Hozuki-san Chi no Aneki (The Hozuki Brother and Older Sister) is a 4-koma crack comedy by Igarashi Ran, about the wacky day-to-day life and interactions of the Hozuki siblings. It was serialized in Young Ace magazine from 2009 to 2011.
Life for highschool student Hozuki Gorou is anything but easy. His attractive older step-sister Haru aggressively flirts with him, lies to him, and humiliates him in every way she can think of. However, he does have a crush on her, which nonetheless causes even more trouble for him.
A sequel began serialization in the April 2014 issue of Young Ace titled Hozuki-san Chi no Aneki + Imouto, seemingly taking place at the end of Gorou's last year of high school/shortly before college exams. As the title says, Haru's cousin, Aoi, one year younger than Gorou, comes to live with them as their imouto (little sister). The sex is turned up in this series, especially by Aoi.
Hozuki-san Chi no Aneki provides examples of the following tropes:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Played with in Misaki's case. She's portrayed as an attractive girl in the manga, but is so insanely determined in her pursuit of Gorou and her S&M fantasies that the poor boy is terrified of her.
- Accidental Pervert: Gorou. And it's entirely Haru's fault.
- Acquired Poison Immunity: According to chapter 29, Misaki has drugged Gorou so many times that light doses no longer seem to affect him.
- Alliterative Name: Haru Hozuki and Kyosuke Kousuke. Mai Mizuno as well.
- Amusing Injuries: Gorou
- Attention Whore: Haru
- Barbie Doll Anatomy: Works in the case of Kyou, to the point where even Gorou didn't clue in that Kyou's actually a girl.
- Bears Are Bad News:
- Somehow Haru was able to chase Gorou around while riding one once.
- She also convinced him to attack one once so that she could escape.
- Bifauxnen: Haru's androgynous classmate Kyou, who's exploited by her to make Gorou jealous.
- Big Damn Heroes: Haru saves Gorou from being raped by Misaki in Chapter 22.
- Big Sister Instinct: Haru around Misaki.
- Bishie Sparkle: In chapter 23, when Kyou is dressed as Romeo for the cultural festival.
- Black Comedy Rape: There's no low that Misaki won't stoop to in order to get Gorou.
- Blatant Lies: Haru is prone to telling them, mostly to abuse Gorou in some way, shape or form. This is even pointed out in one with the words "complete lie". No-one ever believes Gorou that they are lies. His classmates have a pretty low opinion of him. Then again he does always lie about his sister complex. Gorou realizes in one strip that Haru is really sick because her lies stop making sense.
- Bring My Brown Pants:
- When Gorou saw Haru with a Predator mask. And the fact he can't stand Horror at all.
- Brother–Sister Incest:
- Gorou's head-over-heels in love with his stepsister Haru, but shows no interest in his actual sister Kaede.
- Kaede, for her part, seems to think Haru's crushing pretty hard on Gorou. And also that it's very not right.
- In the sequel series, Gorou and Haru are now clearly in a sexual relationship just short of coitus, in sharp contrast to the original.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Seems to be the opinion held by Misaki, who gets really pissed whenever a girl with bigger breasts than herself comes near Gorou. Zigzagged in that it's probably Misaki's wish more than anything, since she herself is pretty busty and would like him to notice her. Gorou, for his part, seems to prefer flatter girls anyway.
- The Chew Toy: Gorou does not seem to mind much. He even thanks Haru one time after she drops a cake on him. He seems to put up with it because it shows that she's clearly thinking of him as much as he does her.
- Cool Big Sis:
- Haru can be this for Gorou when she's not trolling him.
- Kaede qualifies as well.
- Cool Shades: Gorou wears a pair when he first meets up with Haru and her friends at the resort.
- Cowardly Lion: While Gorou is a scaredy cat, he will not hesitate to intervene if he believes that Haru is in any danger of sorts.
- Ear Cleaning: Except Haru uses her tongue instead of an ear pick.
- Ecchi: It's not very detailed, but there sure is a whole lot of exposed female flesh in this manga.
- Erotic Dream: Gorou has one on New Year's Day and subsequently refuses to tell Haru about it.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Kyou has her own fanclub thanks to her status as a bifauxnen.
- The Gadfly: Haru, in every way, to everyone, ever. Teases Gorou about his crush on her, embarasses him in public as often as possible, tricks Kyou into dressing as masculine as possible to mess with both of them, etc.. Only Kaede is immune.
- Godiva Hair: Kaede in her second appearance.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Haru attempts to ward off a classmate who has feelings for Gorou by telling her of his porn and the sexual acts within. However said classmate was Misaki and it only serves to arouse her.
- Heroic BSoD: Gorou concerning Haru's graduation.
- Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Haru's one and only mission is to make Gorou's life pure hell in the most amusing (and hot) ways. Chapter 21 shows that her behavior may actually have had good intentions, at least to begin with. When Haru and Gorou first began living together, he was a hikikomori who showed no response to any attempt by her to socialize with him... until she started teasing him and playing pranks on him like she does now.
- Hidden Depths: Gorou happens to be skilled at standing yen coins on their edges, a feat that manages to impress Haru.
- Hikikomori: Gorou used to be one until Haru came into his life.
- Hypocritical Heartwarming: Anytime some guy attack Gorou, Haru will kick your ass.
- Idiot Ball: Gorou isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, but even he has his moments. One particular moment had him open a booby-trapped cabinet that was "helpfully" labeled by Haru, resulting in him getting a face full of detergent and falling onto a pile of clothes.
- Important Haircut: Haru gets one in Chapter 28.
- Iron Butt Monkey: Gorou once fought a bear while getting shot at by hunters and another time got mauled by a killer whale. He managed to stumble out of both situations relatively unscathed.
- Jerkass: Haru's friend Meiko. Haru's mean to people because she obviously thinks it's funny. Meiko seems to be mean to people for pretty much no reason at all.
- Let's Just Be Friends: Gorou and Mizuno, as of Chapter 26. It's played as mutual on both ends — Mizuno having trust-level issues, and Gorou trying to consolidate who he actually has romantic feelings for.
- Loser Protagonist: Gorou. It's shown that he basically has no friends and he spends all his free time being tormented by his sister, obsessing over her, or playing video games.
- Love Potion: Misaki's modus operandi.
- Love Triangle: Between Gorou, Haru, and Mizuno.
- Ms. Fanservice:
- Haru, so very much.
- Kaede seems determined to take this trope too.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Haru is especially fond of scary pranks.
- Nosebleed: Hoo boy. Gorou could give Ikuto, Mussolini, Kanako or Karin a run for their money in the "Plasma-gushing-from-head" department. There's even one point where, after his friend mentions the possibility of Haru getting married, Gorou spurts blood out of every crack in his skull. Have the poor boy see a doctor. Also another when he tries to delete his photo collection of Haru his hand splurts out blood.
- Not Blood Siblings: Gorou and Haru.
- Not What It Looks Like: When Gorou spills water on his game console (an Xbox 360) as well as his pants, he grabs some tissues to dry them off. Haru walks in on him and naturally assumes the worst.
- Pet the Dog:
- Haru gets one at the end of the kotatsu segment in chapter 8 where she decides to let Gorou sleep instead of scribbling on his face with a marker.
- When Gorou was beat up for attempting to save Haru from the attention of the delinquent hitting on her, she seemed genuinely worried about him being hurt. Probably the first time in the manga she'd been sincerely nice to him.
- The Quiet One: Mei
- Recursive Crossdressing: Kyou, who Gorou thinks is a guy, plays Juliet in a production of Romeo and Juliet put on by her and Haru's class.
- Rich People: A 4-koma side-story revealed that Misaki has access to a butler.
- Running Gag:
- Misaki's schemes to get Gorou for herself, which often border on rape.
- Gorou will never believe Kyou is a girl even when she is wearing a skirt.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Any moment when Kyou dresses in a girly skirt. Also when Haru gives Mizuno a makeover.
- Shorter Means Smarter: Haru is the shortest character amongst her friends.
- Shout-Out: Haru once wears a Predator mask in one of her schemes.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Gorou and Kyou.
- Sleep Cute: Haru uses this for evil. Later played straight.
- Slice of Life
- Smoking Is Cool: Kaede
- Super-Deformed: Often.
- Spell My Name With An S: Hozuki/Houzuki/Hoozuki/Hōzuki. Thanks to the wonders of the Japanese-to-English translations, they're all technically right.
- Stalker with a Crush: Haru's classmate Misaki, for Gorou.
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Mizuno at times. Her hair is compared to seaweed.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Mizuno's approach to Gorou.
- Super Drowning Skills: Gorou cannot swim without a float, even in the shallow end.
- The Tease: Haru
- Thanks for the Mammary:
- Haru once pushed Gorou over and he landed on Mizuno, his hands hitting something other than the icy ground.
- Gorou got another handful when he tripped over a curling iron and fell into Mizuno from behind.
- Umbrella of Togetherness: Gorou and Mizuno share an umbrella at the end of chapter 18.
- Unkempt Beauty: Kaede, and to a lesser extent Mizuno.
- Unwanted Harem:
- There's one developing around Gorou with Misaki, Mizuno, and Kyou — though this is tempered by the fact that Gorou is a) deathly afraid of Misaki b) unsure of what Mizuno thinks of him (or vice versa) c) convinced Kyou's a guy and d) too smitten with Haru to consider them anyway.
- Haru always gets pretty jealous whenever he is with another girl. Whether this is just her being evil and possessive or actually liking him are very hard to tell.
- We Named the Monkey "Jack": Kaede owns a dog named Gorou and in a 4-koma side-story gets him to rip apart an effigy of Haru.
- Wham Episode / Mood Whiplash: Almost literally by the end of chapter 25. Ouch.
- When She Smiles: When Haru gives Mizuno a makeover and gets her to smile, Gorou is awestruck.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Chapter 21 which details the time Haru and Gorou first started living together and Haru's attempts to connect with Gorou.
- Would Hit a Girl: During Gorou's fight with Mizuno in chapter 26.
- Yonkoma: Most of the manga, though it often switches to a regular format for a few pages.
