There are many odd things in this world and one of the many
for me is the type of anime in the Yaoi and Yuri type. These are types of anime
that involve same sex couples and relationships. They are an odd type of anime
as they are typically done differently than your typical Brokeback mountain
style story. I have watched many of the
Yuri variety (girl x girl) with a few that stuck out such as Kashimashi and I
have also seen a couple of the Yaoi variety mainly from curiosity such as
Earthian and Mirage of Blaze. In the end I saw a few similarities in them as
both tended to really flaunt the relationships of the characters as being Gay
and pushed them to the forefront for their target audiences (horny men and
women). This has been a turn off for me on both fronts as I am no longer a teen
and the appeal of Yuri has mostly worn off and Yaoi really didn’t have an
appeal for me any more than gay porn. After watching the initial two I did
decide to try my luck again when I found a copy of Gravitation for $20 (the
copy I have typically goes for close to $200 so if anything I could turn it
around. This of course showed me a very different aspect of the Yaoi series
that I had previously only seen from a few Yuri titles.
Shuichi and his friend are in a band called Bad Luck. They
are trying to make it on their own in the music world. Yuki is an emotionally
distant but famous romance writer. The two meet through a chance of fate when
Yuki spies and tells Shuichi how terrible his writing is. From this point a
relationship slowly forms between the two. This series from this point follows two
distinct plots from the rise of “Bad Luck” and the emotional relationship building
between Yuki and Shuichi.
First lets talk about one of the main focuses of this series
which is the muic (I know, I know the relationship is on your mind but we will
get there). I really liked that they spent time concentrating on the songs and
the musical development of the character. This series actually has a feel
similar to those similar series such as Kirarin Revolution, Full Moon or in a
lesser way K-ON. The songs for the opener and ender are a little dated but
otherwise are pretty good overall. There
is actual comedy within the otherwise serious drama that can take place within
the series. I found myself chuckling at some of the strange characters such as
the strange child-like character of Shuichi’s rival yet with some surprising
emotional depth revealed more towards the end. They did a lot of character
building for the side characters as well such as Yuki’s fiancé and her struggle
with the likelihood that her relationship with her future husband is not going
to come to fruition. The other members of Bad luck from their short tempered
keyboardist to the loyal but Charismatic friend. Finally we get to our two main
characters. Shuichi is an interesting character that is very different from the
typical submissive character seen in a lot of Yaoi types. He is typically
submissive in regard to his relationship with Yuki but shows strength
emotionally that in the end comes out stronger. Yuki is by far the more complex
character. He is the cool strong type with the sordid past and normally this
character type annoys the heck out of me (damn you Sasuke Uchiha!). Yuki is different in that he is guarded but
obviously has more depth emotionally than some of his emotionally similar
counterparts. When Yuki broke down and cried for the first time it was a truly touching
scene showing that he isn’t just the arrogant bastard you meet at the beginning
of the series but a real person. The
last part that I have to hold over is that they treat the relationship normally
concentrating on the character’s emotions so that it isn’t uncomfortable like
it was for many people seeing Yaoi or in some areas in movies like Brokeback
mountain which felt disjointed at times. You know things are going on but you don’t
feel you are watching soft core porn like with some in that category. It isn’t
just “hey look at us! We’re a gay couple!, Ain’t it hot!” (Now for those of you
who are into that I have heard that he manga is much more in that tone)
There are of course some glaring issues with this series.
The main one is the English Dub. Yuki sounds like he is dead inside but is
sounds more like the voice actor is dead tired of voicing the character and you
kind of get that from multiple fronts in the series. The series also has an
issue at times with the humor and its timing
I did feel some of the jokes were forced and this was not what was
needed at the time. I must admit this is
what made Shuichi’s character a tad annoying at times. Some of the humor was
decidedly odd, which isn’t too different from most anime but still it could
turn a new fan off, such as the strange agent who constantly is walking around
with an assault rifle in Japan (such are illegal for public use) or Shuichi’s
constant costume changes. Finally I feel the series was a tad dated musically
but this can be a problem in getting us to relate to the characters. I feel we
have similar issues with series such as Bubblegum Crisis.
In the end this is not a bad series but it falls short of a
great series. It was a pretty well written romance with minor comedic elements
thrown in. The series may be a little dated in some aspects and the timing may
be off but these are by far only minor issues. Many of my fellow anime fans
have difficulty in following a series strictly because it is Yuri or Yaoi but
in this case I would say it is worth it for you to put your preconceived
notions aside and give this one a shot.
Overall Rating: 7/10
PS: There are two OVA episodes I feel that this exploits the
flaws of the series a little too much and to me is unnecessary. I almost felt
like it was forced in order to add more content to meet demand. Also thought
they style took on a more manga esc look I felt like the animation quality fell
a bit. I remember watching the musical performance and it didn’t even look like
the animators and voice actors cared about synching the song with the mouth
movements and this is for the Japanese track.
OVA Rating 4/10
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