Zetsuai 1989 / Bronze
Reviewer: Wiggle [website] [email]Overall Rating: A+
Media Reviewed: VHS fansub
Creator: Ozaki Minami
U.S. Licensed: No
Released by:
Run time: Zetsuai 60 minutes, Bronze 60 minutes
BL Content: Soft (touching, kissing, emotions)
Genre: Drama/Romance
Other media:
Japanese manga
Music video collection Cathexis
Zetsuai is not a "real" Japanese word. It's a created word that conveys desperation, despair and obsession in love all at once. "Zetsuai" is the emotion that rises in superstar singer Nanjo Koji when he meets high-school soccer phenomenon Izumi Takuto, and embarks on a tireless, endless journey to pursue the only person who ever made him feel anything.
In the fifth grade, ten-year-old Koji witnesses the angry power of another child he does not know on the soccer field, sparking the very first emotion he ever felt for another person. Six years later, Koji is a nationally famous singing star with no feelings or desires, when he passes out drunk in an alley. Sixteen-year-old Izumi is jogging home from work and finds the unconscious man. Having no idea who he is, Izumi takes Koji to his apartment to recover from his hangover and fever. It isn't long before Koji realizes that Izumi is the boy from the soccer field, and pursues him relentlessly.
While Koji is in search of that feeling that no one else can equal, Izumi is doing his best to keep the platinum-blond singer away. Bronze-skinned, dark-haired Izumi has a secret he wants to keep, but when he's coupled with a superstar in the press, his past comes back to haunt him. At the same time, both young men are dealing with the uncertainty of having feelings of any sort for another man. All of these worries combine to draw Izumi and Koji into tense, heartbreaking scene after tense, heartbreaking scene.
The hour-long OAV culminates in an edgy, somewhat bloody and violent scene that resolves nothing, but opens up new paths of possibility. Koji tells himself in the last seconds, "No one can stop me now."
When Bronze begins, with Koji living in Izumi's apartment in apparent peace, one wonders how the couple got from the despairing last scene of Zetsuai to this comfortable, tender, sensual bliss. Of course, that is all quickly shattered, when Izumi leaves for a week-long trip. Koji is so distraught that he gets into a motorcycle accident, leaving him comatose.
Izumi returns and discovers him in the hospital, and now it is Izumi's feelings that we see for the first time. No amount of pleading will wake Koji; as Izumi says, he has to "cast him aside" before Koji will come back to consciousness. However, when Koji awakes, he has lost his voice.
As the couple struggles with their relationship, Koji's silence leads to one of the most beautiful scenes in all of yaoi anime. Silently, Koji traces characters on Izumi's hand, spelling out dai suki da, "I love you."
Despite Koji's laryngitis, despite the other two Nanjo older brothers trying to keep the lovers apart, their desperate love draws Izumi and Koji again over and over throughout the 60-minute OAV. When they finally find each other for the last time, Koji's brother Hirose muses that the two will never be happy as they are. But the final images of the lovers in one another's arms leave more hope for their future than Hirose is willing to allow.
Ozaki Minami is the manga artist for the Zetsuai 1989 and Bronze series, and her character designs are well-represented in the OAVs. Koji and Izumi especially boast slender, mile-long legs and slim, sharp-pointed chins. These stylized designs are present in every character, but most prominently in the main characters. Bronze is more strongly colored, more stylized, and less washed-out than Zetsuai, but both are well-animated. Since there is little action, the animation is extremely fluid and looks very good, even for OAVs produced in the early 90's. There is some movement ghosting, but that tends to happen in any anime created before the digital revolution.
Enhancing the two animated episodes are a wealth of Nanjo Koji rock songs and ballads. Most are actually sung by Hayami Sho, the voice of Koji, while Inoue Takehide and Ishihara Shinichi also provide vocals. All of these actors lend their deep, velvety voices to bring an air of masculinity to the almost feminine character designs. The songs run through the background of the anime, and the beautiful, desperate ballad "Saishuushou" (The Final Chapter) serves as Bronze's closing song.
In addition, there are five Nanjo Koji music videos known collectively as Cathexis. These videos serve as imaginitive insights into Koji and Izumi's relationship, exploring different aspects of their interaction through fanciful mini-stories. Cathexis comes along with Bronze and Zetsuai when acquired from most fansub distributors.
Zetsuai, Bronze and Cathexis are nothing short of yaoi anime classics, and should not be missed. The story of Koji and Izumi will stay with you always. In a preface to Bronze, Minami Ozaki says she longs to make the viewer "feel even one one-millionth of this emotion," and through these compelling characters, she gives her feelings to her fans.