Junjou Romantica

This is a totally guilty pleasure for any Western fan with the slightest concept of "consensual sex", because it is a prime example of what sort of stuff passes for successful relationships in BL land. I have to constantly remind myself that as a gay man I am not the target audience here, but that this functions as self-insert fantasy for Japanese women, and actually fulfills a useful role in having them play with gender and sexuality. The characters are not gay men, and they are not meant to be. This isn't a part of the "rape culture" (which is indeed a ... real thing and a serious thing), but rather it's an example of nonconsensual fantasy. We don't get to see that in the West in mainstream entertainment, except badly done in porn, but it exists here too in niche genre markets because it fills a need for some people.

When ranked against good non-BL anime, this is really terrible. But among other BL anime, this is a fun romp because it never takes itself too seriously. There are sex scenes here, but nothing at all graphic, and it's mostly the voices that make a scene sexy. Seriously, the drama CDs are hotter.

Story (5/10): There isn't really one; it's more a slice of life thing, though each relationship depicted makes some slight progress during its arc. There are 3 couples, A =Usami Akihiko x Takahashi Misaki (famous literary author who also moonlights as a BL mangaka and his pupil / boarder who so happens to be the younger brother of Usami's unrequited love), B = Kusama Nowaki x Kamijou Hiroki (medical student and college professor who was previously in love with Usami), C = Miyagi You x Takatsuki Shinobu (college professor in the same department as Kamijou, and high schooler who is Miyagi'sex-wife's brother). With all three couples there is an age difference, which is most pronounced for the third couple. While there are only 4 years separating Nowaki and Hiroki, interestingly enough the difference presents the largest problem to the relationship. This is also the odd one out when it comes to the seme/uke setup -- Nowaki, the younger one, is the seme. No, wait, C is also unusual in that the uke does all the pursuing and the seme is resistant. Couple A starts out with the two characters being kind of randomly thrown together, couple B meet when Kamijou is mourning his lost love, and Kusama comes across him in the park and it's love at first sight for him; couple C is basically Takatsuki interpreting a random encounter during which Miyagi helped him as "fate". There is a slight supernatural potential here, but nothing ever comes of it.

Art (3/10): Atrocious. I cannot stand Nakamura Shungiku's art; it's ugly -- heads are often too small for bodies, as are hands, facial shapes are unappealing, mouths look like the characters are in a bad mood, eyes are often dull, and worst of all, she has only two character types, seme and uke and they all look alike within type. The backgrounds are decent, but I bet Nakamura doesn't do them herself. I do like her chibi and SDs. The animation is stiff and wooden, the usual victim, I imagine, of low budgets for BL anime.

Sound (7/10): I didn't care for most of the BGM, and the OP and ED are generic JPop. The voice talent on the other hand is mostly superb -- Sakurai Takahiro voices Misaki; he is still a favourite seiyuu of mine. It's a perfect portrayal, but he also has some range to play with, since Misaki is easily the most expressive character. Inoue Kazuhiko also does a great job with Miyagi; I could listen to that man read the phone book and probably get aroused.

Character (5/10): The primary character, the one in whose head we spent the most time, is Misaki. And I constantly vacillated between being utterly frustrated with him and kind of rooting for him. Because he has to be the most naive and idiotically dense character I've encountered in a long time, and he is also the typical tsundere uke who completely denies his feelings and is unwilling to ever say the L word; he fights every bit of affection with tooth and nail, while secretly liking it but also being horribly ashamed of it -- Japan is fucked up, seriously. But while he always instinctively acts like a cactus, he also thinks about everything, and though he often settles temporarily on a naive answer, eventually he works his way around to what is actually going on. He is also hampered by his back story, which has made him into a person who never wants to be a bother to anyone, and he likes to please people -- but his tsundere nature works against that in many ways which he doesn't even recognize.

Usami is a cantankerous, crotchety egotist, and I never warmed up to him, even when he goes all lovey-dovey later. He pushes Misaki into intimacy (we'd call it sexual assault here), but it's hard to deny that if he didn't, Misaki would never ever do anything on his own. I don't like that sort of setup and I'd never get involved with somebody like that, but yeah, it's not my culture.

The other two couples don't have the same unpleasant dynamic going on because while Kamijou is also a tsundere, at least he is basically willing, just also embarrassed. The problem with Nowaki is that I completely lost any liking for him when he disappears for a whole year. It was also Kamijou's fault for not paying attention, but the justification for Nowaki pulling that stunt was garbage. Couple C interested me primarily because I was watching for signs of Shinobou being Miyagi's first love's reincarnation.

Enjoyment (7/10): The humour is what makes the show. It's a strange mix, but with relatively little sexual innuendo humour; most of it comes from Misaki struggling with everything in his life in amusing and often unexpected ways. I'd really like to hang out with Nakamura Shungiku some time. ;)

TW: molestation
Junjou Romantica is the most popular yaoi anime, several years ago, and fujoshi liked by the older generation. In addition to its popularity as famous yaoi, it also has the fame of the most problematic, although it includes some bad aspects it is not the evilest.

Story 5/10 (4/10 junjou romantic, junjou egoist 6/10, junjou terrorist 4.5/10, junjou minimum 6/10)
The first story is a typical love-hate story. A love-hate that lasts from three anime seasons. Misaki and Usagi are typical yaoi archetypes, titled "young tsundere", and "aggressive sexy seme". The story is very meh because it begins with sexual harassment where Misaki is molested. And ... then he will hate and run away from Usagi for 3 seasons because we all like typical shoujo behavior. Usagi sometimes puts too much pressure on Misaki, which is why their romance is definitely questionable.


The second story is the most adequate of all. Nowaki and Hiroki are fine although there are some disagreements in their relationship that they will struggle with. They are much more adequate and not heteronormative than the first couple. Nowaki is quite a caring and good man, and Hiroki is also a tsundere uke who, instead of openly telling about his feelings, will act like a cactus.



The third story is quite vague and incomprehensible in the first season as it only has 2 episodes and will have a development in the second season. And yes, molestation again. Here we have the biggest age gap, and uke is not tsundere, but more yandere. At least something new.


Junjou minimum story. Just nice childhood stories from Hiroki and Usagi. We have the opportunity to look at something healthy and nice. Yes, Usagi was once a nice boy, not a selfish jealous wayward seme. And Hiroki has always been himself. Narcissistic and confident.


Characters 5/10
Characters have motivations, stories, are well written because their character is understandable. I have only pretensions to the main couple for the most part. Usagi's selfishness is killing me. Usagi is sometimes abusive as hell, and other characters can be infantile. Minus points for him and the childishness of some of the behaviors of others.
Comedy 7/10
How comedy works great. The humor made it a show for me. Lots of humor and funny scenes.
Romance 4/10
For the molestation and selfish behavior of Usagi and some characters, I cannot recommend this to everyone. And even more so nowadays. Yaoi has always suffered from sexual abuse from the very beginning, and Romantica does not save the situation. And it even supports it and makes it worse. If you are looking for something healthy, the show is not for you. Romantica was released in 2002, so it contains the typical yaoi bad tropes. For example, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi also had one molestation scene in episode 3, although it is much less ''rapey''.
For which this show should not be praised.


The good part:
Humor/comedy
Soundtrack
second couple
Bad sides:
Molestation
Some abusive behavior
Character design, because ALL THE SEMES LOOK THE SAME.

Generally:
I do not recommend this show to anyone. If you don't like the typical old yaoi, you won't like it. Or if you don't like bad yaoi tropes. Same as me. If you don't like infantile characters that act like kids then the show is not for you either. Characters are sexualized as in most BLs. Rather, it cannot be called some kind of good representation or something realistic.

This anime has me conflicted. As a fanfiction writer and a girl who lives on tumblr and thrives off of shipping, this is first class 100% yaoi with probably some of the best not straight up smut that the BL market has to offer. Looking at it through those eyes, this is somewhat of a BL classic if I'm being honest. But looking at it through the eyes of a literature and anime enthusiast who loves well-written shows, this is kinda a steaming pile of shit that perpetuates some very dangerous stereotypes and promotes rape culture and heteronormative fetishizations of gay men. Thus, I'm really ... conflicted about this.

To begin with, the story is not that good. There are three very loosely connected storylines-- while I call it a 'storyline', there is hardly any real plot. It's just loose events that are barely connected at all to lead up to the smutty scenes-- that's pretty much all it is. If you're into yaoi smut, then this is a great choice-- however, if you're looking for a real romance anime, this isn't the place you want to be.

As for the art, I can say that it leaves a lot to be desired. In a lot of places it's very sloppy and awkward looking, to the point where these characters barely even look human. The colors are dull, the backgrounds are half-assed, and no real effort is made. You can take one look at the characters and tell who's supposed to be the seme and the uke.

The voice actors did a decent job. I had a problem with the background music especially. While it was done well during more heated scenes (I personally liked the romantic saucy music), at other times, they really made what was basically rape seem comical with the background music, which I really didn't like. The OP was pretty much to listen to, but the closing was so boring that I could barely get through it once.

As for the characters, I have a lot of problems with them. The only couple I could see even possibly being in a healthy relationship is Hiro and Nowaki. With their backstory and the healthier dynamics of their relationship (despite the massive lack of communication) I can see that being a possibly normal relationship. On the other hand, the other two couples displayed a lot of rape and sexual assault scenarios, along with the power dynamics of the bedroom leaking into their normal lives. The worst in this aspect was the main couple, Misaki and Akihiko. Misaki's nonconsent is verbal and physical, yet Akihiko continues like nothing is wrong at all. In the end, it's kinda a rape scenario.

Overall, I hate myself for enjoying this. There is no other way to put it. This show perpetuates the seme and uke stereotypes-- the idea that there's always a submissive, feminine partner in a gay relationship, and a forceful, masculine partner. As a straight woman myself, this is catered directly towards me-- two men, both of which are reasonably attractive, engaging in a dynamic that's usually meant for me to be on the receiving end. Somehow, it's nice not to have to worry about the woman in the relationship (which I personally always do when it's a romance anime). On the other hand, the more humane and less primal side of myself sees that the complete and utter domination and submission dynamics going on are unhealthy and abusive... yet I can't stop watching because there's a part of me that likes watching it.

If you can't tell by my scores, I'm awfully conflicted and I honestly can't decide how I proceed with this. I'm honestly disgusted with myself but I can't stay away from this show either. If you feel in a similar way about this kind of subject material, you might enjoy this to an extent like I did.

I would recommend this if you: like BL (this is ultimate BL), like submissive/dominant roles, like the seme/uke stereotype, like 'jealousy' and possessiveness, get bored when an entire show is about only one couple

I would NOT recommend this if you: like realistic representations of gay men, do not like fetishizations of homosexuality, don't like hetero-normative gay anime, don't like the idea of sub/dom, like character development and plot, are touchy about clear verbal consent, the idea of technical sexual assault really bothers you

Have a great day everyone! :)

How the hell did I get wrapped up in Junjou Romantica? I will never really know. But one way or another, this series managed to gain my interest

I started watching Junjou at the very beginning of the year. It was actually my very first (and so far only) shonene ai* series. I'll admit, however, that this was not a very good series to start with because...well...err...there was sex in nearly every episode. (not graphic, mostly implied) However, once I got used to those scenes, I was able to enjoy this series through all of its ups and downs.

There's not really a main story for Junjou. ... The series centers around three odd gay couples and their relationships. The main couple is Misaki and Usami. Misaki is the little brother of Takahiro, a man Usami was madly in love with. When Takahiro gets engaged, it almost seems as though Misaki has become his replacement. Despite his internal struggle, he can't seem to deny the fact that he just might be falling under the seductive Usami's spell.

Hiroki has been in love with Usami for several years. Apon discovering that Usami will never feel the same way, heartbroken Hiroki runs to the park to be alone. There, he meets Nowaki, a kind young man who has fallen for Hiroki at first sight. Hiroki tries to remain cool and nonchalant, as he usually is, but something in Nowaki brings out a side of Hiroki that he doesn't recognize, and certainly doesn't like.

35 year old Miyagi is Hiroki's coworker. He is recently divorced, and is going through a lot in his life. Things get much more complicated when his ex-wife's brother, 16 year old Shinobu, (umm big age difference much?) claims to be madly in love with him, and ends up living with him in his apartment.

So what's so special about these stories? To be honest, not very much. Every episode seemed to be basicly the same thing. There wasn't really anything original; anything we hadn't seen before. However, the way the stories are delivered somehow pulls you in. You don't really think about the lack of originality while you're watching Junjou Romantica. I give this series major props for so cleverly hiding these uninteresting storylines behind amazing delivery.

I felt like Hiroki, Nowaki, and Miyagi were the only three characters with any real depth. The rest of the cast, though entertaining, seemed rather generic and flat. Usagi was the steryotypical seme, Misaki, the classic uke*, and Shinobu...some kid trying to force himself onto a middle aged man. It's not that I really disliked any of the characters in this series--they were all very diverse and interesting--I just wish I had gotten to know them a little better. In the course of 26 episodes, (2 seasons, 13 episodes per season) I think they could have done much better.

The art was probably the weakest part of the series. I can honestly say nothing good about the art style. I constantly found myself confusing characters with other characters. There were literally only 3 hairstyles for male characters in this series, and 2 hairstyles for female characters. It felt like they picked a few hairstyles and faces, and tried some different combinations to come up with their characters. I know, it could be a lot worse, but the art was still pretty lame.

Now about the sexual content...like I said, it's mostly implied. You only see faces, hands, and sometimes upper bodies. The sex scenes in Junjou Romantica were actually very tasteful. You don't really see "sex" here. You see two men in love giving themselves to each other. The only problem I had with the sex scenes was that, although they were pretty at first, they got old very quickly. The sex was just excessive. As I said, they put one at the end of nearly every episode. Had they put only one every five or so episodes, it would have been easier to appreciate the beauty of these scenes.

So why did I like Junjou Romantica? Because, despite its many flaws, it has been the most passionate shonen ai series I have seen to date. I've realized that the reason I haven't had the desire to continue any of the other shonen ai series I have tried is because, on episode one, I always find myself thinking "Junjou Romantica was much better." This series made me love it for reasons I myself don't even quite understand.

I ate this shit up!!!
Truth be told it's a bit hard to watch - at least it was for me. I'm not really used to old BL and the general dynamic of the couples was a bit too much at times. When I got to the 3rd season I straight up decided to skip the story of the professor and ex-brother in law-high school student. It was too much...
Anyways, Takahashi Misaki you will always be famous! I love you and I would give my life for you. He is one of the funniest characters I have ever seen omg. He is very relatable as well. ... I love him. I've become so attached to him that now that I've finished the show I feel as if I have a hole in my chest. Just adore him.
Kinda ashamed to admit it (because this show is insane and all the plots contain at some point an element of crime that should send the characters to jail) but I loved it. Junjou Romantica you were a lovely surprise, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it so much!

Junjou Romantica is not the best anime. However, for whatever reason, I couldn't bring myself to hate it.

Story - This is (obviously) a yaoi anime based on 2 main couples; a tutor flirting with his friend's brother and a teacher who falls in love with a younger guy. There's a 3rd one as well, but it's not quite as important. The first one, Usagi and Misaki, is really the more focused on of all of them. Basically, all the couples do is argue, get all depressed, and then have make up sex. Lather, rinse, repeat. That's the main conflict in this anime, in a nutshell.

Art ... - Um, to put it bluntly, the art sucks. In my opinion, the worst part of this anime. Seriously, Usagi's chin is awkward and boxy. It looks like someone took a hammer to it and then tried to fix it back to normal with their hands or something. I think someone already pointed this out, but the characters pretty much all look the same but with different hair and eye colors. Very boring designs. Needless to say, the art is absolute crap.

Sound - Opening and ending songs are garbage. Seriously. Background music was bland, didn't do much to enhance some of the more meaningful moments in this anime. Not much more to say about this.

Character - Here's where I'm kind of drawing a blank. The characters aren't bad necessarily... just not the best. They actually do develop, but still. I could predict their every action before they even made it. They're just plain boring. Not sure how else to put it. They're whiney, and the seme of the relationship seemed to be obsessed with exploiting the uke. Same old, same old. However, they have proven to have interesting interactions with each other on occasion. It is kind of amusing to watch the uke being taken advantage of, over and over again.

Enjoyment - Junjou Romantica wasn't all that bad. Repetitive characters, boring plot, ugly art, terrible music. It sounds terrible from how I described it, but if you watch it yourself you'll see that it's kind of a fun anime. It has a lot of issues, but it's still cute. It's entertaining, just not the best thought out show out there.

Overall - I know it seems like this whole review is just bashing JR, but it's not the worst anime out there. There's better, of course. JR just isn't an anime that you can really hate exactly. Yaoi fangirls, if you're looking for porn without a plot, don't watch this. The sex scenes in this aren't explicit, and it actually does have a plot (as lacking as it is...) If you like cute romantic relationships between 2 guys without much substance, then give this a shot. If you can stop staring at Usagi's hideous chin, you may even enjoy this. ^_^

Junjou Romantica to me was what I call a "mood anime", which you can watch with no problems whenever the mood comes. For instance, I must have watched this first season about two or three times now, and in most of these times I spent 90% of the time laughing, and 10% of the time horny. Easy now, I will explain.

The Story - 6
The story is not exactly the best one yet, and you will come to realise most of the things that happen are soon forgotten by the own characters that took part on the actions, or simply end up happening because of... reasons. ... Although, it is very adequate to the kind of objective I assume the authors had while writing this story, so it became a sort of charm through my eyes.
Another issue that bugged me a little and I think is worth mentioning is the substance given to certain dialogues and actions. I don't think a lot of people end up minding about it, but as for me, a writer, it ended up breaking the illusion of the plot, and just made me laugh for about two thirds of the entire series. As time went by, it started having this impression that all of the characters – without exceptions – were all a bunch of grown-up kids who fight over silly things that they did without even thinking before. The conversations and motivations they end up having for themselves as the reason behind their affection towards one another are not the most visible throughout the series, so if that bugs you, you will end up having the same experience than me.
Bonus: The arguments. Oh, the arguments. Sometimes I had that strange feeling of finding myself in the middle of a very embarrassing situation among two people, and me not being involved. How to explain that? Imagine yourself walking into a couple arguing in the middle of a narrow alley, while you are stuck between the wall and them. That’s how I felt.

The Art and Sound – both 8
I won’t blab over the art style because I myself don’t bother and even find it very pleasing – and fitting for the time it was produced (2007/2008). As for the sound, the voice actors are actually very good, though through their voices you can already tell who’s gonna be who (if it is a bummer). As a matter of fact, the voice acting was one of the main ingredients, along with the art, that kept me in the illusion of the series, even when the plot was overwhelmed with questionable points. Also, I loved the first season`s ending theme.

Character – 5
This was the point that made me upset the most. The character development is zero, and this is me being kind. I am sorry for the ones who really enjoyed or understood the confusion in the characters’ minds, but God, was that an unpleasing ride. The protagonists, because of the lack of proper conversation, end up having a lot of pointless monologues, and going round and round over the same issues for many and many episodes. Also, most of them contradict themselves, saying things like “I never said that”, while obviously this was all over the place in the episode before. But, the number one complain over this topic is undoubtedly the main uke. Jesus, I mean no spoilers when I say he is capable of upsetting the strongest of minds.

Enjoyment – 8
I enjoy the yaoi genre. And it was no different with Junjou Romantica, the absolute symbol of the yaoi culture. Although it was very problematic in some points, the important moments were properly appreciated, thank you. And if you also don’t mind going through some mind trouble to get to those moments, you will also enjoy the series as a whole.

What you're about to read will be really deep, that's what you need to know.

I've never really understood why people even liked yaoi or why there were so many people fangirling over it. One day, I was really curious about what yaoi anime was like, so I looked up for some and found Junjou Romantica.

I was a young teenager during this time, going through puberty and all. I have had a history of being emotionally abused often, so when I saw this anime I thought it was cute and couldn't see the abuse at all because I thought this was normal, and the ... characters really reminded me of how my emotionally abusive mom who was super overprotective like the characters in the anime. I didn't understand what healthy relationships or friendships were like back then, so yaoi became my coping mechanism for that. I went to a toxic school, and also got sexually molested once which basically traumatized me but yaoi made me feel safe and not have to deal with the emotions that come with trauma most of the time. It was my escape.

I know not everyone was like me. This anime basically made me feel comfortable and made me feel nostalgic for some reason. I really liked this one, but opened my eyes...

I realized it wasn't a great anime. Plenty of kids go around watching stuff like this, and you've probably met some annoying fangirls in your life. Luckily it didn't make me fetishize gay men, but recognize that hey, gay relationships are pretty normal like straight ones.

Either this anime will make you fetishize gay men or not, there's no in-between. The story isn't that great, it's pretty cliche but I have to say that the strongest point of this anime could be the characters since I did feel emotional while watching this and for whatever reason am able to empathize with them. But they were not written well, at least not developed enough for me to find them memorable. The character designs are OK.

As for the sound, pretty average but it's addicting. The opening song ( first one ) was my favorite, the rest... not really. The OST is also good, at least it suits the mood of the anime but the opening and ending songs are actually quite awkward to listen to because of the lyrics. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the anime at the time I saw it. I give the art an 8, at least the animators drew the scenes better than the mangaka because honestly I couldn't even get through reading the first few chapters of the manga, the anatomy was just so terrible. At least her art has improved over the years, but I don't like how they have seme and uke stuff and how they give them different characteristics. Normal gay couples don't look like that, nor do they always have huge age gaps.

Also can't deny that this would be a terrible influence on younger people nowadays, doesn't matter what gender you are. If you don't understand what abuse is, you will think that someone who is mean to you is in love with you. That's not how real relationships work. And as we know, the first couple basically involved sexual harassment. Most yaoi mangakas play it off as if it's no big deal and turn it into a romantic love story, where the guy eventually falls in love with the other guy. If this event happened in real life, the person would be traumatized. It kind of gives away the message that people who get sexually harassed actually enjoy it, this is NOT true at all.

It is easy to get attached to the characters, I think a lot of young teenagers like this anime because it's super girly but has a childish side to it which they can connect to. Some people use it to cope with trauma ( that's me ), while others are going through puberty and maybe some are just here to fetishize gay men. There's nothing wrong with shipping two men, but if you are shipping someone non-fictional in real life with someone else... you have a problem here.

The author may have been sexually harassed and is writing this to cope with trauma. This is a possibility, because sexual harassment against women is quite common in Japan to the point where they have trains for only women. I do recall watching the spin-off of this series, The World's Greatest First Love. In one of the episodes, Kisa mentions that he got sexually harassed sometimes because he got mistaken for a girl.


Back then, I might have given this anime an 8. I'd give it a 6/10 now after knowing why I liked this. It was better than most yaoi animes on average back when I watched this, but nowadays they're releasing better BL anime.

If you want good BL, watch Classmates. I would highly recommend it. And maybe Tiger & Bunny for real queer representation, although Tiger & Bunny isn't really yaoi, the two main characters are meant to be interpreted as a gay couple or bromance, you choose. I wouldn't blame anyone who watched Junjou and thinks it's great, if you are reading this and may consider watching it then please educate yourself on abusive and healthy relationships and STDs, and then watch the anime. It's better to be safe than sorry.

This was the first yaoi i ever watched back when I was like 11 so it holds a weird place in my heart. At the time I was super into it,cool and whatever.
However I came back to visit it years later and found it very weird. Something just doesn't sit right with me anymore. Dare I say,its quite creepy and uncomfortable. The romance aspect is definitely off,but hey I'm a loser whos never been in love so can I really say anything? I don't think these two are a ship worthy ship.

If you're young and looking for some yaoi,sure this will help you out. ... I'd recommend you look for something a little different but each to their own.