Koshiro is a 27 year old man employed in a marriage arrangement company. Despite working to make other people's lives happy his own personal relationships are nothing to be proud of. Living in a rut Koshiro is always sporting a five O'clock shadow and is barely able to take care of himself. He is dumped by his girlfriend and yet he doesn't seem to care. He also lives at home with his father in the city, far away from his mother and sister whom he hasn't seen since he was a small boy.

This all changes when in one chance meeting he happens to run into a high school girl named Nanoka. After a couple chance encounters he takes her to an amusement park where he finds out that she is his sister who has come to live with him in the city. After the initial shock is over Koshiro soon finds that his feelings for Nanoka are not the normal brother and sister relationship feelings but instead he begins to desire her more as a female much to his frustration where he must begin to sort out the feelings in himself and how they relate to Nanoka.

Anime by and large is a genre which is rarely taken seriously in the west. The main reason for this is that for every Miyazaki film there is a dozen giant robot shows and for every Akira or Metropolis there are hundreds of fan-service shows released each year. Thus when a show attempts to look at such taboo and difficult subjects as incest, lust, regret and shame it is bound to make an impression one way or the other.

When I first heard of Koi Kaze back in 2005 I was at first intrigued by it but decided to pass as I wasn't sure how comfortable I was with the premise. I honestly didn't think that a show about a 27 year old man in love with his 15 year old sister could be entertaining but upon the suggestion of a friend, I decided to pick it up.

Koi Kaze is a hard show to review. It certainly has its share of drama with some comedy thrown in to keep things lively. This is no ordinary romantic anime, though; the subject matter is treated very seriously and the lives of Koshiro and Nanoka seem realistic and it never feels as though the show was created to fulfill any sort of fetish or perversion. Koi Kaze is certainly not for everyone but it is intriguing and certainly fascinating so far.

Labels: Anime, Japanese