Chinese Novels

I understand why they did it XD I guess it's to prevent any drama about "problematic incest ships". But it is weird to hear the audio going "gege" (if playing in Chinese) or "niisan" (if playing in Japanese) and the EN sub saying "childhood friend" and it definitely changes the dynamics of this couple, imo.

I dislike pseudo-incest when it's basically a "get out of jail free" card too. Like, commit to it if you're gonna do it and not suddenly reveal that one of them has been adopted! I don't mind if the story leans into the forbidden fruit thing, even if pseudo-incest, because growing up together as siblings as also lead to complex feelings about crossing the line.

Edited to add: also, the uneven power dynamic between people who grew up together who might have always been in a role of protector/guardian vs. protected/ward, so even if it's pseudo-incest, all these things are still present.