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.

(I would like to preface this review by stating that my emo babysitter with an invader zim tattoo showed me this anime when I was 12. I ended up wearing cat ears to my grade 8 school photos.)

Loveless is a surrealist-emo anime that any kid who spent too much time online in the early 2000s can relate to. The main character, Ritsuka, is a 12 year old Neitzsche-reading catboy with an abusive mother, an incompetent predatory therapist, and a mysterious- also predatory- man grooming him and making him fight battles that Ritsuka doesn't understand. Ah, middle school- some things never change. Every adult in Ritsuka’s ... life is utterly failing him, he constantly lashes out in fear, and the one person who he cares about- his older brother- is now missing. It fully encapsulates the urgency of the 12 year old experience.

Right off the bat, Loveless shows you that it isn't afraid of getting accused of doing what it is, in fact, blatantly doing. It doesn't waste time making excuses. It just does what it does and depending on your age you'll either think "somebody call child protective services" or "I am 12 and this is the best thing I've seen since I google searched Emos Kissing yesterday." It establishes itself quite openly as a fucked up story about fucked up people and death and love and, most of all, sex. The entire story is about sex, and the terror of living in a world where you're surrounded by things you can neither escape nor fully understand. From the moment we learn that the characters’ cat ears represent virginity, to the erotically-charged fight scenes, we are quickly left having to grapple with what this show is about— scrambling trying to figure out what message it's conveying. Is this an endorsement? An indictment? Is anyone else uncomfortable- is that even intentional, on the part of the artist? Or is the unsettling knot in my stomach just a by-product of being led to expect simple clear-cut moral messages from my animays? Maybe it's just a story about being a tween for those who have been there, with the black emo bangs, cat ears, depressed pout, withdrawn eyes, unaddressed trauma, and social struggles. Because back then you didn’t think about how weird it was that adults were flirting with you online while your parents fought in the kitchen, and it didn’t feel weird to watch Loveless and resonate with Ritsuka's alienation, wishing some beautiful older person would whisk you away into another realm, even if it was scary or painful or gay- maybe that's what you secretly wanted all along, or maybe that's just what you're comfortable with because instability is all you’ve ever known, oh, and also, you're gay.

Watching this as an adult, it's clear just how naïve, immature, and traumatized Ritsuka is, and that the way the older man- Soubi- behaves towards him so incredibly, obviously creepy it would almost be funny (in the flabbergasted 'I cannot believe this was such a popular anime- how did they get away with this?' way) if it wasn't ultimately just... unsettling. It might be easy to brush all this off as a typical Yaoi Moment, but this story goes out of its way to establish itself as ambiguously as possible. Ritsuka *also* seems heart-wrenchingly uncomfortable with everything happening to him, and unable to cope with any of the ways Soubi treats him... Even after he develops "feelings" for the guy. After all, he is a child, and as the title itself suggests, this is not a love story. This dramatic clash of shoujo and shounen, yaoi and yuri, Neitzsche and catboys, bondage and sadomasochism, and the immense power of words, all flows together so coherently in a way that neither suspends nor engages our disbelief, but rather forces one to translate what's happening beyond the disorienting haze of anime magic and into the jarring reality of the situation being presented before you can fully grasp the true horror and- dare I say- Camp, that is the glue which holds Loveless together... and if all of that goes over your head, well, then it's just another questionable anime where some creeps wanted to draw a tsundere shota being preyed upon by an older bishie--- and I'm unwilling to sit with something so pointless and gratuitous being one of my favorite anime series’ as a tween. There has to be something good I can take away from this, god dammit--- and it cannot just be my grade 8 school photos!

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*

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 ~

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.

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.

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.

Just a short overlook:)I don't write long reviews.
The story itself is a romance that takes place during the pique of a young boys adolescence. The feelings of an unbiased perception of love is very evident and further delves into the inhibitions of what most slice of life animes aim for but with a more realistic character development. The situations are very similar to the struggles of an adolescent; the main character called "Loveless" fitting as it is, suffers from lack of self esteem, a mother with grief issues from the recent loss of his older brother. He truly is alone and lost though through the ... series the true drama is how he copes with this is explained as a romance of sorts developes with an older man Soubi. The action plot is fair and remains mysterious until the end circling issues surrounding his brother mysterious death. The artwork is very good, not fantastic but very fitting for this anime. The audio is done well and the theme songs are very nice as well. All in all it's a rather good show to watch.

When I first heard about this anime several months ago I can honestly say that I wasn't even remotely interested--the cat ears and tails were a turn off. However, recently, after noticing a great interest in the artwork (that of both the anime and manga), I decided to give Loveless a chance.

I wasn't disappointed.

The idea of 'Fighter' and 'Sacrifice' are fantastic and interesting concepts. The story itself is wonderful. Loveless is something that watchers can relate to--who hasn't lost someone they love?; who hasn't endured inner turmoils and/or anxieties?

I conquered all twelve episodes of the anime and eighty-five chapters of released scanlations in two ... days, simply because I couldn't get enough of the Loveless universe.

I'll probably never be able to forget this anime, because every single episode touched me alot more than i expected. The music is amazing, the characters are loveable and the whole relationship between the two main characters is adorable. Seeing as it was only 12 episodes long, it was gutting when it ended, but that's probably the reason for it being so good.

Ritsuka has been different the past two years since his brother, Seimi had been murdered by the Seven Moons, and he doesn't see the point of living anymore. Until he meets Soubi, the adult, old friend of Seimi. He soon learns that ... Soubi is an important part of his life, and together they are Fighter and Sacrifice, even though they do not share the same name. Throughout the whole series the two begin to grow on each other and there bond is alot deeper than they'd expected.

I loved some of the things they did with the anime such as the ears, where if you had never lost your virginity with anyone and been in love then you would have ears. It was pretty obvious to see who had done what, and i loved that, because it was like you could read everyone like a book. Ritsuka's teacher still has her ears and she's a very shy character, and all of his friends have also got there ears.

The whole story is pretty confusing, seeing as the Seven Moons are not described until later episodes and the whole 'Name' and 'Bond' scenario is pretty strange. Seimi (Ritsuka's Brother) was called 'Beloved' and he shared a name with Soubi, until he died. Soubi was ordered by Seimi to love Ritsuka and become his fighter, even though Ritsuka's real name is 'Loveless' (one without love). So the two are not destined to be together.

You have to watch the anime to realise how beautiful it is, and really understand whats happening. Even if you don't like the romance there's still a lot of action with 'Spell Battles' and fighting.There is also Yuri (girl on girl) later in this anime if that's what your interested in.

So overall this anime is amazing and i love it. However, watching it a second time just depressed me, knowing i'd never be able to feel the excitement again, knowing there were more episodes to watch which i hadn't already seen. I'd recommend this anime to anyone.

Loveless has to be in my opnion, one of the best shounen-ai series ever!!!

With it's great storytelling, great art, and awesome characters, Loveless is something that is quite a treat to watch.

This is my first review, so please bear with me.

The story line is pretty sketchy, but here goes the main charecter is very conserned about love, and doesn't like everyone saying they like/love him. He has problems that he doesn't want anyone to know about, so it adds to the mystery.

It isn't as much of a love story. It mainly deals with past/present/future destinies.

I liked the anime because it deals with a lot of 'what do i do now' stuff and some of the charecters are easy to relate to (In my case)

I know that this may not be helpfull......

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

The first episode definitely made me a fan. The characters (which come in pairs) were very effective in drawing attention and curiosity with how they express their feelings towards each other. How far will they go? What'll happen next? Is someone actually gonna lose their ears? What really happened to Seimei?

However, it was kinda disappointing how the series ended, without any action and without any answers, leaving the viewers with nothing at the last episode. The mystery and suspense of the story is very catchy and will make you want to know what'll happen next. But the end did not deliver much and did not ... reach the expectations set up by the (unanswered) issues in the beginning.

The story is promising and I think the characters have the potential to grow. I think the series is too short to make the story work and a second (answer) season would be greatly appreciated.

personally i likes this anime and hope that they do make a second series. It was finally starting to get really good towards the end and thats when they started to really pick up the story and add interesting aspects to it. Im rooting for a season 2 of "loveless"its good and i hope in the next series they start to have Ritska be more willing to be outgoing and act more lively the way he was towards the end especially in the very last episode. personally I liiked this series because it was much different then all the other shounen ai in its genre ... but it was very intersting in the end. I would recommend other people watch it so that they definitley end up making a season 2. i also hope their are a lot more fight scenes as well as BL ones in the next series. it would be really interesting if the first episode of the next series sums up everything that happens from the last episode +5years into the future and the story takes of running from their already at full speed and kicking. But ill be happy if they just make a season2 personally. i also like that this wasn't one of those rapey BL stories. i would be interested to see it with more action and more romance. That would personally in my opionion make it really really good and put it above most all others aside from junjou romantica /ova/1/2/3&move super lovers 1 & 2 as well as all of the Sekaiichi Hatsukoi's.

I suppose i should develop why i rated this anime so lowly, its not often an anime leaves me completely speechless and wanting more, i loved this anime quite a lot but i found it frustrating that there was not a second series.

Animes like this that leave you at a cliffhanger with the plot unresolved upset me.

Overall i love the main characters, there is yet again another sense of hierarchy although the sense that there is a master and servant soon unfolds. As we reach the climax of this anime i found myself in tears and at the same time frustrated at how ... stereotypical the bad guy was.

I suppose i shouldnt have watched if i hated cliff hangers but it was a great anime, it leaves you thinking about what happens next and thats one of the reasons i do quite like it.

Twelve-year old Aoyagi Ritsuka is left with his insane mother as his only family when his brother, Seimei, is killed suddenly. After moving to a new school, he meets Agatsuma Soubi, who claims to have known his brother. Ritsuka eventually discovers that Soubi and Seimei used to be a fighting pair, whereby Soubi was the "Fighter" and Seimei was the "Sacrifice". Now that Seimei is gone, Ritsuka has inherited Soubi, who will become his "Fighter". After learning that Seimei was killed by an organisation known as the "Seven Moons", Ritsuka decides to investigate into his brother's death, with the sometimes useless help of Soubi, along ... the way. (ANN)

My thoughts:
I really enjoyed watching this anime and wish they would do a season 2. I love Soubi, he's such an intriguing character. And the interaction between him and Ritsuka is great. I'd classify this anime as shounen-ai that could turn to yaoi if they did a second season and Ritsuka is older.

Update: I was able to find and download this anime in english dub and it was very well translated! I have to say I found it better in english because I could focus on the anime and not having to pause to read the subs.

I watched the anime before reading the manga, as my friends advised I shouldn't. I admit, the concept was harder to grasp and overall a bit more confusing that it would've been if I'd read the manga before hand. I really love the relationship between Ritsuka-kun and his peers. His wit and view of things is very accurate for someone who recently lost something special to them. He is very observant and also very hesitant. His relationship with Soubi is harder to grasp at a younger age. It seems to be overall complicated, but as it develops; it becomes more of a heart pull. I ... became very attached to this work in such little time, and was sad when it came to an end. It was very beautiful, and very worth my time. Such a beautiful story, not to mention the anime and manga were flawless. ♥

Loveless is definately a strange anime. It took a bit of watching to finally decide it was worth watching, but it is. The plot line can be confusing and I still don't quite understand the whole Fighters/Sacriface thing but I'll finish the anime (I think that there's only 10 episodes).

I really liked that the images from the clips on YouTube were really clear and defined. Also, the sound was excellent so I didn't have to turn up the volume real loud. I also like that there aren't too many episodes. If you want to watch something short, that you won't have to devote your ... time to for a very long time, then Loveless is it.

-kemmec

You really can't judge this series from the first episode. I was kind of...disgusted to say the least. And Yuiko was really annoying LOL. The main conflict/interest of the show isn't really the erotic relationship between 12-year old Ritsuka and college student Soubi, but the relationships that Ritsuka so desperately tries to make, the memories that he so desperately holds on to and his eventual realization about the importance of his life and the people around him. It's really a good show and while it confuses you in the beginning, don't waver! Everything turns out for the better!!

The art was really well done. The people ... are drawn beautiful and the settings are also amazing. The constant symbolism and appearance of the butterflies was also done very well in my opinion. This show is chock-full of thing that you can't really see in the surface, the most obvious being the rite-of-passage losing of cat ears and tail that the 'adults' go through, caused by the losing of their virginity.

The ending song was amazing for me. And the animation of the ending. I still don't really know if that was real water or not. I didn't really notice the background music throughout the show, but when I did, it was nice.

Characterization was amazing, most of the time. The characters not really associated with the whole Fighter/Sacrifice world were mostly static characters, never really changing and mostly there for comic relief. Yukoi and Ritsuka's teacher were both annoying cry babys who never really showed anything that would make them interesting characters. However, the characterization of Ritsuka and Soubi, and even the unseen Seimei, was multi-faceted and i really believed in them. The sadness and desolation that both Soubi and Ritsuka feel, and their consecutive bond through that pain, really got me. I feel like although the author made this relationship look very Lolita-ish and creepy, the constant reminder that what you see is not what you get is evident the most in this relationship.

All in all, it was an enjoyable and I am glad that I was curious enough to watch it past the first episode.