The relationship between siblings is often tough to describe, seeing how it involves a multitude of emotions and shared history. It’s the same in anime as well, though it’s actually quite rare to see healthy relationships between siblings. Most sibling bonds shown on screen are toxic and unhealthy, and the seemingly positive ones fall apart if you look too closely as well.
Sometimes, it’s the unnecessary hate between the siblings that makes their relationship unbearable. However, often it’s the “more than siblings but less than lovers” trope that ends up getting under the skin of anime fans. So, which sibling relationships are good, and which ones are terrible?
10 Adorable: Lynn And Lily Angel Protect Each Other (All Saints Street)
Most people will be unaware of this underrated gem, a Chinese show called All Saints Street. It revolves around the lives of many supernatural creatures, two of whom and Lynn and Lily Angel. The two are adoptive siblings, but their bond couldn’t be any purer.
Lynn is the doting and sometimes overprotective big brother, while Lily is a pure and innocent little angel who looks up to her big brother as an inspiration. She wants to grow up and be just like him.
9 Cringeworthy: Hiroomi And Mitsuki Disrespect Each Others Boundaries (Beyond the Boundary)
The biggest problem with this anime is how it normalizes lack of consent, respect and boundaries between siblings. Hiroomi wants the attention of his sister, and when she does not give it to him, he resorts to underhanded activities to get what he wants.
One example would be to force his sister to call him “onii-chan” in exchange for help or a favor, despite knowing she does not like calling him that. Another example would be to take photos and videos of his sister without her consent, and not deleting them when she makes it clear she’s not happy with his behavior.
8 Adorable: Fen And Miao Shi Perfectly Encapsulate The Complex Love-Hate Relationship Between Siblings (Please Take My Brother Away!)
For every bad sibling relationship, there’s always that one show that couldn’t be more on point when it comes to the love (or lack thereof) between a sister and her brother.
This short comedy series focuses entirely on the love-hate relationship between this sibling duo, who always try to prank and one-up the other one. They love causing trouble for each other, but do not hesitate to swoop in and save their sibling when things become serious.
7 Cringeworthy: Yuzu And Mei Are Hopelessly Co-Dependent (Citrus)
Anime is often guilty of portraying LGBTQ+ characters in poor light, and Citrus is no different. Its portrayal of the relationship between two gay sisters, is excessively toxic, seeing how hopelessly the two are co-dependent on each other.
Yuzu is perhaps the worse out of the two. She does not communicate her feelings and issues with her siblings clearly. On the contrary, she gaslights Mei, making her feel as if she (Mei) is the one responsible for Yuzu's poor decision-making abilities.
6 Adorable: Tensei And Tenya Iida Have Deep Mutual Love And Respect For Each Other (My Hero Academia)
In perhaps one of the best relationships from the series, Tensei and Tenya are the ideal sibling duo. The amount of mutual love and respect they have for each other simply brings tears to fans’ eyes.
Tenya admires his big bro and strives to be just like him when he grows up. On the other hand, Tensei couldn’t be prouder of his younger bro, who he considers to be more talented than he is.
5 Cringeworthy: Masamune And Sagiri Dabble In Gaslighting (Eromanga Sensei)
Masamune is a young boy while his step-sister Saigiri is 13 years old, and their dynamic makes viewers a tad uncomfortable. To spice things up, she’s also a famous ero-mangaka (which means she draws NSFW manga) who is worshipped by Masamune.
This was a recipe for disaster from the get go, especially considering Saigiri’s age. In the beginning Saigiri avoids Masamune. When she eventually opens up to him, she shows annoyance if Masamune even looked at another girl, going so far as to punish, avoid or gaslight him for having a life beyond her.
4 Adorable: Shino And Hamaji Respect And Protect Each Other (Hakkenden: Eight Dogs Of The East)
Shino and Hamaji adopted each other as siblings after a fire in their village consumed everything and everybody they knew. They grew up very close (and protective) of each other, but always respected each other’s boundaries.
In fact, the listless Hamaji decided to go to school and study medicine, so that she could become a doctor and one day treat Shino, if he were to ever go back to being the weak boy that he once was.
3 Cringeworthy: Eren And Mikasa's Relationship Is Based On Obsession Not Love (Attack On Titan)
The Eren x Mikasa is perhaps the most controversial ship in the Attack On Titan fandom, and it’s easy to see why. It is Mikasa’s unhealthy obsession with her step-brother Eren, that is the root of all problems in this ship.
Fans would have still been able to overlook that obsession (since many parents are also shown to be obsessed and over-protective of their children). However, her obsession was so unhealthy that in season one, she was ready to die fighting titans after she believed Eren to be dead!
2 Adorable: Tanjiro And Nezuko Can Truly Count On Each Other (Demon Slayer)
It’s extremely rare to see a sibling relationship in shonen where no one’s dead, toxic or abusive. It is also heartening to see a female sibling who isn’t a terrible “damsel in distress” trope. In fact, Nezuko goes out of her way several times to save Tanjiro’s life and expectedly, Tanjiro does the same for his sister.
Both have their own struggles to deal with, but at the end of the day, both know they can count on the other person fully. The trust that these two share between them is absolute.
1 Cringeworthy: Sora And Shiro Literally Cannot Function Without Each Other (No Game, No Life)
Sora is 18 and Shiro is 11, and the two are shown to be step siblings. Shiro shows jealousy when Sora chats to other girls (because she hates sharing attention) and Sora is shown to be unhealthily possessive of his sister.
The anime establishes it in the very beginning that the relationship between them is so unhealthy that they literally stop functioning in the absence of the other. Of course, that is played off as a joke instead of a very problematic issue. The show's OVA too went out of its way to make several uncomfortable jokes about the sibling duo, which definitely makes it one of the cringiest sibling relationships out there.
0 Comments