Loveless was WORSE than you remember

Loveless, everyone's first middle school BL manga. I take a look back and see just how truly uncomfortable this show was. The anime does itself no favors and only serves to turn everyone away from a story devoid of satire.

✦ Creator of my avatar: @DragunFU

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#anime #loveless #josei #shoujo

[WerewolfWaifu]

My abusive girlfriend cosplayed as sobe and had me cosplay ritsuka and walked me around a con with a leash and collar. I thought it was great at the time, but then I went to therapy 😂

[Kirasanban]

I thought Soubi was going to act like Ritsuka’s big brother/ protect him as a promise to his late friend. Then the kiss scene happened …

What are you doing, step-Soubi?

[GDsKitty]

Loveless is the prime example of "Wtf did I watch as a teen"

[yugoxgc]

Age of consent is 18 now. So even Japanese ppl thought 13 was bad.
Also "cultural differences" is a bad argument.
Child Marriages are legal in the states. What gonna say there? Are those ok then?

[invaderaussie]

1:09 honestly the whole cat ear virginity thing horrifies me, like imagine seeing a baby or toddler without the ears that would be horrible (to say the least

[sasuke_avenger_uchiha]

that "im not interested older people" made me sick. This whole thing is makin me sick. Why.

[maitea]

I remember watching this as a KID and finding the cat ears a great idea, I grew up Christian, so the idea of having a way to show how "pure" I was had me over the moon. Then I grew up, left the religion and realized how horrible would this actually be. Also I never got that he was 12, I thought he was in university because I don't remember anyone wearing a uniform, an where I come from, only university students don't wear them.

[DeathsinkTV]

Oh, the Yaoi back in the day was like a total wild wild west, everything goes and the more toxic it was the more popular it seemed to be.
Okane ga Nai, Junjou Romantica, Loveless, that other weird one with the teacher, you name it... But hey those were basically the only things a little weeb like me outside of Japan could get their hands on so, I couldn't complain.

[mist]

I didn't realize the gap was so big as a kid. I though subi was like 17... I just didn't like the vibes and stopped at episode 2 or 3, glad I did

[HERO_DREAMER]

Do ya think there'd be a market for fake cat ears and tails in this universe? Conversely, I wonder if folks would be able to hide their ears and tails (sorta like Sucrose from Genshin).

[Captainnt]

I never read this, but it was EVERYWHERE. It's another one of those manga/anime that got by on *aesthetics* mostly instead of story. Teenagers love edgy romance manga with frills like cat ears, angel wings, devil horns, especially when it's drawn with pretty boys and dark shades. Another one that comes to mind is D. N. Angel

[Spider-fan-jsiq]

As a teen Loveless was my permanent Asexual awakening.

[Guusagi]

I DIDNT KNOW HE WAS TWELVE😢😢 I was so innocent lol

[Tunazap]

As teens we don't see the bad of the age difference. But as an adult... I'm shocked this manga is still going though, the most shocking part to me hahahah

[Leviathan-hl]

Heard of it but didn’t touch it thank god as a young 12 year old. Sadly my awakening was Black Butler and High School Of The Dead especially Saeko as a lesbian

[AbsoluteFruit]

I used to love this as a very closeted, mentally ill teen, and over-sympathetized with ritsukas worldview 🙃 I remembered this anime a few months ago and was like “wow this was revealing about who I was as a teen 😬”

Now I *try* to see it in the same way you mentioned, that it just shows kind of a perfect storm of ways that a traumatized child can be taken advantage of. If they didn’t frame the kissing and “romance” scenes between ritsuka & soube as so aesthetically beautiful, it would be much easier to read that way.

[rosemartasgaminghoard]

"The manga gets better tho" an adult man still kissed a child on the mouth in a romantic way. I DO NOT understand how that is defensible. I remember my friends going crazy for this manga. I thought it was creepy then and I still think its creepy

[WitchKat]

I read what was translated of the manga in middle school. The impression that I got was that it *was* a commentary on dysfunctional and/or abusive relationships. It’s very exploitatively framed for weird BL reasons, but like, I felt like it was leading up to a point that ‘just because you love/care about/feel like you’re soulmates/are family with someone, you still shouldn’t endure abuse or toxicity. The manga might have pivoted away from that after the point that I read it, but I was genuinely under the impression the big ending was going to be ‘the acknowledgement and breaking of generational trauma’ that the fighting organization represented

I came to this conclusion when I was like 13 however, so take it with a boulder of salt

[Garoogie]

When Ritsuka said "Soubi..." the flashbacks began, I fought for this series so hard back in the day and I still think the manga art is gorgeous honestly, but no no nope no

The fact that I cosplayed as Ritsuka at 14, this brings back too much but thank you for covering this wild series

[Coffee_nightowl]

Loveless... the weird grooming bl anime that my 13 year old self was too dense to realise what a creep Soubi was. 3 or 4 years later I got that "wait a minute" moment. Honestly poor Ritsuka and all the abuse and manipulation he has to put up with.