Review of Koi Kaze

TL;DR : A short anime that excels in it's realism and humanizing characters. Don't watch this if you're expecting typical incest-fetish pandering, or if you simply aren't open minded toward the subject matter. Odds are if you're reading this, then you already know the theme of the show. A brother and sister, aged 12 years apart, fall in love and grapple with the problems society places on such a taboo. In an industry so saturated with incest fetish pandering, it's easy to overlook Koi Kaze as another one of 'those' anime. Fortunately this couldn't be further from the truth. Approaching KoiKaze with an open mind gives yield to one of the most powerful examples of real humanity I've ever seen in an anime.

Largely devoid of popular anime troupes, Koi Kaze presents itself in a very realistic manner. Things are not exceptionally happy, the atmosphere is often uninviting and downright gloomy. The homes are small and compact, demonstrating that even the protagonists must live in lower-income housing. The characters are not necessarily attractive, as one would expect a main character to be. This really gives the viewer the feeling that they are watching a window into real life, and not just an anime.

One of Koi Kaze's most defining traits is how it goes about the show's characters. The characters feel like real people. They are irrational, angry, spiteful, and disgusting people. So often they are unable to the find the words that the viewer knows themselves. But then, these are people, not heroes.
Koi Kaze grapples with many emotions not often expressed realistically in anime, but I feel they manage self-hatred the best. You can tell that Koshiro genuinely hates himself, finds himself to be disgusting and worthless, but isn't sure why it has to be that way. This dark and gritty realism makes Koi Kaze stand far out from the crowd of generic incest-fetish shovelware anime seen often today.

As for the non-story side of things, Koi Kaze has a solid soundtrack, with a decent opening and ending theme. The art style is clearly of it's time (2004), and definitely lower budgeted. Simply put, this show doesn't look pretty, and odds are you won't find it anyway higher than 480p. That said, this isn't the kind of show you watch for stunning visuals and eye candy.

I personally found Koi Kaze to be a deeply emotional experience, but it's not an anime everyone can appreciate.