Yosuga no Sora.... Is it really that terrible?

[Meliodas99]

Yosuga no Sora Wasn't Terrible - In My Defense

 

Hello there, my name is Mel and I am here to address my defense for the anime Yosuga no Sora since Anime Animo have yet to ever deem it appropriate. There has been a long discussion among myself and my friends who also watch anime about whether or not Yosuga no Sora was a terrible anime. I know that in the anime community this anime is just downright disturbing, messed up and morally wrong to even watch because of the overlying incest that happened to ruin the shows image.

 

If you don't know what Yosuga no Sora is, it is an anime that follows the story of two twin siblings, Haruka and Sora. Their parents died in a tragic car crash and so they moved to a residence in the rural area of Japan, a place they used to call home long ago when they were younger. In hopes they could continue living happily, Haruka and Sora attend the local high school and begin making new friends. This anime is adapted from its original visual novel that had Haruka make choices to be with four different girls in four different alternate storylines.

 

Now, without further ado, here's where I try to defend my liking for this anime....

 

Everything That Wasn't Twincest

 

First of all, when it really comes down to it. Yosuga no Sora isnt a spectacular anime by any means but if you exclude the last three episodes involving Haru and his sister, the show has some value. Even though it wasn't amazing, I was still enthralled with the alternate paths that Haruka took and their stories. Nao's storyline being my favorite for the hair-pulling drama that carried out. 

 

You don't even have to watch the last three episodes from a technical standpoint. (If you didn't know, the incest between the brother and sister largely remains in the last few episodes.) But investing your time into watching the first nine episodes will only increase your speculation of how really screwed up the last three are. 

 

The storylines involving Haru and the three girls from his new school... Kazuha, Akira and Nao, were decent romances because they all had their own appealing plot directions. Except for maybe Akira's questionable story. I wouldn't want to spoil too much in case there are readers interested in watching this show themselves out of pure curiosity. 

 

To sum it up, if you can throw away dismissals of how terrible it is and actually put some time into watching the parts that didn't have incest involved, you can come to realize that the stories aren't as bad as they are made out to be. There can be enjoyment that doesn't come from cringing at the worst part of the show.

 

The Soundtracks Set Perfect Volumes

 

Another reason I like this anime is for its astoundingly beautiful OSTS. The soundtracks that play out during the anime set perfect volumes for what was happening in the story. For example, the OST Kioku played for the duration of some sad or tragic situations really defining those moments. 

 

Take a listen for yourself, the soundtracks for this anime really aren't given enough credit. 

 

Alternate Universes

 

I mentioned already that this anime was adapted from its visual novel roots where Haruka found himself making choices that would later affect who he fell in love with. Similar to the Fate/stay night anime series, Yosuga no Sora carried those different paths into the show. Haruka falls in love with four different girls in four unique timelines, each timeline having roughly the same 2-3 episodes each.

 

What really intrigued me was that there were things that occurred in one timeline that wouldn't occur in another. For example, Kazuha had daddy issues that were never fixed in the other three timelines seeing as Haruka was everybody's problem solver. It left me wondering how those issues were resolved without Haruka's intervention. 

 

Another thing about this alternative timeline angle that the anime adapted was that things didn't start from scratch the moment another timeline began. Instead, it brings you back to a moment that already happened after Haruka and Sora settled in.

 

Particularly Nao's Timeline

 

To avoid spoilers I'm going to make this reason of liking brief, simply put it is the most dramatic storyline if you exclude the mess that was the four timeline. Nao's childhood relationship with Haru and Sora was what really brought out the tension in this festival of emotions. It was also this same timeline that made me despise Sora before watching the last one. 

 

Cutting Haru Some Slack

(SPOILERS somewhat)

 

I know I might get disagreements with this but you can't entirely blame Haru for what happened in the last timeline when he gets with his twin sister. I'm going to try to explain why I believe this.

 

Many people might just think that Haru would be a pervert and coerce his sister into believing it's alright to have sex with him. But the real problem was his sister Sora herself. She was more of an introverted individual with less of a social life than Haru had. Sora relied on Haru as a parental figure, he was the only person she really cared about. Her lack of moral recognition lead to her manipulation of him. 

 

I can't defend Haru entirely, he did give in to something very morally wrong and taboo. Nobody would normally do that. However, Haru was dejected after being exposed to his sister's forbidden feelings. He was initially rejecting of what he witnessed, deep in painful thoughts. That goes to show it was a big conflict for Haru to deal with and the result happened to be him giving in to his longing desire to be there for his sister.

 

Haru and Sora's relationship was close as siblings but it grew into a reliance for each other after their parents died. When they were younger, they didn't really see each other often because of Sora's weak physical condition. She was hospitalized a lot during their childhood and because they were away from each other as kids, Haru seen her as a girl more than a sister. Taking this into consideration as well, I can't help but empathize with Haru even after what happened during the last timeline. It was Twincest but the situation was more complex than simply two siblings having sex on the porch as what people perceive.

 

That was my reasoning for why Yosuga no Sora wasn't terrible for what it could've been, unfortunately separate from what it is. I really wanted to shed some light on this anime considering it's just a cringy mess to the majority of the anime community. I could've made a blog to go against this anime as well but more than likely that's been done already. 

 

I hope you guys enjoyed reading. Hopefully I made my point across and have some of you interested in giving Yosuga no Sora an open-minded chance. That's all for now, thanks!

[Meliodas99]

This is the same user who made this post 8 years later. I’ve seen several replies to my post and I’m happy im not alone out there in the universe when it comes to understanding this show on a deeper level. I’ve since moved past feeling guilty for enjoying the story during the last route (in my poorly written post I was trying to sell the first 3/4 of the show) and actually think the last route was what made the anime stand out truly. I don’t think there is another romance anime like this. I’ve rewatched this show at least five times in the past few years. Each time it has never bored me. I even gave the visual novel a play recently and uncovered that although it doesn’t steer away from the anime adaptation, the plot was much more fleshed out than the 12 episodes did. So things in the anime straight up didnt happen in the visual novel at all. Like Haruka getting with Nao in the Sora Route, he didn’t get with her at all in the visual novel. Instead, there was resolution similar to the Nao Route that happens. Sora coming around to accepting Nao. I just sent this ramble to my friends about the visual novels impact on me after playing through the entire Sora Route:

“The anime didnt do the visual novel justice. Haru had so much internal monologue during the Sora part. We got the see what the character was thinking opposed to merely watching his actions in the anime. He literally felt eternally stuck when Sora revealed her feelings for him. They had only family that would take them if they separated. Their parents just died. The only person in the world she cared about was him. He tried to get her to go to school and make friends. But she really just wanted him. He didn’t reciprocate those feelings back until he felt cornered. She kissed him on the lips when he allowed her to sleep with him one night while he was half-asleep. By the time he started to wake up, she had already kissed him and told him she loves him. He primarily gave in to her to make her happy (although there was a sexual attraction there, Haru had seen her a girl as well) and because doing so made her a lot more lively. When he eventually crashed out on her and told her that the kind of love she wants the world would never accept. They would be ostracized and everything. She said she didn’t care. Nothing else mattered to her except for him. He told her that her views on the world are skewed and unrealistic and naive. Told her that they needed to care about what the world thought of them, that he cared. He had an entire genuine friend group and community he didn’t want to lose.  Sora had spent most of her early life hospitalized from an undisclosed illness. Only seeing Haru come visit her and tell her of the outside world until she was better. So because she had such a sheltered and limited upbringing, she cared not for the world’s judgement, she wasn’t raised in society. She never had friends in the hospital. Only Haru. So she saw him, saw their parents, and thought she wanted the same thing with Haru. Love him the way she saw her parents love each other. Haru knew if he got them separated, sure maybe it would be for their own good, but he couldn’t trust that she wouldn’t off herself. They just had lost their parents. Losing him would send her over the edge. Eventually he decided he would make that ultimate sacrifice but before he could reach her, she ran to the lake.

She literally tried to get him to drown by moving into the lake. Because she wanted to believe the fable about being reborn to a new life when one drowns in the lake. When he started drowning, he decided he would kill her and grabbed onto her. Trying to take her with him. She didn’t want to accept anything else except for love as mates. He knew the world wouldnt accept them. So he made the call. The visual novel didnt really give vibes that they died like the anime did. So who knows but the next thing he knew, they were at the side of the lake. They both admitted to trying to kill each other, decided that after almost losing one another just then that they would love each other in the way beyond siblings. Had sex and then moved away on a trip to Northern Europe where they hoped they could find a place where they could belong and wouldnt be immediately ostracized after being found out. 

Sure the concept of taboo twincest and everything is gross. But the moral lesson that this story provides the audience is something no other romance comes close to accomplishing. It’s Romeo & Juliet but a forbidden love on another level. The visual novel was even more profound. Haru was a tragic character in the end. I’d never seen a male romance character end up so cornered in an impossible moral dilemma like that. It was amazing to read.

Just wanted to share this ramble on top of my old post. I agree with user itllbeokay, give this show an open-minded watch. There’s nothing else like it.

[Itllbeokay]

The goal of any good storyteller is to challenge their audience, and Yosuga No Sora certainly accomplishes that goal. 

I don't understand the hate for stories like this, Eromanga Sensei, Oreimo etc., but I can certainly understand how they make us feel uncomfortable, and that is just a testament to the skill of the storyteller. We've been so drawn into the universe of the anime, that we feel connected, as if you are there with the characters, or even ARE one of the characters. Being so connected, and then witnessing something so taboo first hand is supposed to challenge us, supposed to make us feel uncomfortable, and supposed to make us question the nature of love itself. The difference between Yosuga no Sora and something like Oreimo is that in Oreimo, the story is written in such a way as to encourage us to cheer for the taboo union of the characters and then deal with the guilt of doing so, whereas Yosuga no Sora is written to encourage us to feel embarrassed or uneasy with the incestuous relationship between the main characters, and that is brilliantly done through the imagery present in those scenes.

It definitely takes a certain level of maturity to appreciate having your own values challenged, and I completely understand how this isn't really an anime that you brag to your friends for enjoying, but then again, stories like this are meant to be a personal experience. 

I would encourage anyone who watched this anime a few years ago and thought it was gross, to watch it again and view it as a journey rather than just dumb entertainment. You might just find something new, and discover a completely different take on all 12 episodes!

[AniMeFReaK]

Wow, you really made me change my mind. I watched Yosuga No Sora (It was a dare, okay? I do not enjoy watching harem anime as I'm a girl...) and it made me feel pure hate for the show. But the way you spoke about it... It really made me change my point of view.

And yeah, for some reason I really hated Nao. I don't know why myself.

[Egiebz]

You totally read my mind everything you said is true but why I feel the anime is terrible is because Nao was the cause of haru's misfortune and from all the realities Haru was contented with only his sister. When Nao made  Haru do her when they where young I think it affected his mind and psychology and I'm sure that moment was all he could think of. I have a friend in the same situation but he was cured because he came out with it and told his friends, now he is living a peace life without any insest acts.  If you've washed "FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC" I think you would understand that because Sora was not social so she became reliant, most girls except very strong women, no even most people always need a shoulder to rest on. I believe they don't actually love each other but as I said Sora's reliance and what she saw Nao doing Haru when they were young, made her feel she had this love for her brother because she felt jealous. While Haru couldn't be strong because he felt he needed to protect his sister and transforming simbling love to unruly love. To go straight to the point the anime started boringly then became mildly interesting, then became useless when Haru couldn't realize he was suffering from trauma and that Sora didn't realize she was just reliant on her brother, making it a very painful thought bordering and sad anime. 

[Euphorious]

On 10/6/2024 at 2:58 PM, Itllbeokay said:

The goal of any good storyteller is to challenge their audience, and Yosuga No Sora certainly accomplishes that goal. 

I don't understand the hate for stories like this, Eromanga Sensei, Oreimo etc., but I can certainly understand how they make us feel uncomfortable, and that is just a testament to the skill of the storyteller. We've been so drawn into the universe of the anime, that we feel connected, as if you are there with the characters, or even ARE one of the characters. Being so connected, and then witnessing something so taboo first hand is supposed to challenge us, supposed to make us feel uncomfortable, and supposed to make us question the nature of love itself. The difference between Yosuga no Sora and something like Oreimo is that in Oreimo, the story is written in such a way as to encourage us to cheer for the taboo union of the characters and then deal with the guilt of doing so, whereas Yosuga no Sora is written to encourage us to feel embarrassed or uneasy with the incestuous relationship between the main characters, and that is brilliantly done through the imagery present in those scenes.

It definitely takes a certain level of maturity to appreciate having your own values challenged, and I completely understand how this isn't really an anime that you brag to your friends for enjoying, but then again, stories like this are meant to be a personal experience. 

I would encourage anyone who watched this anime a few years ago and thought it was gross, to watch it again and view it as a journey rather than just dumb entertainment. You might just find something new, and discover a completely different take on all 12 episodes!

I made an account just to say that I completely agree with you, and I think you nailed it with this interpretation. The last arc is meant to be uncomfortable and challenge you to think about love and how it can be twisted. I think the idea that you can fall in love with anyone but whether you should act on that love was a question that was hit near the end, in the conversation between Mao and Kozue and I think that is one of the questions you were supposed to be left with.

[animechat]

It's more of an average romance anime.