Ranked #581

Loveless

For me, the best word to describe this anime is simply "beautiful"... If you truly want to understand it you have to take a closer look and be able to see beyond the "shounen-ai" or "shotacon" tags. I can't even say it's about a homosexual love, because it goes way beyond that, at a more spiritual level. In this anime, love becomes a great source of power. The fighter/sacrifice couples simply HAVE to create a great bond between them in order to become powerful.
But love is not the main theme, it deals with a lot of other issues too. For example, the way we project ourselves on others - Seimei appears in one way for Ritsuka, his mother or Soubi, but we find out about his true nature only later on. Another example is forgetness, memories, the link between past-present-future and essential questions that everyone asks himself or herself at a certain point in his/her life, and how 12-year-old Ritsuka is searching for a meaning of his life. Yet another example is the way people are treated in society due to certain tags they wear. In this case, I'm talking about the ct years that explicitly show the status of their sexual life and how others react to that.
Also, in this anime, true love has nothing to do with sexuality, and is expressed by strong emotions and subtile gestures.

The story has an interesting plot, and it develops little by little, and unfortunately does not end... You'll just have to read the manga too see what happens next. If you only watch the 12 episodes anime series the story doesn't really make sense at the end and it leaves you with even more questions. But it gets interesting when you start to go beneath the surface and find the truth behind all the appearences.

The art helps creating a slight dark atmosphere. Not dark as in "evil"... but more like enigmatic, mysterious. The colors are not so bright, sometimes dark, it has beautiful landscapes, and a lot of scenes occur at night, sunset or in the dark fighting setting. One of the most interesting artistic elements is the buttefly - it always accompanies Soubi's arrival, or in Soubi's paintigs, as a weapon, or in Ritsu's collection.

The soundtrack also helps a lot creating this slight dark atmosphere, and it backs up every emotion that the characters are feeling. Some emotions don't even need to be expressed by words, the music completes them and amplifies the impact they have on the viewer.

As for the characters, they are very strong and complex ones. Ritsuka is the one in search for his existence's meaning, and for life's meaning in general, feeling lost in a world he doesn't understand and that doesn't understand him. Soubi is the one that has the answers but he cannot give them to Ritsuka. When it comes to love, Soubi is the one to show Ritsuka the meaning of it, the meaning behind the appearances, the powerful and spiritual level of love. But Soubi often acts contradictory, his true feelings remain hidden, he says things very easily but sometimes his actions do not sustain his big words.

To me, it's a very unique, enjoyable combination of drama, love, philosophical questions, mistery and supernatural. The words are well chosen and always make you wonder about the truth and how much you far you have to go in order to find it. One thing is for certain - you have to ignore appearances. I really think this anime is deep and worth watching.







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Loveless could some times be a confusing anime but it's irresistible
The story revolves around Aoyagi Ritsuka,a 12-year old who transfers with a mom having countless mental breakdowns which leads to child abuse dealing physical pain. Two years ago Ritsuka had lost memories and became a different person, from there his brother Seimei becomes important in his life. The anime begins with the death of Seimei which keeps Ritsuka wondering who killed his brother. The story truely begins when Ritsuka meets Agatsuma Soubi, Seimei's former fighter, and all the unexplained mystery comes, well you must watch it to see. It's true that to some the battles seem like it's not needed but let's just say if there were no battles, most likely Ritsuka and Soubi will have no bond.

The art/animation is okay, it's like a regular anime it's not too special, but the cat ears are quite creative and the battles combines fantasy and reality, the art makes the unnatural events possibly believable.

This anime's sound is nice overall, in my opinion this anime has very nice music and sound which creates more intrest to an anime watcher's .

The characters are creative and has a way of it's own, all the characters seems like complete opposite in a way but fits perfectly together. There's always a bond that ties the characters together.

This anime is very enjoyable, but there are scenes at school where Yuiko gets too annoying, that's just the beginning, the episodes in some way becomes better one after another.

Overall this anime is worth watching, I would highly recommend this anime to probably anyone. This anime may suprise you at times and may not be what you would expect so be on caution.

I shall leave it at that.

Hope this helps ~ read more

It's rare that a series leaves me at a complete loss for words, and I really don't mean that in a good way. I've managed to gathered the words now though, and here they are:

STORY - ...What story? Seriously, at what point is anything in this series explained? (Hint: never!) There are problems presented, sure -- Seimei, Ritsuka's older brother, was killed and he wants to find out who did it and why. Not really that intriguing or original, but it works, right? Additionally, Ritsuka has amnesia and is a "completely different person" than he was two years prior, but he doesn't know what happened. Also not that original, but still acceptable. Unfortunately, the series doesn't seem to focus very well on either problems and instead teases you by presenting a lot of leads that seem like they're going somewhere, but never do. Soubi, who should serve as Ritsuka's connection to Seimei refuses to say anything on the matter. In fact, as far as Rituska's troubles go, Soubi's pretty worthless for plot progression even if he does defend him from mysterious attackers (who are never explained). And his creepy shotacon ways seem like far, far too shameless an attempt to wind up the fangirls. I like shounen-ai well enough, and while I don't really care for shota, I can swallow it if it's done well. Well, this wasn't done well at all.

The story's only redemption may be that Ritsuka's social anxieties are addressed gradually throughout the series, and the subplot concerning his personality change and memories does see some progress. In fact, it might even be considered a good storyline if we ever got to find out what happened to him, but we don't! Does that even count as a spoiler? The fact that ultimately, nothing happens? The plot with Seimei seemed like it had potential at times -- all of the vague, unexplained hints did seem like they were going somewhere, and if you cocked your head sideways, you might have even been able to pick up clues to the mystery. The last episode seemed like it was trying to explain what was going on, but it was so garbled and nonsensical that it's almost impossible to draw any kind of conclusions from it, and in the end, there's nothing but a big, gaping void where all your answers should be.

The battle system in this series is something else that seemed to have potential. The concept of a Fighter and a Sacrifice is actually pretty interesting, though I think they would have survived without all the gratuitous bondage. Unfortunately, the actual fighting is never explained, and it's difficult to deduce where exactly anyone derives their power or how the mechanics of the fighting works. I really don't know why all of these things were sidestepped; it really doesn't seem like it should have taken that much time or effort to explain something that was so central to the whole Seven Moons and Seimei's murderers madness.

I haven't read the manga, but I get this distinct feeling that it's probably ten times better than this anime, because certainly it can't be worse. Like I said, the wisps of story here and there seemed to have potential, and it was just frustrating to see that almost none of them have a definite conclusion. It seems like this should have been a twenty-six episode series instead of twelve, or they should have spent more time on actual plot progression instead of random shota fluff and molestation. In the end, I think I just wasted four hours of my life watching this series, and that's about it. And even though I'm sure the manga is better, I'm left so frustrated with the series that I'm not sure I even care enough to go read it.

Addendum: The anime was apparently produced when only volumes 1-4 of the manga was out (the series is 8 volumes long), so they had limited source material. Still, I think they could have done a much better job -- certainly things like the fight system could have been addressed better anyway. And while they supposedly left the "ending" open for a possible sequel, there still could have still been an actual conclusion of some sort. But really, unless it's one of those long running shounen series, I don't think there's any reason to ever produce an anime for an unfinished series. It just leads to unpleasant bullshit like this and X/1999. :|

CHARACTER - Ritsuka is probably the best character in the series, though that isn't really saying much. In any case, he seems to be the only character that goes through any significant change throughout the series. His turmoil at the beginning of Loveless is very understandable, what with a crazy mother, no memories, and a dead brother. The sessions with his psychologist summed up his development pretty well, though it did kind of seem like a cheap way to present everything to the audience. His relationship with his friends moved up in a classic line graph as he was somewhat sporadic and inconsistent in the beginning and steadily progressed up towards "real friendship." His relationship with Soubi... I guess it really wasn't that bad; his reaction to Soubi's advances were realistic: his indignation, disgust, and eventual worry. You could see his feelings change slowly as the series went on, and the relationship did contribute to Ritsuka's overall personality progression, so to that end, I guess it was all right.

Soubi is probably a much more multi-faceted character than the Loveless anime allowed him to be; I could tell by watching, but that didn't change the fact that he didn't end up being explored all that much. Because so little is revealed about his past, with Seimei or otherwise, you never know what his motivation for anything is, which was immensely irritating and frustrating. He tells Rituska some things, but then establishes a steady history of lies, so anything he says is questionable, even if they sound like they might, or even should, be true. Whether or not he really cares for Ritsuka always seems to be questionable, and his masochistic complex complicates the matter further -- not to mention it makes things ridiculously awkward. I think, in the end, you're supposed to gather that he's changed a little (for the better) since his days with Seimei, but it's really not that convincing at all.

All of the other characters were pretty generic, and a lot of them seemed pretty damn pointless too. Rituska's school friends seemed like they could have been plucked out of any other anime Japanese school ever. Sure, they contributed to the plot and Ritsuka's development, but they really weren't that interesting to watch. Kio, Soubi's roommate? Classmate? Random friend? (Ex-)boyfriend? I have no idea what their relationship is because, surprise, they never explained, but he was only fun because he addressed some of my thoughts on Soubi, namely his apparent raging perversion and pedophilia (though Soubi consistently denied these accusations). But other than that, another generic support character? Yeah. The same goes for Ritsuka's teacher and his psychologist, and the fact that both of them were randomly in love with one of the protagonists seemed like more pointless fanservice. All of the fighter pairs sent from Seven Moons were flat and boring -- they were sent to fight, yippee. Did they have their own goals or aspirations? Who knows? Subplot with the lesbians? Seemed like a lame ploy to allow for a convenient winner of that fight. Complete lack of intrigue.

Finally... this was the original reason I had no interest in watching this series. What the hell is the point of the cat ears? What does this contribute to anything at all? It just seems like a silly gimmick to invite giggles from the audience (fangirls think about this stuff anyway, do we really need to encourage them?), and to allow for lots of suggestive dialogue in the show. The only reason I could think of for this is to have "proof" that Soubi isn't randomly raping Ritsuka ('cause it sure seems like it sometimes). Here's an idea -- if your character is so inappropriate that you have to have a lame gimmick to prove his innocence, how about not writing him to be so outrageous in the first place? Certainly Soubi didn't need to make out with Ritsuka in the middle of every battle.

ARTWORK & ANIMATION - Resoundingly average. Ritsuka was cute and Soubi was your run-of-the-mill bishounen. All the other characters were similarly plain, and the backgrounds don't really invite rounds of praise either. None of it was bad, but none of it was great either. The animation was about the same, though I really thought the effects for the fights were unimpressive and cheap.

MUSIC - I'd actually heard the opening theme, "Tsuki no Curse," long before I saw this series because it was composed by Yuki Kaijura. Unfortunately, I wasn't too impressed with it then, and I remained unimpressed with it in the series. I'm not really sure what it is about it, but it just doesn't stand up against most of Kaijura's other work. The end theme by Kaori Hikita was similarly plain. The music throughout the series actually surprised me by how random it seemed. Most series, even if they don't have particularly great music, still manage to get tracks that are appropriate for their scenes: sad tracks for sad scenes, energetic tracks for fights, etc. Loveless is probably the first series where I've been confused at their music choices for various scenes... They had weird, mecha-style battle tracks that were far, far too exciting for the scenes they were in, and then strange, melodious tracks that conflicted with conversation-heavy scenes. Occasionally, they had some nice, soft vocal tracks that seemed to fit okay, but they weren't prominent enough to balance out the other randomness.

VOICE ACTING - Average.

OVERALL - I think the best way to watch Loveless is to treat it as a drinking game. Take a shot of vodka every time Soubi says "suki dayo" ("I like you" or "I love you" depending on context and translator). You'll be mad drunk by the second episode (seriously, he's a broken record) and will thus be too wasted to realize that the entire series has little substance, never answers any of your questions, has no ending, and is ultimately unsatisfying. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go bash in the brains of the person who recommended this series to me.

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I believe that Loveless is MUCH MORE than just some shounen-ai story. It is so much deeper than that. It really delves into the life of a young boy who is lost in the world. Ritsuka's real name being Loveless is a strong showing of that fact.

I have to say that sadly, I was confused a few times while watching this anime. And many people I have talked to get very upset about how it was ended. They say that there were too many questions left unanswered. But think about it, in real life, there are always more questions that have not been answered.

STORY: I have to give this a lower rating because, although at the start the story moved along very smoothly, near the end things got very confusing. At first it was simple. Ritsuka lost his brother, and his fighter Soubi came along because Semei ordered him to. And they fought enemies. Not too hard to understand. But then new characters were introduced and they brought up even more questions, half of which never got answered.

ART: AMAZING. The colors used in this anime are simply awe-inspiring. The way they portray Soubi as a butterfly and they show it in beautiful colors is just wonderful. The characters are all well-drawn and very cute/handsome (in Soubi's case) The noses bug me a tad, but I'll get over it. :)

SOUND: Also great. The OP song is one that I actually always listen to every time I watch an episode. When romantic moments are occuring throughout the course of the season, they play very nice background music. Same with sad moments. The music goes along well with the mood. And not even one of the character voices are annoying! Not even Yuiko. And that surprised me.

CHARACTER: I think that if I could add more favorite characters to my list, EVERY single character from this anime would be on it. There is such a good mix of personailities, from the shy Ritsuka to the serious Soubi and the playful Yuiko and the HILARIOUS Yayoi. The way the characters all relate is very nice as well. Although at times, I was confused at why Ritsuka would just let Soubi kiss him and whatnot, but still... very good interactions and love triangles. It's the whole grade school, "I like her but she likes him..." ordeal. And I sometimes like that! It makes the story much more light and humorous.

ENJOYMENT: I gave this a 9 because for the most part, I was very entertained. There were a few episodes where I did not laugh or almost cry at all. But something kept me watching this anime. I think for the most part it was the characters. But I enjoyed the fights and the love between Ritsuka and Soubi. I just wish there had been more episodes to enjoy.

Overall, I give this anime a 9. Oh... and lastly, go team Zero! *squee* read more

This one's a plus!
LOVELESS is a story about a boy named Ritsuka Aoyagi who's lost his memory. Ever since, he's been acting angstier & his mother beats him because he's not the same. His brother Seimei helped him with his mother, until he died mysteriously. After Seimei's death, Ritsuka's mother got worse, and he's felt miserable. Until Soubi Agatsuma shows up. He claims to be a friend of Seimei's and then befriends Ritsuka. After a day or so, Ritsuka starts to understand who Soubi really is, & now he's on the search to find Seimei's murderer. Septimal Moon.

I really love this anime. It has tons of emotion [angst, romance, action, fantasy, and Comedy] But the plot is something you --can't really explain. It makes sense until the end. This anime shouldn't bore you either.

The art is wonderful && i cant help but love the outfits they wear.
The characters go well with the story. Some are serious & some are real funny.
The only bad thing about this, is again, you have to read the manga in order to understand fully. The ending of this anime ends horribly because its like a cliffhanger.
You'll definately be drawn in && its an anime you'll never forget.[[Plus there's catears!xD]] ;]
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It took me a long time to finally sit down and watch this anime and not because of the shonen ai themes...because of the cat ears. Normally I'm just not a cat-ear type of girl, but after watching the first episode or two and realizing the importance of the cat ears and their overall symbolism in the show I was incredibly hooked.

The story was beautiful and well written, however, I gave the story a 9 because I believe that there was a lot left unsaid. It was almost as if they were waiting for a second season that never came to ease up some questions about Seven Moons and Seimei. Aside from that it was just brilliant. The characters are easy to love and relate and you find yourself feeling their emotions as the story progresses. The story deals with the issues of pain and loss and the light of hope that new love brings.

I thought the music throughout the series was also very beautiful and alluring. So overall I gave this show a 9. It is one of my favorites that I've seen in a while and I ended up watching the entire series in one night. read more

What's Loveless about? Well, by just watching the anime, you won't be able to figure it out. Seriously, the anime is just the top of the mountain that's trying to lure you to read the manga. Which I did. If you read the manga the story will become much more interesting and I'd say it deserves much more than a 6. But... we're talking about the anime here. The anime storyline deserves no more than a 6. It manages to make you curious about what is going on, then pulls you into its story, but while you slowly try to unravel all its mysteries, it stops suddenly at episode 12.

This series is laughing at you, saying "Haha, you stupid, I won't give you my secret unless you read the manga!" and when you finished it, you either want to kill it or run to the store and buy the first manga volume to read the story. I did the latter.

What really caught me were the battles. It wasn't the usual sword/fist fight, and it wasn't just lights flashing around either. The fights were actually pretty delicately handled, I remember that there were blue butterflies everywhere and the leafs from trees were dancing around, which gave the fights an eerie dimension that suits the story's atmosphere.

What also caught me: eye-candy. There is plenty abound for the women among us and Soubi has got to be one of the most gorgous characters I've ever seen. But it's not only the men that are beautiful, I thought the zero-girls, despite their plainness were also attractive in their own way.

I loved the sounds of this series. It's haunting, which suits the story just fine. The opening is very memorable and has become one of my favourite songs ever. If you read the translation of the Tsuki no Curse lyrics, you'll find out that the song is actually a summary for the series. And the ending is very sad and full of mystery, it caputures the story's atmosphere perfectly.

Probably the greatest gem of this series are the characters. Each of them is unique and the most interesting thing about them is that almost no one in this series seems sane. (This is further confirmed in the manga.) You have Ritsuka, who one day changed his entire personality and forgot his past. You have the weak and frail mother who abuses her child, because it isn't the Ritsuka that she knows. Soubi who has paedophilic and masochistic tendencies. Sadistic zero couples. Ritsu-sensei, who had abused Soubi in the past. The female psychologist who also has paedophilic tendencies regarding Ritsuka. Even the normal characters have their quirks. These characters can not be found anywhere else and they make the anime what I would call great!

Despite the storyline being underdeveloped in the anime (not in the manga) I did enjoy the overall anime a lot, so I'd say it deserves an 8. For those who liked everything, except for the storyline, because it was confusing, I'd recommend reading the manga, then watching the anime again. You'll enjoy it a lot more!! read more

If you’re not a manga reader, you probably wonder why whenever a manga becomes an anime, they’re will be fans insisting that the manga is so much better. Usually, that’s debatable – anime does have the benefits of things like color and sound, and if there are major plot changes some might be for the better. On the other hand, there are also anime adaptations that are inferior to their respective manga not because of what’s in the anime but rather what’s not. Oftentimes, short anime series will be made from long manga that end up with a made-up, rushed, or inconclusive ending. This is definitely the main weakness of Loveless, an anime that’s suffers much from its tiny length.

Whether you’ve read the manga or not, Loveless has a great setting. It’s much like our world, but with a notable difference of people being born with cat ears and a tail that they lose with their virginity. That alone makes for an interesting concept if done in a non-perverted way – and for the most part, it is. But Loveless isn’t deprived of a good plot and expect to cover it up with the great setting. Rather, the plot itself is fairly unique and beautifully developed. Ritsuka, a twelve-year-old boy still recovering from the mysterious murder of his older brother, Seimei, happens upon Soubi, an old friend of said brother. He finds out that there’s more to Seimei’s death than meets the eye: he was killed by an organization known as “Septimal Moon,” and was involved in a type of bizarre battling based solely on words. In addition to his quest to avenge his brother and rediscover himself, Ritsuka becomes part of the battles himself. It’s a great example of a plot that creates a lot of questions that are eventually answered slowly enough to draw the viewer in but quickly enough to keep things interesting. That said, this is the part of the series that suffers most from short-anime syndrome, and the ending that the anime’s writers threw together is ambiguous and doesn’t provide a satisfying conclusion, a major flaw to an otherwise ambiguous and well-executed plot.

Fortunately, however, this lack of plot resolution has no negative effect on the cast, which is full of unique people. Ritsuka, in particular, is moody and hesitant, a far cry from other protagonists in similar series. Because of this, the relationships he creates with the rest of the cast are often unexpected yet beautifully done. Soubi, meanwhile, is a bit more typical of the older, experienced type that is seen often in shoujo anime and manga, but since he’s actually quite submissive in some ways he doesn’t give off the air of a walking stereotype like you might expect. The supporting characters are similarly well-made; from Ritsuka’s oftentimes downright adorable classmates other fighters that all have their own stories and motivation (and some of which are apt to cause tears in the eyes of viewers) there’s no lack of memorable characters. (A word of warning, though: if you tend to dislike characters that are a bit whacked in the head a la Evangelion or Utena, Loveless’ cast may not leave the same impression on you.)

Even with this great cast of characters, there’s another part of Loveless that is praised more often: the art and animation. That’s certainly a justified claim: frankly, the series looks gorgeous. The animation is smooth and remarkably easy to follow, especially considering the style of battling that could potentially be quite difficult. These battles happen on a mostly-black background that’s just perfect for emphasizing the important things: characters and attacks. Coming from someone who usually has trouble following action scenes, these are very enjoyable to watch. Outside of battle, the backgrounds are simply breathtaking and the animation is fluid all over. The one disadvantage of the art is character design; primarily I’m not much fond of the faces. Overall, there’s very little not to like when seeing this series.

The lovely art is paired with almost as lovely music. The opening song, “Tsuki no Curse,” is a haunting melody that sets the mysterious and somewhat melancholy tone of the series, and both the lyrics and singer work with the music to make the song sound great (if not a bit high). The ending song, “Michiyuki” is similar in mood, calmer but just as dark; it really wraps up each episode nicely. The background music doesn’t disappoint, either; the best pieces are fully atmospheric without being intrusive, while others are less effective but still very much listenable.

In technical terms, Loveless is great. In literary terms, Loveless is well-made. Still, the series has a reputation among some viewers as being creepy, even pedophilic, while others find it a cute piece of BL anime. However, both of these are shallow and about as accurate as saying that My-Hime is about breasts or Gankutsuou is a mecha series. In some respects, they are true, but in the big picture they’re utter falsehoods. Loveless may be about catboys and girl, and have blatantly sexual situations between an adult man and a young boy, but it’s no standard fanservice series. The somewhat twisted relationship between Ritsuka and Soubi isn’t just there for kicks; it’s a unique dynamic that is never portrayed as anything but unusual, and it’s a less-conventional way of helping these characters develop. Enjoying Loveless doesn’t require a shouta-loving soul; it requires an ability to look past the surface and think about the complexities of human relationships. It’s a series that requires some real reflection after viewing, but it’s definitely worth that thought. read more

Well, this is a hard anime to review, because your enjoyment all depends on your own take on this anime. But this is my take:

STORY: Yeah, this anime may have a hard plot to find. Hell, it might not even have one. But I still found it enjoyable. But then again, it's not that hard to keep me entertained (^.^). It's a dark and mysterious story about a twelve year old boy named Ritsuka and a twenty year old college student named Soubi. Yes, it suggests a few things, they kiss a couple of times, and let's just say that Soubi, in my eyes, is about the definition of pervert. I don't really know why they classify this under yaoi, but I guess after a while you see why.

ART: I really loved the character designs in this! They all looked so smooth and beautiful to me.

SOUND: The subbed voices, in my opinion, matched the character designs very nicely. The only thing I couldn't stand was Yuiko's voice. After about eight episodes, I wanted to hurt her. But then again, that might be just due to her annoying character (Imagine Misa Amane from Death Note, only not THAT bad).

CHARACTER: These characters practically made me fall in love. They grabbed me and made me happy, sad, mad, and all those emotions that anime usually can't do to me. I yelled at my TV at times, I will admit...

ENJOYMENT: Somewhere in this incredibly long review, I must have said something about my enjoyment with this anime, so I guess that it's kinda self explanitory.

OVERALL: This anime could have easily been given a ten, BUT! I didn't reach the ending! I won't spoil anything, since when people spoil things I want to stab their eyes out, so don't worry. Let me just say that there had better be a sequel to the anime, because this was REALLY incomplete. They left a lot of things open, like who Septimal Moon is, which really bugged me. And something else, but I feel like that would be ruining something. But besides the ending, this anime, in my eyes, isn't really a MUST WATCH RIGHT FREAKING NOW, but a watch for one of those days where you have nothing to do, you could watch this.

Like I said in the beginning, I can already tell that some people are going to yell STATUATORY RAPE after watching the first episode, but really don't listen to them. There's really nothing that wrong with it.

All I can say is that if you liked Gravitation, you most likely will like this. ^.^

Thanks for reading! =3
~Tracy
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My first shonen-ai anime. I didn’t even think it was shonen-ai, so it caught me by surprise. I thought it was about something dark and creepy – guess not.

I watched anime with shonen-ai premises before, and have watched one shojo-ai anime, but this anime is really different. At first it was hard to believe/handle. I didn’t even like it at first because the shonen-ai was very surprising (didn’t like it until episode 3). I’m a good girl, from a conservative family, so I’ve never seen anything like it. The fact that the main character is a 12 year old boy who’s involved with a male college student is kinda scary, but surprisingly, beautiful.

Yes, that’s the word I’m looking for. The anime would have been much better if it focused more on the boy-boy love, and less about the battles and whatnot. In fact, the spell battles and seven moons were a bit vague – or maybe I just focused too much on the shonen –ai. In any case, the whole concept was overshadowed by the shonen-ai.I think that’s expected from the original creator who started working on Gundam Wing doujinshis.

The nekomimis threw me off at first – I just didn’t get why they were there. I thought they had nekomimis because catgirls/boys are popular among a lot of anime fans, with me as an exception. I found out later they were a sign of someone’s virginity, or lack thereof.

Characters were interesting – Of course, most of them are self-proclaimed perverts (the fact I like all of them scares me). For some reason they’re not bothered by the fact that Soubi likes someone way, way younger than him. It’s not just him too – Ritsuka’s psychologist seems to have a slight crush on him as well. Anyway, almost all of them are likable (and almost all of them wore glasses, which I love), even Yuiko who irritated me at first. She’s not so bad. I have the same opinion about Yayoi, the boy who’s hopelessly in love with Yuiko. I didn’t like him at first either, but he’s actually very funny, and he reminded me of Tamaki from Ouran.

I just wish that the other characters had their fair share of lime light. I can’t even remember the name of Soubi’s hot teacher, and that Nagisa – sensei, I don’t know much about her either. The character management is just done poorly.

I’m a bit iffy about the drawing style. The backgrounds are marvelous, like delicate water color paintings. On the character design is sub par. The drawings tend to waver a lot, and the bodies are way off proportion (specially Ritsuka – he looks so skinny). Despite the wavering drawing style, there’s still a tasteful amount of bishonens. Soubi happens to be my favorite. The colors I don’t like that much either – the colors look a bit too pale, and I prefer more vibrant colors. There was minimal use of CG, which is OK, since it’s just complimentary. CG was used a lot for the fight scenes, but the fight scenes still needed work. They weren't exciting or fun to watch at all.

I actually like the voice acting, since the seiyus brought out their characters personalities. I am very delighted at the fact that the seiyus for Soubi, Ritsuka and Yukio are all familiar to me – I’ve seen, rather, heard of their work in other series before. Soubi’s seiyu, which is Katsuyuki Konishi is actually the seiyu for Kenta Usui from Karin. I still can’t believe it’s the same person since Soubi and Kenta have very different personalities, as well as manner of speaking.

The music was so-so. The background music is what I would like to call, music you’d hear from a creepy carnival at night, and it would make you want to either freak out or kill yourself – I mean that in a good way. It matches the theme and feel of the anime, after all. I like the opening theme too – I have heard it many times before I’ve even watched the series. The ending song was a bit dreary and depressing, but that’s OK.

Story wise, it didn’t impress me. Bishonen-wise, it sure did. I’m hoping there’s going to be a sequel, even if it’s a bit late to do that. Like I said, some issues were left unresolved, and I want to catch another glimpse of the gorgeous bishies – after all, this is what I love the most about the anime. read more