Houseki no Kuni’s Mangaka Writes Works that Glorify Incest & Pedophilia

Update July 2020: I saw that this post is getting random notes again and it may continue to in the future as Haruko Ichikawa continues to be relevant. I got a lot of backlash for this post I wrote it in an ill-advised, emotionally charged spurt, and I think a lot of it had to do with the tone and presentation of the facts below. Something this has taught me though is that it really does matter how you frame your arguments, and that shame is not really useful in getting people to consider their actions. So I’ve reworded the language here and changed the title a bit.

As a disclaimer, I’m not saying that no one can ever create works about pedophilia or incest. But I ask that you take a critical eye to the framing of works that touch upon these subjects and whether they contribute to the normalization of these acts that adults use to groom children.

I’m also not telling you that you can’t enjoy Ishikawa’s works or that you’re evil if you like them. The only thing I hope you reconsider is whether you support her works financially.

So onto the actual post. The following contains summaries of Haruko Ichikawa’s work before Houseki no Kuni, a two-volume collection of oneshots named Sakuhinshuu that won the 2010 Osamu Tezuka award, and some parallels it has to Houseki no Kuni. This work frames incest and pedophilia as alluring and romantic. If you want to read it for yourself and skip this post English scanlations are easy to find online. Warnings below for pedophilia and incest, though none of the images are explicit.

In chapter 1, titled Star Lover, a boy goes to live with his uncle and finds a girl that seems almost as his mirror image. This is because the uncle grew her (she is a plant, and so is the boy apparently) from the boy’s pinkie finger that was severed by accident when he was a kid.



She openly refers to him as “brother” and they have a sibling relationship. They’re essentially a metaphor for fraternal twins, except for one thing.

He (likely a middle schooler) wants to have sex with her (a middle schooler). But he can’t because it turns out his uncle is already having sex with her. His uncle is naturally, a grown man.

These panels of the room where his uncle (who the girl refers to as “dad”) and this girl sleep together in the same room allude to the fact that they have sex. This is then blatantly stated outright after the boy confesses to her.

This is pedophilic and incestuous, but the work doesn’t frame it as bad but as a proper romance.



The boy who longs “to become whole again” with her (via sex) is heartbroken that she has turned him down. To show her sympathy, the girl cuts off her arm so he can grow himself his own little plant girl.

She collapses afterwards, and this panel alludes to her very romantic/sexual relationship with his uncle (her dad). Directly following this, she turns into a toddler, whom we can presume the uncle is still having intimate relations with.

The story ends with the protagonist excitedly thinking of what girl his plant will become.

This story is literally the concept of “grooming” in the very most literal way: The uncle (and his nephew, who is also learning to become a pedophile) literally “groom” their girls, who are plants. These girls are minors and are taught to provide for them sexually, emotionally, and domestically, as she also does the housework. The story at no point condemns the uncle or the protagonist’s mindset and is essentially an endorsement of grooming young girls to be your perfect wife.



Now if that’s not already creepy enough, the uncle looks exactly like the monk from Houseki no Kuni. Though many of Ichikawa’s characters look similar, none of her other works (as of 2017, when this post was originally written) have featured this exact face and body build besides Star Lover and Houseki no Kuni. And in both cases, this man has “molded” the children under his care. You can potentially counter that Houseki no Kuni’s gems are over hundreds of years old. You’re right, but they still emulate children and look like children. And while the monk isn’t overtly sexual to them, the fact that he’s way older and in charge of them while looking exactly like the pedophilic uncle from Star Lover is enough reason to be wary. He is explicitly the only being to look like an adult, and he directs the gems on what to do, as if they are his students in a random school he created. Additionally, all the gems in the anime are voiced by women, but the monk is voiced by a man, and explicitly referred to as a man, while the gems are supposedly genderless and sexless. Star Lover also shows similar Buddhist symbolism that features heavily in Houseki no Kuni in the last panel.

Chapter 3, The Kusaka Siblings, also heavily features incest and pedophilia. It begins with the protagonist’s arm getting injured, preventing him from playing baseball. Then he meets a strange robot that he begins to raise, which turns into a little girl that he refers to as his little sister.

Again, the story frames their relationship romantically. In the climax, she sacrifices herself for him by becoming “part of him”, aka exploding her body to heal his shoulder.



Besides the very same implications we went over in Star Lover, this panel is particularly illuminating because it makes the point to show her underwear and detail her butt. This could have easily been avoided by flipping the panel horizontally, thus showing us the other side of his shocked face and the side of the girl that is covered by her skirt.

Chapter 5 & 6, 25 Hour Vacation, is a two-parter that once again poses pedophilia and incest as romantic.

It starts off with a boy and his older sister, with a panel where the sister’s shirt is transparent enough to show her bra.

This is to foreshadow sexual tension between the protagonists that permeates this story and establishes their attraction as beginning from when they were children. The story then time skips to when they’re adults, and continually calls into question their relationship as being so ambiguous between siblings or lovers that it regularly confuses the people around them:



(These are just few of the many, many panels of people doubting their sibling relationship)



Skipping through the details: the sister has deep sea amoeba-like creatures in her and she wants him to photograph her, since he’s a photographer. I presume what she’s wearing below is a bikini and not just her underwear, but the outcome is still the same—awkwardly incestuous.

In a conversation with one of the amoebas, the amoeba suggest that the sister is actually in love with the brother.

This is proven right when the sister blushes deeply in a romantic moment.



The story then just decides that they can be both siblings and lovers.



Later, following Ichikawa’s fascination of fantastical bodily destruction, the sister’s legs are smashed. After the incident, the sister tells the brother to reach inside her for a gift that she’s been preparing ever since she got infested with the deep sea creatures. In other words, ever since she was a middle schooler and he was a little boy, looking up at her bra strap.

This scene is obviously sexually charged; she’s blushing, her spine is positioned unnaturally to emphasize her breasts and groin, and the brother is literally inside her.

Shortly after, he makes her legs, and the panel focuses explicitly on her butt.

Then the story decides to delve into their past, and confirms that their obsession with each other has existed ever since they were younger. While there is no pedophilic art this time around, the fact that she was in middle school and he was an elementary schooler again brings up themes of incest, pedophilia, and grooming, all reflected as fascinating and romantic.





Ichikawa consistently writes themes of pedophilic, incestual grooming mixed with a fascination for destroying beautiful, feminine bodies.



Given as such, I ask that you reconsider supporting Ichikawa’s works. It’s not impossible to make works that feature and discuss pedophilia and incest, but those works should obviously not outright celebrate these very traumatic events as Ichikawa’s work does.

And on a final note, while some may argue that Houseki no Kuni is positive nonbinary gender representation, I think it’s more apt to say that it’s actually androgynous fetishization, as the characters are consistently posed sexily (particularly to emphasize their butts), and that fanservice is part of the series appeal. One such interview with Ichikawa is in fact titled: 上は少年、下は少女。性別のない宝石たちは「色っぽい」！

Translation: The top is boy, the bottom is girl. The sexless gems are “sexy”!

If you care about proper non-fetishistic representation of nonbinary people, I think your money is better spent elsewhere.