Loveless
Reviewer: DaniCast [email] [website]Overall Rating: A
Media Reviewed: Digital fansub
Creator: Yun Kouga
U.S. Licensed: Yes
Released by: Media Blasters
Run time: 12 episodes
BL Content: Ambiguous (touching, ambiguous emotions, kiss)
Genre:? Drama, Modern Fantasy, Supernatural
Other media: English-licensed manga [review]
Webmaster's Note: The author of this review speaks English as second language. The review has not been edited or altered from her original submission in any way.
I read a lot about Loveless before decide to watch this anime. Since it was not released in my country (I'm Brazilian), I watched a fansub version. I planned to watch just a couple of episodes and ended watching all the serie in just one night.
The characters are very compelling, Ritsuka is too cute, Soubi is beautiful and mysterious and all secondary characters are very interesting and enriches the story.
Loveless is about a very sad boy, Rituska, who lost his older brother Seimei and can't overcome his loss. Seimei had a secret life that he kept hidden from his family filled with magic and fights. Before die, Seimei ordered his fighter Soubi, who supposed to die with him, to not die, to become Ristuka's fighter and to love him.
So, all of sudden Ritsuka have a new person to deal with who have a very disturbing behavior with him, Soubi immediately declares his love for Ritsuka and start to take care and protect the boy. Ritsuka is not ready to deal with the idea of any person telling him that. He is not ready to friendship, to love, to any kind of bond with any person, he is still too hurt to had lost Seimei.
I read several reviews about Loveless and I was surprised in how this anime could cause completely differents reactions from viewers. Several people associated the anime theme to shotakon or pedophilia but I didn't saw any of this, I was surprised with a complicated a mysterious plot about friendship, existencialism and human love. Nietzsche is also mentioned by Ritsuka, who was reading one of his books and have a philosophical discussion with his therapist.
Yes, Soubi declares his love and kiss Ritsuka a couple of times, Soubi is on his twenties and Ritsuka is twelve but all the time Soubi acts like someone who wants to protect the boy and not like a perverted adult as several people understood. I think what causes this reaction is the actual moment when the media keeps alerting people to this problem and the different cultural origin from some viewers. It's important to notice that the japanese culture didn't associate a person's sexuality as their identity as individual and they had no concept or word to define homossexuality until they started a deep contact with western cultures, about 1912 when the Meiji era ended in Japan.
In Loveless as in many other animes at certain point one of the characters mention "people loving people" without define genders.
This is not the most important element in the plot anyway. The plot is about friendship, losses, human love for all kind of people and not about erogenous love. I also believe this anime is only considered "yaoi" just because there is one kiss between two male characters because there is not enough "yaoi material" in the anime except for this.
The loss of Seimei and Ritsuka's complicated relationship with his mother and school colleagues plus an identity crisis caused by his brother death are the main plot subject.
Eventually Ritsuka start to develops other relationships with the other characters and this is probably what is the most interesting about the story, his natural generosity and his concerns about his loss start to change everybody around him, including Soubi, who was used to live under very rigid rules and begin to become more compassionate and human.
The art is beyond beautiful, is definitely one of the most beautiful animes I ever watched with a good soundtrack, also. The ending may cause some doubts but the producers made clear that the anime is not a closed story, the story continues in the manga and with a possible anime sequel.
It worths to watch but requires an open mind and a open heart to not fall in stereotypes - because they are not there.
