This was simply beautiful. I don't even consider it to be hentai, because really it's not. It's more of an erotic drama. There's a big difference between the two. Even in the US, there's a vast difference between a movie with a lot of sex scenes and a porno, or even a soft core sex movie. I think this movie only got labeled as a hentai because it had too much sex in it for it not to be labeled as one. Actually, that's not even true. Yes, there were sex scenes, but they didn't even show anything aside from women's breast. If it hadn't been part of the Countdown series, which WERE hentai, it may not have gotten labeled as one.
The story itself was was very deep a moving, the characters were great, it contained a lot of psychological elements, and it has a great deal of romance. The ending was beautiful too, as Akira was finally able to accept the truth about his sister and escape her abuse, and he finally accepts Kaname's love. Even though he was obsessed with his sister, he you could see his developing feelings for Kaname in his eyes when they were together, because she showed him what real love was, as opposed to his sister, who only loved herself and what she saw of herself in Akira, which was why she forced him to dress as a girl. Akira realized this at the end, and confesses that he viewed his sister as the perfect person, hence why he loved her so much, but finally realized she was a selfish and ugly person, and how horrible he himself had been to people. She really was a terrible person, and physically and mentally abused Akira; it's no wonder he ended up the way he did, but Kaname changed him by showing him real love. I really liked that line he delivered when he realized how horrible his sister was and then thought of Kaname, "She's more beautiful than anything". It was a great revelation for how he saw her as a person and his own feelings for her.
I also noticed what MetaKite said, how Kaname was the only one he ever kissed out of all his sex partners. There are a lot of people that find sex to be just a physical act, but feel that kissing is much more intimate and meaningful. This seemed to be the case with Akira. At first when he was having sex with Kaname, he wouldn't kiss her even when she asked, but when they finally got together at the end, he did, and he gave her permission to use his name, which before he only allowed his sister to do, saying it belonged to him. Also, his request to her when he asked her to call him by his first name "Look only at me" was very touching too, as it greatly contrasted what his sister did, seeing and loving only the bits of herself she saw in him. Kaname was able to see through and accept all his flaws, and love him for who he was, even after all the horrible things he did. And that very last scene at the end, when he was looking out the window at the snow, that was pretty symbolic. I saw something similar on another anime where it was stated that when two people were saying goodbye and it was snowing, it meant that God was paying attention. This scene shows how he was finally able to say goodbye to his sister and his feelings for her and move on with Kaname.
Overall, it was a really beautiful and touching series in several ways. It really didn't get the recognition it deserved due to that unfortunate hentai label and the fact that it contained a lot of sex scenes. |