Loveless
Reviewer: Cat Smith [email]Overall Rating: A+
Media Reviewed: Digital fansub
Creator: Kouga Yun
U.S. Licensed: Yes
Released by: Media Blasters
Run time: 12 episodes
BL Content: Ambiguous/Very soft (touching, ambiguous emotions, kiss)
Genre: Drama/Sci-Fi
Other media: English-licensed manga [review]
Loveless is one of the best yaoi stories I've ever seen. It really is quite amazing. This is the story of 12-year-old Ritsuka. Ritsuka is having some problems he's changing to a new school, the girl in the next seat to him instantly fell in love with him on first site and a strange adult who claims to be a friend of his dead brother says in nearly every conversation that he love Ritsuka. As strange as that is his life is even more complicated, two years ago, he awoke with no memory of himself before that time, recently his brother was murdered in his seat at school, and his mother is quite literally insane and abusive to the boy.
Frankly life for this poor kid couldn't be stranger, but actually it is, for in the world of Loveless, things are quite different from our reality. People as children have cat ears and dog tails. At some point they lose their ears and tail, but how this actually occurs is really unclear to me. In some ways Loveless' world is like our own. We see Loveless and Breathless having a Starbucks moment, which just tickled me. Product placement, gotta love it.
The main characters of this series are Ritsuka and Soubi. Ritsuka's issues I've introduced you to already, but really I've just scratched the surface there. Soubi is 20 years old, and seems be a bit of a pervert; though he is quick to say he's not. He's considered a pervert for a number of reasons; his apparently love of pain, his disdain for dating anyone older than himself, and his on going declarations of love for Ritsuka. Soubi is a fighter and before fighting for Ritsuka, Soubi fought for Ritsuka's brother Selmei. Soubi is entirely loyal and subservient to his sacrifice. A sacrifice is the person who takes the damage in a fight, while the fighters do the battling. Originally this was Selmei but when Selmei died he willed Soubi to Ritsuka. Apparently when a sacrifice dies, the fighter is supposed to die with him but that didn't occur with Selmei and Soubi for some reason and some of the other fighters see Soubi as a disgrace for living. The fights in this series are magical battles and they look just so cool. Despite his declaration of love, Soubi has a bit of problem keeping his word to Ritsuka, it's not anything malicious on his part, I truly think he's just trying to protect the boy, but early on you get the feeling that he's just not a guy who knows how to keep a promise, maybe he was better at that when he was fighting for Selmei.
Other characters in the series include Yuriko, the classmate I mentioned earlier who fell in love with Ritsuka on first site. Yuriko is a nice, if overly childish girl. She's a very comely lass for her age and even the tallest in her class. Still she is essentially weak willed and cries if someone shows any sign of not liking her. She becomes nearly as devoted to Ritsuka as Soubi. Next up is Yayoi, this guy is also a fellow student and he's madly in love with Yuriko, even though she told him she could never like him because he's short and yet she like Ritsuka who is shorter than Yayoi. Yayoi is nice comic relief. Next up is Kio, Kio is comic relief as well, but he's obviously got a thing for Soubi. Kio knew Soubi during his days with Selmei and wasn't too thrilled to find that Soubi was now working for Selmei's little brother. Sensei is a twenty three year old woman who still has her ears and tail, she's very compassionate and genuinely wants to help Ritsuka adjust to his new school. Another Sensei is a shrink, I don't know if she works for the school system or is just some private shrink or what, but she's a good listener and she too apparently has fallen for Ritsuka. Ritsuka's true name is supposedly Loveless, yet he appears to be the most loved person I've ever seen, go figure. I mean really, Soubi, Yuriko, the shrink, almost everyone but his Mom.
The series goes along pretty well, almost a battle every episode until episode 11, then they just went elsewhere. I'm still trying to figure that out. I'm not saying it's not an ending, but it does leave room for a lot, hopefully for a season two or three (from my fingers to the producers' eyes). They can do 350 episodes Detective Conan i.e. Case Closed but we only get 12 episodes of Loveless? Where's the balance? If it works, make more and this thing works on so many different levels. The artwork is just dreamy. I love the soft effects and the use of pastels it really adds to the magic of this world. The music in this series is a little reminiscent of France, at least to me, half the time I had the feeling of sitting in a French bistro, which actually works for this series. The music made it a little intimate. The voice work is spectacular. I'm lousy when it comes to names dates and places, so I really don't know the voice actors names, but I have to say the person who does Ritsuka does a wonderful job. I can really hear his angst. And Soubi's voice is soft and seductive, which really fits his bishonen look. There's a lot more to this series and really 12 episodes I feel just begins to scratch the surface. This series is a must have for any yaoi collection, it's right up there with Mirage of Blaze. There's a lot going on here and really I've just given you a glimpse of the series. This series is truly must see Yaoi anime.
