Cat Ears & Sacrifices

 

LOVELESS is the story of  12 year old amnesiac Ritsuka Aoyagi. The story begins with his first day at a new school after he is thrown out of his former school.  Two years before Ritsuka suddenly loses his memory and has an abrupt change in personality. He sees a therapist while he deals with his loss of memory and an abusive Bi-polar mother. His brother Semei is murdered leaving him to fend for himself.

After his first day of school he meets an "Adult" (people without their ears and tails) named Soubi outside of his school. He tells Ritsuka that he waited for him to come find him after Semei died and when he didn't he came to him. He claims that Semei gave him to Ritsuka.  Of course Ritsuka doesn't know what he's talking about, but asks Soubi to make memories (take pictures) with him anyway.

Ritsuka discovers that his brother and Soubi were a legendary fighting pair at a special school for kids with their abilities. When Semei (the sacrifice) died he left Soubi (his fighter) to his little brother. Ritsuka becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to his brother after learning all this believing that is why his brother died. He begs Soubi to tell him about what happened to his brother, but discovers that his brother ordered Soubi not to tell him. This becomes an obsticle in their relationship, along with other things Soubi is hiding.

Through the progression of this story they fight other pairs from the school, everyone referring to Ristuka as Loveless. They all seem disgusted that Soubi is now claiming to be Ritsuka's fighter, because they don't share the same name. This all leads up to a wide open ending, where Ritsuka asks Soubi if he would kill him if ordered by Semei, to which Soubi says he would die with Ritsuka if that ever happened.

The manga version of this story is 8 volumes and can be picked up at pretty much any local bookstore. It was done by the wonderful Yun Kouga. It was originally printed in Monthly Comic Zero Sum by Ichijinsha. The Anime version was done by  J.C.Staff and appear on Japanese television in 2002. Fun fact about this story is they author doesn't really intend for it to be Yaoi or Shouen-Ai. Its just meant to be a beautiful story.

I LOVE THIS ANIME AND MANGA. let me say it again I LOVE IT.  From the artwork to the music to the story.  Did I mention the CAT EARS?!?!?! *girly squeal*  Its definitely in my Top 10. You can just feel the sexual tension and emotion OOzing out of this manga and anime. It has a little bit of humor thrown in so you don't feel like killing yourself from being so sad. 

So if you dig Cat Ears, Sexual Tension and a good fantasy plot line go check out Loveless.