s-CRY-ed

THE PLOT:
The basic theme of s-CRY-ed is seeing how people react and interact in their natural environments, when a change is thrust upon them.

22 years ago, the area of Japan known as Kanagawa Prefecture experienced a strange and sudden upheaval, thrusting it into the air and separating it from the rest of the mainland. Due to its isolation and destruction, this area quickly became known as the "Lost Ground." Even within this new island, there existed a divide. The city was soon rebuilt, with aid from the mainland. A wall was erected between it and the rest of the Lost Ground, separating the inhabitants into the city-dwellers and "Inners."

Soon after this event, children born on the Lost Ground began exhibiting strange powers. These children could re-form matter around them, changing it into whatever shape suited them and their personality. This power became known as "Alter," and those who could weild it became both feared and hated.

In order to regain control of the Lost Ground, a special police force, HOLD, was formed. Within HOLD, a group of Alter users were employed to fight the Native Alters that threatened the peace. This group of Alters was named HOLY, and it was one of the few places an Alter user could gain respect and dignity inside the city.

However, the leadership of HOLY had other plans in mind, and the ideals and rules they set forth were quickly turned to control. People in the Inner resented those in the city, and wished to fight back against the opressive rule that HOLY was enforcing.

Though on the surface, this seems to be a very shonen series, there is much potential for slash, especially between the two main characters.

THE MAIN SLASH:
Ryuhou. Master of Zestuei. Ice. He makes his living by following strict rules. He's sworn his life away to HOLY, thinking only those who are branded with this ideal are worthy of living. He follows orders almost blindly, knowing that he has to believe the motives behind them are just and right. His main mission in life is to find the one person who corrupted his innocence. He'd rather keep you at an arm's length to save you from who he truly is than to ease his own suffering.

Kazuma. The Shell Bullet. Fire. He lives a no-hold life, living from job to job, barely scraping by for food. His exterior is brash and he doesn't like to play by the rules. Inside, though, all he cares about is the well being for those close to him. He'd rather die in the fight to save a friend, than commit to the enemy to live. In the end, even his own life doesn't matter to him, only defeating the evil that threatens the lives of everyone on the Lost Ground.

Each man is so different and opposite from the other in many ways, yet their ideals and motives are the same. Throughout the series, they're set up as being mirror reflections of one another, even finishing the other's sentences and thoughts. They think alike, they fight alike... yet they come from different backgrounds and seem to have many fundamental differences. Can they see past the superficial differences to the similarities at heart?

Their relationship is tumultuous, to say the least. From the very first moment they meet, there is a spark of connection between Kazuma and Ryuhou. Ryuhou is the first to ever defeat Kazuma, and at first he simply dismisses the other man as simply another useless Native Alter. However, Kazuma only improves after this defeat, vowing to show that he is stronger. It's as if Ryuhou "turned on a switch inside of him," causing him to focus his power. In return, Ryuhou becomes increasingly obsessed with finding Kazuma, seeming to concentrate all of his hatred of Native Alters onto the other man. His commanding officer comments at one point that he's "never seen [Ryuhou] with such an eager expression before," when Ryuhou is asking permission to have sole control of the mission to find Kazuma. Also, even though Kazuma realizes early on that they're a lot alike, they still have this obsessive hatred of each other. "This feeling... it doesn't make sense!" Neither can explain why they feel they have to fight. It's something innate, deep inside of them.

In the end, Ryuhou and Kazuma reluctantly fight together against the main baddie in the series. Though they protest each other's help out loud, they also concede (to themselves) that they trust the other man. Ryuhou says that he feels stronger when he's with Kazuma, and Kazuma says that he feels calm and at peace with Ryuhou beside him.

During the whole series, there's a definite undercurrent of sexual tension permeating the fights between these two men. Even some of the lines of dialogue are suggestive:
Ryuhou: I didn't think you'd been enjoying my attentions these past few days.
Kazuma: Oh no, I loved it. What say we pick up where we left off?

There are many more, almost enough to make me think that at least the dub translators were yaoi fans! The level of obsession that each man shows for the other is far beyond normal. I can definitely picture them having angry!sex in early episodes, and in later ones, it almost seems as though they're together already.

OTHER SLASH:
Of course, Ryuhou and Kazuma aren't the only pairing in the series. For example, there is plenty of tension, sexual and otherwise, between Kazuma and Asuka Tachibana. Incidentally, Tachibana was pretty obviously gay in the manga, but in the anime they gave him a girlfriend. However, he's so uke-ish that the idea of a girlfriend for him is almost funny.

Kazuma and his best friend, Kimishima, also have a lot of buddy-slash potential. Even though they play-fight all the time, it's obvious that they have a lot of deep feelings for one another. I found myself yelling "Just kiss him already!" several times while watching these two! They're more of an innocent pair, a friendship that has possibly become so mething more.

There is one truely gay character, Emargy Maxfell. However, he's so annoying that I try to completely forget his appearances.

MORE ABOUT THE SERIES:
As would be expected from a shonen series, the animation of s-CRY-ed is clean and interesting, with lots of eye-opening effects for the fight and transformation scenes. The designs for the main characters are attractive, and the side/evil characters are given enough distinguishing design to keep them interesting.

The music for s-CRY-ed is very different! It's a mix of everything from a latino-pop-style opening credits to swing-jazz background for fight scenes. The soundtrack is definitely worth a listen, if only to wonder what the heck the composer was on when he wrote it.