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This is exactly the kind of dark fantasy-romance I've been wanting to see, something that's not as bleak and tragic as Ai no Kusabi. Yes, I know the two have little in common (besides the obvious fact that the latter is yaoi, lol), but that makes it all the more clear where my tastes lie in dark romance.

I realized later on while watching that the series was actually more comparable to X, so similar that I'll write a recommendation for the two, which no one else has done. But I preferred Ceres.

I was captivated from the first episode and stayed that way through till the end. I loved it. I found it very satisfying to my tastes. I'd even call it one of my favourites.

I instantly fell in love the first ending song "One ~ Kono Yo ga Hatete mo Hanarenai~" by Day-break as soon as it started playing! So catchy! It was an instant classic for me. At first I was disappointed when the ending song changed to "Cross my Heart" by the same artist, but I grew to love it pretty quickly after hearing it a few times. Its opening notes left the strongest impression during And now I'll always associate it with that moment. The background music throughout the series rocked too.

Ceres marks the fifth Watase Yuu series I've completed. The previous ones were, in order, Alice 19th, Fushigi Yuugi, Absolute Boyfriend and Imadoki!. Of these works, I noticed they share the following themes in common:

• Love triangles (all of them, all two-guys-for-one-girl, and only Absolute Boyfriend doesn't have two-girls-for-one-guy as well)
• Close siblings or friends turning on one another (all except Imadoki!)
• The threat of rape--attempted and/or assumed rape but no actual rape (all of them--hmm, on second thought, there was marital rape in Ceres)
• Early pregnancy (Imadoki!, Ceres, Fushigi Yuugi--I haven't watched all of the Fushigi Yuugi OVAs yet but I got spoiled >_<)

Ceres also shares the final resolution of the love triangle in common with Absolute Boyfriend, which I'll touch on later.

And now for my favourite topic: characters and relationships! ^^;

Aya was alright as the lead female, kinda cool, actually, and pretty too. She looked better with long hair, though (shallow comment, huh).

Ceres was interesting and cool.

As for Touya, the lead male/bishie...he was undeniably hot and had a cool, mysterious, aloof kind of personality, and his voice wasn't bad either--all in all, I normally go for that type but he was just kind of okay for me. I dunno, it might have been the outfit...I found it kind of laughable, especially the crop top. >_> And I found him weirder and weirder as the show went on. But still, it's not like I'd say no to him. ^^;;;

I actually preferred, Yuuhi, his rival for Aya. Funny, brash, a good cook, fights with chopsticks, with the same awesome voice of my beloved Abarai Renji from Bleach ^____^ I supported his pursuit of Aya, and of course it was hopeless from the start, but as the story progressed his unrequited love became pretty much irrelevant. :/ Too bad. There's hope for the two at the end, but it's bittersweet, hardly a victory, more like a consolation prize. Again, more on that final resolution later.

But the one character who totally snuck up on me to become my favourite of the series and one of my all-time favourites, was MIKAGE AKI! (Hmm, writing his full name like that kind of reflects his split-personality!) I'd always liked him, but he really grabbed my attention when his evil alter-ego started to emerge He completely stole my heart at the end of Episode 13 I was like "hot daaaaaaamn." *___*

And with the emergence of Aki's alter-ego, the show took a slight foray into twincest territory, which I shamelessly enjoyed. As I've already mentioned, I loved the first sign of Mikagi's emergence, and there was even an open discussion of twincest between Aki and Kagami right afterwards, when Aki was feeling confused and afraid about the new, inappropriate feelings he was having for Ceres--which meant Aya by proxy. I loved how his innocent love for his sister was getting twisted into something perverse. And then...when Mikagi-Aki forcefully kissed Aya in Episode 14...OMG SO HOT, infinitely hotter than any of Aya's scenes with Touya! YES, I admit I tend to like that kind of forbidden love in fiction! And Aki x Aya is my Ceres OTP (though never meant to be) next to Yuuhi x Aya! As for the attempted rape scene...*ahem* I'll refrain from commenting on that, except to say that it was wrong, of course. ^^;;; Oh look, a magical rape shield just like in Fushigi Yuugi!

But as I've also mentioned, I've liked Aki from the start, and I liked his relationship with with Aya before Mikagi even came into the picture. I adored their closeness as twin siblings. And I especially loved Aki's complete devotion to Aya, since after the end of the first episode Aki was basically alone, and Aya remained the one and only important person in his life--Aya was all he had. On the other hand, although Aya also loved him and never gave up on him, not only did she fall in love and gain a lover, she also came to cherish Yuuhi, Suzumi, and Chidori as something of a second family to her, not to mention certain other people she briefly crossed paths with who left an impression on her heart.

Hmm, I've only just realized how very weak Aki was compared to Touya, Aya, and even Yuuhi. And of course, his weakness was most obvious and most fatal the moment Mikagi took over. That's probably another trait of his that unconsciously endeared him to me. He couldn't help his weakness, but he was alone, as I'd mentioned, and he tried his best to protect Aya, even choosing not to reunite with Aya for her own safety.

There was a period, I can't remember exactly when, during which it seemed like Aki was kind of slipping under the radar in the show. It might have been during this period that I started worrying about his fate.

Which brings me to the end of the series...

Also, I liked the reveal near the end that the initial, seemingly simple premise of the series was actually misleading from the more complex true story--especially the key players' motivations behind their actions. It's the exact same thing that happened in my favourite series, Revolutionary Girl Utena, both even use a fairy tale as an initial premise. <3

I wish Aki got a bit more action--and I don't necessarily mean that in a dirty way. I should go look for some Aki fanart. I'm rewatching some clips as I type and I'm falling in love with him all over again. <3333333

Oh, and I plan to read the manga, eventually. I hear there's a lot of differences.

And I knew this post would be long, but not this damn long. I'd already had a lot to say about Aki in particular, but new thoughts kept popping up as I typed. o_O After all this, I guess it's only fitting that I bump someone off my current Top 10 Favourite Character List to get him on there.