Loveless

The yaoi fangirls are going to kill me here. Loveless stands up with Gravitation, Junjou Romantica, and Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi as one of those BL anime that all yaoi fans love. While out of all of those the only one I legitimately enjoyed was Gravitation, that is just a matter of personal taste. Junjou and Hatsukoi are at least somewhat decent, especially when compared to what BL anime that came before them were like. With that out of the way I can safely say that Loveless is one of the few anime that made me want to claw my own eyes out.

The story centers around ... Ritsuka Aoyagi, a grade school boy who lost all of his memories two years prior to the start of the series. At that time, he also did a complete 180 in personality, going from an outgoing and popular boy who didn't have the best grades to a student with perfect grades who avoids any kind of social interaction. This apparently put such a strain on his mother that she began frequently beating him (and much worse in the manga) and claiming that he isn't her son, but someone else in her son's body. Apparently, if he does anything that the old Ritsuka wouldn't do, his mother will beat him. Things were at least tolerable for awhile, since his older brother, Seimei, protected him from his mother's beatings, but then Seimei was discovered burned to death in Ritsuka's classroom. The anime itself begins after all this when Ritsuka is transferred to a new class. A girl named Yuiko tries to befriend him, but Ritsuka regards her coldly since she's only doing it because her classmates put her up to it. After receiving harsh criticism from Ritsuka, Yuiko decides not to be pushed around by her classmates anymore and pushes for a genuine friendship with Ritsuka. After that, Ritsuka meets Soubi, a man who claims to be an old friend of Seimei's. Soubi tells Ritsuka about his arrangement with Seimei that if anything were to happen to Seimei, Soubi would "belong" to Ritsuka. Soubi turns out to be Seimei's "sentouki," a companion who would fight battles with magic, while Seimei was the "sacrifice," or the person who would take the damage in these battles. Since Seimei is now dead, Soubi must become Ritsuka's sentouki and Ritsuka will become the sacrifice.

Oh, and did I mention that it's a huge plot point that virgins have cat ears? Yeah, way to throw random sex into the plot. That's one thing I really hate.

However, after that huge info dump, nothing is really completely explained again. Most of the episodes consist of Soubi battling another pair of magic fighters and trying to protect Ritsuka in between molesting him. The story itself is so poorly explained that I had no idea what was going on half the time and ended up consulting wikipedia and the manga several times during the course of an episode, and that is not a good thing. I gave it a decent rating merely because it was interesting, but it never did anything more than that. I never really even knew why half these characters were fighting other than some taboo about the fact that Ritsuka and Soubi shouldn't be a team because both their names aren't "Loveless" or something like that. The only thing I could understand was the adult molesting the child frequently. Hooray for pedophilia, I guess! Especially on an already traumatized and broken child!

The art was...well, it was actually fairly good, at least on the characters. The backgrounds were a bit lazy most of the time, but at least the magic battles usually looked good, and the character designs were at least distinct. However, the style reminded me a lot of Higurashi in that, while it used bright colors, it always looked like there was a film over the animation giving it a weird misty look that seemed out of place, though that could be because of the poorly done backgrounds.

The sound was easily the best part of the show. I can't really say the dub of either language was particularly outstanding, but the soundtrack was done by Yuki Kajiura. 'Nuff said. It's far from being her best work, but it's Yuki Kajiura nonetheless. What's not to like?

The characters are not so lucky. Most of them are boring, unlikable, or underdeveloped. The worst offender of this is Soubi himself. Since he's one of the two main characters, he should be someone the audience can cheer for and want to see succeed, or at least care somewhat about what he's doing. I really didn't feel anything toward him, even when part of his history as revealed. He has very little personality, and he's constantly flip-flopping when it comes to his actions. I can at least understand his motives of wanting to keep Ritsuka safe, but it's hard to relate to that when he's such a shameless pedophile. The only reason I gave the characters a decent rating is because of Ritsuka. He wouldn't have much of an effect if he was a side character, but as a main character he does well. He has a very distinct personality, and his development is very well handled. Sure, he starts off rather depressed at first, but he has every right to be, and unlike some anime characters he does grow quite a lot. His circumstances barely change at all, so the fact that he's able to change his attitude is impressive.

However, the fact that Ritsuka's such a good character actually works against the series. When you actually care about a character, it's not enjoyable to watch him suffer so much without any happy ending in sight. Nobody who knows about his abuse is doing anything about it, even Soubi who claims to love him. Soubi's sexual advances on a boy who's underage even in Japan, especially one who has enough mental trauma on top of amnesia and a possible personality disorder, is just disgusting. I continued watching until the end in order to see something good finally happen to this kid, and it really doesn't. I could barely stand a moment of this, so the enjoyment factor was very low. I was able to enjoy the few quiet moments Ritsuka had with his friends, at least, but that's about it.

All in all, there were a few things in this series that were okay, and the main character is really good. However, it's just unpleasant to watch and I find the fact that all of this is fetishized to be disgusting. Any time I hear someone praising this series, I feel a little sick inside. I suppose people are allowed to like what they want, but I personally find this show terrible. The overall score of 3 out of 10 is surprisingly generous, and I only gave it because of Ritsuka and the soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura. That's all.

Before I begin, I am going to say it outright - I HATE YAOI. Yaoi-fan girls drive me crazy. I have yet to meet some mature ones, but hey, they probably exist right? And guess what? I'm a girl too and I hate yaoi :o le gasp. Also I rarely will review anime I hate with a passion (unless DBZ) and this is the only other exception.
When someone said I should watch this - I watch about 5 minutes of episode 1 and stopped. Why? I read the plot. What is wrong with the plot you ask?
To delve into what society is today, homosexuality ... is becoming more acceptable, which is, of course, what you would expect from a growing society. However - PEDOPHELIA IS NOT. Ritsuka is 12 years old-not even in puberty, and some creepy old guy named Soubi is kinda ... making moves on him? Ummm...yea, pedophelia is realllyyyyy acceptable, hmm? I'm being sarcastic. Though I detest yaoi, if they were closer in age, it would not be so bad, but poor Ritska is 12, Soubi 20 -something years old. Honestly, if anyone thinks this is "cute" or "aww, its love!" you need to get a reality check. Last I heard, when some poor unfortunate child is a victim of pedophelia, most people get angry and ask why someone would do such a thing.
This anime makes pedophelia seem natural, which, it is not. It's creepy, sick and twisted and it makes me feel ashamed that girls like me find this stuff appealing.
Also, don't think I'm a homophobe for hating yaoi. I'm not. Get your facts straight.
To the sane people who still believe pedophelia is just ... NO, then I say - you are a godsend. To those who find it adorable like in this anime...all I gotta say it...why?

While I recognise the strength of emotion in this series, and the beauty, I was never able to get past the fact that Sobi is a pedophile. There is nothing wrong with Shonen-ai, but this goes way beyond that. You have a man in his twenties chasing after a boy who is 12, barely starting puberty. Even if Loveless was in his later teens, 15 or 16, I'd be able to deal with that, but 12? It's sick. I could understand if it was a brotherly love, Loveless lost his brother, and finds it hard to believe that people could love him. While they do ... handle the age gap gracefully, it's too much for me.

But the child molesting isn't the only thing I disliked. There is never any explanation of why the battles go on, what happened to Loveless' brother, etc. Some stories can get away with unanswered questions, but not this one.

I originally watched the series, not knowing about this pedophilia, and I liked some of the concepts. The society is based much on sexuality, in fact they have cat ears and tails that the people lose when they lose their virginity. It's unique, and I would like it if it wasn't for Sobi being a child molester.

DISCLAIMER: I “thank” AWC’s Random Challenge for making me watch this… and honestly thank my friend who suffered together with me.

Also, there are a few spoilers ahead.

There are shounen-ai anime. There are bad shounen-ai anime (which are, let’s be honest, almost all of them). And then there is Loveless, a cacophony of things that just shouldn’t exist.

Yeah, of course, there is this really deep plot about Ritsuka being Loveless and the other guy being Beloved…. lol, nope, there’s not. Let’s be honest, this anime is about a little boy being wooed by a grown up, adult man. I’m not even kidding.
But let’s start from ... the beginning. I’m presenting to you 5 reasons why Loveless is a bad thing and every “fujoshi” or whoever who enjoys this is either a 13 years old OR just a sick person:

1) Ears
One of the main aspects of Loveless are cat ears and tail. Cute, right? What’s better than a little boy with cat ears and fluffy tail. …I’ll tell you what. How about a little boy with cat ears and fluffy tail… without attaching to it some weird “plot” device? Quotes because it’s not related to the plot at all. Let’s say I’m writing a story and I want a cute cat boy in it. How do I justify it? Maybe I’ll just add cat ears to everyone? Ooor I could make this world full of animal-hybrids? No, I’ve got it! IF THE PERSON HAS CAT EARS. THEN IT MEANS. THAT THEY’RE A VIRGIN! YES, GENIUS!
…..I get it, it’s probably part of some Japanese weird thing or something. We know Japanese. They are… pretty special in some aspects. But how exactly is okay to just let show off someone’s privacy? It’s everyone’s own choice how to handle their virginity and yes, if someone still has their “cat ears” in 23 it’s completely okay!

2) People’s view of Shinonome
… This should perhaps be 1.5, because it’s mainly a continuation of the first point. I myself really disliked Ritsuka’s teacher, but that was because of her character (or… “character” :’)). Shinonome, as a 23 years old teacher who still has her ears, is often a target of remarks about her it. Seme-san… sorry, Soubi, refers to her as “childish” despite her being older then him. And why is that? Try to guess…
I’ll say it again… IT’S OKAY TO BE VIRGIN IN 23! SHE COULD BE AN ASEXUAL OR SOMETHING! OR SHE’S SAVING HERSELF FOR THE ONE TRUE LOVE! OR I DON’T KNOW! JUST LET HER BE!

3) The psychologist
Don’t get me wrong, it’s completely okay to have a psychiatrist or a psychologist. Everyone has their problems and problems exist to be solved. But what’s not okay is… a grown ass psychologist woman with… a weird crush on her patient?? Who is a 12 years old boy?? What even was that?! What was the point?! Was it there just for the fangirls to have someone to hate on, or what?! Psychologists are supposed to be profesionals and this is casting a really bad light on this important profession.

4) Ritsuka the Sex Bomb
Yes, I mean that Ritsuka. That 12 years old little boy who should go play football (…soccer? ‘murica?) or computer games or something. There were just a few characters who DIDN’T want to get the D… or ass… or I don’t know. I have to remind you, that he is 12 years old. Twelve years old.

5) Soubi
There he is, the awesome Seme-san, who actually has more than 1,000 Member Favorites on MAL (just… why). He’s a 20 years old art student (let’s say it again: TWENTY years old). His favorite hobbies include fondling Ritsuka, kissing Ritsuka, stalking Ritsuka, breaking into Ritsuka’s room through the window and, finally, offering Ritsuka to “take his ears away”. And we all know what’s that a metaphor for.
Also, he’s a masochist who wants Shota-kun to punish him. RIP in pieces.

BONUS ROUND) The Relationship
Just to say it again for those in the back rows. The main plot of the story is twenty years old guy being lovey dovey with a twelve years old boy. Soubi’s maybe not a pedophile by psychiatric terminology (I’ll suppose that Ritsuka is already in puberty…) but, you know… I hope that I don’t have to say how much of not okay it is.

Yeah, that would be it. The author was either smoking something when writing this or just has some really big issues. The plot, aside the gays™, was non-existent and most of the characters were really, really creepy. And not the good kind of creepy.

But this is a review, so I should say also something nice. Uhm… the canon lesbian ship was a nice surprise? But, well, it’s Japan. Name one canon lesbian ship in anime that doesn’t have a nice, mostly healthy relationship. Seriously, if the author can write a cute lesbian pair why not also write a cute gay pair? It’s not that hard.

let's see...i have to say this anime has no redeeming features what to ever! it was horrid and i do NOT recommend you waste a single moment of your precious existence on this shit. i knew it was terrible when i made the choice to watch it but i still did because i thought i would be worth making fun of but it's not even worth that, trust me man!

STORY: story was very unoriginal ,very poorly developed and left me bored out of my mind in by the second episode. And i honestly do think they could have developed it if they wanted to even ... within the 13 episodes they had cause most of the anime is the characters doing NOTHINGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT AND STORY IS SHITTY BUT YOU COULD AT LEAST TRY EXPLAINING THINGSSSSSSSS!!!! oh and the second last episode is a festival episode. not only that but literally nothing happens asides from this random dude popping up in front of this middle school student (i don't recall their names BECAUSE THEY ARE UNWORTHY BUT ANYWHO) and starts telling him he loves him and was chosen by his dead brother to become his servant. that's it! and then there's these random fights that are completely unexplained and those battles are supposed to be them "casting spells" in each other's direction. oh and by spells i mean them saying a single random word like " negate" or "defend". apparently who ever made this has read the dictionary. congrats! and of course the cat ears (which are not explained in the anime) that apparently represent onE'S VIRGINITY???????????? WHAT?? HOW FUCKING DUMB IS THAT???? SO YES STORY IS SHIT!!!!!ALSO THE MAIN CHARACTER'S REAL NAME IS LOVELESS APPEARANTLY! ISN'T THAT DUMB? DON'T YOU THINK THAT'S DUMB? PLEASE DON'T WATCH THIS!

ART: i've seen worse but it was still bad!! their eyes were sinking into their faces! at least i got that impression! the main character's blond lover person has a chin he could stab you with. the effects in the battles were terrible!! and every time they had fire, it looked like it didn't fit in at all! not to mention all bad use of negative space throughout the thing. oh and the butterflies...man they tried sO FUCKING HARD ON THE BUTTERFLIES YOU DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND!!!!!!!!!!! BUT THEY FAILED! THEY FAILED...YEAH. ALSO THE CONCEPT ART IS SHITTY AND MEDIOCRE AND SIMPLY LACKING

SOUND: the opening was so...high pitched...like really high, it sounded almost squeaky to me. and i didn't bother listening to the ending. the sound track made no sense. the music didn't fit the scene most of the time. oh and they try so hard to make some parts sound epic by randomly adding an electric guitar but it didn't fit in at all and failed. i didn't like it.

CHARACTERS: the character designs like i mentioned were shit. the character had no development what so ever throughout the thing and some characters didn't even serve a purpose in the thing at all! scratch that all the characters served no purpose except for the two guys and maybe the ugly pink haired girl. the only character that develops is loveless and by develop i mean he goes from being the annoying ass tsundere who yells at everyone to not like him and then complains about being loveless which as i mentioned is his FUCKING NAME, to liking people but still being an annoying ass tsundere

ENJOYMENT: i laughed at how dumb it was in the opening and half the first episode but then was bored out of my mind.

OVERALL: IT'S SHITTY!!! DON'T WATCH IT!! DON'T EVEN CONSIDER IT!!! DON'T EVEN LOOK AT ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LET'S PRETEND IT DOESN'T EXIST...YEAH

Umm this basically doesn't have plot... Besides virgins have cat ears and a tail? I mean the only actually ok character was the aforementioned cat-eared virgin boy of 12 years old. He was a somewhat relatable pre-teen with his horrible social anxiety. Otherwise the whole thing was mediocre at best. And horrifying at other moments. Especially since his love interest was a 21 year old man. Yay casual pedophilia? And double trouble the guy who was with the 21 year old dude before this is also underaged. So we know he has a type. I don't get how this is popular and is counted on ... the same level as something like Gravitation. Made me feel icky watching it.

I searched far and wide to download the rare English dub DVD release for this anime and to my disappointment; it is one of the most dreadful and dull anime that I have cross paths with.

Story (5/10)

I can see that the author is struggling and striving for a good story. She used a lot of symbolisms, life problems, and tries to make a sort of fantasy battle anime combined with romantic drama.

First of all, you cannot just make an unknown and boring character jump right ahead with another character without even explaining the connection between the two because viewers cannot relate and feel ... what is being felt by the said character. Yaoi scenes felt lifeless because of the distance between the audience and the character; henceforth, the romantic lines are rubbish and sound cheesy.

Although she, the author, have the desire to express herself with common life problems, such as the users and the used, loving one’s self, the consequences of love and so on and so forth, the characters are lifeless, edgeless, brainless, colorless and everythingless and killed the entire story. If they have extended the anime into two seasons and give more depth to the story and the characters, it might just be worth watching.

Art (4/10)

When I first saw the anime, I think it immediately gave me anime-cat-phobia. Yeah it is cute but I cannot see the relevance of cats to the story. I understand stories with demons who has usually has something to do with death, deals and such, but when I see cat people, it tells me that they want the story to be cute and that is all. It reminds me of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s broadway musical “Cats.” The difference between Andrew’s Cats and this type of cat though is that his cats has better, more distinct and fierce personalities and does not aim to be cute.

Sound (6/10)

The sound is good at least. Thank my God of Conquest for giving this show something good to remember by – that its music is good enough and the sound was not that bad at all.

Character (1/10)

A character’s personality, for me, is one of the most important elements in an anime or in any piece of literature because they are the ones who drive the story into a good route where the audience could enjoy. The characters are way below the line and do not even feel realistic when they say their lines. I am not sure if the author is aiming for male character with a strong feminine side or what. If so, Ritsuka feels like an awkward male character who immediately surrendered to a female life under the hands of Soubi. Soubi is one of the most robotic and monotonous characters that I had ever came across with – in other words, boring. Yuiko, on the other hand is an annoying, stupid and a useless female character. Characters like her should only exist in a show that has characters with strong and influential personalities. I could go on but there are so many characters with, if not annoying and boring, unrealistic personalities.

OK so here goes my first review, wish I could say I'm writing this cause I loved the anime so much, but I really can't. I actually wish I hadn't wasted my time with it.
First off I have to give the story a 3 and here's why:
When I rate a story I take into account the ending too, if your like me this read this. The ending isn't really one, to me it felt like a longer series that just got cut off. They don't explain the big secret mystery of the whole series, and the last episode actually left me with more questions than ... i had before, like they were trying to hook you for a season 2 that never came. I find that kind of thing very annoying! Oh and it feels like they drop you in the middle of another world without explaining any of the rules.
Now Art, that i give a 7:
Yeah, the best thing in this whole series for me was the art, I thought the style was nice, the ears and tails cute, colors well defined and I felt what the characters were supposed to feel a lot through the looks, good job on the art people.
6 for the sound:
The sound was fair to me, it wasn't annoying but nothing really wowed me either.
Characters 4:
Now this could just be me here, but I found the characters hard to relate to. One guy is all like 'I love you because I was ordered to' and the other at first seems to hate everyone. I must admit the latter one was easier to understand as the story went on and you see into his past a bit, but they didn't give enough on the older one, the one who loves due to an order, to make him really relatable to me. So for me he was kinda flat and odd.
Enjoyment 3:
I say this because of the ending mostly. I mean the whole series they keep building you up with this whole mystery thing that keeps you watching, hoping for a reveal, only to go, WTH at the end. They explain nothing really and actually leave you with even more questions at the end, which I find Very Annoying!
So Overall 4:
Interesting at first, makes you want to know all the secrets, makes you want to understand the characters and see where they will end up. In the end leaves you wholly disappointed. Only thing I can say is it probably came from a manga and if so maybe that is better or if you know the manga you might get and like this. Otherwise, if your like me and just wanted to enjoy an interesting story and romance, DON'T BOTHER!

P.S. sorry if this offends anyone who actually liked the show, but this irritated me so much I had to write this.

Okay, so as a younger man learning about his own sexuality, I adored this anime and the romance of an older man taking and caring for a younger boy. This was a highly romanticised idea in my adolescent brain.

Coming back and watching it again, ten years later, I find myself exceptionally uncomfortable. This story is about a paedophile grooming a boy (yes yes, technically he is a hebephile, but general society does not see that distinction). I guess, due to age, I identify with the adult of the series more than the child, and as an adult I find this repugnant.

I had to drop it, ... refusing to watch it again.

If you are young, and fantasise about being with an older male, this will appeal to you. If you are an older male who fantasises about being with a young boy… well, get counselling. Seriously. Or stick with shounen-ai or yaoi that is more age appropriate and, well, less paedophilic.

I can't speak for how a fujoshi might view this, but for me, this is a definite no. Probably doesn't help that my tastes have moved more to bara these days.

“God, what is wrong with you people?!”
That is the only thing I was thinking while watching this show many years ago when it was very famous amongst the yaoi fangirls. It is the anime that made me realize their brains are full of hay and gave up on the genre altogether. It’s just too nauseating with no bloody payback! I mean just look at the people who made this. Animated by J.C. Staff, which translates to retarded fan service. Directed by Kou Yuu who has made equally bad gay anime, plus Chrono Crusade and Familiar of Zero which despite their hype and not being gay ... are still bad for pacing reasons.

And now that we know it’s going to be bad, let’s get a bit more into the story. Or the crumbs of story it has. First of all the setting makes no bloody sense and they never tried to explain it; you just need to accept it as it is. Which doesn’t sound like much of a problem but trust me in this particular case it’s a major downer. Ok, check this out, virgins in the series have cat ears. And when they stop being virgins, those ears drop. WHY IS THAT? Beats me, for all I care it’s just an excuse to throw in cute animal ears on people and to be able to tell who still has his or her cherry intact by just looking at his head. And did I notice an elementary kid in the background with no ears at a certain point? That’s just…
EWWW!

So what else is there in this setting besides being impossible to hide you are still untouched? Oh, but of course, being gay is so normal to the point your own relative’s lover comes to take a taste out of you too like it’s a normal thing to do. Man, I am telling you the moral standards in this world are so loose.

So this super hot gay dude comes to the OBVIOUSLY VIRGIN protagonist and tells him the following.
“I used to be your brother’s partner in war (and OBVIOUSLY bed too) but now he got killed, so the logical thing to do is to come after you, so you will be my new partner.”
Another thing the setting never bothered to explain if the laws in this place really work like that. I mean everything else looks pretty standard but then WHAM these things come out of nowhere.

So the protagonist and his new… partner are to investigate how his brother got killed. He also has to deal with the whole depression issue over his death and to start trusting people again. You know; opening up. Getting closer. Hugging. Kissing. And having sex with your brother’s gay lover. And surely, this other dude seems more interested in that than to reveal the truth of the brother’s death. He even comes out and says it to his face.
“I am sooo gonna take away those ears of yours my little love toy.”
EWWWWWWW!

So at first it appears to be a story about getting over your sadness, trusting people, exposing the ones who are responsible for your brother’s death, as well as losing your innocence to a gay dude. Sounds like a lot of stuff, right? Guess how many of those issues are resolved by the end of the show. NONE! ZERO! Nothing happens! You get 12 episodes of nothing but a deviant build up which results to freaking nothing! AND THEY CALL THIS A MASTERPIECE!

What the devil is there to like in this show? The production values? They are barely average. The story? Not only it lacks exposition to its own in-laws, but it also has no conclusion. The characters? They don’t develop in any way and are quite the gay uke/seme stereotypes. Plus, I find nothing cute in people with dog ears; especially when said dog ears sprout on top of their scull and above an already normal pair of ears. THAT IS DISGUSTING! And so is butt-sex. Which doesn’t even occur in this show so I see no reason why the fujoshis like it so much.

In other words, there is nothing to love in this show, hence the title. I am losing faith in humanity every time I witness the crap that sell and give birth to even worse crap. It is a terrible show I do not recommend to anyone. Besides of course those retarded women who get their thingies wet by looking at mutated dog ears sprouting out of their sculls.
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

I mean, really, what do those fujoshis find erotic in expecting to see an underraged boy being ass-raped by the gay lover of its own brother and having his own mutant ears cut off? And yet not even getting that by the end of the show and still liking it!
“THESE PEOPLE NEED THERAPY AND MEDICATION FAST!”

And now for some excused scorings.
ART SECTION: 5/10
Analysis: General Artwork 1/2, Character Figures 1/2, Backgrounds 1/2, Animation 1/2, Visual Effects 1/2

SOUND SECTION: 6/10
Analysis: Voice Acting 2/3, Music Themes 2/4, Sound Effects 2/3

STORY SECTION: 3/10
Analysis: Premise 1/2, Pacing 1/2, Complexity 1/2, Plausibility 0/2, Conclusion 0/2

CHARACTER SECTION: 3/10
Analysis: Presence 1/2, Personality 1/2, Backdrop 1/2, Development 0/2, Catharsis 0/2

VALUE SECTION: 1/10
Analysis: Historical Value 0/3, Rewatchability 0/3, Memorability 1/4

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 1/10
Analysis: Art 0/1, Sound 0/2, Story 1/3, Characters 0/4

VERDICT: 3/10

So I was following along getting weirded out in the first 5 minutes of this show because for some reason everyone who's a child or immature has cat ears and cat tails which is never really explained outside of some unclear exposition during that sequence, a reoccurring theme throughout this anime. The main dude is this 14 year old who has amnesia or something and keeps thinking about his brother who died and his true name being “beloved”, the exposition isn't super clear but apparently it was like 2 years ago (I had to read the description of the episode and anime to get that). ... The kid is just an overall asshole, psychologically toying with the author's self insert of an X year old autistic pink haired Japanese girl (to differentiate her from the background set pieces that are the black haired Japanese school girls in this anime) by being a literal two face every time she talks to him. He has a running inner monologue he spews aloud occasionally deriding friends as being in two categories: “users” and “the people who get used”; seeing the former as stupid for being so shallow and the latter as even stupider for being used - which he personally tells to the pink haired girl to upset her. Despite this the girl still tries to befriend him, even overcoming her nervousness at telling her user friends no (who unironically are using her like a pack mule) to spend time with him . However the kid is also a crybaby and a wimp, running away from his self created problems and leaving the girl behind just as completely puzzled as me at this point.
While leaving the school we are introduced to some 20 year old creep with long hair smoking a cigarette outside of the school clearly loitering with malicious intent, who scares away the ladies biking outside before meeting our protagonist outside the gate. The most notable thing about this guy is he is "an adult" since he doesn't have any cat ears or tail. The protagonist demands to know who he is, and the creep is cryptic but reveals he was a friend of his brother that died. The dialogue starts turning into some homoerotic foreplay where the kid basically asks a grown man he just met on a date under the pretext of “making memories”. After taking a bunch of photos, the creep asks the boy if he wants to talk for a while, but the boy says he wants to make more memories by taking pictures, to which the creep counters by telling him it would be more memorable to have a good chat. The boy gets all pouty and shouts insisting that if they don’t make memories this way he will be forgotten. Then all the sudden the conversation turns even gayer and the kid starts getting nervous at all the homoerotic subtext, making the creep promise to not try anything, a promise he immediately breaks by kissing the kid on the mouth. The kid is understandably upset at this pedophile giving him this unwanted advance, and that’s about when I turned this gay shit off.
I read the description again and apparently the kid is a “sacrifice” that is kind of like the summoner for Yu-Gi-Oh if that makes sense, while the creep is his “fighter” which would kinda be like the duel monsters from Yu-Gi-Oh. According to the summary I read on the website that was streaming this trash, the duo would go on to be attacked by similar groups and they will have some kinda homosexual adventure while engaged in this battle royale. The title of this anime, “Loveless”, refers to the pedophile without ears, because his codename is “loveless”, the counterpart to his brother’s codename as “beloved” (directly implying a homosexual connection between his brother).
TLDR I dropped this trash like a bag of hammers because I’m not into shota cat boy yaoi gay shit. I’m sure if you are into that kinda genre you’d love this.

It's my first review. So please be kind.

I must say that I really loved watching Loveless and actually liked the story until it ran out of episodes. The biggest problem is that the story gets more and more complicated and in the end... no one explains a thing.

The story is generally about Ritsuka who has amnesia and whose brother Seimei has died. So Ritsuka tries to find out who killed Seimei but we actually never see that happen. To get things more complicated we have a guy named Soubi who was Seimei's "Fighter" but refuse to tell anything that would help Ritsuka to find the ... killer. So basically he is there as an yaoi element.

Sadly, the series doesn't seem to focus on the main story and just adds more and more different elements and unfortunately, it makes the whole thing so confusing that when you finish all episodes, you either dislike it, try to desperately find second season or both.

I myself think that Loveless is worth watching but it will leave you confusingly think what would happen next. To say something good, I would like to mention that I really liked the art and the opening was pretty good too.

Just a warning, there will be spoilers ahead.

I had to fight myself to finish this anime. The the plot to this anime is nonexistent, as the main premise is Ritsuka is obsessed over his brother's death. I know the incident was quite traumatic however, the show failed to depict it as such. The only interesting point in the story (Septimal Moon) was hidden from Ritsuka and the viewer; maybe if the story had started from a different time (like the future) Septimal Moon could have been used as a plot device. It is my understanding that only a few volumes of the manga were out ... when the anime was made.
Ritsuka's and Soubi's relationship may raise some eyebrows however, this is a work of fiction. The author's intention was so appeal to a certain audience and as an author, they have the liberty to write what they want. Also if Soubi really cared about Ritsuka, he would've tried to get him away from his abusive mother. However is is quite clear Soubi is only with Ritsuka because of Seimei's orders.
Another thing that bothered me about Loveless is it's depiction the female cast: all of them were crybabies. No one over the age of five cries like that. I felt like many of the characters, and the world overall was underdeveloped. The fight scenes were boring. When Soubi was injured, I felt nothing.
Some merits of Loveless was the relationship between Yamato and Kouya. Their story was more compelling than that of the main characters which is a little shocking.
There were many unanswered questions. The opening I skipped each time. Overall I felt that Loveless fell short on many things. Wouldn't watch again.

Oh boii. Many years ago when I found out what word yaoi means I also found out about some anime related to this topic. And this is how I came upon this mistake.
This is one really weird universe. First of all, the aspect of virgins having animal ears and tails. Why. Second of all, those pairs of people that have some kind of abilities... for what. What's the point of any of this? There is no point. They just fight and get hurt for the sake of some drama.
Many people behave so so strangely. Like this grown man hitting on a schoolboy, or the ... teacher that's relieved that he doesn't date anyone, or his whole family with that crazy mother and don't even get me started on his brother.
I really don't know what else to say. It's really bad. Not recommending it to anyone. It doesn't even have an ending. It doesn't explain anything. This is just a random mess.