Quote from pearlesque
1) Are particular depictions of incest more common in manga, and if so, why?
2) Are some genres (e.g. shounen, shoujo, yaoi, yuri) more or less likely to feature incest? If so, why?
3) How close do you think manga is to real life in its depictions of incestuous relationships?
4) What do you think the depiction of incest in manga signifies in terms of Japanese culture?
2) Are some genres (e.g. shounen, shoujo, yaoi, yuri) more or less likely to feature incest? If so, why?
3) How close do you think manga is to real life in its depictions of incestuous relationships?
4) What do you think the depiction of incest in manga signifies in terms of Japanese culture?
From what I've read, mostly shoujo & josei but overall a bit of anything that sounded interesting -
1) Step-cest of various sorts seems fairly common in shoujo & josei, I'd guess because it has that "forbidden" feeling without actually being between blood-related people - a little taboo without going over the line. Also, a step-relationship puts the characters in closer proximity than just about anything else, providing lots of opportunities for the characters to get to know each other, take care of each other when sick, accidentally see each other in the bath, etc.
2) Can't really answer this one as there are several genres that I just don't read, however I'd guess that anything aimed at girls/women is more likely to have incest relationships simply because, as you've said elsewhere, manga aimed at women in simply more likely to deal with relationships.
3) I'd guess that manga about incestuous relationships is about as close to the reality of incestuous relationships as manga in general is close to life in general - not very!! No one wants to read about ordinary, normal lives, they're just not very interesting. To make a good story, even one that's based in reality, a lot of drama gets added.
4) I think it's worth noting that a fair number of manga deal with other "forbidden" (or at least disapproved of) relationships. Examples: large age differences, older girls/women with younger boys/men, taller girls/women with shorter boys/men, one half of the couple being "cool" while the other is "geeky", one half of the couple being "nice" while the other is "bad", etc.
A lot of English womens' fiction (aka romance novels) also deals with forbidden/disapproved of relationships of one kind or another, but in all my reading I've found very little incest of any sort (except as something horrible that may have happened to a character, generally being molested as a child). I do think there is definitely a cultural difference between the US & Japan, but it's hard to clearly define it.
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"[English] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."
-James Nicoll, can.general, March 21, 1992