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You can answer either for the series in particular or for in general about
Japanese culture/language.

* * *

Mizuto both addresses and refer to Yuni as Yuni-san while Yume both addresses
and refers to Mineaki as Mineaki-oji-san.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/k5Fxz.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/k5Fxz.png)

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hKtYi.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hKtYi.jpg)

What exactly does this mean? Is it like Yume and Mineaki were closer than Yuni
and Mizuto prior to the wedding? I think of like how nee / nee-chan / nee-san
suggests being closer than -san eg in Kaguya-sama [S01E08](https://kaguyasama-
wa-kokurasetai.fandom.com/wiki/Episode_08) / [Chapter 39](https://kaguyasama-
wa-kokurasetai.fandom.com/wiki/Chapter_39) when Kaguya wants Kei to address
Kaguya as Kaguya-nee-san instead of Kaguya-san.

Or maybe it's the reverse: In Higurashi / Umineko, Battler Ushiromiya refers
to & addresses step-mother Kyrie Ushiromiya as [Kyrie-
san](https://myanimelist.net/character/18673/Kyrie_Ushiromiya) instead of, I
guess, Kyrie-oba-san.

> Rudolf's second wife. She is also one of Rudolf's business partners, always
> assisting him in shady dealings and keeping him in line when he gets out of
> hand. Kyrie and Battler have bonded more as close friends with a sibling-
> like relationship rather than mother and son, with Battler going as far as
> always calling her "Kyrie-san." She is known for her "flip the chessboard"
> mentality, influencing Battler in this regard. She had actually dated Rudolf
> long before his first wife Asumu, who she envies for marrying Rudolf while
> she was still going out with him. They were pregnant at the same time,
> though Kyrie's son was believed to have been a stillborn when Asumu gave
> birth to her son Battler.

Or maybe it's like okaa-san > Kyrie-san > Kyrie-oba-san ?


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question
japanese-language culture my-stepmoms-daughter-is-my-ex
Why does Mizuto say Yuni-san but Yume says Mineaki-oji-san?


Short answer is, calling a woman _obasan_ is getting uncommon these days
unless she is a real aunt, mostly because _obasan_ implies the woman is old
(and maybe Japanese soceity is aging fast?).

One factor is that Mizuto is mature enough not to need a mother really. If he
is a child, calling Yuni okaa-san/mama just after remarriage may be possible,
but the relationship between Mizuto as a teenager and Yuni as step-mother does
not look so close yet. This means, Yuni is essentially just a woman much older
than himself, whom Mizuto would call with honorific alone (i.e., step-mother-
ness does not really play a role in their relationship).

_Ojisan_ has the same issue as _obasan_ , but using _ojisan_ is avoided less.
Though _ojisan_ can be used for any male, in this case _Mineaki ojisan_ may
sound more like they are family.

You could perhaps think this way: to some extent, using Yuni obasan and
Mineaki ojisan could have been the default in Japan of dozens of years ago,
but due to the increase of age sensitivity on women's side, just _oba_ came to
be dropped.


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