Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Big Brother Instinct / Anime & Manga

Go To

Works with their own pages

    open/close all folders 

    A-D 
  • After War Gundam X: Subverted with Shagia and Olba Frost. Not only the siblings in question are villains and brothers (instead of brother and sister), but the one who blindly adores and fiercely protects his sibling is Olba, the younger of the duo.
  • In AKIRA, Kaneda feels this way towards Tetsuo, because they were friends since childhood. Even though he teases him, he still feels the need to protect him and shows affection for him as a younger brother. Even after becoming fierce enemies, Kaneda cannot bring himself to truly hate Tetsuo despite the latter becoming an Ax-Crazy tyrant.
  • Area no Kishi features a very touching, yet tragic case. When the Aizawa brothers get hit by a truck, Suguru's first response was to jump in front of Kakeru to protect him from the impact. As a result, he received the most damage and he donated his heart to his brother for a transplant.
  • Astro Boy: Notably, one of the only times All-Loving Hero Astro has actually gotten angry is when he thought Pluto hurt his little sister Uran. And despite being a child himself, Astro is usually quite protective and nurturing towards other kids.
  • Attack on Titan:
    • Gender-flipped with Mikasa and her adoptive brother, Eren. She is fiercely protective of him after he saves her life and takes her into his family, and he complains frequently about it.
      • Eren himself reciprocates this, at least to some extent. His protective feelings towards Mikasa are symbolized by her red scarf, which he gave her after rescuing her from the criminals who killed her parents. It's made more explicit when the two are at the mercy of a horde of Titans, and it looks like they're about to die; Mikasa tearfully thanks Eren for wrapping the scarf around her, and Eren responds that she doesn't need to thank him for that, and that he'd do it as many times as necessary.
    • Both Eren and Mikasa display this tendency towards their weaker friend, Armin.
    • Eren also seems to develop this for Historia later on.
    • Then there's Reiner, the resident Team Dad and Big Brother Mentor to the other Trainees. He expresses that the strong should protect the weak, and is quick to risk his own well-being to protect the smaller, weaker members of their squad. It doesn't go well for him, because he's actually The Mole. His commitment to his mission conflicts so much with his guilt and growing attachment that he begins suppressing his memories in order to cope.
  • Azumanga Daioh: Sakaki is usually a wallflower and will endure whatever misfortune befalls her. But if anyone makes fun of Chiyo, or tries to harm her, that changes everything. Sakaki will strap on her game face and protect Chiyo, be it from a mob of angry cats, or incoming snowballs.
  • Baccano! has two examples: Maiza, who serves as a sort of Big Brother Mentor to the young gangster Firo (who is supposedly somewhat similar to his biological younger brother, who was murdered in a conflict over the Elixir of Life), and Dallas, an unrepentant Jerkass whose one redeeming trait is his kindness towards his little sister. The three Gandor brothers are also very protective of one another.
  • In Bakemonogatari, Koyomi Araragi used to be a Big Brother Bully to his two younger sisters, and still enjoys teasing them a lot. But whenever he thinks they might be in danger, he goes straight into Tranquil Fury and at that point nothing will stop him from getting at the person threatening them.
  • Banished from the Hero's Party: The person Gideon most wanted to protect the most was Ruti. This was the main reason he joined the Bahamut Knights, so he could guide her until she was strong enough and could find companions that would support her as The Chosen One. Part of the reason why he left the party willingly was because he thought his wish had come true and she didn't need him anymore.
  • Basilisk has Saemon Kisaragi and his younger sister, Okoi. Even when Okoi is quite able to defend herself, all of the Koga Manjidani know that upsetting her is a bad idea not just because she'll punch them immediately, but because the ruthless Saemon will be NOT amused as well. When Okoi dies very messily, Saemon throws all his possible reservations about the Iga/Koga showdown away and fights furiously and without any mercy (except to Hotarubi, and that's ONLY after he's fatally injured her) to avenge his dead sister.
  • In Binbou Shimai Monogatari, Kyou has this toward her younger sister Asu, which is justified since they live by themselves and she has taken on a parental role. Since Kyou is still very much a child herself this doesn't always come easy for her, but luckily Asu compensates by often acting very mature for her age.
  • Gauche from Black Clover is fiercely protective of his younger sister Marie, to the point where he tries to kill a sleeping Asta because of her Precocious Crush on him. He prioritizes saving her over everyone else so much that he leaves Asta, Sister Theresa, and the other children after Baro is transformed into a monster. Marie punches him saying that she hates when he's like this and that she likes him as a Magic Knight who protects others. This causes him to go back to help them.
  • Bleach:
    • One of Ichigo's biggest irritations is an older brother harming his younger siblings, and especially in this involves a little sister. He gave us the page quote. In the Hell Verse movie, when Yuzu dies, Ichigo flips completely until Renji stops him. In the Hueco Mundo arc, Ichigo comes across Nel, and his constant protection of her eventually leads to her trying to protect him back. When an Arc Villain messes with his little sisters, Ichigo eventually contemplates murder to save them.
    • Sora, Orihime's older brother, kidnapped her from their abusive parents and fled home. He was eighteen, she was three. He raised her alone until he was killed when Orihime was twelve. The hair clips she always wears were his last gift before he died. When he is Hollowfied, his lifelong devotion to her drives him to try and kill her until Ichigo temporarily revives his senses. He immediately takes his own life to save Orihime.
    • Byakuya only supports Rukia's execution because he's trapped by two conflicting vows. The more important vow is to his parents, to always uphold the law. However, he also promised his dying wife that he'd protect her sister as if she were his own sister. Once Ichigo helps Byakuya resolve the conflict, Byakuya quite fanatically upholds the second vow. Zommari admitting he was going to kill the near-dead Rukia was enough for Byakuya to kill him, and when As Nodt drops an Emotion Bomb attack on him, his worst nightmare is revealed to be Rukia dying.
    • Omaeda has a cowardly reputation. He'll stand by his captain in battle, but he prefers to avoid fighting or running away from battle where possible. However, when a Quincy impales his little sister Mareyo, he utterly flips. He doesn't have the talent to pull off a victorious battle against the Quincy, but it does give him the strength to resist the attacker's attempts to torture information out him, as well as protect both his captain and dying sister long enough for help to arrive.
  • Off the clock, Mafuyu of Blend-S comes off as a bit protective of her juniors at the cafe. Which isn't to say she won't indulge in a little playful tormenting of them (particularly Maika), but she does overall look out for them. Justified as she's an actual older sister, having three younger brothers.
  • Blood+ had Kai being this to his younger brother Riku and adopted sister Saya despite that she's a hundred year old vampire. He was in shock when Riku got bitten and devastated when he was raped and killed by Diva. After the Time Skip, he tries to be protective to Saya who tries to distance herself from him so that he won't die as well. Though Kai doesn't care and wants her to make sure that there are people who still cared for her. When Saya attempted to commit suicide together with Diva's newly born twins, Kai called her out for being selfish and punched Haji for being too obedient and convinced him to confess his feelings to Saya already.
  • In Blue Exorcist, the twins Rin and Yukio play with this. Rin is certainly protective of Yukio, but that was mostly in childhood as Yukio is now tough enough to handle himself most of the time. On the other hand Yukio is actually very protective of Rin and has sworn to protect him: but Rin is badass enough on his own and Yukio secretly hates and envies his "older" brother (which is eating him on he inside since he also mixes it with genuine love). Meanwhile Rin continues to support, and worry over Yukio, while dreaming of catching up to his brother so they can fight together.
  • Buso Renkin: While he is more than willing to save anyone he sees in danger, Kazuki is particularly protective of his younger sister Mahiro and was even willing to attack an alchemical snake monster with nothing but a metal pipe when it tried to eat her. One of his reasons for training to become an Alchemist Warrior is to get stronger so that he can better protect her.
  • In Cardcaptor Sakura, Yukito jokes that, despite Touya's teasing of Sakura, he has a protective instinct when it counts, something he acts out, secretly aware of her Magical Girl alter life. Touya justifies it on the grounds that he promised his mother on her deathbed that he would protect Sakura.
    • Played straight or inverted (depending on whether he is oldest or not) Syaoran acts as this towards his cousin Meiling in the anime adaption. His treatment of Sakura evolves somewhat into this at first (even if it ultimately becomes a somewhat different relation by the end of the series).
  • A Certain Magical Index:
    • Mikoto Misaka regards her 20,000 clones as her sisters, and will risk her life and limb for them. She openly lampshades it when asked about it.
    Mikoto: They are my sisters. It's because these little girls are my sisters. That's all there is to it.
    • Accelerator has this dynamic going on with Last Order, although some interpret it as more of a father-daughter relationship.
    • There's also a slight dynamic between Touma and Index.
  • Challengers: Souichi is fiercely protective of his younger brother Tomoe (as well as homophobic) and will not hesitate to pummel Kurokawa when he shows an overt romantic interest in Tomoe.
  • Toki from Code:Breaker is part of the Code Breaker group in order to keep his sister Nenene safe (though she's apparently older than him, and doesn't remember who he is).
  • Code Geass gives us the (former) trope picture and many examples.
    • Lelouch started a war for his little sister! Then there's his reaction to her possibly falling in love with Rai, the main character in the Dating Sim Lost Colors, though that one is Played for Laughs. He also intended to set Nunnally up with his best friend Suzaku, who cares about her almost as much as Lelouch does. Things get derailed when Suzaku is revealed as a Britannian mecha pilot, but by the end of the series he's the one taking care of Nunnally after Lelouch dies — which is exactly what he planned from the start.
    • Cornelia similarly has this going on for Euphemia. Prior to their exile, she also treated Lelouch and Nunnally this way, and she falls back into old rhythms when she reunites with Nunnally near the end .
    • The Chinese officer Li Xingke has one of these for his lady of liege, the considerably younger Empress Tianzi. It's implied that his love for her (and vice versa) is the reason that she can't be "conveniently" married off to a Britannian prince by the Eunuchs.
  • D.Gray-Man:
    • Mad Scientist Komui Lee is fiercely overprotective of his younger sister and only relative, Lenalee. The only way to wake the fiercely lazy Komui up is by saying "Your sister's getting married!" Since SHE is the one of the duo with the monster-killing super powers, he's got a lot to worry about. The reason he joined the Black Order was to be with Lenalee, who was kidnapped by them after she was found to be compatible with Innocence, and kept trying to escape to find her brother. Thus, the two keep each other in the Order. His obsession with his sister is mildly creepy.
    • Link even weaponizes this at one point, threatening Allen with telling Komui that he's alone in a sealed room with Lenalee if he doesn't unlock a door that's shutting the good inspector out.
    • Allen uses it to blackmail Branch Head Bak, saying he'll tell Komui about the pictures of Lenalee he has in his office.
    • Cross Marian mentions it as well, when he asks Lenalee if Komui's sister complex had gotten better since he's been gone.
  • Darker than Black: There is a reason Hei goes completely nuts when his Dead missing sister is brought up. Namely, the reason he came to be a badass martial artist in the first place was to protect his Contractor sister. That's right, the normal sibling wanted to protect the one with superpowers. And did a pretty good job up until Heaven's Gate somehow fused them. In the second season, he starts treating Suou as a substitute little sister. Depending on who you ask, Yin falls into this category as well.
  • Shido Itsuka from Date A Live toward his actual little sisters Kotori and Mana. His protective instincts toward the Spirits in general could count as this combined with TheDulcineaEffect.
  • The Daughter of Twenty Faces: The relationship between Ken and Chiko becomes this very quickly. It's so blatant that several characters, including Ken himself, hang a lampshade on the fact.
  • Subverted in Death Note where Villain Protagonist Light Yagami in an early Motive Rant claims that part of the reason he wants to make a better world is to protect innocents like his little sister, Sayu, and he has a Pet the Dog moment early on helping her with her homework, but later in the series considers killing her when she becomes a hostage so that the source of his power doesn't fall into the hands of criminals (Though ultimately he doesn't).
    • Early on, he suggests that he'd have to kill her if she found out about him being Kira.
    • It's possible that one of his first genuine reasons for killing off evil people was to make a better world for his family, but that changed as the Death Note began to affect him (and turned him into the crazy monster that he would become). This is backed up by his treatment of his family when he lost his memories.
  • Despite the fact that she treats him harshly for being a 'gross otaku', Makoto of Don't Become an Otaku, Shinozaki-san! is quite protective of his younger sister Akina and always helps her when she needs it.
  • In Manga/Dorohedoro, Asu sacrifices his devilhood in order to save Nikaido, whom he consider a sibling, even though they're not related by blood.
  • Durarara!!'s Shizuo Heiwajima is rather protective of his little brother Kasuka (aka Teen Idol Yuuhei Hanejima). The mere act of namedropping Kasuka is enough to make him suspicious of your intentions, while insulting him or attempting to poke into his personal life results in an instant Unstoppable Rage. In the Light Novels & second season of the anime, he eventually goes on to develop another Big Brother Instinct towards a young runaway Yakuza Princess, Akane Awakusu.
  • Inverted in Dr. STONE with Kohaku, who does everything she can to protect her Delicate and Sickly older sister, Ruri. This ranges from small things like bringing her hot springs water to ease her illness to larger things like disrupting the Grand Bout to keep Magma from marrying Ruri. Ultimately, she chose to ally herself with Senku as he had the medical knowledge to cure Ruri.

    E-L 
  • Baskerville has this towards Mingchao in Et Cetera. Partially because he's dealing with his own little sister's death.
  • Fairy Tail: Mirajane and Elfman are a weird example of this: Elfman (technically the younger brother) is extremely protective of Mira, probably due to their dead sister Lisanna, for whose death he blames himself, flying into a rage when she's in danger and threatening anyone who flirts with her. However, Mira is also deeply protective of him, and rightly so, considering that she's about a million times more badass.
  • In Fruits Basket, Momiji's little sister, unaware of their relationship, solicits this, asking Momiji if he will be like a big brother to her.
    • Haru acts this way towards Kisa, including running through the rain to find her after she runs away and giving her the strawberries from his cake.
    • While he has a lot to make up for, Ayame definitely cares deeply for his little brother. Since he spent his youth as an Aloof Big Brother, he's trying to make up by being there when Yuki needs him. This comes into play when he attends a parent-teacher conference at Yuki's school to tell off their abusive mother.
    • Kakeru tries to look out for his half-sister Machi's well-being, correctly suspecting that her distant personality came about because of her birth mother pressuring her to be perfect.
  • Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA: Miyu's brother, Shirou Emiya, who kicks off the plot by winning the Holy Grail War to give her a normal life.
  • Fushigi Yuugi has Tamahome (towards his siblings, and initially, Miaka, after she told him she missed her actual brother Keisuke) and Tasuki (towards Chiriko).
  • Game×Rush has this for his younger brother Memori, particularly when Memori was a younger crybaby.
  • Guy Shishioh in GaoGaiGar. Just hurt or threaten Mamoru in front of him and start counting how long it takes for him to wipe the floor with you. Mamoru even calls him "Big Bro."
  • In Gakuen Babysitters, Ryuuichi is well-known amongst his peers for having this toward his younger brother, Kotarou.
    • Despite being twins, Takuma is shown to have this for Kazuma by virtue of technically being the older twin. Chapter 10 even has Takuma fight a stray cat to get back Kazuma's toy.
  • In Getter Robo: Armageddon, Go immediately adopts this attitude towards Kei upon encountering her. It's eventually revealed that the reason for this is that he is her older brother — or rather a (male) memory-retaining clone of her older sister, Michiru, who died when Kei was a little girl... known as Genki Saotome. Sort of. It's complicated.
  • In Gohan no Otomo, Ichita tries to defies the trope. He refuses to get close to his baby sister, Niko, and expresses contempt towards other people who fusses over her for getting suckered by her charms. However, when he notices an intimidating stranger staring at Niko, he couldn't help but feel protective towards her and leaps to her defense to stop the guy from getting close to her.
  • Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics has many examples that are Played Straight, plus some gender flips and straight-up inversions:
    • Josephine from "Bluebeard" is the youngest and the only girl out of four impoverished siblings (plus she's implied to have been raised by them), so of course her three big brothers are very protective of her and, in the end, they rescue her from her evil husband.
    • Inverted in "Snow White and Rose Red", where the Bear Prince's younger brother is the protective one and has been searching from him for a while already.
    • Elise from "The Six Swans" genderflips this when she puts herself through lots of suffering to save her six brothers from their Wicked Stepmother's powerful curse. The boys return the favor by saving her from execution and rescuing her baby son.
    • Rose and Rudolf from "Brother and Sister" try protecting one another from their own Wicked Stepmother, with Rose first trying to reason with her and then Rudolf shielding Rose from the whippings.
  • Gunslinger Girl. The Social Welfare Agency pairs each female cyborg Child Soldier with an older male veteran who is The Handler. This pairing is called a 'fratello' due to its supposed sibling relationship, and some of these handlers end up Becoming the Mask and protective of their 'sister' who's supposed to be an expendable asset meant to protect them.
  • Sousuke is this to a male example, Shino, in Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East. He is the protective, motherly kind. Examples of his behavior include draping his coat over Shino when he was cold and then letting him fall asleep in his lap, carrying him on his hip like a toddler, and overall just fretting over him. He disciplines Shino and never forgets to tell him to mind his manners and take care of his strength.
  • Kyon from Haruhi Suzumiya set himself up as a Stoic in the novels for ages. Being the Unreliable Narrator that he is, we can all see that he's Not So Stoic. Still, he was just annoyed when Haruhi grabs him by the collar and slams the back of his head onto her table and it was mainly because she disrupted the class.
    • During the filming of their amateur, plotless movie, Haruhi and Tsuruya get Mikuru to drink alcohol, trying to get a certain effect out of her. He get so angry at Haruhi when she refuses to acknowledge her share of responsibility that almost punches her in the face, and is kinda surprised at himself when Itsuki manages to calm him down.
    • In the Disappearance novel/film, he even threatens Yuki's creator, the Data Integration Thought Entity. After the universe is rewritten where everyone was just normal, if somewhat peculiar humans, Kyon goes to great lengths to restore it to normal. After learning about Yuki's role in this, he tells her to let her boss know if it punished her for her actions triggered potentially by her boredom of having to relive the same 2 weeks of summer vacation over 15,000 times during the Endless Eight arc, he would tell Haruhi everything he knew, and make her believe him with the trump card "I am John Smith", the person a young Haruhi met when her powers first awakened, who turned out to be Kyon. He said they would recreate the universe where Yuki existed but the Thought Entity didn't. Said threat worked, and for the moment Yuki didn't receive any punishment.
    • In the 7th book, Mikuru is kidnapped. Kyon flies into a rage (for the second time in the novels), and immediately calls up Haruhi for help, forgetting she still doesn't know she's a Reality Warper. He claims it was a failed practical joke to cover up.
    • In the 10th novel after Yuki is incapacitated by the Sky Canopy Domain Kyon completely loses it and runs out to track down Kuyo Suou and personally make her fix it. To reiterate, he actually went out of his way to get into a confrontation with an alien interface who he knows has god-like powers. Naturally, he's out-classed but it's the thought that counts.
  • Hayate the Combat Butler has a semi-standard version of this, and a strange pseudo-subverted version.
    • Hayate sees himself as Nagi's protector/big brother and it's possible that he tries to exemplify it for all of the girls around him, possibly because of his own big brother's influence.
      • It even extends to Wataru and possibly Kazuki. There's only one other character he won't protect, even going so far as to try and kill. Continually.
    • The Katsura sisters have a warped version. Yukiji protected her sister when their parents left them with a large debt, taking care of it herself and shielding Hinagiku from the 'evil' side of society. Now she looks up to Hinagiku as the more capable one, having dealt with their abandonment and still having a loving outlook on life, while Hinagiku herself protects Yukiji and is hinted to help her with funding issues from time-to-time, while still punishing her for 'get-rich-quick' schemes she attempts.
  • Seto from Heavens Will has one of the weirdest Big Brother Complexes ever. His younger twin sister died protecting him from a malicious spirit and her soul was sealed in a fan which Seto now uses to perform exorcisms himself. He then grew out his hair, began wearing woman's clothing, and is saving his money to get a sex change operation. After he gets it, he plans to kill himself so his sister's soul to inhabit his body and live again, and he does it all because he believes that he should have died instead of her. 'Seto' isn't even his real name, it's his sister's.
  • Qwenthur from Heavy Object is tasked with supervising the young Elite Catherine Blueangel, an innocent girl trying her best to resign from the military. Qwenthur quickly develops a fondness for her and becomes uncharacteristically furious when she's infected with a deadly pathogen. At the end of the novel, when Catherine's resignation is refused, Qwenthur and his father conspire to help her desert.
  • Issei Hyodou from High School D×D has a very strong sense of protection towards the younger members of the team, especially the healer Asia whom lacks any kind of offensive power to defend herself. To a lesser extent, he also acts as a "big brother" kind of figure towards Koneko and Gasper, the youngest and smallest (but not defenseless in the slightest) members.
  • Fist of the North Star:
    • While Kenshiro is usually brooding and serious, one of the few things that makes him genuinely crack a smile is being around his protegées, Bat and Lin. Anyone who threatens these kiddos will be at the receiving end of "You Are Already Dead".
    • Rei's initial motivation for fighting was a pure case of this as well — his little sister Airi was kidnapped by Jagi on her wedding day and sold into slavery.
    • Toki paralyses Kenshiro so he won’t get involved with the fight against Raoh. Toki also only got radiation poisoning because he saved Kenshiro and Yuria by shoving them in the shelter and force shutting the door.
  • Aoto from the (apparently discontinued) manga Imokami-sama has one for Meika.
  • Also another one for the Big Sister side is Orimura Chifuyu from Infinite Stratos. She may smack Ichika around a lot but don't let that fool you. She dipped out on a world-class tournament championship match to find him after he was kidnapped and has harbored a grudge against that same organization years down the line. And although she doesn't use an IS herself anymore (for now), it is widely known that she is the line in the sand that should not be crossed, as Ichika's Battle Harem knows fully well.
    • Inverted with Ichika as he wants to become a pilot strong enough to protect her in return. He flies into a rage when a rogue IS program copies his sister's signature sword attacks and uses it on him.
  • Ino-Head Gargoyle: Kamata came back to Japan because his younger brother Kaoru was a cop investigating a drug ring and was beaten into a coma. He enlists some old friends to help in his revenge.
  • Inuyasha:
    • For a short while, Kagura seemed to develop a big sister instinct toward Kohaku, to the point that she died for him.
    • Sesshomaru has a complex, evolving relationship with his brother Inuyasha due to feeling like the victim of Parental Favoritism. Prior to the story's start, it appears Sesshomaru bullied and ignored Inuyasha for not being pure-blooded Youkai, and his first few story arcs revolve around Sesshomaru's efforts to obtain the Cool Sword that their father left for Inuyasha — by murdering Inuyasha if necessary. As the story progresses and Sesshomaru's character develops, however, Sesshomaru's motives become more ambiguous, taking on more of a flavour of "I Was Just Passing Through" and "Nobody kills my brother but me". The conflict between them is eventually resolved when Sesshomaru finally understands what their father was trying to teach him: no matter how strong Tessaiga makes Inuyasha, his half-human nature means he'll always need Sesshomaru's strength and support. Although the exact nature of Sesshomaru's protective instincts can be debated in one-or-two cases (notably Jaken and Kagura), his instinct to protect expands throughout the series more-or-less as follows: Jaken (who really doesn't feel the love most of the time), Rin, Inuyasha, Kagome, Kagura, Kohaku, until he's eventually openly protecting both his group and Inuyasha's group together. Sesshomaru's development is finally lampshaded in the final chapter when Kagome openly calls him onii-san (using the kanji for 'brother-in-law') and notices the disturbed expressions on both brothers' faces are identical.
  • Cocoa from Is the Order a Rabbit? considers Chino to be her surrogate little sister, much to the latter's annoyance. Later on customers to the cafe she works says she has a "sister complex."
  • Ayumu of Is This A Zombie? tries his best to get Eucliwood to call him "big brother", but the closest he comes is being called her "manservant".
  • Haré+Guu: Haré has a big brother instinct towards his frequently irresponsible mother. Guu teases him about his "Mazacon" (mother complex) from time to time.
  • Jujutsu Kaisen: Everything Choso does is in service of his younger brothers. He initially joins Geto out of belief that it's the only option he and his brothers really have due to their nature as half-curses, and later makes it his mission to kill Yuji and Nobara after they kill his younger brothers. His devotion to his younger siblings is so great that he makes a Heel–Face Turn after discovering that Yuji is another one of his brothers, even taking the time to reassure him that he doesn't blame him for 'their' other brothers' deaths.
  • Kaguya-sama: Love Is War: Kaguya is quite protective of Ishigami due to their Like Brother and Sister dynamic, and is quick to speak in defense of his character or punish those who have wronged him. The most extreme example of this being when she got Ogino kicked out of the school as revenge for him turning Ishigami into a pariah.
  • In Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl, Tomari's crush on her formerly male best friend, Hazumu, comes out of her sisterly instinct to protect her. In the anime that protective side gets a bit less attention, though, and her feelings for Hazumu are presented more as a straightforward crush.
  • Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple:
    • Kenichi has a younger sister named Honoka, who is equal parts adorable and annoying. Thrust into the world of martial arts has led to his sister being in danger more than a few times. Endangering her is one of the quickest ways to earn his genuine ire.
    • One of his rivals, Natsu Tanimoto, had a sister... but she was Delicate and Sickly and passed away, leaving him a broken and bitter young man. He quit his gang after one of the high-ranking members kidnapped Honoka and then threatened the girl with a knife. She has since made him her 2nd Big Brother.
  • Fujimiya Ran in Knight Hunters goes so far as to take his little sister Aya's name after she's rendered comatose; he becomes an assassin primarily to pay her hospital bills, and not only is he fiercely devoted to her welfare, he displays knee-jerk protectiveness toward anyone who reminds him of her. This is most evident in his interaction with Identical Stranger Tomoe Sakura, but it also flavors his behavior toward several other young women and makes him a Big Brother Mentor toward Sena in Gluhen and Yuki in Side B.
  • Kyo Kara Maoh!: Shori has a certain obsession with protecting his younger brother at all costs.
    • Gwendal is very protective of Wolfram, and at times Conrad, though it is hard to see at first due to his stern nature. Conrad is very protective of Wolfram and Yuuri. Though Yuuri is the king, so he should be protective, he is Yuuri's godfather, and thus often acts like an older brother/father figure.
      • Conrad seems to have had a genuine 'Big Brother Complex' over Wolfram when he was small. The transformative episode when, at a guess, Conrad was about forty (looked twelve) and Wolfram was about fifteen (looked three) in which Gwendal sorted out his relationship with Dan Hiri, Conrad lost his father, and Wolfram found out his favorite awesome brother was half human appears to have started the trend that terminated in his behavior at the beginning of the show: calling Gwendal as 'Aniue' and Conrad as 'Weller,' his surname. And once Wolfram rejected him, Conrad eventually moved on to obsess over someone else. With a period of cynicism in the middle, out of which Gunter knocked him by kicking his ass.
      • Will go even more on a tangent to say that Gunter and Conrad's abortive fight in the DaiShimaron arc was awesome.
  • In The Last Saiyuki, Ryonosuke didn't want anything to do with his adopted quadriplegic sister, Koharu, at first. After some punishment for being neglectful and some lessons learned, he develops this and vows to protect her no matter what.
  • Love Hina: Keitaro takes on a big brother role towards Shinobu early on, which does result in her developing an ongoing crush for him.
  • Fena: Pirate Princess: Subverted with Abel Bluefield; he appears to have this for his younger half-sister, Fena Houtman, but in reality, he's just using her a substitute for her mother, who he was in love with and once she's no longer useful to him in that way, he has no qualms about threatening to kill her if she stands in his way.
  • Inverted in Lucy-May of the Southern Rainbow. Ben is younger than Clara (though it's two years, so not that far apart) but he's aware of his sister's illness and in the first episode, keeps asking if she's alright and offering to help her walk. When Mr. Pettywell makes fuss and holds them up, Ben audibly curses him out.

    M-R 
  • Ozma Lee from Macross Frontier is extremely protective of his little sister Ranka, even though she's adopted. He even manages to break the pineapple cake curse because he promised not to die so long as Ranka still needed him. Also played straight with Brera Stern, Ranka's real brother.
  • Magi: Labyrinth of Magic:
    • Crown Prince Kouen's best trait is the fact that he cares for, protects and values his family above everything. He acted as the Big Brother Mentor to his younger siblings, training Kougyoku and helping Kouha to become a Dungeon Conquerer, even treating his cousins/stepsiblings Hakuei and Hakuryuu kindly. And he did a Big Damn Heroes when Kouha was injured fighting the Dark Djinn and the first thing he did when seeing Kouha was to heal his arm.
    • Inverted with Hakuryuu and his older sister Hakuei. He is fiercely protective over her and only her out of the rest of their cousins/step-siblings.
    • Masrur cares a lot for his young pupil and fellow Fanalis Morgiana. Harming her is a sure way to tick him off.
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha:
    • Chrono is something of a retroactive example. He went out of his way to defend Fate after her arrest at the end of the first season (dialogue in later seasons suggests that people are normally expected to defend themselves) and she was adopted by his mother at the end of A's.
    • Cinque of the Numbers is quite protective of her younger sisters, staying behind to fight Subaru (who is in the middle of a terrifying berserker rage brought on by the Numbers hurting her own sister Ginga) and getting badly injured in the process to allow Nove and Wendi to escape. Even though her crimes are more severe than the other Numbers and she does not expect to ever be completely free, she decides to atone for them and cooperate with the investigation so she can help her younger sisters.
    • Ginga also demonstrated this in a flashback to the airport fire. Rather than wait to be found, she went deeper into the burning building looking for Subaru (an act that would have gotten her killed if Fate hadn't rescued her).
  • March Comes in Like a Lion: Rei starts developing this toward Hina, especially as the latter becomes more prominent in the story. Despite his meek exterior, he consistently acts to protect and console Hina, including getting in the way of boys who try to flirt with her, and seeking her out on her on a school trip (going so far as to take a train to the city she is in after his own affairs are finished) to console her when she's having a hard time.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Mix this with Blood Knight and Ax-Crazy, and you have Michael Trinity.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Wing gives us a Big Sister Instinct. Catherine is extremely protective of Trowa, who she's adopted as her brother without knowing that he's actually her little brother, who was presumed dead following the Alliance attack that killed their parents.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ. Judau Ashta is very protective of his little sister, Leina, that when she got captured by Neo-Zeon, he left the Argama ship just to rescue her but failed. And seeing Leina hurt at one point can cause him to build up his Newtype powers which scared Haman Karn of all people. He's also protective to Elpeo Ple and her clone and managed to win both of them to his side after convincing them that Glemmy Toto is using them for his own means.
  • In My Hero Academia pretty much any of the older students of Class 1-A towards their younger peers could’ve been valid examples. But the winner by a mile is Mezo Shoji, especially towards Tsuyu Asui.
    • The series protagonist, Izuku Midoriya, puts up a hell of a fight to protect a young boy named Kota from the villain who killed the latter's parents.
    • Izuku and Mirio both become motivated to save Eri from Kai Chisaki when they learn that Chisaki has been using her blood/Quirk to create Quirk-Destroying Drugs, especially after they failed to help the first time they encountered her and Chisaki.
  • Mai Tokiha from My-HiME has a Big Sister Instinct towards her kid brother Takumi.
  • A couple examples from My Little Monster:
    • Micchan has this for Haru. He has been taking care of Haru since Kyoko, Haru's aunt and Micchan's mother, passed away. He even let him stay at his place while Haru was suspended from school.
    • Shizuku has big sister instinct for her kid brother. She may be stoic and seem unfeeling, but she's really affectionate with Takaya.
    • Yuuzan attempts to show this for Haru. However, since Haru is scarred mentally and emotionally from his childhood, he is unable to recognize Yuuzan's true motivations.
    • Haru also displays this toward best friend and classmate Asako, even going so far as to beat up Micchen for making her cry.
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
    • Ayaka claims to have an overdone big sister instinct which her friends and the viewer apparently grossly misunderstand.
    • Asuna has a more genuine version, that occasionally threatens to misunderstand itself.
    • Kaede also feels this way towards both Negi and Kotaro: A Love Chart produced in-universe shows that her romantic feelings for Negi are fairly low, but her maternal score is off the scale, surpassing the quite motherly Chizuru (10), matching Evangeline (12) note , and topped only by Asuna (15). This doesn't always show mostly because of her laid-back personality.
    • When she has a one-on-one with "Nagi" (really an aged-up Negi), Misa Kakizaki thinks to herself how he's stirring up an urge to protect him inside her.
  • Night Head Genesis: Naoto is very protective over Naoya, his kid brother who has empathic powers that render him mostly helpless.
  • In Noragami, Yato develops this for Yukine and the newly reincarnated Ebisu. He refuses to replace Yukine and generally tries to keep him out of trouble when not in sword-form. Likewise, he helps to tie Ebisu's shoelace, holds hands with him while crossing a street and gives him a piggyback during one of their walks.
  • Ouran High School Host Club plays with this with a few of its members, most notably in the episode where Nekozawa's little sister Kirimi wanders up to the high school, putting both Nekozawa and Tamaki in the big-brother spotlight in turn.
    • In addition, Hunny and Mori have this relationship with their brothers Yasuchika and Satoshi (manga-only), though Hunny's way of showing it is admittedly...weird, to the point that the anime completely overlooked it.
    • And Hikaru and Kaoru, being twins with a lot of identity issues to work out, go back and forth on treating each other this way. Usually Kaoru takes up this role while guiding Hikaru to maturity, but when he gets too self-sacrificing for his own good Hikaru will press his big-brother advantage to set him straight.
  • PandoraHearts gives us Gilbert Nightray, who has a rather... complicated relationship with his younger brother Vincent: he is fully aware that Vincent is a Knight Templar Little Brother with dubious motives at best, but Gilbert still feels responsible for him. He is also fiercely protective of his foster brother Elliot.
  • Peacemaker Kurogane: Tatsunosuke is overly protective of his younger brother Tetsunosuke. The other characters tease them both about this.
  • Played straight in Penguindrum with the Takakura siblings. The whole plot is based on Shouma and Kanba trying to save Himari's life. Even if she is not related to them by blood and just got taken in by the family.
    • Kanba deserves special mention since he not only has protective (and romantic) impulses towards Himari, but also sacrificed his position in the Natsume clan and later his life for his real sister, Masako, not just Himari.
    • The aforementioned Masako plays it super straight as well, as she has a little brother named Mario whom she's completely devoted to and is her reason to take a Deal with the Devil with Big Bad Sanetoshi. (One that Kanba would take for Himari as well, one must add.)
  • In Persona -trinity soul-, Ryou used to be like this 10 years ago. After their family reunited he turned out to be Aloof Big Brother. His younger brother Shin also have this toward their youngest brother Jun. Shin is really worried about Jun, he really worried when Jun came back home 30 minutes late than usual, including peeking him on his date. But it turns out that it was not really a date.
  • Kurando from Popcorn Avatar is very protective of his twin sister Mafuyu, to the point where people accuse him of being a massive siscon. Indeed, he could initially care less about Lisa's motivations for saving the world, but is willing to play along because saving the world means saving the place where his sister lives in.
  • Most Pretty Cure seasons star at least one Cure with a sibling (the exceptions being Doki Doki! PreCure and Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure), so with that in mind, they're bound to enter fights with the goal of saving their siblings.
    • In Episode 11 of Futari wa Pretty Cure, Cure Black outright murders Gekidrago after he attacks her brother Ryouta.
    • In Episode 2 of Fresh Pretty Cure!, Miki's first instict when the building floods is to get her brother Kazuki out first, nearly drowning herself in the process.
    • In Episode 42 of Smile PreCure!, when Majorina targets Nao's younger siblings, she reveals her Cure form to them and runs in to fight her.
    • In Episode 1 of Go! Princess Pretty Cure, when Haruka freaks out at the sight of Pafu, her brother Aroma immediately swoops in to defend her.
  • In The Prince of Tennis, if you mistreat Yuuta Fuji in almost any way, get ready to face his older brother Shuusuke's rage. Just watch and compare Fuji's matches with Jiroh Akutagawa and Ryoma Echizen ( both of them defeated Yuuta but did so fairly, so Fuji holds no grudges and considers Echizen a friend) with the one against Hajime Mizuki ( who tricked Yuuta into using a very dangerous tennis move without telling him the consequences, so Fuji let Mizuki lead the game for a while and then absolutely trashed and traumatized him in-game). No wonder Fujicest is among the most popular yaoi pairings in the fandom. Also, lampshaded in the anime when Fuji aids a girl with similar problems towards her older sister.
  • Inverted in Rave Master where younger brother Haru is fiercely protective of his older sister Cattleya. He had once beaten up a guy who broke her heart and would have done it again when he ran into the guy later on in the series.
  • Reborn! (2004): Any person willing to injure Kyoko or Tsuna, answers to Ryohei's fists and Tsuna's family.
  • Averted and subverted (naturally) in Revolutionary Girl Utena with Nanami and her brother Touga. Whereas Nanami's big brother complex is extreme to the point that she is in love with him, Touga couldn't care less about her well being. Enter Mitsuru, a fourth grader, who she uses as a whipping boy after he saves her. She sees him as her servant, and he is fond of her-in fact, Utena and the others suspect that Mitsuru has a crush on Nanami, but he reveals that he wants to protect her like a brother would, unlike Touga. During his Black Rose duel episode, this is mentioned in the form of him being sexually and emotionally confused. It's shown that his interactions with the teenage Nanami piqued his curiosity about being grown-up, so he reads books about "adult"-related topics.
    • Subverted again (and to a twisted level) with Akio and Anthy. The former needs the latter to be the Rose Bride and forces her to suffer emotional and physical hardships such as being impaled with a million swords every time Akio tries to open the Rose Gate, the end goal of the duels, and forcing her into sex on a weekly basis. By the end of the series, though, she decides to leave him at last after God knows how long, yet despite his protests, he doesn't pursue her.
    • Subverted (again) and then played straight with Miki and Kozue. While he does protect his sister and genuinely care for her (unlike Touga), he projects the image of his sister when she was younger onto Anthy, whereas because of a childhood incident, Kozue becomes something of an Attention Whore to annoy Miki (and there is possibly another reason). Miki is oblivious of her reasoning until Kozue's Black Rose duel. Compared to the rest of the student council (and the other duelists for that matter), though, Miki is more level-headed, and he realizes his mistake early enough to both move on and become the resident Nice Guy among the cast.
  • In Red River (1995), Yuri initially mistakes a servant boy named Tito as her very young sister, who was lost when Yuri was kidnapped to the past. She quickly befriends Tito, and does not take it well when the queen tries to use him as a pawn to kill Yuri. When Tito is sentenced to execution for trying to kill Yuri (a member of the royal family by law, as she is disguised as Prince Kail's concubine) while Brainwashed and Crazy, Yuri runs in, argues down the executioner, and finally convinces Kail himself to call it off. When Tito is trapped in the queen's castle, after rescuing Yuri, she flies into a massive panic to have him rescued, openly accusing the queen of lying when the queen insists that she has no idea what happened. And when poor Tito shows up Flayed Alive, Yuri promptly declares vengeance on the hired grunt who did it, as well as on the queen for ordering it.
    • Tito's sisters Hadi, Ryuhi and Shayla all share a Big Sister Instinct for him. When they learn aout his death and (wrongly) are told that it was entirely Yuri's fault, they immediately begin planning how to have Yuri killed to avenge him. Once Yuri's innocence is proved, the three pledge themselves to Yuri and redirect their loyalties to her.
    • Hadi has this for her younger sisters as well as Yuri herself. When she finds out that Kikkuri was sleeping with both of the twins and knocked one of them up, she coolly makes sure that he intends to look after both of her sisters. And at one point, when Kail goes insane at the thought of Yuri leaving him and tries to rape her, Hadi is too frightened to intervene... until Yuri specifically starts shouting her name, begging for help. At that point, Hadi works up the courage to go into Kail's bedroom and beg him to stop and let Yuri go, even though Kail could easily order her to be harshly punished (if not executed) for it.
  • In a big sister variant, Masami from Rolling Girls is very protective towards Nozomi. This stems from a childhood incident where Nozomi nearly drowned while at the beach, which made Masami swear that she would protect her no matter what.
  • Rurouni Kenshin had Eiichirou Mishima, one of Saitou's informants. He desperately tried to get his parents and little brother Eiji out of the soon-to-be Doomed Hometown, and when Senkaku found out and attacked them, only the brothers managed to escape. The fatally injured Eiichirou pretty much kept himself alive out of willpower until he could entrust the surviving Eiji to Kenshin and Misao, who take the guy in and confront Senkaku.

    S-Z 

  • Sailor Moon:

  • Grumpy, cynical Sanzo in Saiyuki is this towards Goku, despite voicing his annoyance about Goku constantly. Hurting Goku is a whole different matter.
    • Demon prince Kougaji cares deeply about his half-sister Lirin and would do anything for her.
    • Gojyo's half-brother is this, despite being on opposite sides with Gojyo and feels tremendous guilt for not being able to protect him from the abuse of his mother. His extreme protectiveness over Kougaji is motivated by how he couldn't keep his biological half-brother safe and a way to gain redemption for not being able to. His complete psychological breakdown when he thinks he couldn't keep Kougaji safe reflects this.
  • In Saint Beast, Kira attacks anyone who so much as talks to his brother Maya initially. Considering the Fantastic Racism they are usually subject to, this is somewhat justified, but it also scares off potential friends.
  • Zigzagged in Saint Seiya, when Ikki beats the stuffing out of his younger brother but then turns around again and again for the rest of the 100+ episodes, to the point where the Reluctant Warrior younger brother getting hurt in a fight became a sure-fire way to summon Ikki from his lone wolf brooding cave, screaming bloody murder and mind rape (in anything not drawn straight from the original manga).
  • In Saki Achiga-hen, among the Matsumi sisters, it's usually Kuro, the younger sister, protecting her older sister Yuu from bullies, who pick on her because she's sickly and dresses in thick clothing in summer. But when Kuro loses a lot of points in the quarter-finals, and breaks down in tears, Yuu goes to comfort her, and declares that it's her turn to fight and get back the points Kuro lost.
  • School-Live! has Rii, who eventually deconstructed this trope. Amongst the other girls, she is the most motherly/mature and is a sisterly figure for them. It's later revealed she has a little sister whom she hasn't seen since the Zombie Apocalypse began, so Rii tries to act like a big sister for the club members to forget about her beloved sister. But once she finally remembers her little sister, she becomes so filled with guilt that she becomes obsessed with trying to find her little sister, including endangering her life to sneak out one night to find her sister in a zombie-infested kindergarten.
  • Shannon Casull plays this trope straight in Scrapped Princess, even if Pacifica isn't his biological sister. In fact, most of his best moments come from this trope.
  • Shadow Star: Female-female example: Action Girl Shiina has a Mysterious Protector in the form of one of the "Otohime" or "Virgin Princesses". It turns out that said protector is actually her dead older sister, Mishou, who was transformed and reincarnated into an Otohime after her death.
  • Of the few redeeming traits of Ryo Narushima in Shamo is his protectiveness towards his younger sister.
  • Shattered Angels: Kyoshiro and Kazuya. It's a bad one too; people die. Quite a few people, actually.
    • A much straighter example would be Tsubasa and Souma in Destiny of the Shrine Maiden: the entire conflict between them stems from Tsubasa's desire to protect Souma as effectively as possible, which unfortunately involves pulling him to The Dark Side and killing his love interest. Towards the end, however, Tsubasa recognizes that Souma has wishes, too, and helps him to reach his goals. Also, Tsubasa killed their father who beaten up Souma when were very young, which is why they were separated.
    • Kaon for Tarlotte.
  • Inverted in A Silent Voice. Shouko's little sister, Yuzuru, is highly overprotective of her. With good reason though. Yuzuru outright invokes a Relative Error and pretends to Shouko's boyfriend around Shoya. Although ironically Shouko still plays this straight with Yuzuru just as much, including jumping in the way of thrown rocks aimed at Yuzuru who was trying to punish Shouko’s own bullies, and Shouko endangers herself by going out looking for Yuzuru when she doesn’t come home.
    • Shoya himself plays this straight for his niece Maria (several people even mistake him for a teenage father, seeing him playing with her), his friend Tomohiro and eventually Yuzuru herself. Shoya carries Yuzuru to his house when she’s weakened from hunger and comforts her when she’s grieving over her grandmother’s death, it’s telling that even Shouko and Yuzuru‘s mother Yaeko who is hostile towards to Shoya for his bullying of Shouko when they were younger, still thanked him for looking after her younger daughter.
  • Sk8 the Infinity has several cases of the older guys in the main cast looking after the younger ones like this.
    • After Reki and Langa quickly befriend Miya within the illegal skate park S that they all compete in, Reki (with low self-esteem) protects Miya from The Dreaded Adam, the founder and most dangerous skater among them, challenging him for his abusive language toward the middle schooler. Unfortunately, it doesn't go as expected.
    • The resident Big Brother Mentor Kojiro has several instances of looking after the younger people in their eventual group of True Companions, together with his Childhood Friend Kaoru (who's a little less apparent about it), in some ways trying to keep them away from Adam, mostly unsuccessfully. When Reki and Langa are at their lowest, he's the one who reaches out and tells them to find each other.
    • Even resident Card-Carrying Jerkass and eventual Jerk with a Heart of Gold Shadow displays big brother instinct, ordering ramen from Joe's Italian restaurant immediately after he realizes Reki, Langa and Miya are genuinely famished, and never really abandoning the group after he's roped into becoming the teens' chaperone during a trip to some hot springs.
  • Snow White with the Red Hair:
    • Zen's older brother Izana is fiercely protective of him even if his position and temperament means he usually comes off as cold. One of the easiest ways to get his perfect public mask of indifference to turn into a death glare is to threaten Zen's life, it's also a good way to ensure your death at Izana's hands.
    • Zen's retainer Mitsuhide has grown into something of a brotherly figure for Zen helped by the fact that Zen was only 13 when Mitsuhide became his protector. While it is his job to protect the prince it is a job he had dedicated the rest of his life to it, and his dating advice, helping Zen sneak out of the castle and standing up to Izana on Zen's behalf are definitely not a part of his job description.
  • Lin from Spirited Away becomes quite protective over protagonist Chihiro over the course of the film.
    Lin: Don't worry... stay right where you are, I'm coming to get you! You're gonna be fine, I won't let him hurt you.
    Lin: No Face! If you put even one scratch on that girl, you're in big trouble!
  • The Story of Saiunkoku:
    • Seiren is quite protective over Shuurei and to a lesser extent, his actual younger brother, Ryuuki.
    • A little brother example is Kou Kurou, the youngest of the Kou brothers and proxy head of the Kou clan. When Reishin is accused of tampering with the Imperial examinations, Kurou orders a labor strike that sends the entire capital city into a grinding halt. When Shouka's servants abandoned him following his wife's death and stole most of the household valuables, Kurou had them hunted down.
  • Str.A.In.: Strategic Armored Infantry. After Ralph Werec has his Freak Out in the backstory (brought about by unknowingly brutally killing a bunch of aliens who look and act like little girls) he views the only survivor of the aliens as a substitute little sister, and is more than willing to do anything to avenge her race, anything, to the point of wanting to kill his actual younger sister when she stands in his way.
  • Strawberry Marshmallow: Nobue is a female version, serving the protective role towards her 12-year-old sister and her friends. She also feels a near sensual pleasure watching them act cute, making her an easy victim of their manipulations.
  • Guache of Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee has this for his little sister, Sylvette. Until he looses all of his memories, anyway.
  • In Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Kamina has this towards Simon. Expressed elegantly with this line:
    Kamina: Don't call me Kamina, call me bro!
  • Mikhail from Tenrou Sirius the Jaeger has this type of personality as he looks after his younger brother, Yuliy, in his younger days. Even after he turns himself into a vampire, he still truly cares about Yuliy. Cases in point: where trying to protect Yuliy from Klarwein's Frankenstein Monster in Episode 5 and sparing him and telling him to live in Episode 7.
  • Trigun: Knives is this way about Vash, but it's a really dark version, since Knives thinks that Vash's idealism and pacifism aren't doing him any good, and need to be beaten out of him.
    • Incidentally, they're twins, and no one was there to see them born. When Vash explains who Knives is in the anime, at least, he uses the absolutely-ambiguous word 'kyoudai,' 'sibling,' which carries neither gender nor age, because Japanese doesn't have a birth-order-ambiguous version of 'brother.' (The same word is applied to all their 'sister' bulb-plants in the manga. Confusingly, it's supposed to be an English-speaking planet.) Knives appointed himself big brother after becoming evil and deciding Vash was a wimp.
    • Anime Knives always had Big Brother tendencies, but in the manga back when they were still cute Knives was the sensitive one, and Vash actually looked after him slightly more than the reverse.
      • I.e., pointing out that even if Knives is right and "there's no real difference between people's hearts and ours," it's going to take a lot of work, and comforting him when Knives starts crying after William Conrad, the first human they ever met besides Rem, accepted them.
      • Anime Vash interpreted Rem's last words, "Knives o—" [mouth forming three inaudible syllables] as "Take care of Knives," though the meaning of this appears to have shifted in his head to mean 'beat the shit out of Knives' by the time they meet in July.
  • In True Tears Jun displays this kind of attitude toward Noe, his younger sister. Hiromi even comments on it. In fact, he seems to be rooting for a romantic involvement with her, making it a case of Brother–Sister Incest even if it is one sided and never actually accomplished.
  • Natsuki from Tsuritama over his little sister Sakura, to the degree that she's one of the very few things that can crack through his grumpy demeanor and get him to smile. Haru saying to Sakura that Natsuki'll be teaching him and Yuki how to fish is the only reason Natsuki agrees to do it, just to keep her from feeling let down.
  • Vampire Knight: Zero with Ichiru. Unfortunately, Ichiru does not appreciate this.
  • Vocaloid — although technically all the canon Vocaloids are supposed to be siblings — has Len Kagamine, who in vids is protective or over-protective of his sister, Rin, although Rin is supposed to be the older one.
  • Maho from Wandering Son is an odd case, being both a Big Sister Bully and having a Big Sister Instinct. She usually acts bratty or moody but when her little sister is in trouble or insulted (even by her crush) she'll fight back.
  • In the Wild Fangs series, Kiri has a strong caring instinct for his little brother, Mao. Granted, it doesn't stop him from immediately trying to kill Mao when Mao loses control of his beast side, but he probably considered that a favor.
  • In Yakitate!! Japan Kawachi does this to Azuma, due to Azuma having to worry about Kawachi. When Kawachi lost the battle with Kanmuri in the Pantasia Newcomer's Battle.
  • Jae-Ha in Yona of the Dawn looks after the rest of the dragons, being the oldest or at least, acts more mature than the thousand-year-old Zeno. One extra chapter shows him saving Shin-Ah and Kija from drowning and protecting Zeno from an attacking bear.
    • Kija often worries and fusses over Shin-Ah and wants to be Shin-Ah to call him big brother.
    • Probably the best showcase of the big brother-fest that is the four dragons is chapter 106 of the manga. Kija is the first one to realize that the Shin-ah not acting like Shin-ah probably isn't Shin-ah, and when he's attacked, Jae-Ha leaps in front of him and covers his eyes, so he won't be paralyzed by Shin-ah's power. Then Zeno, not to be outdone, throws himself in front of both of them. And they all three refrain from attacking Shin-ah, the littlest brother.
  • In Yuri!!! on Ice, Michele Crispino has this towards his younger twin sister Sara, stemming from when boys used to bully her when they were younger. However, it's deconstructed since over time, his protective instincts have become very dependent and possessive; the two of them go everywhere together, he's hostile towards any man who tries to approach Sara, and he always needs her to be near the rink when he performs. Sara, for her part, knows their relationship is very codependent and they need distance, which she tells him in no uncertain terms in Episode 9. In the end, Michele realizes that if he truly loves Sara, he needs to let her live her own life. He uses these feelings to fuel his routine and is able to put on a fantastic performance without needing her near the rink.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!:
    • Seto Kaiba. He's a total jerk to the main characters, but threaten, kidnap or harm Mokuba in anyway, and he will make you regret it.
    • Jounouchi Katsuya is very protective of his little sister Shizuka. When she sends him a video message telling him about how she is slowly going blind, he sneaks into the Duelist Kingdom tournament that Yuugi was invited to so he could win the prize money and pay for an operation to save her eyesight. He also becomes extremely protective over her when Honda and Otogi begin flirting with her and competing openly for her attention.
      • Jounouchi is no slouch when it comes to protecting Yuugi either. It doesn't matter who you are; you cause harm to come to his best buddy and Jounouchi will make you regret it.
    • Ishizu is completely willing to die if it means saving her little brother, Malik, from his psychotic Split Personality. For that matter, so is his older step-brother Rashid.
  • Kaiser Ryo for his younger brother Sho in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, at least at first. Saiou for his sister Mizuchi in Season 4. A strange case is Fubuki for Asuka, in that he both attempts to get her to date other guys and manages to convey Brother–Sister Incest undertones simultaneously. Regardless, he does care for her as a sister, but usually it's her that ends up saving him.
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds Crow shows this attitude towards; Leo, Luna, Yusei, Akiza, Jack and his younger siblings. To the point where he'd become the Idiot Hero.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL has Kaito and his younger brother Hart. He would do anything to keep him safe. Key word anything.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V has Shun Kurosaki, who lost his little sister to Acedemia. He, like Kaito would do anything to save his sister. Ironic because another version of Kaito is in Arc-V and we don't know if he has the same family as ZEXAL.
    • Same goes for Reiji and his caring for Reira. It's not as strong as the other siblings in the series (examples being Kaiba and Mokuba, Kaito and Hart), but it's there.
  • It's a very bad idea to mess with Hiei's sister Yukina in YuYu Hakusho. Can reach almost Knight Templar Big Brother, but the chance he gets for revenge on the crimelord torturing her, he opts for "simply" a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown and Cruel Mercy.
    • Same applies to Kurama, who does not react well to Yomi threatening his human stepbrother, who does not know about Kurama's true identity for his own protection.
  • Shown negatively in Zatch Bell!. Sauza projects his little sister onto Ellie and his attempts to protect her in battle make it impossible for them to properly team up. Ellie calls him out on his babying her and they only start being effective after he backs off.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top