Magic Bondage Fights and Catboys: The Loveless Thread

I love Kio. Adolescent me really loved Kio and was kind of amazed by the fact that he was just there cheerily and nonchalantly being a queer guy, obviously comfortable with himself and expressing his attraction to Soubi without any (outward) angst. Just doing his thing.

 

Kio is SO GREAT. I love how much he cares about Soubi (and Ritsuka), I love how he's like the one well-adjusted person in the cast (which is doubly impressive since recent canon events have shown that his family situation is, uh…unconventional to say the least), and I love how he just sorta accepts all the totally bonkers shit that goes down all the time. :D

 

Yes! I don't have my copies of the early volumes on hand, but I remember when he went with S and R to the school and was like "Well, this ain't right. Hey, you guys do realize this is, like, messed up? I know I've been saying this for a while, kind of about everything the two of you do, but this right here specifically is a bad scene."

 

Kio just wants everybody to be okay! Unfortunately he's in a series where that's kind of…well, not impossible, but difficult. ;_;

 

So, i'm reading vol. 11 (re-reading? I... don't remember much of this... when did I buy this volume?) Let's have a liveblog!

Spoiler: Vol 11

-The chapter from the point of view of Ritsuka and Yuiko's class fish is very cute.
-Dr. Katsuko! Ritsuka's therapist! I feel like he does get something out of his sessions with her even though she doesn't know much about his life. It's good for him to have the chance to process his thoughts with a neutral party who just wants what's best for him. This is a different feeling than I got from her when she was first introduced, though. The first time we see her she's mostly benign, but the way she talks about her session with him as a "date" isn't kosher. In that scene I read her as yet another adult who's supposed to be helping Ritsuka out and isn't, or can't (bless your heart, Shinonome-sensei.)
-The deadpan gag when Nisei casually walks off with Faceless's laptop. In an American TV show a moment like that would need to be pointed out, but here it's allowed to speak for itself. Interesting illustration of how while Nisei sees himself as Seimei's servant, he also thinks of himself as being above all the other people who work for Seimei.
-Hooray, another gay moment with Ritsuka and the Zeroes!
-I think Shinonome's getting tougher. She scolded Yoji and Natsuo good! Go Sensei!
-The cemetery scene reminds me of all the times I used Soubi and Ritsuka's trauma to try and understand myself. It worked out pretty well.
-It's so cute watching the Zeroes learn how to be nice. Especially Yoji. He can't hide it at all.
-Small gay kitties. I remember this part with Ritsuka leaving his bus pass behind.
-The omake doodle of Ritsuka at age 21!! Also I forgot that Soubi's only 20... I'm six years older than him now...
-Cliff-hanger! Oh man. Stop hiatus-ing, Kouga sensei!

 

The cemetery scene destroys me. Well, everything about Soubi and Ritsuka and their myriad traumas destroys me. ;_;

I have…many complicated feelings about Nisei. He's so horrible but he's just as broken as the rest of them and Seimei treats him just as badly as he treats everyone else and augh. AUGH. All these characters, I love them (or…well, I feel strongly about them, anyway. I love how they're written).

 

I've always loved the boy Zeroes, they're very cute and also terrible... they're so mean to everyone but they're just twisted and don't know how to be friends with anyone besides each other... and they're so small... (happily mumbling to self about small gay kitties)

 

They are kitties that are still learning not to bite and scratch their friends

 

The Zero boys are so tiny and cute and have probably killed people and that is what I like in characters. (And they seem to casually crossdress a lot, because Loveless has no use for this so-called "traditional gender presentation".) :D

Also, the whole Zero thing is so weird and intriguing to me. Nagisa is genetically engineering children who can't feel pain and who pretty much subvert the entire Fighter/Sacrifice system by being theoretically interchangeable (and also by having some of the closest, most stable relationships in the whole series). What's her endgame?

 

holy fuck, i'm older than Soubi. how long has this manga been going again?

 

Yun Kouga loves drawing her male characters in drag! There's at least one chapter cover from Earthian featuring Chihaya in fancy heels with flowers and stuff.

 

:D I can dig it. (And I keep meaning to read Earthian but for some reason haven't yet! Get on that, self.)

 

I haaave 3-4 volumes of this sitting on my shelves at home I think? When I get out of school I'm gonna track down the complete series.

I think what really drew me in initially was the spell battles. Fighting with poetry just makes the romantic parts of me so fuckin happy.

 

Earthian is something else. You know how Loveless feels kind of woobly plot-wise, with more focus on mood than clarity and it's very pretty but you have to read it like three times to actually see how all the details fit together?
Earthian is like that only moreso because Kouga was a much less experienced storyteller back in the 80s. It's character-and-theme soup with gay space angels. reallygoodtrash.png

 

DELICIOUS. I'm so in.

 

Well I started reading it in 2008...

Wikipedia tells me it started in 2002. So uh. It's been going awhile.

 

Somehow when I watched the anime it didn't cross my mind that I was, at that time, Soubi's age. (Maybe a year or two younger? But definitely in college.)

Edit: Now I'm thirty-two and reading the manga and they all seem like babies.

Ritsuka, I challenge you to a painful and dangerous magic duel!
Ritsuka: bring it.

Ritsuka, go on a date with me, a grown-ass adult
Ritsuka: sure, lemme grab my camera.

Ritsuka, have some coffee!
Ritsuka: bitch i'm twelve

 

That's pretty standard logic for a 12-year-old, tbh.

Though, I think Ritsuka's immediate trust of Soubi is because he knew Seimei, and Ritsuka is desperate for contact with anyone who had anything to do with Seimei, because Seimei was basically the only person that was kind to him. And then I cry.

 

oh my god i havent read loveless in forever i need to reread it. it's so good i love. everything
i definitely got the idea that stuff was fucked up when i read it as a kid? I think I first read it at like, 15 or 16 tho, it'd been in my sister @littlewhitemouse 's room for a looong time and i was like 'WHY DIDNT I READ THIS BEFORE'
might start rereading it tonight. time to find it online

 

U mean THE COLLECTION

Many years, much dedication, and a lot of young mouse's pocket money went into this. It has gone everywhere I've moved with me including every college dorm this shit was FUNDEMENTAL.

Reading it for the first time when I was Ritsuka's age and finally getting to finish every (current) volume once I was Soubi's age was a long and rewarding journey. My favorite is Nisei he's bad