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Take from The Grand List of Console Role Player Game Cliches

Quote:

23. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Melfice Rule)
If the male hero has an older sibling, the sibling will also be male and will turn out to be one of the major villains. If the hero has a younger sibling, the sibling will be female and will be kidnapped and held hostage by the villains.

In the much larger selection of titles of anime, I wonder if the gender roles have been reversed frequently enough to generalize the rule to the following:

"O Sibling, Where Art Though?
"If the hero has an older sibling, the sibling will be of the same gender and will turn out to be one of the major villains. If the hero has a younger sibling, the sibling will be of the opposite gender and will be require rescue by the hero."

Why, then, is the topic still named "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Well, the revelation that a major villain is the older sibling of the hero is a major spoiler, and it's difficult to have a discussion where the topic is fundamentally spoiling. On the other hand, with the generalization that the younger sibling is in danger and requires rescue rather than be held hostage by the villains, we can have a topic that is not fundamentally spoiling, since it is possible that the rescue of the younger sibling is the motivation for the series, or that he is kidnapped frequently enough that it is not a spoiler but rather a device of the series.

I've noticed a few titles that follow this trend.

Chrono Crusade: Rosette's goal in joining the Magdalen Order and forming a contract with Chrono is to find her missing younger brother. spoiler[This series fits the less generalized version of the rule, as he is kidnapped and held hostage by the villain.]

Claymore: Raki is not a brother in a relative sense, but he fulfills the role of a younger brother. Although Clare and Raki share a similar relationship to that between spoiler[Teresa and Clare,] the two are closer in age and are more akin to siblings than parent and child.

My-Hime: The protagonist, Mai, devotes much of her time to taking care of her younger brother, who is ill with a heart disease. She is protective of him both physically and in a general maternal sense. It is because of Takumi spoiler[being in danger she finally accepts being a Hime.]

Sky Girls: The motivation for Otoha to join the Sonic Diver team is to fulfill her disappeared brother's dream of flying in the sky. Not quite the same as in the rule, but we can say that her life is very much shaped by her younger brother.

Are you trying to insinuate that the title for the trope is outdated and sexist? I hope not.

At any rate, I can think of a couple of reasons why it hasn't changed:

1. For the most part, it still holds true. Even though you see some examples of games or anime breaking the trend, it still holds true for the large majority of stories. If an older sibling is to be evil, it will usually turn out to be an older brother.

2. It's named after a movie of the same name. Changing it to a gender-neutral name would remove both the film reference and the charm.

3. The author and maintainer of the website can't be bothered to waste time changing that one little line of html.[/quote]