Plot: Even though he has started dating Nao, Haru finds himself struggling with increasingly lustful thoughts of Sora. When the tension comes to a head and the twins start a sexual relationship, they try to find bliss in secret, but such a taboo cannot be kept under wraps for long.
Breakdown: I’m going to cut my losses and just evaluate every episode as quickly as I can while still covering all of my bases.
Episode 10 – In episode seven, Haru started a romantic relationship with Nao. However, he keeps becoming preoccupied with thoughts of Sora. At this point, it’s not that bad. He has a dream about kissing her, one memory of kissing her when they were kids, and it’s implied that he revved up the crotch engine during that dream sequence. He’s very adamant about pushing these thoughts away, both because he realizes the taboo and social stigma involved and because he doesn’t want to be unfaithful to Nao.
Speaking of Nao, her personality is a little bit different from the way it is in her arc. There, she’s very much open if not insisting on trying to do things with or for Sora so she can be more accepted as Haru’s girlfriend. She’s still reserved and shy, but she’s also very open and caring.
Here, she’s a little on the obnoxious side. She becomes kinda clingy to Haru and there are even a couple of occasions where she’s overbearing and cringey. For instance, when she’s planning her date with Haru over the phone, she rolls on the floor and plays with the phone cord. This isn’t even in her bedroom – the phone is between the front door and the stairs. It’s not something unheard of for a teenage girl with a new boyfriend to do, but it seemed odd for Nao to do.
Even though she slightly tries to get on Sora’s good side, you can definitely tell that Haru’s preoccupation with Sora is quickly starting to bother Nao, especially when they go on their first date.
It’s not too bad of a shift in character, but it’s clear that they’re making her look a bit annoying so we’ll root for Sora more – not that that’s humanly possible. Not going to commit to saying Nao the rapist would be better than Sora just because she’s a terrible human being, but I am going to imply it quite a bit.
Granted, Haru’s not really being a good boyfriend. He goes on a date with Nao, and most of what he gets excited about doing he does for Sora like buying her a cute hair clip and buying something she’d like for dinner.
Speaking of that date, it’s time to talk about Sora. Guess what she’s doing. If you said ‘Being a useless, bitchy waste of oxygen’ you’d get a cookie for paying attention for the past ten episodes.
Sora lays in the doorway in nothing but a towel because she says it just felt nice and cool on a hot day (Go take a cold shower….and not for THOSE reasons.) and then she teases Haru, claiming he’s getting turned on by her.
When Haru makes the date with Nao, Sora lies to him and says he promised he’d take her shopping for a cute hair pin that day. I know she lied because she, for some reason, writes an apology for lying in her computer to Haru, saying she did it because he’s spending too much time with ‘that woman.’
Haru can’t find the heart to turn down Nao’s date, which he believes he’s keeping secret from Sora under guise of going out with Ryouhei, but of course she knows. When he tells Sora this, she has a temper tantrum and says she doesn’t want to go at all anymore, even though Haru offers to go any other day of the week.
Sora, you’re sixteen years old. Go shopping by yourself. I don’t care about your supposed illness we barely ever see actually existing. Does Haru think Sora is so frail that she can’t even do that by herself? In the Nao arc, she went to the beach alone just fine.
Nao and Haru come home to make curry for Sora, but Haru sends Nao home when he discovers Sora acting strangely. She had a nightmare that he left her all alone. After he hugs her and says that would never happen, he goes off to make her curry.
The next day, Sora and Haru are walking to school when they meet Nao. Haru has to cover up that he was on a date with Nao yesterday. Nao, realizing Haru hasn’t told Sora yet out of supposed embarrassment, helps with the coverup and says she just bumped into him while he was grocery shopping and meant to help Haru with the curry.
Sora suddenly stops and claims she’s too weak to walk very fast, so she sends Nao off ahead so she won’t be late for school. She legit says this with a bitchy smirk.
Sora: “You’ll be late if you wait for us.”
Nao, realizing Sora’s a cunt—oh excuse me, respecting that Sora will take a while to accept her, and later expressing that she was put off by Sora’s defensiveness, agrees to walk ahead. And then Sora grabs onto Haru’s shirt again like a toddler.
Later, when Nao and Haru are having lunch, Haru actually says that Sora works him really hard and it feels like she doesn’t respect him. Whatwhatwhat? Is that self-awareness I see? Will Haru realize that his feelings for his sister are—I’m not even going to do this sarcastic bit. This statement affects nothing.
And then we get to the end of the episode. Haru peeks in on Sora in her bedroom after hearing her call for him.
When he sees her, she’s masturbating and moaning Haru’s name.
Haru actually collapses in front of the door, covers his mouth with his hand….and starts crying. Yeah, that kinda threw me for a loop too. I thought he’d jack it at the door at least, if not take the opportunity to come in for the assist, but nope. I was impressed that they chose to actually have him struggle with this.
For a bit anyway.
Episode 11 – Haru is on his second date with Nao, but his mind won’t stop wandering to images of Sora masturbating to thoughts of him. Building on the fact that he reacted to this by crying and nearly collapsing in the doorway, you’d think maybe he’s just having a deep internal struggle about what to do with Sora because this is obviously insanely awkward.
Nope.
He’s just a horndog.
Did I mention attempted rape in my last post? I think I did. Well, here ya go.
Haru has one too many daydreams of Sora going to town on herself so he suddenly drags Nao into a love hotel and forces himself on her. Nao has to physically push him away before he stops.
Nao questions whether he really loves her. He claimed he did, past tense, back in episode seven (I don’t remember that, but okay), but ever since that first kiss, he’s been really distant and strange. We learn later that he responded by saying he honestly doesn’t know if he loves her, which is really shitty. Never, ever tell someone you love them and then say you don’t know if you love them. Feelings change over time, and if that happens, then fine, that’s just the way things go. But feelings of love don’t change in a period of a couple days.
Sora does the first useful thing she’s ever done ever when Haru comes home to several neatly folded stacks of laundry. In a surprising turn of events, Sora actually proclaims that she wants to do more to help him out since they only have each other now.
The next day at school, Haru does something kinda comical. He researches the history involved with incestuous relationships….in the school library. Discretion was never really his strong suit, was it? (As we’ll definitely find out at the end of this episode. Foreshadowing~~~)
Kozue, who is another girl in the group, but doesn’t get her own arc in the anime, catches him and asks about it. He, surprisingly, talks about what he was researching. She says it’d be shocking to see such a relationship in real life. Kozue is very averse to the whole idea of incest and has stated that in passing a couple times now. Keep that in mind because I guess it’s kinda important later maybe?
That following morning, Haru discovers Sora is sick with a severe fever. And of course it’s such a bad fever that she’s dripping with sweat. Only one thing to do. Guide her into a cool bath, get an ice pack, do what sensible people would do—I mean strip her naked in bed and wipe her down her whole body with a dry cloth.
After tending to Sora all day, Haru falls asleep by her bedside and Sora wakes him up with a kiss on the lips. Sora confesses her love for him, unable to hold back after all the naked rubdowns and whatnot. Haru gives in to his desires, kisses her back and confesses he also loves her too. They insert rod A into slot B (Eventually, because for some reason Haru has trouble finding slot B on Sora but no other girl. *shrug*) and start a romantic relationship.
Transition to the walk to school the next day. Sora is 100x more pleasant to be around now. I guess she just needed to get laid to cure her horrible virus of a personality.
Don’t believe me? When she gets home, she prepares dinner and vows to work hard to learn to cook well since all she can make is frozen food and instant soup right now. Then she asks for a kiss as a reward, which he gives her. Good dog—I mean, girl.
So is she really doing all of this just because she wants to help Haru or is she fishing for sex rewards?
Anyhoo, I should bring up that Haru is cheating on Nao. They never officially break up, even though what happened at the love hotel would break up any relationship, but she seems to want to still be friendly with him and they never outright say they’re ending it. Also, on the Wiki page, it says she ends the relationship later than this so I’m standing by my claim that he’s totally cheating on her….with his sister. Haru’s an asshole, yup yup.
Since Sora is apparently too dense to realize the social taboos involved with incest, and Haru still doesn’t understand discretion, the group at school quickly become suspicious of the twins’ overly friendly behavior and spending too much time together. Kozue even confronts Haru about it, but he covers it up by saying she spent so much time in the hospital when she was younger that getting sick like that again triggered his need to give her some extra attention.
And by “extra attention” I mean his dick.
And by “his dick” I mean the next scene is Sora giving Haru a blowjob at home.
Haru is apprehensive because of the confrontation with Kozue the previous day, but Sora pays it no mind, explaining that they’re special because they were apart for a really long time, so it’s fine for them to do it.
Before I get my psychology hat on again, Sora and Haru grew up with each other. He just didn’t see her as often because she spent so long in the hospital. But as far as I know he visited her fairly frequently, so this claim is just stupid.
Even if they were apart completely for however long she was in the hospital, which I think was for a couple years at most considering we know they spent plenty of time together out when they were little kids, that means nothing. You don’t make up for lost time with a sibling by plowing them.
They’re late for school because of the blowjob, and Haru gets to class just to have a daydream about more blowjobs.
He rushes out of school the instant the bell rings so he can go home with Sora and do the intercourse some more.
Now buckle up because they’re about to amp up the lack of common sense and discretion by about 1000.
They start making out in the doorway, which eventually leads to them starting to screw in the entryway of the front door.
The unlocked front door.
The unlocked front door that also has large windows on either side.
Golly.
I wonder what happens next.
Kozue, who is just as suspicious as ever about Haru and Sora’s relationship, finds Haru’s cell phone in his desk and internally debates going to his house to give it back. Nao arrives and asks her about it. Only then does Kozue decide to go, which is weird because if she thinks Haru and Sora are pogo sticking each other, why would she want to bring Nao, who is supposedly his girlfriend, along?
Have I ever mentioned that Nao is Haru and Sora’s NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR by the way? Because apparently neither of the twins understand that voices are loud, and maybe in addition to the doorway sex being a bad idea, LOUD doorway sex is even worse.
Nao and Kozue arrive and hear the loud doorway sex. Both are stunned, and Kozue rushes in to get….I really feel weird saying this, but just about the best possible view of this sex to catch them in to ensure they’re both dumbfounded. It’s almost like Haru and Sora were filming a porno and had the camera in front of the door. He is taking her from behind, and they are both straight on facing the door. And, of course, they happen to come in right as Sora is hitting her high note.
Haru and Sora are both stunned, though, really guys, come on. It’s like you wanted to get caught. Sora did point out where they were to Haru before they got down and dirty, but all they ended up saying was that it made it exhilarating. Yeah it’ll be real exhilarating when you get caught and ostracized by the whole town.
Which brings us to…
Episode 12 – Kozue runs out of the house screaming like she just caught a brother and sister having sex—oh wait. And Nao solemnly apologizes, leaves and shuts the door.
Can we all have a moment of silence for Nao here? She not only found out her boyfriend was cheating on her, but he was cheating on her with his sister. His terrible sister.
And just to highlight how terrible she is, after Nao and Kozue leave, Sora seems to give zero fucks about the repercussions this could have on Haru (even if she, personally, doesn’t care what any of them think about her) and immediately tries to goad him back into sex while he continues to sit there in utter shock and dismay.
I guess they did go back to sex, because the next morning Sora is getting breakfast stark naked.
(Can I mention that it’s weird that each sex scene has Haru fully clothed? Every time. He doesn’t even take his pants off. He’s sometimes seen naked after the fact, but during the actual sex, he’s always fully clothed.)
Haru doesn’t want to go to school for obvious reasons, but Sora says it’s no big deal. Surprisingly, word hasn’t spread like wildfire about this. In fact, it appears as though Nao and Kozue kept their mouths shut about it.
When Haru sees Kozue, she looks HORRID. I guess she’s been up all night crying over this, making her eyes damn near glow red….Look, I get that it’s shocking, and Kozue also had feelings for Haru (you’d never really know outside of the attraction every girl gets for Haru. She just suddenly confesses to him while talking about the sex later.) but this is a bit of an overreaction, emotionally, for her. She’s barely a side character. If anything, Nao should be reacting like this, especially considering that, without Haru, she’s said to be very despondent and depressed.
That evening, Kozue tells Haru that she won’t tell anyone about what happened, but she wants him to know that she thinks what they’re doing is very wrong. She used to love him, but now she’ll never speak to him again.
Immediately after that, Nao talks with Haru. She says she had her suspicions about their situation, but didn’t want to think the worst.
Haru apologizes, and then…..he explains why he did it.
Therein lies the problem I have with this whole pairing.
Haru heralds back to when he and Sora were ten (Haru later says he found Nao two summers later, and they were 12 there, so they’re ten now.) She had just come home from the hospital, and he claims that the girl that came back from the hospital was not the same sister he knew. She was a delicate girl that made his heart race, and he couldn’t stop thinking of her like that.
Apparently, even as a littler kid, Sora was still a bitch because we see her snubbing Haru during dinner for no reason. So her shit personality is not because her parents died. That closes the door there.
Haru explains that Sora is not an honest person, so whenever she’d get scared or rely on him and cling to him like a toddler, his heart would go pitter patter.
In summary, he loves her and is attracted to her because she’s a useless pile of human goo. Excuse me, a CUTE useless pile of human goo.
He realized even back then that loving his sister in that way was wrong, so when he made a connection with Nao two years later, he tried to make it into true love, but it obviously didn’t go well. To his credit, Haru does make a sincere apology to Nao for hurting her, even though that doesn’t make up for attempted rape.
When Haru has his head down while apologizing, Nao approaches him. I was about to roll my eyes because I thought she was going to pet his head or hold him and comfort him, but instead she just smiles and gives us the second badass moment of this entire series.
Nao: “It really didn’t go well, yes.” She then turns around him and walks out of the room without another word.
Nao’s really handling this well for someone who not only just found out her boyfriend was cheating on her with his sister, but was also using her to help him avoid incest and nearly raped her to deal with his pent up sexual tension for her.
Haru cries when she leaves the room, but I don’t have any sympathy for the guy.
Like so many of these stupid incest “love” stories, the love isn’t real. Sora is overly dependent on Haru and completely fixated on him both emotionally and sexually. She has never made an effort to care for anything else besides the internet, junk food and Haru, and she constantly treats Haru like crap – like he’s obligated to spend all of his time with her and take her places and cook for her. Only recently has she finally decided to start doing stuff around the house for him, and I really think that’s only because she wants to play housewife.
Haru’s just as bad. His love for Sora is only lust. The end. Like Yori in Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru, there are no likable aspects of his sister to fall in love with. I will admit Iku is at least a relatively nice person, but otherwise they’re both stupid, naïve, useless human beings who I’m surprised can blink without their brothers pushing and pulling their eyelids. Haru never states that he loves his sister for anything about her as a person – just that she’s cute and frail and he loves when she needs him.
But we’re still not done. Haru is moping in his room. When Sora tries to feed him whatever slop she piled together for dinner, she tries to get him to kiss her. For god’s sake, Sora, read the room. You can’t solve every problem Haru has with sex. Are you really so desensitized as a human being that you can’t understand what has happened? That he actually cared about the people who were hurt by your actions? Is getting your various holes plugged with Haru really all you care about?
He pulls away, but only for a moment before, suddenly, more attempted rape.
He grabs her by the face, shoves her to the floor, rips off the top of her dress and starts lapping at her boobs like a crazed dog.
Sora is initially panicked, but quickly chills out because who cares if it’s attempted rape as long as it’s Haru-kun? She even says this.
Sora: “I don’t mind if you mess me up. If you want to, Haru, you can.” Ugh.
Haru rushes over to the wall crying and says they should stop their relationship because it’s wrong. Sora has another tantrum because of course she does. She doesn’t understand why siblings can’t kiss or have sex. She doesn’t care what other people think of them – she just wants to be with Haru.
Haru suggests that there are other problems associated with incest, namely the issues that would come up with a baby if they were to have one.
Sora addresses that problem by saying she’d just get rid of it.
Fucking peach, she is.
Haru FINALLY slaps this bitch to the floor. I only say that celebratory now because I hate her so much – in regards to a romantic relationship, this is just a window to how unhealthy it would really be in the long run.
Later, at dinner, Sora asks why HARU would say such horrible things. What horrible things?! All he said was he didn’t want to have a relationship due to all of the terrible baggage that comes with it, both social and practical, then he told you not to say such terrible things like, oh I dunno, flippantly saying you’d have an abortion if you ever got pregnant with his kid.
Haru explains that he got a text from their uncle earlier. I guess he and their aunt (unrelated) were overseas. I forget that part of the story. They’re coming back to Japan and are offering residence. Haru and Sora were left with no money after their parents died, which just raises all sorts of questions.
Why would their parents leave them with no money? Did the uncle and aunt give them money? Because how have they been affording food, Internet, cell phones etc. if they were left with no money? The kids in town specifically said only rich kids have cell phones. Or is he saying the money they were left with is running out? Their parents seemed pretty well off, and it’s only been a couple of months, if that. Why do they have no money?
Their aunt and uncle can only take one twin each, however, so they’d be separated. Haru wants to do it so they can find happiness.
Sora has her biggest tantrum yet and trashes the kitchen before stomping off.
Days pass. Haru and Sora decide to stop going to school. Also, even though Haru is clearly against their relationship now, he seems perfectly willing to sleep with a naked Sora in his bed. He’s also having those same wet dreams about her.
They sleep all day, and when Haru awakens, he finds Sora’s room trashed. She even broke the window, ripped the curtains, tore the sleeves off of her uniform, ripped up her dress and her oh so precious stuffed bunny was torn to shreds. What the actual shit is wrong with this girl?
Anyway, Sora is missing. She texts him saying “I’m your little sister, but I want to kiss you…I want to become one with you…but I guess that bothered you after all…I’m sorry…” Isn’t it great that Sora keeps backhandedly blaming Haru for all of this while playing the victim? Especially after she’s the one who first put the moves on him?
Oh wait, no, that’s terrible, and she’s a shitty human being.
Also, isn’t it nice how this still isn’t about how their love is tormenting them so? And that it’s still about kissing and sex?
Oh wait, no. That’s shallow and toxic. Ignore me.
Haru rushes off to find her and bumps into Nao, who actually helps him try to look for her.
They stop to regroup for a bit, and Nao explains something that happened earlier. Before Nao went to confront Haru about his relationship with Sora, she went to the roof to talk to Sora.
Sora only said, “Now we’re even.” She’s speaking in regards to her seeing Nao and Haru have sex when they were 12.
That…is the first thing she says to Haru’s girlfriend….after Nao sees them playing human wheelbarrow. I’m not defending Nao’s rape, even if the show and Haru don’t treat it like a rape, but Sora is a cunt. Plain and simple. She doesn’t take this opportunity to apologize or try to show some sympathy or shame – for someone who used to be her friend, no less – she acts like this whole situation, the one that is currently ruining Haru’s life, is the perfect revenge on Nao for having the nerve to try and get with Haru in the first place.
Someone, please, tell me again why anyone with a living brain cell is meant to like this little she-demon.
Haru remembers Sora hearing how the lake behind the shrine is meant to be a place of rebirth, so he believes she might be there. He races to the shrine, avoiding Akira because he doesn’t know how he’d talk to her about it. He finds Sora at the lake, and I’m really thinking she wanted him to find her because it’s been several hours since she left and she’s barely up to her waist in water. If she was planning to kill herself in the lake, she’s taking her sweet time.
I guess neither of them can swim, because the instant their feet can no longer touch the bottom they’re both drowning. Also, they get teleported to a spot where the water is about 50 feet deeper somehow.
They’re both conscious but neither of them are even making an effort to swim back up. Haru’s even accepting his fate to die there with her so they can finally be together in a world far away. Yes, best big brother ever. Accept your death for the both of you and don’t even actually try to save her.
Miraculously, like really they never explain how, they both end up safe and sound on the steps of the shrine. There’s a trail of water leading to them, so I can only assume someone actually did save them, but I don’t know who. Haru never told Nao where he was going, and she was the only other person helping him look for Sora.
Resigned, Haru decides that he’s going to dedicate his life to making Sora happy no matter what. He no longer cares what anyone thinks, and, even though he doesn’t know how yet, he’ll somehow find them happiness.
This next shot change is confusing. As we go from night to morning, we also go from Sora and Haru kissing with all of their clothes on to the both of them half-clothed and hugging. Did they just have sex on the shrine steps or are they using body heat for warmth on this summer night?
Cut to some time later, Haru and Sora have left together, not even taking their stuff from home. Leaving one lone text on Kazuha’s phone. Haru explains that they’ve taken several planes and buses to get to an undisclosed location overseas to live together in peace to find happiness. What the…how? Did their uncle wire them money? Because they’re supposed to be broke, right?
Kozue wonders if they can really find happiness, and Nao explains that it’s possible because you can’t help who you fall in love with. Way to out their incestuous relationship to the others, Nao. Kozue vehemently disagrees, disbelieving that feelings can really be enough in their situation. Yup. I agree. If their relationship is really just lust and codependency, it will either be a lasting toxic relationship or a relationship with no staying power. I’m forced to think the former.
Brought to tears and broken down yet again, Kozue walks off ahead of the others. Again, why is she so violently affected by this? If you want to go ‘ew icky’ and lament your unrequited off-screen love, go ahead, but stop reacting like you just saw your parents die in front of you.
On a train leading wherever, Sora has a new identical bunny somehow (That has no connection to her mother now, so outside of continuing to make her look like a child, this was pointless to give her.) She tells Haru about some crumbs on his lips and sucks them off with her mouth while sitting on his lap and practically humping him. They’re alone on the train, but jeez, do you guys ever learn?
The end.
—————————–
It’s no real secret, but this arc is horrible. I don’t believe their “love” or support their relationship in the least. Even if they weren’t related, Sora is way too unlikable and Haru is way too driven by his dick for me to think this relationship is anything but hollow and unhealthy. Sora never takes Haru’s feelings into consideration, and when she does all she offers him in comfort is sex.
They’ll never find happiness wherever they go because I doubt they can keep the fact that they’re siblings a secret. Oh that’s right. I didn’t mention the fact that the location they’re heading to is somewhere that their parents had connections. That’s sure to end well. Their complete lack of discretion will also mean they’ll certainly be caught easily.
But hey, I guess like most of these poorly written ‘taboo’ relationships, these two dumbasses deserve each other. He wants a useless cute doll to take care of, and she wants Haru and only Haru. Works out in their weird little toxic world.
I saw a surprising number of people in the comments actually writing well-written analyses on their relationship and this series as a whole. Even though I respect their points, I can’t agree with damn near any of them. At the end of the day, Sora is a whiny, manipulative, useless, petty brat who got exactly what she wanted, and Haru is a doormat who can’t control his winky. It’s a sad state of affairs when I am seriously wondering whether or not BwInKwS is the better incest story here. I’d probably still side with YnS just because there’s less rapey-ness, but it’s still a close call.
Oh by the way, there’s a sequel game to the original visual novel called Haruka na Sora in which Sora and Haru, reportedly, get married somehow and, break out the cigars – they’re expecting a baby! Because who wouldn’t want to write in a pregnancy for a girl who flippantly said she’d just have an abortion if she ever got pregnant?
This arc can kiss every part of my ass.
Next time, the full series review.
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The Anime Madhouse 