Koi Kaze

Synopsis

Twenty-seven-year-old Koshiro Saeki, who lives with his father, is dumped by his girlfriend of two years, who claims he was too cold and she'd found someone else. While on a train the morning after, he sees high school student Nanoka Kohinata looking at a button and crying. As she's later getting off the train, she drops her wallet and Koshiro follows to return it. Koshiro finds himself watching her sudden smile as she notices the cherry blossoms are in bloom. Later, Koshiro is leaving his job at a marriage-arranging company with a coworker when he encounters the girl again. Having two free tickets to a nearby amusement park, he gives them to her. To his surprise she asks him to go with her. While on the Ferris wheel, the girl explains that she was crying on the train because she'd been rejected by a boy she'd loved for several years. Koshiro ends up telling her about his own break up, and cries while she comforts him.

As they leave the park together having enjoyed the outing and expecting to part and never meet again, they run into their father and are shocked to discover they are siblings. Nanoka moved to Tokyo just that morning to live with them because it is closer to school. As Koshiro hadn't gone home the night before, he hadn't learned of her arrival. Since they had grown up living separately, they didn't know what the other looked like.

As the series progresses, Koshiro finds himself unable to rid himself of the attraction that he felt for Nanoka when he first met her. Instead, his love and desire continues to grow, despite his attempts to fight them. Entering womanhood, Nanoka also develops feelings for her brother, only increasing Koshiro's struggle. In near desperation, he moves out of the family home to remove himself from temptation and attempts to keep his coworker, Kaname Chidori, from finding out the truth behind his brusqueness with Nanoka.

However, the solution is only temporary, as Nanoka begins visiting regularly, cooking him meals and spending time with him. Eventually, unable to resist their feelings anymore, they have sex. Unsure what to do now that they have broken a societal taboo, they visit their parents, before contemplating committing suicide together. In the end, they decide to live, and to continue their relationship.

Characters

Koshiro Saeki (佐伯 耕四郎, Saeki Kōshirō)

Voiced by: Kenta Miyake (Japanese); Patrick Seitz (English)A 27-year old large man usually sporting a five o'clock shadow, Koshiro works for a marriage-arranging company and lives with his father. He has almost completely forgotten that he had a sister until she came and moved in with them. He finds himself battling with society's definition of what an older brother should be and his sexual and romantic feelings for his sister.

Nanoka Kohinata (小日向 七夏, Kohinata Nanoka)

Voiced by: Yūki Nakamura (Japanese); Stephanie Sheh (English)Nanoka is a 15-year-old high school girl who has moved to Tokyo to live with her father and older brother to attend school. A bright and active girl, she grows increasingly fond of her older brother, though is regularly annoyed with his brusque nature. Her friends unwittingly tease her about having a "brother complex", not realizing that Nanoka is actually falling in love with him.

Zenzo Saeki (佐伯 善三, Saeki Zenzō)

Voiced by: Ryōichi Tanaka (Japanese); Doug Stone (English)Zenzo is Koshiro and Nanoka's father. He is prone to bouts of hysterical worry and cares for both of his children, though in particularly Nanoka.

Makie Kohinata (小日向 梢絵, Kohinata Makie)

Voiced by: Yūko Katō (Japanese); Wendee Lee (English)Makie is Koshiro and Nanoka's mother. Until moving to Tokyo, Nanoka lived with her mother, who runs a hair salon. She rarely sees Koshiro, though she speaks to him fondly when he visits.

Kaname Chidori (千鳥 要, Chidori Kaname)

Voiced by: Akemi Okamura (Japanese); Michelle Ruff (English)Kaname is Koshiro's supervisor and appears to be around his age. While she is often critical of his sloppy appearance, she encourages him where she can. When Koshiro first sees Nanoka outside his job, Chidori encourages him to go on a date with her, not learning until later that Nanoka is his sister. She eventually becomes suspicious of the siblings' relationship, and upon realizing she is correct, attempts to get them to end things, even trying to convince Nanoka that she is dating Koshiro. When she realizes that the siblings can't be happy unless they are together, she decides to leave them alone in hopes they can live with their choice. She shares the same name as Kaname Chidori from Full Metal Panic!.

Kei Odagiri (オダギリ 圭 Odagiri Kei)

Voiced by: Kousuke Okano (Japanese); Liam O'Brien (English)Odagiri works in the same office as Koshiro and Kaname Chidori. He is the office pervert, who always wants a teenage girl as his significant other, revised after meeting Nanoka to wanting a younger teenage sister. He serves as a contrast to Koshiro, and as comic relief.

Futaba Anzai (安西 双葉 Anzai Futaba)

Voiced by: Satomi Akesaka (Japanese); Tara Hudson (English)Futaba is Nanoka's first friend at her high school. She has brown hair worn in two twintails, and wears glasses.

Youko Tamaki (玉木 洋子, Tamaki Youko)

Voiced by: Risa Shimizu (Japanese); Heather Klinke (English)Youko is a friend of both Nanoka and Futaba with short blond hair. She attends the same high school as them, but is in a different class; in Episode 3 Youko is shown to have a boyfriend who went to cram school with her. Before meeting Nanoka, she and Futaba went to the same middle school together.

Kazuya Miyauchi (宮内 和也, Miyauchi Kazuya)

Voiced by: Ryoya Kobayashi (Japanese); Johnny Yong Bosch (English)Kazuya is a male classmate of Nanoka and Futaba.

Shouko Akimoto (秋元 翔子, Akimoto Shouko)

Voiced by: Ryoka Yuzuki (Japanese); Karen Strassman (English)Shouko was Koshiro's ex-girlfriend at the beginning of the series. The reason she broke up with him was because she believed that he was "too cold" towards her and she had found another boyfriend.

Manga

The first chapter of Koi Kaze premiered in the September 2001 issue of the monthly Japanese magazine The Evening. New chapters appeared monthly until its conclusion in the October 2004 issue. The 35 individual chapters were collected and published in five tankōbon volumes by Kodansha from March 22, 2002 through December 21, 2004. Each volume's cover features Nanoka Kohinata, except the final volume which has Nanoka and Koshiro Saeki together.

Anime

Koi Kaze was adapted as a 13-episode anime television series by Geneon Entertainment and Rondo Robe. Directed by Takahiro Omori, the episodes premiered on TV Asahi on April 1, 2004 and ran until June 17, 2004. The series also aired on Kids Station. TV Asahi refused to air the eighth episode, as it was felt to be too controversial because it dealt with divorce, a taboo subject in Japan. The episode was aired on Kids Station and also streamed online on the Geneon Entertainment website and included in the subsequent DVD releases. The episode is sometimes numbered as episode 7.5 because it was not broadcast with the rest. Geneon released the series across five DVD volumes in Japan, with the first volume released on July 23, 2004 and the final volume released November 25, 2004.

The anime series is licensed for release in North American by Geneon USA which released it across three DVD volumes in 2005.

The episodes uses two pieces of theme music. "Koi Kaze" by éf is used as the opening song for all of the episodes except for episode twelve, which does not have an opening sequence. "Futari Dakara" (ふたりだから) by Masumi Itō is used for the series ending theme.

Among significant parts of the manga left out of or altered in the anime adaption were:

The manga explicitly covers two years of their life. The anime condenses it to one year.

The Office Manager has a larger role in the manga. In volume 4 chapter 25 he calls Koshiro into his office, tells Koshiro that he is old enough now that he ought to get married and subtly pressures Koshiro to use the office's resources and services to find himself a woman. This recurs in succeeding chapters. The last scene of chapter 25 went into the last scene of anime episode 11.

Also in chapter 25 Koshiro tries to adjust the stress he is under by suggesting to Kaname Chidori that they start dating. She responds with rejection, punching him in the jaw. Earlier, in chapter 19 (~ anime episode 9), in the course of Chidori suggesting that he go out with a shop girl who likes him, he asked Chidori if she Chidori likes him.

Koshiro didn't resign from his job in the manga. In volume 5 chapter 34 he thinks to himself "Unexpectedly, nothing has changed ... However, really, some things are starting to change", that last thought referring to Nanoka.

CDs

A full-size version of the series ending theme, "Futari Dakara" was released to CD single by Masumi Itō on May 26, 2004. A complete CD soundtrack followed on July 23, 2004. The soundtrack contains 31 tracks, including various instrumental background pieces composed by Takumi Masanori and Makoto Yoshimori, the full size opening theme, and the TV version of the ending theme.

Reception

"Koi Kaze is not a series which is going to suit everyone's tastes due to its subject matter. It has the potential, though, to be the year's premiere romantic anime series." — Theron Martin, Anime News Network.

"With the first third of the show on this volume, it's definitely one of the better structured doomed romances that I've seen in anime in a long time." — Chris Beveridge, Mania.

"There are a million ways this series could have gone wrong. Instead, Koi Kaze deserves the highest marks possible for its thoughtful, honest, and mature handling of such a difficult and controversial issue." — Carlos Ross, T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews.

"Koi Kaze is not a reassuring show, but if it skirts the edge of disaster instead of plunging in, it may offer warmth to lonely, troubled people, and that's worth a lot." — Christian Nutt, Newtype USA.