15 Aloof Big Brothers In Anime Who Are Super Distant
- 1
Sesshoumaru - 'Inuyasha'
There are two reasons why Sesshoumaru hates his younger half-brother Inuyasha. The first is for fantasy racism reasons - he can't stand that Inuyasha isn't a purebred demon like himself, and is in fact half-human. He's also super jealous that Inuyasha received the Tessaiga from their father - a sword that he considers to be far superior to his own Tensaiga. While their relationship does improve somewhat over the course of the series, most of it is spent with Sesshoumaru looking down on Inuyasha and provoking him into fights.
Byakuya Kuchiki has two conflicting goals: uphold the law at all costs, and protect his younger sister-in-law at all costs. The first one is a promise he made to his late parents, while the second is a promise he made to Hisana, his late wife. When Hisana's sister Rukia breaks the law, Byakuya has to figure out his priorities.
For a long time, he's cold and standoffish to Rukia, and at one point he even agrees that she should receive the ultimate penalty for breaking the law. But with Ichigo's help, he changes his ways, and becomes protective towards Rukia instead.
At the beginning of Naruto, Itachi seems about as distant as it's humanly possible to be. That's because he eliminates his entire clan and then skips town to join the Akatsuki, leaving his little brother with a singular goal - to get revenge.
It's later revealed that Danzo Shimura forced Itachi to take out his whole family by giving him a choice - do the deed himself and escape with his own life and Sasuke's intact or be eliminated by Root along with the rest of the family. Because he was so traumatized by going through a war as a child, inviting further warfare by giving his family the chance to fight back wasn't an option.
Rather than tell Sasuke the truth, he encouraged his little brother to despise him, in the hopes that he'd one day come after him and destroy him. It's a miserable story from start to finish, and the two don't bridge their distance until it's far too late.
Hiei is actually Yukina's twin brother, not her older brother, but he approaches the relationship the way an older brother typically would. While he loves her dearly, he also refuses to have anything to do with her, even going so far as to threaten the life of anyone who might tell her that she's related to him. (The two were separated at birth, and Hiei is the only one who knows of their connection at the start of the series.)
Hiei is willing to risk his life several times over in order to protect her, including getting the Jagan Eye surgically implanted into his forehead - but he isn't willing or able to have a simple conversation with her.
Zeref Dragneel is Natsu's older brother but it doesn't mean they have a warm relationship. In fact, Zeref is actually the enemy that Natsu must takedown - he's considered the strongest, most evil mage of all time.
But Zeref's dedication to the dark arts began because of Natsu. After their parents and Natsu were brutally destroyed by Dragons, Zeref wanted to use his considerable talent to try and bring them back. His attempts proved disastrous and led to his developing the "Curse of Contradictions" which will wreck everyone the user encounters unless he forgets the value of human life. As a result, he's developed a cold and severe personality and is unable to relate to Natsu in any way that could be called brotherly.
In the early stages of his relationship with his younger brother Yuki, Ayame Sohma was about as aloof as you can get. Yuki was ten years younger than him, which is enough to throw a wrench into a lot of sibling relationships. As a teenager, Ayame had other things on his mind besides caring for his little brother.
Besides, the amount of care that Yuki needed was more than Ayame could handle. Not only was Yuki a sickly child, he was also favored by the violent and controlling family head. What's more, their mother pretty much didn't care about either of them. In order to keep himself safe in a hostile environment, Ayame focused on himself rather than his brother.
As an adult, Ayame is trying to repair his relationship with the now-teenaged Yuki, but because of their estranged past, and because of their clashing personalities, it isn't exactly going well.
