“Loveless” – anything but!

I’ve been devoid of a good shonen ai fix for some time, and Loveless being a fairly cheap score on the market (even more so for me seeing as Ayana bought it!) I thought it would be a good investment into good male bonding. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Loveless manages to squeeze in something for everyone…unless of course you are a mecha fan.

 

 

Soubi: “Ritsuka…I think you have something in your eye…” 

  

 

Ritsuka Aoyagi (right), adorably cute, is in middle school. Like most kids these days he is a rather emotional individual with the fairly big issue of his elder brother, Seimei – the only member of his family he truly trusted – being slaughtered by a puzzling faction called “Septimal Moon”. Alone and afraid, he is greeted by the mysterious Soubi Agatsuma (left) – an adult who was supposedly Seimei’s friend, and within minutes of meeting, Soubi tells Ritsuka he loves him. The obscure romance pulls Ritsuka into a world parallel to his own, where battles are fought with words by beings known as Sentouki, and leads him to discover his real name: Loveless – one without love.

 

It is clear from the very first moment that Loveless is a very art-driven title, with glorious colours and crisp, clear animation. The eyes are particularly beautiful, and hair is smooth and unnaturally flowy. It is more a canvas painting than a mere cartoon. Some of the more natural landscapes are also dazzling, with lots of green and pink in contrast to the somewhat darker, edgier city landscapes. I also adored the fact that very, very subtly, the mood of the art changes with Ritsuka – the character’s mood leads the artwork beautifully, and also encourages expansion of his feelings towards other characters, which is done superbly.

 

Masanori Sasaji (Meiken Lassie; music producer for Those Who Hunt Elves) also adds to the environment providing a haunting and beautiful score, as well as two gorgeous songs for the opening and ending themes.

 

Loveless artistry – a joy to behold

 Concerning characters, there are some interesting ones, and some not so interesting ones. For instance, for those of you who enjoy your joyous angelic crazy anime girls who dress bizarrely, there’s something for you too in the form of Yuiko Hawatari. There is no adequate warning to prepare you for…Yuiko.

 

Yuiko: don’t say I didn’t warn you 

 

She attempts to give the storyline a mild comic relief I believe, which in a way is a good idea as otherwise the show would probably seem a little monotonous, but in contrast to the fairly unstable nature of the emotions portrayed here, Yuiko seems awkwardly out of place.

Another character that stands out as being over the top for entirely different reasons is Ritsuka’s teacher, Hitomi Shinonome – a 23-year-old virgin. She starts well, but finishes poorly. By the end her constant weaknesses without any sort of resolution began to irritate me rather than pity her.

 Miss Shinonome

 

There are other various secondary characters, mostly the “baddies” that come to fight Soubi and Ritsuka. One pair that the scriptwriters thought was the most interesting spans a whole story arc of two episodes, featuring a lesbian (shojo ai) couple (Kouya Sakagami and Yamato Nakano aka “Zero”). Lesbianism in anime generally makes me cringe (I am a lesbian so no flames please – I don’t know the reason either) and this was no exception, probably due to the fact that both characters weren’t very nice people. Still, they provided a chance for Soubi and Ritsuka to get to know each other a little better in the process.

 

In terms of story, this is the only anime I’ve seen where I feel it should have been a lot longer. Perhaps it was shortened to its tiny thirteen episodes because of budget restraints, lack of popularity, who knows? Twenty-six episodes seems like a more desirable amount for a story that was just aching to go a lot deeper. Still, the ending (or indeed, lack of) left itself open for a lot more to come, and indeed the manga seems to expand a lot further than the series allows, so here’s hoping that a continuation is just around the corner.

 

Another key feature of the series are the extravagant “Spell” battles fought between the Sentouki, which are masterfully illustrated, but by the end of the series seemed to fill time more than continue the storyline. Having said all the above about making the series longer, I believe that some battles could well have been made shorter and a lot of the pairings cut out in order to establish a better relationship construction between Soubi and Ritsuka, as this is primarily what is set up at the beginning of episode one, but only very subtly and sometimes confusingly begins to build up. One key downer I felt about the series is that nothing is very well explained and nothing really reaches any sort of pinnacle. A lot of loose ends were left hanging by the finish.

 

However, the clever thing about the show is that is physically draws you in, making you want to figure out what is going on. For a shonen ai romance the distinct lack of kisses and cuddles between the leads compared to other titles of the same genre makes you appreciate them more when they do happen, and allows you to watch the series again to let you use the knowledge you gain over the series to gain better understanding. In short, you certainly get your money’s worth.

 

 A Spell Battle

 

Overall, I enjoyed Loveless, not for it’s shonen ai content, but for it’s sheer artistry. It’s certainly very well put together. To the impatient viewer the plotholes and rushed character introduction could be a little tiresome, but it is well worth continuing. Viewers expecting it to be a gritty shonen ai complex romance could well be disappointed, but those approaching it with an open mind should be transfixed.

 

And if the main storyline bores you, it’s worth buying the DVD for the hilarious “Good morning Loveless-kun!” that appears as a special feature on each of the DVDs – SD Theatre has never been done funnier!

 

Scores

 

Artistry: 10/10

Story/Mechanics: 6/10

Love/Originality: 8/10

 

Overall Opinion: 7/10

 

Let’s go and make memories together!