Review: YU-NO (Elf, 1996) (NSFW) 👎

That Sorlie glosses over the story being about how incestuous love saves the universe as YU-NO being “cerebral in the ways it challenges morals and logic” is laughable. Let us read some of that “cerebral” dialogue challenging conventional morality:

Takuya concludes that because there are no laws against it in the parallel world he is in, parent–child incest is acceptable. Really makes you think. Dostoevsky got nothing on this ponderous philosophizing. Move over, Bataille—my notions of morality can never recover from such a thoroughgoing attack. /s

Overall, YU-NO is quite conservative politically but not even in a self-conscious enough way to be potentially challenging. The transgressive elements are not considered seriously enough to become genuinely provocative. Some might speak well of the writing’s unashamed attitude toward sex, but in literal porn, this is a moot point.

The biggest problem is that YU-NO is not a good incest story. This scenario should elicit complicated emotions. Instead, there is no drama—the scenario is somehow saccharine fluff. Prior to this scene, with each click of the mouse, Takuya rambles at length about plant respiration, why office chairs have five legs, and of course every woman’s chest or thighs he sees. Yet somehow, after transgressing the ultimate taboo, Takuya only remarks he is glad Yu-no is finally asleep. Does Yu-no ask her father for sex out of irrational despair over her imminent (likely) death? Does Takuya regret it? In what way is the power dynamic between Takuya and his daughter influencing the situation? What do Takuya’s friends make of what happened? What would they make of it? Do any of them suspect it? How about Eriko, who earlier seems annoyed Takuya implies he cannot trust himself to be alone with his daughter? None of this interests Kanno. There are no effects on the characters’ psychology. There is no interrogation of character motives or dynamics. How could there be? Takuya and Yu-no have no chemistry or rapport or tension. They are not characters who experience regret or doubt or development, beyond the latter’s hips and bust widening.

The airheaded Yu-no who looks like a bodacious babe and sounds and acts like a young child is an atrocious character but apparently such a point of pride for the creators that they named this “masterpiece” after her. If Kanno removed Yu-no’s obsession with fucking with her own father to the point of deliberately interrupting him and her mother having sex, there would be no Yu-no character left. Takuya is also so brainless despite his literal hours of babbling that there could never be much psychology to depict or explore. Somehow, Kanno cannot squeeze emotion out of a scenario more visceral than the highfalutin sci-fi universe collisions and time loop and ghostly possession of the finale that the incestuous deflowering kicks off. But of course there is no drama: in YU-NO, parent–child incest is straightforwardly sweet. What is there to feel complicated about? Instead of shocking or even sexy in a taboo kink kind of way, this lovey-dovey incest story is maudlin. To quote myself, YU-NO is like “a Lolita but tabooer, pulp sci-fi, and written much worse by an author who considers the relationship wholesome.” At least write your smut compellingly.

In addition to this review, I have also written “Reject Society, Embrace Incest: YU-NO, Virtual Sex with Your Own Daughter.” This more formal essay details my analysis of YU-NO in a no-fun big brain way. If you choose not to read my essay, please be aware that YU-NO may be creepier than this review lets on, that the more one considers it, the worse the implications become, and not in a good horror way.