I left out my manga "Oooku" out in the open.

i dunno why, but mom decided to pick it up and check it out. and well, she noticed that there's incest on it.

she's furious.

she's saying things like if i've been reading these unreal, not helping garbages for ten years.

she want me to explain after school.

the thing is, incest isn't the main plot of the story. the story have one of it's side character, who happened to have a abusive mother who exploited her son. the son gets involved into the story when he gets beaten up and asks some noble lady if he can work for her, so he can escape from his house (and his mom)

and well, mom just HAD to stumble across that

i do admit though, this manga does contain sex, and couple of homosexual sex. but all of them are implied and not explicit. but i'm over 18 now. i can read sex.

the problem is the incest.

i dunt think its a big deal. she think it does.

how do i explain it to her?

Maybe... firmly establish that you understand that incest is not a great thing in real life, but that you are simply reading a fictional story that has incest in it. If it's not portrayed positively, you could point out that the manga doesn't treat it as okay. If not, you could always say that Ooku has literary merit and that it's making a point. Or you could go the art route, and say that true art tries to address important issues like incest... 😀

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1. Well it's is your choice what you want to read, and your mother shouldn't have anything to say anything to a 18-year-old regarding hobbies, as long as it doesn't endanger you or your surroundings

Well that would be the logical way and the one to make her really pissed.

2. Explain the story to her and (preferably) the importance meaning of what she supposedly saw. You can still say that

• what you read is deeper than most stuff currently on tv
• as there are manga with controversial topics, there are books, movies and other types of media about the same things. That doesn't mean you have to defend that certain topic but that the manga (or other medium respectively) does not particularly support the one side (your mother seems to be against)
• ask her what her specific problem is, it is unreasonable to forbid discussion of a controversial topic (in this case read about it) in general, as that hinders creation of personal opinion and that would be anti-educational
• I don't think you are pro-incest, so tell her that (if that's the case, if not, better keep it to yourself)

hope that helps a bit

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Either what they told ya or just tell her they arent really family, as if they arent blood related and that their parents married after they were in love 😀 .

...tell her that it's fiction?

Do you want to explain to her why you don't care about the incest part (i.e. the series is so good that you can overlook the incest) or why incest itself isn't that much of a problem?

If it's the former, you should be able to convince her. Bringing across the latter, however, can would get quite nasty, but not impossible.
As you seem to lean towards the first point, I'lI only give advice on how to get your mother to accept you reading manga like this.

I agree with Lorska. I haven't read YOSHINAGA Fumi's Oooku, so I don't know much about it's plot or characters, but even I have heard about it, and from what I can see from its description this work is not a cheap smut title.

1. If your mother is still fuming, address this matter with a few introductory words, e.g. you know that it must have shocked her to come across such a scene in her child's book, you can fully understand that; nevertheless, ask her to simply listen to your explanation without interrupting, and that you will listen to her opinion (and complaints) afterwards if she should still consider it necessary.

2. Try to explain your reasons for reading this manga to your mother in a calm and composed way. You could say something along these lines:

• The story's setting mirrors the course Japanese society could have taken under certain conditions. It's a dystopia (?) with its own alternate history and not real.

• The graphic depiction of such incidents is not different from those on TV or in films which can be even more frightening as they cannot be as abstract as the drawings in a manga. Not to mention the abyss of human imagination.

• Manga equals to any other literate medium that wants to fathom human character traits or society. This manga's genuine intention inn doing so has been testified by all the institutions that have nominated or awarded it (cf. Wikipedia). You could underline that The American Library Association's Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has even recommended it as one of the "2010 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens".

• The scene she has caught a glimspe of was one small part of the whole story, and that incest is not the main theme. As far as I've understood your post, the incest part is actually a form of (child?) abuse which serves to deepen the reader's understanding of a certain character's struggles. You do not support it in particular, but as a literate work this story has to deal with such dark and controversial themes, too. Make sure to clarify this!

• **Rape and abuse happen in real life and so does incest. **You could name other critically acclaimed films, plays or novels like Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" that also contain such elements. Just pick something your mother might have read or heard of.

Of course, you can add any other of Oooku's strong points that you deem worth mentioning. Good luck with your explanation and don't forget to tell us how it went!

[color=#8A795D]"Stories are what death thinks he puts an end to.
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To be savoured:

• Blood Alone by TAKANO Masayuki
• Otoyomegatari by MORI Kaoru
• Gangsta. by Kohske
• Seishun Kouryakuhon by AKIZUKI Sorata

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well i explained it to her

and i think she sort of? got that the story does portray incest in a negative way. but she still think i should not read such thing since it's "dirty" and will taint my mind. like how a video game that kills people cannot be good for the person's psychology.

she does think this book contain too much sex (on that note, i have to admit there is sex scene in every other pages) but i tried to convince her that this book isn't about sex. it's about sexual relationship. if it was about sex then it'll be a porn and much more explicit. and yes. there are a lot of (A LOT) of adultery and wedlock child, but i assure her. reading this book will not make me more prone to adultery or common law couple <- which seems to be one of her concern. she HATE the idea of common law, and i agree.

the thing is she think i'll be INFLUENCED by the book. that i'll be influenced by fictions and change my real life views. well, i'd have to admit it'll be hard for media to not influence you. the songs, movies, and manga you read does become part of you but it is I who decided whether i accept them as part of me or not. depending on how good it is.

oh and on the point of incest. no i'm not pro-incest. but i do think the way author wrote that particular story was really good and convincing. i'm not repulsed by the story. i thought the story was tragic, but beautiful. and if i do have chance to read something similar again, i will.

but i do admit though. i was in the wrong. i have little sisters in jr. high and i should not have left books like that in the open. 😐

There are a lot of fiction novels involving a lot of killings. There are a lot of movies and TV shows with blood, deaths, violence, malice and all sort of things that would be outlawed in the real world. It's fiction, it can be anything. You just tell her that you're reading it because it's interesting, different and strange, not because the incest or the sex.

Fictions are usually a reflection of reality. Pieces of the real world imprint into the author's mind and get reproduced into a fictional story. Just demonstrate to her that you have accumulate enough raw knowledge so you can not be easily influenced.

For example, you understand that the reason incest is generally against is not because of the moral problem but because of the natural problem from inbreeding. Historically, people can be pretty stupid and they once thought that keeping the bloodline 'pure' is keeping the strength in the family. To keep their bloodline pure, they inbreed. Fortunately, most of them got weeded out by natural selection as the inbreeding families always give weaken children. This combines with the natural aversion to incest (a trait that is built into our genes) lead to the feeling of not being friendly with incest.

And just to add my 2 cents (I've seen to movie only though). If I understood the story correctly it portrays the alternative version of Japanese history, mainly what would happen if women would take charge. And frankly what I saw in the movie was quite realistically portrayed (in reverse manner). And back in the days, just like Oddwaffle mentioned, Japanese court was quite found of in-family marriages as well. Cousins marring happened on daily basis, sometimes even brothers and sisters. I can't really recall any Oedipus like case (oh look another super famous case that's considered classic) but it's a fact that the same thing happened in most societies that had any form of royal family and similar high class constructs.
And frankly I think your mother should learn to be a bit more open about controversial topics. I don't mean anything bad by that, but just knowing that it exists and saying it's bad with no elaboration and than void the topic in any form on other levels never helped anybody.

Does she watch game of thrones, if so just counter with that.

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Wait a second...

Even if it was a manga that fetishized incest, there is still little linking between your reading tastes and what you believe in, because for Christ sake you are 18 and "tainting your mind' is 50s mentality. Also, porn is not bad. It's the letting your parents see your porn part that's bad.

Oh yeah I wouldn't say that to my mom either.

I would tell her though, that if incest or sex weren't addressed in media then that would be a huge problem.

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