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'Koi Kaze' touches on a surprising subject Date: 3/1/2005 |
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By Eric Henrickson / The Detroit News Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery "Koi Kaze: The Reunion" vol. 1 (Geneon, due March 8) - You're never gonna see this in mainstream Western animation. Heck, you probably won't see anything like it on mainstream live-action TV here. "It" is the sensitive, provocative, never pandering portrayal of the extremely taboo subject of romantic love between siblings. And these siblings have a 12-year age difference between them to boot. Koshiro is a man who works for a wedding consultation service and lives with his divorced father. He's recently been dumped by his girlfriend, and his father tells him his sister Nanoka is moving in with them so she can be closer to her high school, where she's a first-year student. Without realizing it, though, Koshiro has already started to fall for Nanoka after a chance meeting on the train and a trip to an amusement park - before he knows who she is. He's not one to hit on high-school girls (unlike one of his creepy co-workers, who wants to open up their marriage services to teens so he can "legally meet" them), but there's something about her. And while Koshiro never made a move even before he knew their relationship, his heart is going in places he knows it shouldn't be, now more than ever, and he can't stop it. Anime and manga have a longstanding tradition of adult lust for high-school girls, often in prurient ways that can be extremely disturbing to mainstream Western morals. And while the topic is no less squeamish here, "Koi Kaze" works so far because it takes that stereotype and turns it on its head. This is mature drama about a taboo subject that has no easy answers nor resolution. And it keeps you wondering just where this series will go. The DVD jacket makes you wonder too. The cover blurb reads like they're both madly in love with each other after a first date and must suddenly become platonic siblings. It even ends with, "Will the two hold off, or will the temptation prove too difficult?" But things are actually more complex than that, and, at least in the four episodes on this disc, there's little more than a vague hint that Nanoka might have romantic feelings in return. She's portrayed much more simply as a young girl anxious to get to know a brother she hasn't seen since she was a baby. With beautiful backgrounds, clean animation and excellent work by dub voice actors Patrick Seitz and Tiffany Hsieh in the two main roles, this is a series to watch when you're in the mood for serious drama. Disturbing? Absolutely. Did I enjoy it? That's not really the right word. I was intrigued and want to see where it goes next, but it's walking an extremely fine line. One miniscule step in the wrong direction, and it will quickly go in my round file of "what-were-they-thinking?" discs. |
| Source: Detroit News |
