live as a couple. This causes Nanoka to tear up and proclaim that she loves Koushiro more than Chidori-san. However, she wants to know if he is in a relationship with Chidori-san, Nanoka wants to know, especially if he hates his little sister.

Koushiro thinks that he should say that he's involved with Chidori because that will end everything. However, he tells her the truth about himself and Chidori. Nanoka wonders why siblings can't fall in love like that, then declares that she's not giving up. Against his better judgement, Koushiro tells her the truth about his feelings for Nanoka and they kiss.

That night, the two consumate their relationship. Nanoka apologizes for falling in love with her brother. They reflect on that they should apologize to others, but how can they. Their father calls, worried about Nanoka, but Koushiro says she's fine and just spending the night with him.

Comments

AstroNerdBoy: 10 December 2006

So, they finally did it. Chidori's attempts to put a stop to this runaway train was interesting. Clearly, she had no idea that it wasn't just Koushiro who was messed up in the head, but Nanoka as well. Nanoka's youth comes into play with her open confession of her feelings for her oniichan when she thought Chidori was a rival. Then again, at 16, one thinks they know so much but Chidori knows better (I'm guessing she's about Koushiro's age). Koushiro does know better but can't bring himself to stop this runaway train. Thus, despite everything, they cross a line that siblings should never cross and damn the consequences.

Creep factor over incest aside, the writing is very powerful. I can see why so many folks like the series despite the taboo subject. I'm more amazed that this was licensed for R1 considering the topic. Not only do we have brother-sister incest, but Nanoka is only 16 and Koushiro is pushing 28 when they cross the line. I'm not watching the official R1 release, so I don't know how the translators handled this. I'm told that there is a tendancy to make high school girls 18 and in Jr. College for hentai titles. This isn't hentai, so I wonder how this was done. Maybe I'll rent the DVD someday.


[Devil Doll, 2006-12-11]: Nanoka is in her second year at high school; the manga tells us she's 17 years old at this stage (but the manga delays things a bit, it takes 6 months between Koushiro's moving out and Nanoka visiting him again).
Imagine you were Chidori (or Futaba) - what would you have done? When I watched this series for the first time I was convinced Koushiro made the wrong decision, after missing many chances. But rewatching the series, I began to see this episode in a different light: Clearly Koushiro is aware of the possible consequences - but if not even he can be sure which one of the two possible options will put him and Nanoka into more misery, how can Chidori be so sure she knows better? And perhaps Chidori came to the same conclusion in this episode and the final one.

Ggultra2764, 1-6-2008

I'm surprised how some folks would assume that there is also a pedophilia taboo that Nanoka and Koshiro are crossing. However, Nanoka being 16 has her at just the proper legal age to be allowed to marry thus the Japanese wouldn't have a problem with such a relationship if it didn't involve incest. The two don't even do 'it' with each other until the second to last chapter to the manga since Koshiro had to prevent himself from being given an arranged marriage when he tried distancing himself from Nanoka.

This episode is where we get to see how Nanoka and Koshiro feel in regards to their emotions and question why they think this way when put up against Chidori, a woman who represents people who follow societal norms. She sees the two becoming outsiders and doing what she believes is right to make the two realize that their relationship wouldn't be considered 'proper' to other people. Nanoka doesn't have much experience in understanding what society thinks as 'acceptable' thus her question towards the end of the episode: "Why can't a brother and sister fall in love with each other?" Koshiro, on the other hand, has experience in knowing what society considers 'proper' or 'taboo' and knows being in love with Nanoka would be considered taboo. But, he can't help but to give into his emotions.

I have seen the English dub for Koi Kaze and all aspects of the characters and the themes of the relationship are kept intact. Nanoka is still a first-year senior high school student and Koshiro still finds himself often being sexually frustrated around her. The dub was one of the best that I've heard as the voice acting is on par with the original Japanese seiyuu and the delicate tension between characters from the English voice cast was handled quite well. I even got the chance of e-mailing Koshiro's dub actor, Patrick Seitz, to give him my regards for being able to handle voice acting for Koi Kaze and doing a good job with the acting. ^_^


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