Female Anime Characters With An Awkward Brother Complex

Summary

• Female brocon anime are a unique take on sibling obsession, often conflicting and taboo.
• Brocon characters range from awkward to aggressive, facing various scenarios that test boundaries in anime.
• These brocon characters add challenges to familial relationships, with themes ranging from fan service to exploring complex emotions.

It wouldn’t be fair in anime to portray only men as sibling-obsessed creeps, so a lot of anime dabble in the female siscon (sister complex anime) equivalent, brocon (brother complex anime). Granted, brocons aren’t as outright aggressive or obnoxious as siscons. They’re more repressed or clever in their approach to ensnare their brothers into eternal romantic servitude.

This creates a cocktail for some rather awkward scenarios and personalities that can rival even the most fanatical of male siscons. And, of course, the fact that they’re somewhat adorable physically, makes their existence even more challenging to condemn. So for those in the mood for some rather conflicting taboo practitioners in anime, these brocons ought to put some boundaries in question.

Updated January 28, 2025, by Rie Takumi: Sibling incest is a controversial topic, but one familiar to anime fans and non-anime watchers. Unfortunately, it’s oftentimes used to disparage and dismiss anime as a medium, especially when the poster only has a passing familiarity with anime. In reality, most anime don’t have brother complexes or brocon, or similar themes. Those that do, however, generally fall into three categories: an anime full of fanservice, one that has brocon on the side, and works that explore what brother complexes can do to familial relationships. Characters with brother complexes are also frequently side characters. When they’re the main characters, brocon is either the point of the anime or plays a big part in it.

1

Tomoko Kuroki (WataMote)

Socially Awkward Sibling Relies On Socially Normal Brother

Tomoko Kuroki’s brother complex from WataMote isn’t as straightforward as others, and that’s what makes it complex and awkward. She’s a recluse whose social awkwardness is bordering on clinical; thankfully, her less socially awkward brother Tomoki has agreed to help her in her goal of becoming the “popular girl” in school.

Tomoko isn’t making that task easy, however, as she doesn’t know how to set some healthy boundaries with her brother. She even asked to see his privates as some kind of practice, and the only thing that kept the order after that proposal was her brother’s decent sense of normalcy. Thankfully, as the series went on, Tomoko matured and only has years of resentment to blame for her cold relationship with Tomoki.

2

Suguha Kirigaya (Sword Art Online)

Sibling Crush Got Worse Before It Got Better

Suguha Kirigaya is a surprisingly rare case of an anime girl getting over her incestuous feelings for her cousin-turned-brother. In fact, she spends a lot of her screen time trying to get over her feelings for Kazuto. Sadly, it gets worse before it gets better for Suguha.

In her quest to get over Kazuto, she sinks time into ALfheim Online. There, she finds a boy who treats her kindly and falls in love with him. Unfortunately, that boy is Kazuto in real life. What is fortunate is she moves on from Kazuto and proves to be a reliable ally.

3

Akira Yoshii (Baka & Test – Summon The Beasts)

Adult Harvard Graduate Tries To Kiss And Bathe With Brother

Akira Yoshii seems normal on paper, extraordinary even. She’s a young adult who studied at Harvard and clearly excels at studies, unlike her brother Akihisa. And unlike the protagonist Akihisa, she’s always trying to find ways to kiss and bathe with her brother.

It’s ambiguous whether or not Akira really wants to cross the boundary with Akihisa. But what’s clear is she cares for her little brother enough to go home and take care of him, even if she’s completely incapable of housework.

4

Nakano Sisters (Danchigai)

Four Sisters And Kissing Practice

Danchigai is a yonkoma or four-panel comedy manga that follows the Nakano siblings’ daily lives. The kicker is, Haruki often has to be the straight man to his four sisters, who have varying levels of personal space when it comes to him.

In some cases, Haruki just has to deal with regular sister shenanigans, like Uzuki and Satsuki’s pranks. In other cases, he has to navigate the fact that Mutsuki wants to use him for kissing practice, or that Yayoi thinks he’s fair game for beatdowns.

5

Kasumi Takamiya (Witch Craft Works)

Tsundere Plans How Many Kids To Have With Brother

Kasumi Takamiya is a powerful witch in Witch Craft Works, though that’s not what first comes to mind about the pink-haired girl. Although talented, she’s quite loopy and selfish. She also openly states wanting to have children with her brother Honoka.

Her loopyness and brocon attitude go hand in hand; because while she wants a lot of children with Honoka, Kasumi believes they don’t need to have sex to have kids. Kasumi naively thinks the “stork” will deliver their children despite trying to touch her brother at all times.

6

Ruti Ragnason (Banished from the Hero’s Party)

One Of Her Only Emotions Is Brocon

Ruti is Gideon Ragnason’s younger sister and the Hero, or the destined strongest human in the world. Despite having the rarest Divine Blessing of Hero, she would rather give it up and live alongside her brother Gideon. She would get her wish later, though not after a lot of hardship.

Even then, she doesn’t get her ultimate wish of being her brother’s wife. She settles for working at her brother’s shop, foregoing her Blessing and living out the anime’s aesop of living the way she wants to, regardless of the blessing she’s born with.

7

Akiko Himenokouji (As Long As There’s Love, It Doesn’t Matter If He Is My Brother, Right?)

Gets A Little Too Close For Twin Brother’s Comfort

Akito’s in a pickle: he’s the caretaker of a dorm house full of wacky girls who are hot, but strange, and his twin sister turns out to really want him. Unfortunately for Akito, Akiko’s as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than other girls who want to continue their bloodline with her brother.

It’s not that Akito’s made it easy for Akiko to latch off, as he published brother-sister incest stories before. Akito’s also overtly kind to her at times, and to his other sisters, which makes Akiko’s quest to lock him down a little harder.

8

Shizuku Kurogane (Chivalry Of A Failed Knight)

Little Sister Had No Chance At All

Chivalry of a Failed Knight is astounding in one aspect: male lead Ikki Kurogane seals the deal with female lead Princess Stella Vermillion early. Girls try to sway Ikki, but he remains steadfast to his girlfriend and combat partner. His resolve doesn’t change even with the efforts of his sister, Shizuku.

Shizuku initially has reason to go overboard with her love of Ikki. Her brother was the family shame due to his perceived lack of talent. But at some point, her intention to love him the way their family doesn’t turn into other forms of love.

9

Azaka Kokutou (The Garden of Sinners Chapter 6: Oblivion Recording)

Azaka Fights Shiki For Blood Brother Mikiya

Azaka Kokutou’s a powerful and interesting character, yet one with a flaw that can easily flanderize her. Her love that goes beyond platonic for her brother, Mikiya, causes hostility between her and Shiki and changes her life permanently.

Aside from Mikiya’s personality attracting her, being raised away from her brother may have prevented the Westermarck effect from affecting her. Regardless of the cause, Azaka’s attraction to Mikiya moved her to become a mage to spite Shiki and redirect attention from her blood brother.

10

Kotori Itsuka (Date A Live)

Little Sister Actually Tries To Make A Move On Her Brother

At 14, Kotori is the head commander of an organization dedicated to keeping her brother Shido safe. When taking into account that Kotori’s actually a powerful Spirit, her authority sort of makes sense. Her infatuation with her brother also makes sense in this context since Shido’s power is predicated on kissing and dating Spirits.

She ends up confessing to Shido in the light novels. Shido could be interpreted as rejecting her even as some fans believe their relationship to be open-ended. However, there’s no mistaking Kotori’s feelings in the anime, light novel, and visual novel.

11

Maya Ikusaba (My One-Hit Kill Sister)

Sisterly Flirtation Disturbs Ototo

My One-Hit Kill Sister is not the only incest-themed isekai fantasy out there, but it is one of the latest brother-sister-spiced isekai anime out there. It’s also fairly funny, as Asahi Ikusaba is forced to reckon with his sister’s terrifying obsession with him.

Asahi is also forced to live with the fact that his sister Maya became the overpowered isekai protagonist instead of him. Thus, he has to not only struggle with fighting slimes, but his OP sister Maya doing everything in her power to become his only girl.

12

Mihari Oyama (Onimai: I’m Now Your Sister!)

Little Sister Genderbends Brother

Mihari Oyama hits viewers with a twofer: definite, not-completely-platonic feelings for her older brother, and gender-bending said brother. There’s also ecchi that involves the middle school cast, but skipping through the fanservice helps with getting to the meat of the story.

Said meat being that Mihari wants nothing more than for Mahiro to recover from being a recluse and having a mostly-normal life. Whether the anime succeeds here depends on the viewer, though they’ll likely have a good time watching the shockingly good animation.

13

Saki Ayase (Days with My Stepsister)

Emotionally-Damaged Step-Siblings Navigate Relationship

Days with My Stepsister makes no bones about the fact that Yuta Asamura and Saki Ayase feel strange about each other. Saki’s never learned to depend on family, while Yuta doesn’t know how to interact with her as her older brother.

It’s Saki who tries to break the ambiguity first by offering sex to her older brother for money and independence. Yuta declines, and the two make decent headway in working through their familial issues, or as much as two high schoolers could on their own. Despite this, the two end up crossing the boundary of brocon and siscon into a real relationship later.

14

Kirino Kousaka (Oreimo)

Best Teenage Girl For Some Anime Fans

With an anime title of “My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute,” it’s inevitable that there would be incest. Kirino, in particular, blossomed from being a normal kid who admires her brother Kyousuke into a teen who wants to be his lover.

She’s in deep enough to convince herself that a former friend is keeping her from Kyousuke even when she tries to stifle her feelings for her brother. Despite Manami and every girl who ever loved Kyousuke’s best efforts, Kirino still ends up “married” to her brother. Oreimo’s game tries to reason this away as the two having non-blood relations.

15

Minato Nagase (The Hill Dyed Rose Madder)

Medium-Dependent Incest

Minato’s win state as Jun’ichi’s sister-lover depends on the medium, as is the canonicity of their blood relations. Anime Minato gets Jun’ichi to give in to his romantic and sexual fantasies and wins him over. Depending on the player’s choice, she gets to win in the PC and PS2 versions. It’s only in the manga that Minato outright loses to Yuuhi.

But Minato and Jun’ichi’s blood relations aren’t steady. PS2 Minato and Jun’ichi are merely adoptive siblings, and in the anime, their relations are ambiguous. Minato and Jun’ichi are 100% blood-related in the PC and manga, though only PC Minato can go full incest.

16

Naomi Tanizaki (Bungou Stray Dogs)

Sibling Obsession A Quirky Reference To Real-Life Author

In Bongou Stray Dogs, there’s a couple who love to proclaim to all the other characters that they’re dating even though they’re siblings. The funny thing is that Naomi and Jun’ichiro Tanizaki’s actual blood tie is rather ambiguous or unconfirmed. So the viewers are left wondering whether it’s just some weird couple fetish or whether they actually live in sweet home Alabama.

Fans have speculated that Naomi’s particularly aggressive behavior towards Jun’ichiro is a reference to her brother’s real-life namesake. Japanese author Jun’ichiro Tanizaki wrote the novel Naomi, where the protagonist winds up completely under the control of the titular antagonist, whom he is unrelated to. BSG Jun’ichiro’s declaration that Naomi is more important than anything in his life certainly fuels the reference.

17

Sachi Umino (A Couple Of Cuckoos)

Cuckoo Brood Parasitism Metaphor Turned Incest Bait

Sachi Umino from A Couple of Cuckoos is secretly in love with her brother. That’s messed up, but at least she’s not blood-related with her brother, who was swapped at birth with Sachi’s true sibling. Still, what makes this siblinghood awkward is that Sachi’s foster brother, Nagi Umino, adamantly considers the former as his sister and nothing else.

Sachi knows this but still keeps her repressed and unrequited feelings burning with passion. The weird part is that Sachi has always liked Nagi but only admitted it to herself after she found out that they’re not related by blood, as if that revelation was her green light and invitation card.

18

Mizuha Kiryu (Hensuki: Are You Willing To Fall In Love With A Pervert, As Long As She’s A Cutie?)

Sister Turns Fiance

Keiki Kiryu, in the grand tradition of harem protagonists, is completely and even painfully normal compared to the gaggle of high school girls who want to get with him. That gaggle includes his sister Mizuha, who is the highest order of OCD when it comes to cleaning.

But Mizuha is also a covert pervert with certain proclivities, including loving her brother. Her exhibitionism and earnest efforts eventually pay off, as she wins her brother’s love. It doesn’t help that their parents change their status from siblings to fiances instead.

19

Shiba Miyuki (The Irregular At Magic High School)

Genetically Engineered Romance Between Brother And Sister

The Irregular at Magic High School features a standard trope for anime where a beautiful pair of siblings could have dated anyone of their choosing, but they chose to stay intimate with each other instead. At least, that’s what keeps happening due to Shiba Miyuki’s whims and neuroticism towards her brother’s potential lovers.

Miyuki is so devoted to her brother that she’s even willing to “offer” her heart, body, and soul to him. She’s way too overprotective of her brother, Tatsuya, and often polices him on his whereabouts and who he hangs out with, like a vigilant mother. Ironically, she wants her brother to stay with her forever but also wants everyone to see her brother’s worth.

20

Mitsuki Kanzaki (Recently, My Sister Is Unusual)

Compelled By A Ghost To Try And Commit Incest

Mitsuki Kanzaki’s case in Recently, my sister is unusual is a special one since, by technicality, it’s both a brother complex and not a brother complex. The whole chaos started happening after a dead girl’s ghost possessed Mitsuki. It just so happens that this ghost is head over heels for Mitsuki’s brother, Yuuya. Thus, the possessed Mitsuki started acting weird and touchy toward Yuuya.

In Yuuya’s eyes, this is a full-blown brother complex situation, but in Mitsuki’s perspective, it’s not since it’s the ghost’s doing. In hindsight, it also counts as a brother complex because one really can’t uncross that line, especially after some aggressive advances have been made, courtesy of the ghost.