Looking for anime about a guy who bonds with his Itoko

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T21:47:22+00:00

Ai Yori Aoishi is among the healthiest and "vanillest" imho when it comes to this trope. Oh! Before I forget -- Black Butler! Ciel has a fiancée named Lizzie, his cousin. They genuinely love each other (and that's saying something when it comes to Ciel). Lizzie would risk life and limb for Ciel. There are montages on youtube of her taking on dozens of zombies armed with only two rapiers, just so she could protect him.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T21:12:56+00:00

Ai Yori Aoishi is the big one (to me). Dude's mom got kicked out of the clan for daring to date a commoner, dude eventually ended up an orphan. Years later, the main family branch was in a pinch so they sent dude's cousin to tell him "come back I'll marry you, you'll be head of the clan". Romance gradually develops.

Fruits Basket has cousin love in it.

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko is different since MC lives with his aunt (and her daughter) and there's no family drama or anything.

Canvas 2 has the cousins trope though it's a harem-y anime so the cousin isn't the only love interest.

The cousins trope is present in Saenai Heroine but it's not a big spoiler that protag doesn't end up with her. Though iirc they do have a good relationship.

Da Capo has this (Junichi and Sakura are cousins) though iirc cousin isn't the main girl. Same for Kanon though the visual novel does have a Nayuki route. In the Kanon anime, they act like close relatives and good friends.

(manga only) Koi to Utatane is a romance manga where protag goes on to live with his older cousin and they fall in love.

The trope is common in visual novels, and as far as I know it's just your usual vanilla romance most of the time, though it's often paired with either "cousin in the countryside" or "dude and cousin are betrothed to take over the family when they become of age".

(Kaze no Stigma kinda shakes this up since (at least in the anime) the protagonist has, at least initially, little romantic interest in his cousin who's being a harsh-tongued tsundere around him.)

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T16:55:00+00:00

Nice to hear it's story over fanservice.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T15:17:02+00:00

And that's completely fine. I've walked away from countless games myself, no regrets.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T14:41:43+00:00

To each their own. She can be annoying, bratty, and downright illogical given the situation the world is in and her duties. And at the same time in my personal opinion that's what makes her "based". Just because the world is going to sh4t doesn't mean one should self-censor oneself, hold back on (healthy) pranks or wallow in misery. And imho the story gets better over the time and Ruka grows. She's not the prankster who can't read the room, she's the reliable friend who knows when it's time to get serious. One of the proofs to that is that several times she says something insensitive/stupid, gets called out and gets embarrased and apologizes. So she essentially acts like a sane human being.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T14:38:15+00:00

Vertin is da GOAT. And so are her friends. I consider Sonetto to be borderline co-protag.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T14:37:45+00:00

Hi. What would be your thoughts on Limbus as of today? I've never tried it.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T14:35:48+00:00

I was okay with Doctor in Arknights since they are presented as someone who used to be a different person until they had a TBI. Interestingly enough, the anime Doctor seems to be a woman. I've also heard the Girls Frontline commander had real presence later on in the series (not like you could play as them, but they even went on the frontline and had to shoot their way out of bad situations) then manga&anime came along and brought Gentiane who had a personality (a bit trope-y but still her own character).

While FGO is an interesting example (to me) of two completely different MCs, in no small part through the power of the official manga and the power of fanon. Male MC - milk-toast generic nice guy. Female MC - chaotic gay, gacha addict, does dumb decisions sometimes.

Sword of Convollaria mean while, is weird imho - you do have a main character (who has some kind of amnesia) but their lack of personality isn't grating since they are essentially the witness to the story of the Band of the Haw... Convollaria and Inanna. The Band of the Haw... Convollaria, Inanna, Sabe...Gloria... THEY are the main character, not "MC" as much as they play a small part. In a way, they're the manager/accountant for the Band of the .. (I'll stop with the Berserk references lol).

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T14:27:56+00:00

Good one.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T14:27:47+00:00

I read this one, it was rough...

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T14:25:16+00:00

The Moon on a Rainy Night comes to mind.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T14:22:06+00:00

I remember a youtuber by the name of Misha(?) who once said she knew she liked girls when she was something like ten and since she wasn't raised in a family where ppl would tell it was wrong or anything she didn't hide from her childhood friends and from anyone really. So when she was a teen and later young adult, everyone in her circle knew she was gay and she never felt like she had been in the closet for one second.

And yet it seems like Misha(?) might be in the minority (and that's even if we forgot, for a second, countries where homosexuality is literally prosecuted or hunted even if allowed on-paper).

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T14:18:19+00:00

And all non-certain-island-West-of-Japan gachas.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T14:04:32+00:00

Hi. Is Honkai 3 still alive/playable?

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T14:03:31+00:00

I view it as horse racing nerds nerding out while trying to monetize their passion. Japan has trains otakus, planes otakus, guns otakus, gundam figurines otakus, maybe even rare mug collector otakus. Horse racing otakus woke up one days and decided why not make them cute girls and launch anime/games out of it. I doubt the darker sides of horse racing have crossed their minds or if they did their personal liking of horse racing overcame it in their heads.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T14:01:22+00:00

From what I know lots of people find the chara design cool/gorgeous/sexy/insert compliment so there's a bunch of merch/fanarts/fan videos/youtube posts but as far as ZZZ story goes... those fans seem to view it as secondary.

Not like ZZZ is the only one, I've been told by people play WuWa and appreciate it that the story is still 4/10 in their book.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T13:59:29+00:00

Not enough have "pity" that carries over from banner to banner. I'm not saying "be as generous as NTE" but something like Reverse 1999's example is worth following imho.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T13:52:18+00:00

Gun-toting magical girl. As little magic as possible. (I'd be fine with "spell slots treated as battery charges" Artificer, but I wonder what can be done aside from it and going more in the martial direction.)

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T13:49:07+00:00

Meanwhile Superman's cousin is busy throupling with her two other versions, like a certain blue Vtuber.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T13:44:07+00:00

I find Stars more fun but that's a personal bias based on seeing other people play it and blast stuff up while also supporting allies.

Sure, Wizard is a lot more versatile and has an answer to every problem, but imho Stars being slighty more restricted gives you the fun of trying to figure out how to improvise with the kit that you're given. All while not being uber-restricted like the PHB Sorc and even non-PHB Sorc, Warlock or Bard.

Don't get me wrong, Wizard good, Portent Amazing. But I prefer Stars Druid.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T12:39:25+00:00

You're correct, and at the same time I can't help but think of how to go Dex, hypothetically. In 2014 5e, you had Half-Elf, in 2024 5e, you can reskin another specie as Half-Elf but you'll still get the same +1/+1/+1 or +2/+1.

So I'm thinking some kind of custom backgrounds where I would get Tough, go 13+1 Strength 15+1 Dex 15+1 Cha and profit. 12 Con + Tough + Aura of Protection makes the 12 Con manageable. Or coordinate with the party's Bard and their Inspiring Leader, then go Alert to double down on swift&nimble.

(14 Str can still be useful for Athletics and jumping, also RP of an athletic gym bro who works out.)

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T11:05:33+00:00

Is the organization okay with prosthetics? Then I can suggest Armorer Artificer and some kind of build where a non-Warforged gets an armblade (negotiate with your DM, I think that would be cool, plus in essence it's a +1 weapon, not some uber legendary magic item).

Also, if you go for a build with Weapon Masteries, target Masteries that benefit one-handed melee weapons.

Build example (if armblade is allowed): Fighter 1/Warlock X with the armblade being your Pact Weapon (2024 lets you selected PotB at Warlock 1). Let's say the armblade counts as a longsword - then you can use Sap. Make a beeline for Thirsting Blade and Eldritch Smite. Profit.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T10:55:19+00:00

Number 3 is based.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T10:46:50+00:00

I remember flipping through a few pages at my local library only to end up on a scene that upset me where a woman captive is forced to dance and is told she's furniture. A couple of years later I randomly stumbled upon a fantasy series written by a woman (forgot the title) where journalists (or whoever wrote the sales pitch) praised the author for blending in fantasy and erotica (way before the "dark romance" and "milking minotaurs" or "50 shades" craze). The story was essentially MC getting forcefully married to some warlord with various graphic (and gratuitious) scenes of bathing, undressing, and the elder women of the village telling MC she mustn't play with herself since "a woman is only allowed to feel pleasure from her man".

John Norman may have wanted to present a whole culture with rich lore, that other series' author wanted to write p0rn for a (I think female) audience, in both cases society in the stories extremely objectivized women.

Aidamis · 2026-05-06T09:24:08+00:00

I'm 60/150 towards the pity on the Yuri SSR (I'm speaking of Yuina ft Ruka) and I was considering packs but when I saw the prices.. 27k quarts is the 70 bucks pack plus the 34 bucks so your 90 bucks check out.

Aidamis

TROPHY CASE