Loveless anime and manga review

Today, i shall reveal what i have been reading this past week: LOVELESS

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*Gasps! I'm anti yaoi! Why am i reading Loveless?!*

This is going to be quite a lengthy post cos i have lots to say. This post might be disjointed cos i'm not that good at organizing my thoughts

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It started out pretty innocently.. i happened to see and clicked on chapter 74 to see what on earth the whole thing was about. Other than the clean scans and big fonts (code breaker strains my eyes T__T), there was nothing shounen ai-ish about that chapter so i wasn't too repelled. I was drawn in by the conversation between the characters which sounded beautiful and meaningful but i couldn't understand fully what they were talking about.. That was when i decided to start reading from chapter 1.

Let's just say i prepared myself to close the window should anything disturbing pop out but it never came. Loveless is definitely shounen ai but not yaoi. We see a kiss here and there and nothing more ahaha. And and and omg Soubi is *heart* XD he doesnt make me go fangirly unlike the past bishies i fall in love with but i'm definitely attracted to Soubi.

Soubi kun XDXD

Plot:

The manga started out quite differently by announcing the death of Seimei-- the older brother of Ritsuka who is our 12 year old protagonist. He transfers school and one day after school, meets a university art student Soubi who is the other protagonist. Ritsuka gets drawn deeper into discovering Seimei's murder and also fighting battles with Soubi as his 'fighter'.

Let me elaborate on this cool fighting system in Loveless. Battles are fought between 2 teams, each consisting of a 'sacrifice' and a 'fighter' unit. Fighter is controlled by the sacrifice who takes all the damage during a battle.

Ritsuka.. you're too emo for a 12 year old kid. But i don't blame you

I can't resist bishies, seriously. So i fell prey to Soubi who would be the perfect bishie (seme) except for his light coloured hair. He's strong, mysterious, charming, protective and faithful but keeps too many secrets and can be too cold towards others at times.

A bit of analysis:
Soubi: Ristuka, I love you *smiles gently*

Ritsuka: *blush angrily* d--dddon't say that!!!

Yea.. this scene repeated itself a few times within the first 30 chapters. And whenever this happens i still cringe inwardly but there's a sweet after taste hehe =X Though i am still affected by the shounen ai parts, i can accept them better than those in X.. maybe because what i see in Loveless is more pure + less motive ridden and angsty.

Now moving on to the roles of seme and uke........ The whole thing is ironic.. 'Sacrifices' are supposed to protected (uke) while the 'fighters' take on the attacking role (seme) but at the same time, 'sacrifices' give commands which 'fighters' must obey so i wonder who the one really in control is. It's obvious that Soubi is the seme and Ritsuka, the uke but Soubi loves to take orders from Ritsuka. Imo, that does not make Soubi any less of a seme cos he's clearly the more aggressive one. There was this once where Soubi behaved like an uke and i was so amazed that i read that chapter twice. Don't ask why, i don't know X__X

I like the art and the mangaka was able to maintain the quality throughout the 75 chapters (thinks of hxh and shudders) The anime is not bad too.. Being so intrigued by the manga, i watched a few episodes of the anime which did not cover even half of the manga.. i think there will be a second season in the future. Decent graphics and very good soundtracks. The ending song especially, sounds extremely sad and touching. One thing i wasn't very satisfied with was Soubi's voice. For goodness sake, he sounds like an ah pek! Wth.. and Ritsuka's voice was rougher and more mature than what i had imagined. Sigh i got used to it after a while but.. Soubi T__T they could have made him sound younger.

I loved the fantastic battle scenes in the anime which the manga did little justice to. It was just soooo cool haha. But i would recommend the manga because it's easier to understand and allows more time to read + digest.

Conclusion:
Throwing aside any disgust i have (note the present tense) for yaoi and shounen ai, i have to admit that Loveless is a good piece of work. I understand that the atmosphere portrayed by the manga cannot be achieved if it was about the relationship between a male and female. Only the strange, fragile yet intense love between Ritsuka and Soubi works this way. I was totally intrigued by the plot (mysteries and bishies) and since the manga is ongoing, i'll be waiting patiently as a good fangirl should for my monthly dose of loveless

Random: Soubi has Midou ban's glasses and he looks like Abel from trinity blood when he smiles with his eyes closed ^_^