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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
Cute and interesting, but I'm a little confused. It'll probably clear up in the later volumes :3
I, uh, kinda still really love this? Though its a lot darker than I remembered it....
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I..... don't know what to say about this. I only remembered it because I saw a book with a similar title and I sometimes like to re-read manga from back in my "otaku" days. But good lord did I forget about what a nightmare this whole thing is. The whole plot doesn't make sense and a character who could answer literally says "no comment" multiple times. There's this whole thing about people being born with cat ears and a tail but they lose them when they lose their virginity? But that's never discussed really and it's not brought up until later. Then you've got this weird magic system that only some people know about but others don't but there's never any explanation as to why some people can use it or how they end up with these pairings or names or whatever. But all of this pales in comparison to the weirdass relationship between a college student and a 6th grader despite the college student insisting that it's not sexual it's definitely portrayed that way. I just.... the whole thing is poorly written and the added pedophilia is just a straight-up NOPE for me. I think the book could have been really interesting there's a lot to work with - but YIKES over the relationship and writing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Sexism
Watched the Anime, and finally picked up the anime to read. Love the artwork
its almost giving me pedo vibes but its got a good storyline
an interesting ecchi that follows a neko boy called loveless. this manga is well drew up and written and i would reccomend if you like spice of life and chic flick and also have an open mind
Talk about one weird blast from the past. The first time I read any of this series was when a friend in high school lent me her copies over the course of many days of swapping manga during lunch hour, and even back then it struck me as a bizarre combination of dark, "squick", and intriguing.
Let's address the "squick" factor right now, shall we? As this is classified as shounen-ai, or, "boys love" genre, there is a mlm romance implied. The problem is that one of the characters is 21, and the other is 12. And even taking the inappropriate age difference out of the equation, this first volume lets us know very quickly that this relationship is incredibly damn complicated, as whether or not there are any true romantic feelings between the characters is (currently) left up to interpretation of the reader.
Now to back it up a bit, and give you some spoilers.
Loveless follows Ritsuka Aoyagi, a 12-year-old boy who has recently transferred to a new school following the brutal, violent, and unexplained death of his older brother Seimei. Ritsuka is frequently physically and verbally abused by his mother, and neglected by his father, which is implied to have possibly started prior to Seimei's death, when something or other caused Ritsuka to lose the memories of his first 10 years of life and changed his personality completely.
Upon transferring to this new school, Ritsuka also encounters Soubi, a man who is an "adult" [as virginity in this series is symbolized by the addition of cat ears and tails onto normal people, and when they lose their virginity, their cat ears and tail disappear and they're considered "adults"] and a former friend of Seimei's, whom Seimei ordered to serve Ritsuka upon his own death. Just as Ritsuka is getting comfortable around Soubi, the two are attacked by another pair of people, who use a type of spoken word magic to engage in a battle with Soubi.
Thus we come to learn Soubi and Seimei were part of a fighting unit in this strange Fighter-and-Sacrifice sort of combat ritual/game, and Ritsuka learns his brother's supposed murder is tied to a mysterious something called "Septimal Moon."
Things I appreciate about this series are the tone, which feels reminiscent of xxxHolic; the magic system, including the implication of names having meaning, power and their own magic, which is a trope I am a sucker for in fiction; and the two acquaintances that Ritsuka makes at school in the form of the ditzy-but-sweet Yuiko and self-appointed-rival Yayoi, both of whom manage to slowly work their way into his orbit and help him to get more comfortable. The intrigue and suspense surrounding the story is also part of what I enjoy the most about this series.
Apart from the alleged romance between Ritsuka and Soubi--which I feel needs to be viewed with a grain of salt and some careful discernment, if not some willingness to suspend disbelief a little further--the only thing I really have to say about this so far that puts me on edge is the amount of violence in the form of physical abuse and implications of self-harm that are present. On one hand, I feel this instrumental in setting just how dark the tone of the series can be while also not pulling punches about the reality of life for people in such situations, but I know that this more than anything made me the most uncomfortable when I read it as a teenager, and I still would encourage anyone going into this series to be cautious if that sort of content can be triggering or harmful for you.
I still intend to go forward with my re-read, because the number of things I appreciate about this series outweighs my issues with it by a long shot, and I enjoy it a lot. I also have ordered a copy of the first omnibus volume, to see if there are any differences between these original prints by Tokyopop and the omnibus release.
Let's address the "squick" factor right now, shall we? As this is classified as shounen-ai, or, "boys love" genre, there is a mlm romance implied. The problem is that one of the characters is 21, and the other is 12. And even taking the inappropriate age difference out of the equation, this first volume lets us know very quickly that this relationship is incredibly damn complicated, as whether or not there are any true romantic feelings between the characters is (currently) left up to interpretation of the reader.
Now to back it up a bit, and give you some spoilers.
Upon transferring to this new school, Ritsuka also encounters Soubi, a man who is an "adult" [as virginity in this series is symbolized by the addition of cat ears and tails onto normal people, and when they lose their virginity, their cat ears and tail disappear and they're considered "adults"] and a former friend of Seimei's, whom Seimei ordered to serve Ritsuka upon his own death. Just as Ritsuka is getting comfortable around Soubi, the two are attacked by another pair of people, who use a type of spoken word magic to engage in a battle with Soubi.
Thus we come to learn Soubi and Seimei were part of a fighting unit in this strange Fighter-and-Sacrifice sort of combat ritual/game, and Ritsuka learns his brother's supposed murder is tied to a mysterious something called "Septimal Moon."
Things I appreciate about this series are the tone, which feels reminiscent of xxxHolic; the magic system, including the implication of names having meaning, power and their own magic, which is a trope I am a sucker for in fiction; and the two acquaintances that Ritsuka makes at school in the form of the ditzy-but-sweet Yuiko and self-appointed-rival Yayoi, both of whom manage to slowly work their way into his orbit and help him to get more comfortable. The intrigue and suspense surrounding the story is also part of what I enjoy the most about this series.
Apart from the alleged romance between Ritsuka and Soubi--which I feel needs to be viewed with a grain of salt and some careful discernment, if not some willingness to suspend disbelief a little further--the only thing I really have to say about this so far that puts me on edge is the amount of violence in the form of physical abuse and implications of self-harm that are present. On one hand, I feel this instrumental in setting just how dark the tone of the series can be while also not pulling punches about the reality of life for people in such situations, but I know that this more than anything made me the most uncomfortable when I read it as a teenager, and I still would encourage anyone going into this series to be cautious if that sort of content can be triggering or harmful for you.
I still intend to go forward with my re-read, because the number of things I appreciate about this series outweighs my issues with it by a long shot, and I enjoy it a lot. I also have ordered a copy of the first omnibus volume, to see if there are any differences between these original prints by Tokyopop and the omnibus release.
As a teen I really loved the anime for Loveless, although the way Soubi behaves towards Ritsuka always seemed wrong. I couldn't quite put my finger on what was so weird about it until now. Now as an adult, I know that it is really creepy of Soubi to treat Ritsuka as a lover. I will probably keep reading this series for the story and art, but I do not ship Ritsuka and Soubi, nor will I ever ship them.
I first read Loveless over 10 years ago, when I was about the same age as Ritsuka. I really enjoyed rereading it as an adult. Back in the day I read through volume 8, so I’m excited to get back into it and hopefully finish the series.
As a pre-teen I remember thinking Loveless was really scandalous, due to the relationship between Ritsuka and Soubi. Now I think, at least in volume 1, the story follows really damaged characters, but I don’t think the relationship is explicitly inappropriate, just complex and messed up.
As a pre-teen I remember thinking Loveless was really scandalous, due to the relationship between Ritsuka and Soubi. Now I think, at least in volume 1, the story follows really damaged characters, but I don’t think the relationship is explicitly inappropriate, just complex and messed up.