Why are so many anime series fascinated with incest?

[Thelastguardian]

Maybe you should read up on the story of the Blue People; one of the most famous surviving inbreeding family in United States. Lest you think it doesn't happen in the US

[sic]
The clan kept multiplying. Fugates married other Fugates. Sometimes they married first cousins. And they married the people who lived closest to them, the Combses, Smiths, Ritchies, and Stacys. All lived in isolation from the world, bunched in log cabins up and down the hollows, and so it was only natural that a boy married the girl next door, even if she had the same last name.

When they settled this country back then, there was no roads. It was hard to get out, so they intermarried," says Dennis Stacy, a 51-year-old coal miner and amateur genealogist who has filled a loose-leaf notebook with the laboriously traced blood lines of several local families.

Stacy counts Fugate blood in his own veins. "If you'll notice," he observes, tracing lines on his family's chart, which lists his mother's and his father's great grandfather as Henley Fugate, "I'm kin to myself."

[Dark Lord Zenigame]

Originally Posted by KJlost

Shakugan no Shana, incest? Where?

You know in the OP? With the two blonde kids dancing? They're brother and sister. :>

Originally Posted by Kamui4356

You might want to check the laws they list. Several of the states that allow it with "restrictions" effectively ban it.;)

Not that it really matters, either way it's still legal in a lot more places than most people think.

Legal with restrictions is still legal... :p

...though the thing that worries me is this...

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

But we can marry our Grandparents! *shudders* XD

...is that seriously true? o_o
Because I can't say anything about that other than that it's fucking sick. ._.

[Pleroma]

Same as in the US, the law usually states incest as between Parent-Child, Brother-Sister or Uncle/Aunt-Niece/Nephew. Since Grandparents and Grandchildren fit none of these, it is technically not illegal.

Never had a sibling, but I definitely wouldn't have an issue with cousins since its ultimately just a silly taboo.

PS: gotta love those SnS twins, wish for once the heroes of an anime would actually get it on like those creeps do instead of the incessant blushing and hijinks.

[Dark Lord Zenigame]

...That's quite disturbing to find out. ._.



As for me, cousin marriage is creepy, especially since I'm as close to my cousins as I am with my sister... something like that just seems wrong.

[KJlost]

Cousin marriage isn't just a simple taboo; it's biologically dangerous. The chances of cousins having the same dangerous recessive gene is far higher than you would if you met a stranger, at times just 25% chance. If you did indeed have same recessive gene, than any child conceived between the two also has infinitely higher probability of being effected. If it's suppressed by a dominant gene, that's fine. If per chance the recessive gene is expressed, the child may be born mutated, or worse, suffer death before even being born. This is why marriage between immediate and secondary families are outlawed in most countries. It's just biologically dangerous.

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by KJlost

Cousin marriage isn't just a simple taboo; it's biologically dangerous. The chances of cousins having the same dangerous recessive gene is far higher than you would if you met a stranger, at times just 25% chance. If you did indeed have same recessive gene, than any child conceived between the two also has infinitely higher probability of being effected. If it's suppressed by a dominant gene, that's fine. If per chance the recessive gene is expressed, the child may be born mutated, or worse, suffer death before even being born. This is why marriage between immediate and secondary families are outlawed in most countries. It's just biologically dangerous.

That's exaggerated, especially the "infinitely higher" part, on the short term at least... If both parents have the recessive gene, it would be a 50% chance of the child having it and a 25% chance of the child getting both copies. However, there's also a 25% chance of the child getting neither copy. Further, it's making an assumption that the recessive gene in question is both harmful, and exclusive to that family line. There are a lot of recessive genes that aren't harmful and/or are quite common.

Studies have shown the risk of birth defect to be 3-4% among non-related couples, and 4-7% among first cousin couple. Not really that great a difference. With modern medical technology, if they're really concerned, they can use in vitro fertilization, screen for the defect, if there's a test, and then only implant the healthy embryo(s).

The real problem only occurs over time. The recessive gene after several generations could become much more common, which, if it causes a disorder, will result in that disorder becoming common. Even assuming no genetic defects, several generations of inbreeding results in low genetic diversity. This in turn increases a population's vulnerability to disease. This is the true danger of incest. It's not as clear cut as if you marry your cousin, your babies will be born with 3 heads, it's much more subtle.

[KJlost]

It's true that I did exaggerate, but I only wanted to depict the dangers of mixing blood with related genes.

[JediNight]

Speaking on the subject of marrying your 1st cousin:

I heard in one of my science classes at some point (genetics chapters) that you are actually fairly safe from genetic complications by the time you hit your 1st cousins in the family tree, but as was said before -- its taboo in a lot of countries, and even if its only like a 3-5% chance of a messed up baby, do you really want to take that chance? >.>

EDIT: Wow I was pretty close, and my numbers were just best-guess lol...

[Kensuke]

Incest in real life: Big no-no.
Incest in anime: Yes. (I liked Koi Kaze)

Like some people said it, if it sells, it will be done. And as long as it is fiction, I will go for it.

[Newprimus]

Originally Posted by Dark Lord Zenigame

You know in the OP? With the two blonde kids dancing? They're brother and sister. :>

Well those two are sort of an exception too I'd personally say, being not human and evil and all that.

[Dragnfly@Gamefaqs]

Incest, loli, yuri... I'm not really bothered by any of it in anime. I have no sister and I live in a very male-dominant family so I guess it doesn't bother me much. If it's not real I tend not to be bothered. If it is real I'm also not bothered but I feel bad for their future. Sure, I feel that true love is the force that overcomes all but some things do naturally, either by society or genetics, make it more difficult. There's gotta be an inlaid reason for that, eh?

However, to add more twists to this interresting discussion I once had a character design that was a brother/sister pair who were in love. However, they could not have children. It was meant to raise the question of, if you removed the genetic side effects then would such a relationship still be ok?

[DragoonKain3]

Ah crap. Remembered it wrong, it was great-grandparents can marry their great-grandchildren. Still doesn't make it any better. XD

What's weird though is that I can't find the 'can't marry your cousin' clause in Canada over the net. But I swear I saw it when I took introductory law, or maybe it's just my memory being hazy since I never took a law course again. >_>

[Morisato]

Cousins can do it.

[Dragnfly@Gamefaqs]

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

Ah crap. Remembered it wrong, it was great-grandparents can marry their great-grandchildren. Still doesn't make it any better. XD

What's weird though is that I can't find the 'can't marry your cousin' clause in Canada over the net. But I swear I saw it when I took introductory law, or maybe it's just my memory being hazy since I never took a law course again. >_>

Most of those laws are provincial, I think. I believe here in NB has it different than, say, Quebec.

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by Chiibi

Well I don't know about those other titles but SHANA is NOT crap!

EXACTLY what he said.

Originally Posted by Cinos

Shana...Crap? is that a typo? plz god let that be a typo..
i dont like you -_-*

It better be. >.>


Really, I think the whole "incest is bad" thing is much more in the mind than in the body or heart. I don't condone incestual relationships of course, but I won't go "Aaaagh, those cousins are kissing, they're so sick!!" Seriously, when you get down to the bottom of it, why is it so bad? Is your brother/sister any less human than a childhood friend, or anyting like that?

That said, now getting back to the point: I think this is partially a misunderstanding, as the word "Oniichan" doesn't necessarily mean blood-brother. Example: In DC and DCSS, the "Oniichan" title Nemu called Junichi was really no more than the affectual version, as opposed to the Oniichan you'd mean for your blood brother. A little girl you run into on the street would call you oniichan just because she doesn't know your name, sort of as a "mister" for younger males, just like you'd call an old man "ojisan," which doesn't necessarily mean uncle. In Canvas2, this is the same meaning, the affectual meaning and not the blood relation meaning.

[Ending]

It's the same thing as with everything else: it's different, it's taboo, and thus it sparks interest almost naturally. I have to admit that it does interest me too, but like with so many other series, many incest-animes are just plain bad taste that try to get your attention any way possible (and thus have those few bucks to make another cheapo flick).

[Shay]

LOL! Whatever does it for you man.

[monir]

Funny thread. Incest can't be all that bad. I mean, come on, even some of the major religion in the world promotes incest indirectly. For example, how did Adam and Eve populate their region?

If you are not even 18, or just can't stomach shows with incest theme, stay away from them. For the rest of us, hurrah for all these incestual theme in anime. Won't it be nice if the next show is named as Onegai Onichan!?

[Anh_Minh]

Well, Onegai Twin wasn't far off. I think the next show needs to be about a genius child teacher who also happen to be the brother of his (male) student love interest.

[Shay]

Actually, come to think of it, my mum is quite hot.