Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucarion
Yeah....Um...No. You actually can fall for someone you were raised with, even someone you've known as your sibling all your life. People are different. Some people are disgusted with the very idea (like you), while some...just aren't. Trust me. They exist. They just don't talk.
Anyway, I wouldn't call this turn in the story illogical. I say it was pretty expected. This story is about Tatsuya and Miyuki, it's always been about their relationship and just how that detail ties in and affects the greater world. Heck, the author said so himself in the afterwords. People just tend to project their preferences into the story, so people who would prefer Mahouka not to get into an imouto end will look for any reason for it not to go there because they find it awful. But the facts are there: the way Tatsuya and Miyuki have always been set up as the ideal husband and wife if not for the fact that they were brother and sister. In the earliest volumes they even said that they never really saw each other as siblings as they never properly bonded as such, as far as they were concerned they were just a boy and a girl around the same age who lived together and shared the same genetic material. They have each other as their most important person in the world, and the symbolism behind them ties them together and were designed to complement and complete each other--making up for what the other lacks, while reinforcing their strengths.
Plus, let's remember that this is a story about magic in Japan about magic noble families with two characters who are described as being as close to gods as people can possibly get in this setting. Japan is chock-full of stories both mythological and historical about older brothers and younger sisters falling in love. Their history and oral and literary traditions affect how they appreciate certain stories--their Romeo and Juliet is about a brother who gave up his right to be emperor to be with his sister, star-crossed lovers are reborn as siblings, Izanagi and Izanami bore the islands of the nation, Amaterasu married her brother, emperors (and in older times even commoners) married their half-sisters, the ideal husband and wife relationship is said to be when a husband treats his wife like his younger sister, and the "imo" that eventually became "imouto" was once synonymous with "wife". While it's still just as taboo as with the rest of the world, the Japanese mostly see it as something improper rather than outright abominable--some even see it as sympathetically tragic, and darkly romantic. Why wouldn't Satou do it?
There's also the fact that such a match is heavily steeped in magic--gods marry their sisters, and it's seen as a way to "refine" and "purify" one's bloodline. Teito Monogatari (which Satou took some inspiration from) also had a plotline about a brother and sister bearing a daughter. So yeah, I'm going to say that such a development is par off the course for a story like Mahouka.
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Yes, first time poster here but I don't mind jumping right into the fire.
While this turn may be expected you also highlight the major problem with this relationship. Their relationship was planned and forged by outside participants.. They were bound by sibling relationship, although this chapter's revelation puts that in doubt. They were constrained by a master/servant relationship dictated by the rules of their clan. Their bodies were manufactured to obey/control the other. Even though both care for each other, how much free will exists when both have been bred to be together? This whole world is riddled by rank and stature and crushes free will fairly easily. Both Miyuki and Mayumi want Tatsuya but blood and class respectively prevent them from seeking their desires. The author has spent so much energy on depicting how rigid magicians lives are-and now, all of a sudden the author is doing a "do-over" by removing 2 of the 3 constraints compelling Tatsuya and Miyuki being together. We're still waiting to see what transpires and determine if it's believable or not.
The other issue is one of character emotional development. Both have their issues. Miyuki has been following Tatsuya like a little puppy since he saved her life back at the military base back in 2092. Her immature, fawning adoration of her brother has been borderline creepy and made fun of by her classmates. She's been fairly one-dimensional in this regard even though she's the emotional outlet for the pair. Then, there's Tatsuya. Intellectually sharp as a tack, socially dumb as a post. His emotional core has been stripped away except for this one, positive outlet-his sister. Tatsuya still has a long way to go to develop his emotional psyche. There have been hints suggested here and there that's he's growing outside his programmed core, but the guy isn't up for a romantic relationship with anybody. He needs a lot more work and the author doesn't spend too much time with his characters in that department.
But it's not like there is any close competition. Mayumi is a distant second, being the only woman who can get under his skin which is actually kind of an achievement of sorts. Mayumi and Tatsuya are the reincarnated star-crossed lovers of Maya and Koich, their union could resolve the Saegusa/Yotsuba split,i but I'm not sure if the author wants to go that direction or not. Miyuki is the female counterpart for Tatsuya with school-related things. Mayumi has been Tartsuya's counterpart as the story's progressed outside the school and deals with MC affairs. Honoka's affection has been rationalized as a form of co-dependency and Erika is just impressed by Tatsuya's warrior spirit. I doubt it goes further than that.
So it looks like things are progressing forwards for Tatsuya and Miyuki, but it needs a lot of work because both have some serious issues. They may resolve themselves in the upcoming volumes but it won't be palatable outside the shippers unless the author puts some serious time into these issues. IMO it doesn't seem likely.
