Gravitation
Reviewer: Holli [website] [email]Overall Rating: B-
Media Reviewed: Fansub
Creator: Murakami Maki
U.S. Licensed: Yes
Released by: RightStuf International
Run time: 13 episodes; OAV: 60 minutes
BL Content: Soft (touching, kissing)
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Other media:
English manga [review]
OAV DVD: Lyrics of Love
English-licensed novel
Teenage Shuichi wants to make a famous band. He works on his band, hoping to get a chance in the public eye, with nothing on his mind but his fame and musical ambitions. However, one fateful night when Shuichi is working on song lyrics, his paper with his lyrics gets away from him, and a stranger picks them up. The man is Yuki, a famous romance novelist who tells Shuichi that his writing skills are grade school level. From that moment on, Shuichi is determined to find Yuki and have him explain his rudeness...he just doesn't realize that it was love at first sight for him. When Shuichi finally finds Yuki, it's a journey of obstacles, frightening experiences and haunting pasts trying to keep them apart. But, it's just the gravitation of fate and love that always pulls these lovers back together everytime.
This is THE notorious anime odd couple! Better watch out! Knowing them, they'll blow up the world before it's all over!
The title, unlike my basic summary 2 paragraphs above, is actually more of a reference to Bad Luck's (Shuichi's band) appeal to people; that their band simply has a very attractive charisma. But, it can mean so many things in this series.
The plot isn't an extraordinary one, and I have come to the conclusion that this series is very much a soap opera (and yes, I do realize most shounen-ai is, but this one just seems like a soap opera more). Unlike some short lived shounen-ai/yaoi series or ovas, crucial straight characters do exist and are in this show, which is different for once.
The plot does do well, and if it was not for the whacky slapstick humor, this series would be a very down-to-earth plot in most areas, even if it is dealing with the pop music industry. But that is just as well. Nothing about supernaturals and sci-fi once in awhile can be a really nice breath of fresh air. But don't expect to be bored with this series. The angst is edgy and the humor...is well...defintely out there. It really is something else!
I do have to admit that this series did educate me a little. I did learn more about the pop music industry (even though Bad Luck is suppose to be a rock band, they're apparently pop/industrialish). I'm not really interested in that sort of thing, but seeing it in the series did keep my attention, suprisingly.
The characters haven't changed since the manga (which I have read a fair amount), and even though I wish I could see more Ryuichi and K, I was satsified with what I saw. Shuichi is still stupid, and Yuki is still a grump-ass.
The OVA for this series was kind of a predecessor to setup what the tv show would be like, and it shows. While the series isn't nearly as random as the OVA (nothing made sense in the OVA), it is still just as spastic (Shuichi hasn't changed!).
You might be used to Shuichi in the manga and the way he acts in the OVA isn't much different. But, be prepared for Shuichi to be a halfway intelligent person at the beginning of the TV series who gets progressively stupider. It sure seems that way. Many people find that factor funny in this show. I do... and I don't. I usually don't, sadly. So, grit your teeth and be prepared!
The TV series was a wonderful rehashing and compressed version of the manga; I do love the manga, but often plot and subplot would drag an itty bit, until one would began to wonder if anything would eventually be resolved. The TV series was a good collection of most of the funniest, sweetest, dramatic, and best moments of the Gravitation manga.
This series didn't really push for anything extraordinary visually, but really was animated very well. The use of live action (especially in the first episode) could get painful, but sometimes actually worked. The repeated concert scences were annoying, but luckily only happened a few times.
Character design was pretty good. Luckily the animators' used one of Shuichi's several haircuts/haircolors, instead of switching around like in the manga. I like seeing a character's looks change, but maybe that's not the best thing to do in an anime, especially this short one, so characters are still recognized. Unlike the OVA, characters like Shuichi looked less like their manga counterparts, while Yuki looked more like his manga counterpart (Yuki lost a lot of his prettiness in the OVA that he actually does have a lot of in the manga, in my opinion).
Joke visuals worked pretty well, and for the most part were hilarious. Characters were very well animated, and their personalities were brought out well through their body language, especially for Shuichi, Yuki, Sakano, and K.
Sound affects were affective, but nothing new.
The voices fit excellently and are a bunch of my favorites! Tomokazu Seki as Shuichi (Kyo from Fruits Basket, Dee from FAKE, Ken from Weiß Kreuz), Kappei Yamaguchi as Ryuichi (Ranma of Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha from Inuyasha, Subaru from Tokyo Babylon), Shinichirou Miki as Tachi Aizawa (Tsuzuki from Yami no Matsuei , Yohji from Weiß Kreuz, Takumi from Initial D); Takehito Koyasu as Sakano (Seishirou from Tokyo Babylon, Aburatsubo from Magic Users' Club, Aya from Weiß Kreuz), and Kazuhiko Inoue as Yuki (Hatori from Fruits Basket, Oriya from Yami no Matsuei, Kakashi from Naruto). Quite a famous and/or favorite crowd!
The music is great! It's pop, it's electronic, and it's Engrish, but it's great! Kotani Kinya, a popular Japanese singer, has made excellent music for both this series and the OVA that came before it! And he's like a real life Shuichi (but not with pink hair!). Favorites you'll get from this series are the opening (Super Drive), the closing (Glaring Dream) and their different versions. Plus other good ones like Blind Game Again, Shining Collection, and Spicy Marmalade (actually Spicy Marmalade may only be in the OVA, but right now I don't care to find out for sure). Many if not most songs are performed by Kotani, so that is more than entertaining.
I really don't have too much to bitch about, besides the annoying live action, but that certainly wasn't much.
The voices were awesome! I love Tomokazu Seki (Shuichi) and Kappei Yamaguchi (Ryuichi; Kappei tends to be really under-rated sometimes when it comes to shounen-ai titles! C'mon the dude is cool!
I wish the series was longer, but Shuichi was getting stupider as the series went along. Some find that funny, but people like me start to get annoyed. It's a lot funnier to read these jokes than to watch, in my opinion. The stupidity jokes and sickenly cute costumes and facial expressions were just getting into excessive, even though most were hilarious and done well (at least in the beginning of the show).
Many may like their uke to look girly (which doesn't bother me; they're fun!), but also act extremely girly too, and I don't like that nearly as much. The last time I checked, I watched shounen-ai/yaoi because it is two men, not a man and a woman who happens to have manly "attributes" (don't get me wrong, men in shounen-ai couples should be a little more girly than the average man, including the seme even, and I don't watch shounen-ai/yaoi just for that; that would be silly). It wasn't that bad in that sense in this series, but Shuichi was getting there, so it's probably good it ended when it did.
I do love Gravitation, but towards the end of the series, the humor was annoying, even for me (and believe me, that takes a lot!). Read the manga to avoid the annoyance and to check out the original manga creator's (Maki Murakami) own doujinshi for her own series! The remixes are... fun). Or, watch this series because it's a nice condensation of the manga and a lot shorter! See whichever one suits you better!
