Out of all the characters available in this universe, how did I come to spend time and effort in a shrine for Soubi? Alright, let’s rewind and start from the beginning! The first time I’ve really gotten familiar with Loveless was through watching the anime in early 2007. The only familiarity prior to that was seeing Loveless images in people’s layouts or in galleries during my random surfing routines. I believe I’ve always had the tendency to get into Loveless, but surprisingly this didn’t happen until this year. The anime pretty much caught me right away, I remember my first impression of it being breath taking. The animation, the graphic effects, the music and the voice actor work were all very well done. I was attracted to the mysterious undertone of the show, also, the series held an intensity that kept me watching; eventually I’ve finished the entire show in one sitting, but I guess with a total of 12 episodes that was rather manageable. After the initial watch I re-watched certain episodes, then re-watched again; I couldn’t get enough of it.
At this stage I definitely wanted to read the manga and I am glad I have. The manga in the beginning didn’t seem as intense as the anime, but that is only logical since manga does not have the effects such as live visuals, voices and music to support it. It did however, have everything else I was looking for; it contained more details, the plot went further where the anime had stopped and the characters had more depth. Plus the story’s intensity and mystery quickly builds up after the first volumes.
Soubi appears as a rather questionable character in the anime and I was curious about his personality in the manga. It is there where, spanning over pretty much all the Loveless chapters, his character is bit by bit explored. Where the anime portrays Soubi as an amusingly handsome, but perverted Fighter who seems to be hiding something, the manga lifts off at that stage to dive into his real personality. It is also the manga that shows that his relationship with Ritsuka develops into something much more meaningful than the apparent ’pervy student courts under aged boy’ — thing going on at the start of the story (trust me, it’s not about the shagging, it does not happen people). It was after reading the manga that I started growing a real fondness for Soubi. Yes he is good looking and a suitable object for awesome fangirling, but I guess at a certain stage the initial liking develops into genuine sympathy and respect. From an individual whom you suspect to be the hidden ’bad guy’ of the story, to the kind person who only seeks the truth and meaning of life and himself, Soubi’s character development is a nice one to follow.
Not only the story itself, the manga art is also something I like a lot. The drawing is very easy on the eyes and every character has a certain degree of facial cuteness. The fantasy component of the series makes you feel like you’re looking into a world that is painted in water colour.
Another remarkable thing about Loveless is that its genre is hard to label: is it action? Is it detective? Is it fantasy? Is it romance? Is it slice of life? Pretty much every mentioned element can be identified in this work, but at the same time none can be decidedly applied. Loveless, by both its character design as scenario setting, can be seen as rather ’edgy’ in certain aspects. I’ve usually not been the person to be attracted to the ’standard’ concepts within anime or manga; rather I like works that have that certain edge to them, pushing boundaries by handling complicated issues with an inventive, different perspective. Loveless does all that to a certain degree, a thing that in my opinion deserves a lot of credits for. And probably the best explanation why I’m so drawn to this series.
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