Loveless: Light anime with a heavy background story

Written by Little_Wolf-18 on March 9, 2012 at 7:48 AM

You’ll have to keep an open mind with this one, since there’s a light shounen-ai story behind this. In English: No offense meant to anyone, but homophobes stay out.

On to the review.

I first stumbled over “Loveless” due to a friend cosplaying Youji and looking quite cute with green hair and cat ears. Back then, I didn’t quite know what to expect from this anime except the Japanese cat hype, but seeing as there’s much more behind this anime, I’m quite glad I gave it a try nonetheless.

“Loveless” is an anime with a hidden kind of beauty not everyone would be able to recognize IMO. The story is deep, unique, and touching, and although it progresses slow, it keeps a steady pace. It’s quite heavy at some points, but has its light moments with hope and a few very light romances as well. There’s no major plot holes, although it ends a bit abruptly, with not all major questions answered. However, I do think the manga goes on after this (… not quite sure since I haven’t read the manga…)

Through the eyes of a “child”, the negative emotions, attitudes, and actions of adults are pictured, making the story quite deep and philosophical in its weird sense of innocence and questioning at the same time. “Loveless” has this kind of beauty that makes you think about yourself, the world you live in, and question your real self. If you aren’t able to formulate some (self)criticism, the true message of this anime will probably get lost. Or as a warning: If you hate dealing with conflicting issues, you might not like this anime; though personally I think this factor adds a lot to the storyline’s depth.

Characters are well thought-out with unique personalities, and their development and dynamics are executed carefully, making the story a bit slow but easy to follow, and adding to realism and individuality of the characters. Each character has a relevant and unique back story, adding to the anime’s charm. The characters themselves relay a few quite beautiful messages themselves, keeping up love and hope throughout the story. Most relationships are quite deep and cute at the same time, though their love is easily shattered; they’ll show you that, even if life is sad, there’s always hope, and hope helps mend hearts.

Since there are a few same-sex relationship, some might shy away from this, but the relationships are kept very light (kissing at most).

The dialogue is well-done, and the seiyuu (voice actors) are doing a quite good job conveying the characters’ emotions.

Genres of “Loveless” include romance, its fantasy/supernatural/magic aspect (spell battles…), drama, tragedy, and a little suspense. It’s a very emotional anime, tragic at parts but still light at the same time – an art in itself.

Animation and art are of quite rare quality, smooth and beautifully executed. The OST is fitting as well. “Loveless” does not contain many funny moments but can be a truly worthy experience and is sure to cling into memory long after as long as you keep an open mind.

Personally, I like this best for its story, concept, and the fact how it makes the viewer question themselves and their environment. It’s a unique work, and worth a watch. Though – warning for the probably fourth time – keep an open mind. Light same-sex relationships are included.