Why is incest such a popular theme in Anime and Manga?

dscross

Elite Member
Legacy
May 14, 2013
1,282
27
53
Country
United Kingdom
I watched an Anime recently on Netflix at random. It had some disturbing 'suggestions' about incest with young sisters, including nudity. To my western eyes, I felt uncomfortable and I won't be watching it again. I'm sure I've heard about it in lots of other popular shows. I don't understand why these Japanese creators are fascinated by the taboo. In other shows, I've also noticed an obsession with underage school girls. Is this a really popular thing for Japanese viewers? Why?

Is there something psychological at work here?
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

New member
Aug 2, 2015
7,915
0
0
Lets put it this way as to why Incest is popular in anime and hentais, if I was Danny Phantom, I would be so lucky to have a Mom like his:

 

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
26,690
11,192
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
dscross said:
I watched an Anime recently on Netflix at random. It had some disturbing 'suggestions' about incest with young sisters, including nudity. To my western eyes, I felt uncomfortable and I won't be watching it again. I'm sure I've heard about it in lots of other popular shows. I don't understand why these Japanese creators are fascinated by the taboo. In other shows, I've have also noticed an obsession with underage school girls. Is this a really popular thing for Japanese viewers? Why?

Is there something psychological at work here?
It's about pandering to the hardcore otaku fanbase as far as the underage looking girls go. Incest is sometimes used to pander to them too, but even they get tired of that. Incest has always been a problem in anime. Back then, it was really about being provocative, crass, and shock value as far as incest was concerned. 80s and 90s OVAs or movies had this problem. Not every single anime did this, but it was noticeable back then. And even then, in those decades, most were not portrayed in a positive or neutral light. This trend kinda faded out in the 2000s (unless you're watching or reading hentai), but in the 2010s came back with a vengeance. Especially if we are talking about the harem genre.

For the record, not every Japanese viewers is obsessed with this type of thing. The problem is that these creators used be otakus themselves, love pandering to themselves. They are running the asylum. While not every old-school anime writer, director, or artist was perfect, they were these things first or second, while otaku ended up being dead last or non existent. What doesn't help is you have a corporate douchebags pandering to the lowest common as well, stifling creativity and homogenizing genres or works. Have you seen anime where the protagonists are generally teenage boy or young men in their early 20s. They're characters are either non-existent or just blank slates for otaku wish fulfillment. Say what you will about anime in the 70s/80s/90s/early 2000s, but at least there was creativity and different variety of protagonists. Nowadays you have to dip in the well of older anime to gets some substance, something out of the norm, or unique. Now there are still some news stuff worth checking out, yo just have to do research and see if it work out for you or not.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
Legacy
Jul 18, 2009
19,568
4,374
118
Might have something to do with the rift between men and women in Japan being overall a bit higher than in the West. This is why the 'childhood friend' and 'little sister' fetish probably exists, since it's not a strange woman, but a woman the male protagonist grew up with, hence feels more secure with.

But who knows the real reason, Japan is weird. But that's why we love it... though not always.
 

bluegate

Elite Member
Legacy
Dec 28, 2010
2,322
932
118
Because those anime and manga are made by degenerates, for degenerates. Or in a dark scenario, by cold calculating suits in order to exploit degenerates.

Pretty much all there is to say about it 🤷
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

New member
Aug 2, 2015
7,915
0
0
undeadsuitor said:
Yeah Japan's pretty fucked up when it comes to underage girls
Thats been a thing since Medieval Japan:


Start the video at 02:00

For written examples:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oiran
 

Smithnikov_v1legacy

New member
May 7, 2016
1,020
1
0
Samtemdo8 said:
Lets put it this way as to why Incest is popular in anime and hentais, if I was Danny Phantom, I would be so lucky to have a Mom like his:
So encouraging you to shoot up grocery stores to become a girl ghost wasn't the only bad moral in that show?
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

New member
Aug 2, 2015
7,915
0
0
Smithnikov said:
Samtemdo8 said:
Lets put it this way as to why Incest is popular in anime and hentais, if I was Danny Phantom, I would be so lucky to have a Mom like his:
So encouraging you to shoot up grocery stores to become a girl ghost wasn't the only bad moral in that show?
What?
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

New member
Aug 2, 2015
7,915
0
0
Smithnikov said:
Samtemdo8 said:
Smithnikov said:
Samtemdo8 said:
Lets put it this way as to why Incest is popular in anime and hentais, if I was Danny Phantom, I would be so lucky to have a Mom like his:
So encouraging you to shoot up grocery stores to become a girl ghost wasn't the only bad moral in that show?
What?
Look up Andrew Blaze.
Oh yeah Randy Stairs, I kinda forgot about this guy, great he tainted the image of Danny Phantom with his degenerecy.

...But still Maddie Fenton is an A+ MILF.
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

Alleged Feather-Rustler
Jun 5, 2013
6,760
0
0
McElroy said:
It's not a problem, it's a feature. Japan is weird and one should keep their distance.
Basically this. Japan is a weirdly sexually repressed culture, and its very damaging to its people.
 

SupahEwok

Malapropic Homophone
Legacy
Jun 24, 2010
4,028
1,401
118
Country
Texas
It's funded by the FBI to generate business to keep their budget. The big streaming sites forward viewership information to the government.



You are now on a watchlist.
 
Aug 31, 2012
1,774
0
0
Since the age of consent in Japan is 13 I always assumed that the age for buying porn would be roughly the same, and all that schoolgirl shit is aimed at 14 year old boys.

As for the incest...uh...I have no current theory and I have no real desire to think long enough to generate one.
 

Ogoid

New member
Nov 5, 2009
405
0
0
...Depends on the specific niche, I guess? I've been more or less of a weeb for some 20 years now, and it has never really struck me as something that's particularly frequent or prominent.

If I was to try and guess at a why, though, I'd lean towards Japanese creators regarding pretty much anything as fair game when it comes to fiction... which can (and often does) lead to some very disturbing stuff.