Koi Kaze (恋風) is a slice of life romance manga by Yoshida Motoi. The series was originally published between 2001 and 2004 and has been collected into 5 tankoubon.
Koshiro lives with his divorced father, works as a marriage consultant and losses his girlfriend of a few years for being uninteresting and disengaged in life. When his younger sister, whom he has not seen since she was 2, decides to move in with them to go to high school, his life becomes more complicated. His coworker gives him two tickets to an amusement park to try and cheer him up. Koshiro ends up giving running into a school girl he met earlier on the train and invites her to the park. The girl is thrilled and eagerly takes the opportunity. In a moment of weakness he breaks down, only to be comforted and consoled by this young girl he suddenly is attracted too. Once he has regained his stoic composure they leave the park only to run into their father...learning that they are siblings.
The first meeting in 14 years between Koshiro and his sister Nanoka was awkward enough due to his attraction to her, but he has a difficult time dealing with her because of his emotional breakdown on the Farris Wheel due to his life's outcome. Nanoka doesn't know how to deal with him because of how angry he appears all of the time, but tries as best as she can to make up for the years apart. As he slowly opens up to his sister he begins to feel more passion for her, rejecting it strongly, causing him to become easily agitated with her. Nanko on the other hand struggles to spend more time with the brother she has idolized and dreamed about all of these years, not realizing what kind of signals she is sending him.
I watched the anime adaption many years ago when it first came out, 2004 or 2005, before it got released in North America. I don't usually do insect pieces and they are typically pointless deep fantasy fanservice fare. But there is something about the realism and character development in Koi Kaze that makes it a really enjoyable story. The story primarily deals with Koshiro's internal struggle and his growing realization of his desires and impulses. He continually fights with them as base urges that can't and shouldn't be realized. He has a difficult time of doing so and turns his internal revulsion into aggressive behavior with his sister. For those looking for some fap material this isn't the direction you want to look. There is nothing explicit in the series as it focuses more on the mental anguish and turmoil of the main characters and the awkwardness it creates in their lives. Aside from Nanoka being a bit more naive than a girl her age really is, the characters are portrayed pretty realistically.
The artwork is interesting. At times its really well done, particularly the characters facial expressions. At other times the artwork gets a little weird and silly. You can tell that some of it is meant to be comedic, to break the thick tension, but at other times it seems to be either out of laziness or someone else taking over a particular panels artwork. Its weird...almost as if the assistants were required to kick in a little more than they usually would. Either way, when the artwork is on, its on and does really well with the flow and feel of the story. Through out the series, particularly at emotionally tense and dramatic parts, there are lovely pages that are deep from the school of shojo manga. Faded outlines, backgrounds with flowers or pedals, perfectly captured character reactions. You could build an entire story just with these panels alone.
I do recommend this to any serious fan of romantic drama's, even with it being about sibling love. It is very well done and quite tragic on a number of levels. The anime did a good job at following the important parts of the manga but either would be good to go through, or both if you would like. The manga has not been published in America, but the anime is available via FUNimation.
Koshiro lives with his divorced father, works as a marriage consultant and losses his girlfriend of a few years for being uninteresting and disengaged in life. When his younger sister, whom he has not seen since she was 2, decides to move in with them to go to high school, his life becomes more complicated. His coworker gives him two tickets to an amusement park to try and cheer him up. Koshiro ends up giving running into a school girl he met earlier on the train and invites her to the park. The girl is thrilled and eagerly takes the opportunity. In a moment of weakness he breaks down, only to be comforted and consoled by this young girl he suddenly is attracted too. Once he has regained his stoic composure they leave the park only to run into their father...learning that they are siblings.
The first meeting in 14 years between Koshiro and his sister Nanoka was awkward enough due to his attraction to her, but he has a difficult time dealing with her because of his emotional breakdown on the Farris Wheel due to his life's outcome. Nanoka doesn't know how to deal with him because of how angry he appears all of the time, but tries as best as she can to make up for the years apart. As he slowly opens up to his sister he begins to feel more passion for her, rejecting it strongly, causing him to become easily agitated with her. Nanko on the other hand struggles to spend more time with the brother she has idolized and dreamed about all of these years, not realizing what kind of signals she is sending him.
I watched the anime adaption many years ago when it first came out, 2004 or 2005, before it got released in North America. I don't usually do insect pieces and they are typically pointless deep fantasy fanservice fare. But there is something about the realism and character development in Koi Kaze that makes it a really enjoyable story. The story primarily deals with Koshiro's internal struggle and his growing realization of his desires and impulses. He continually fights with them as base urges that can't and shouldn't be realized. He has a difficult time of doing so and turns his internal revulsion into aggressive behavior with his sister. For those looking for some fap material this isn't the direction you want to look. There is nothing explicit in the series as it focuses more on the mental anguish and turmoil of the main characters and the awkwardness it creates in their lives. Aside from Nanoka being a bit more naive than a girl her age really is, the characters are portrayed pretty realistically.
The artwork is interesting. At times its really well done, particularly the characters facial expressions. At other times the artwork gets a little weird and silly. You can tell that some of it is meant to be comedic, to break the thick tension, but at other times it seems to be either out of laziness or someone else taking over a particular panels artwork. Its weird...almost as if the assistants were required to kick in a little more than they usually would. Either way, when the artwork is on, its on and does really well with the flow and feel of the story. Through out the series, particularly at emotionally tense and dramatic parts, there are lovely pages that are deep from the school of shojo manga. Faded outlines, backgrounds with flowers or pedals, perfectly captured character reactions. You could build an entire story just with these panels alone.
I do recommend this to any serious fan of romantic drama's, even with it being about sibling love. It is very well done and quite tragic on a number of levels. The anime did a good job at following the important parts of the manga but either would be good to go through, or both if you would like. The manga has not been published in America, but the anime is available via FUNimation.
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