The Scent of Sandalwood... ­


IntroductionRelationsReferencesSecretsDepth
NotablesAnalysisImageryRandomnessSite

Significant Changes

Not only is there change in appearance from manga and anime, often the anime can have a different feel as well. Small changes to big ones can occur. Oniisama E... is no exception.

An example is how the characters are presented. Sometimes a manga can have some lightheartedness to it while the anime is a bit more serious. That is the case between the two in concerns to this series.

Like many manga and anime, there can be many physical humor be it actual physical comedy of the body to facial expressions. In the illustrated version, there is humor that is more expressional. Silly grins, star-shaped eyes, funny caricatured bodies, and exaggerated expressions that can elicit a smile, chuckle or laugh. Such occurrences are sprinkled about the manga. The anime lacks in that. It is more serious.

What the manga can lack in though is giving a more solid form. The anime gives life by voices, sounds and action that is more elaborate that cannot be expressed quite the same way in illustrated form. Animation can give a certain kind of depth by adding to the original story line. More emphasis and additional scenes sprinkled in make the characters have more life.


Some of the differences between the anime and manga are in the following:

The characters' coloring and clothing are different. The sixteen-year period difference can explain the clothing. The coloring is a different matter.

Nanako has a blondish hair coloring with eyes that vary in color. Sometimes in pictures they are blue and in others they are brown. Her look is a cute prettiness shown through different hairstyles and dresses that often are decked in bows, flower print, ribbons or ruffles. In the anime, she has brown hair and blue eyes. She has a plainer, average look. Her hair is only put up on few occasions like when swimming. Other than that, it is always down, no bows and no additional curls. She dresses less girlish and a bit more mature.

Such occurs with other characters as well, like Rei Asaka has white hair instead of blonde and actually wears more than just one suit everyday in the manga. The list can continue into many pages if I keep this up.


Now we can go onto Kaoru. The most striking difference is the ending. If you read the many pages that come before this one, you know her story for the most part. Her most pivotal moments are featured at the endings of the series. She knows well of her position and is deeply affected by the passing of Rei Asaka.


In the anime, you learn more about what happened between Kaoru and Takehiko. You see her visit a doctor to examine her body for any signs of her illness progressing. You see her fear of dying and state of panic when she jumps to conclusions about her ability to live.

You see more to Kaoru's desperation after Rei leaves her. She soon became distraught over her own short life. Her friend's sudden death, despite she could have lived a long, full life, likely made Kaoru realize just how all the more fragile her own life was becoming. Even worse, she was alone in it all. She was losing hope. Her courage was faltering. Her fears were becoming intense.

She runs off to the train station, going missing. Nanako is in search for her and through Takashi, she found out that her older brother and Kaoru were engaged once but they broke off their relationship. Nanako does not find out their reasons. When Takashi is informed of her disappearance, he has a good idea where the missing woman is and goes off to find her.

In the rain, he finds Kaoru at an important place for both of them. She tries to keep him away but he grabs hold of her. They argue about why she is there. It is soon found that the place was where Kaoru broke up with him. Memories of that night are recalled. Kaoru loved him deeply then and now. She showed him her body, determined it would push him away from her or would make him understand her reasons to keep them apart. She is certain that eventually her would end up hating her for the burden she will become for him. She hoped to forget him to the point she did not even remember that she had to forget something. She never did though. The flashback ends.

Takehiko is insistent that she still loves him and that is why she is there. She kisses him and thanks him for what they had in the past before running away from him again. Later the next day, Kaoru is in the clock tower smoking some cigarrettes and mounting them on a can (possibly beer by my guess) to fill the area with the scent of Rei and has a bouquet of flowers beside her. Nanako finds her, soon learns how Takehiko and Kaoru met as well as why the two broke up and that Takehiko is her older brother. Nanako now knows that Kaoru had a mastectomy and if the tumor reappears in five years, she has no hope of a future.

Afterward, Kaoru calls Takehiko to apologize for inadvertently telling Nanako she was his sister. She soon hangs up before he can get a word in. Kaoru is alone and desperately wishes to see him but cannot. She asks for Rei's help even though the woman is gone. More memories occur. It shows how in love she and Takehiko were and that she would love him more each passing day. Despite their break up, it seems to have remained true, but Kaoru sees no future for her, much less for them.

Later, perhaps the next day, Takehiko phones her and asks her to meet him and that he would wait for her despite she told him she would not come. While he waits, more memories play in mind. They are of his plans to go to Germany and Kaoru saying she would go with him. Then it turns to the worse. When they go to ride the carousel Kaoru has a pain shoot through her left breast. She does not pay heed to it, but Takehiko notices she is in pain. She manages to get on the horse, but soon falls off and a gasping cry escapes.

The memory shifts to a time he is with a doctor, talking about how Kaoru will do and of her future. A bottle smashes to the ground and Kaoru is on the floor in shock. The woman heard that she might only have five years left to live. She silently cries as she gazes forward in disbelief and fear. She tells him that she is sorry, but she likely will not be able to go to Germany with him. The flashback ends.

Kaoru finally arrives at the meeting place late into the day. Takehiko is relieved and tells her he is going to Germany and wants to take her with him. She refuses, telling him he should live his dream with someone else and runs away from him yet again.

The following day Nanako asks Kaoru to talk with her and drags her off to be confronted about Takehiko. Takashi and Nanako want her to talk to him, spend more time with him. (The previous night they found a broken form of him, drunk and hopeless.) She says she had already talked to him and the reason she did what she did was for his sake. She runs off when the argument becomes too intense for her.

When it is raining, Kaoru visits the site where Rei died to put fresh flowers out. Fukiko confronts her then about Germany and Takehiko. She responds it is due to personal matters and eventually admits that she only has four years left to live. Fukiko argues that it is enough. She talks about how Rei has already spent the last seconds of her life while Kaoru still had four years! She should live. Kaoru had found a love that can last a lifetime while others find love for only one week in one summer. Giving up is not Kaoru's way and Fukiko soon reminds her of that.

Later on, Takehiko comes home after drinking again, but this time he is not drunk and his resolve to keep after Kaoru is still strong. He looks at his monitor, and much to his surprise, he finds a string of the word "yes," typed across the screen and then the signature "Kaoru".

Kaoru then makes her presence known. She tells him what to expect when her last days come and asks him if he will be there for her. He says he will. She then goes to him and cries into his chest.

Sometime after, it is announced to the Misanoo family that he and Kaoru will be married and go to Germany together. Time passes, Kaoru finishes her last basketball match at regional tournament, and eventually her wedding day comes. It is a rainy day and inside the church is the couple. They exchange vows, her ending with the added words of loving him for as long as she lives. They then leave the church and Kaoru throws the bouquet. When the flight to Germany arrives, the Misanoo family along with Tomoko and Mariko are there to see them off.

Two years have passed and Nanako receives a letter from Germany. Inside is a photo of her brother, Kaoru and their baby.


In the manga, it is not delved into as deeply, but you do know that she is in a struggle about living the rest of her life alone. It eventually led her to face the man she had been avoiding for such a long time. She faces Takehiko in order to strengthen her resolve to live alone, without Rei being there for her. After that, she runs off again. Nanako finds out about Kaoru's relationship with Takehiko then.

Later on, Nanako finds out her older brother will be leaving for Germany to study and soon confronts him about it to find that he intends to take his wife with him! He is determined to take Kaoru with him even though she never consented.

Nanako decides to meet Kaoru to tell her the news. She starts out by informing Kaoru that Takehiko will be leaving for Germany the next year. The woman is surprised but Kaoru already knew he had intended to go there for a long time. Nanako continues but only manages out that he plans to take his wife with him. Kaoru hears simply that because she does not listen anymore due to shock and runs off to be alone.

Takehiko finds her after she went to a lake to take in all that she learned and be distraught over him being with another. He tells her that he met with her parents to talk and soon says that he needs a civil status certificate, along with publishing the announcement of the intended marriage at the town hall. He wants them to marry before next autumn!

Despite the surprise of finding that she is his intended, she says she cannot marry him. They then argue about why she wants to stay, why she should go and the paths both want to follow. They talk about love, what they want, what they can give and eventually Kaoru loses her struggle and confesses her fear of waiting for her death while living alone. Takehiko holds her and tells her how she will like the future they will walk down together. Kaoru agrees while crying in his arms.

It transfers to the day they are at the airport, ready to leave. Kaoru is now married to the man she loves. Many of the students, even Fukiko, from Seiran are there to see them off. The two board the plane that will take them to Germany.

Two years have passed and Nanako receives a latter from Germany. It says Kaoru died.


As much as I love Kaoru, I think she should have died in the anime. Terrible, terrible, I know. It would have made a more of an impacted though. At least, that is what I believe. With how she ran off so often and was determined to keep away from Takehiko it would have made justification for all the things she did.

She had told Takehiko how when her final day comes she would be so afraid and be crying. She asked him if he would hold her hand tightly, be there with her during her worse. He told her he would. With such a reunion as that, I just saw them together during her last years and him fulfilling what he said he would do. I saw them living at their best, their closest and their devotedness. I saw him not regretting a single thing.

On the other hand, I think she should have lived in the manga. She was not so adamant about how she would make him understand she would bring pain and suffering. Takehiko was the one who convinced her. He spoke of how she would go to school in Germany, he would teach her how to speak the language, they would live together and he would never leave her alone. She would not die alone. That screams out "live!" The speaking of a future, the intent for them to live and walk down the same path together makes just see the two making it. Alas, that was not the case.

Reasons for the change of endings could simply be for the sake of a different conclusion. Anime tends to do such at times. When I look at the endings and the periods of when they come out, there is justification. The ability to survive cancer in the breast had improved modestly during the time the anime came out. Back at the period the manga came out, you could only get rid of the tumor and hope that would be the last of it.



Main Page
Notables