Magic Bondage Fights and Catboys: The Loveless Thread

@littlewhitemouse I HAVE A NEED

 

I WILL SHARE OR LEND ALMOST EVERY BOOK I OWN BUT N O T. T H E S E

 

/crashes into this thread

YESSSSSSS WE HAVE A LOVELESS THREAD

this is such a good question and I really want to know as well... I assumed it was a soulmate name thing that maybe didn't happen to everyone, and if you wanted to weaponize it that was a thing you could learn to do. and then someone started trying to tweak it with science? so many questions

but srsly the idea of fighting with vocabulary is so awesome that I would absolutely do that if I had the option

yeah, same. I think I'd been reading fanfic for a while before encountering Loveless, so maybe that gave me a leg up on Recognizing Weird Dynamics, but it never seemed like they had a healthy relationship going on - I mean, the story is named Loveless, that doesn't exactly give me happy ending vibes :P and I mean, Soubi is interested in Ritsuka because he's been ordered to serve him and is desperate for someone to treat him like he's important (his name is Beloved and it's bleeding, ffs) while Ritsuka is mostly just putting up with him because he has literally no one in his corner, his mom is nuts and his brother's dead, and here's this weird guy who's super keen on being his friend - and as mentioned upthread, Soubi is a connection to his assumedly-dead brother. they're both fucked-up and friendless and not really in control of what happens to them. ugh this manga gives me so many goddamn feelings

I can't get over the fact that Soubi's 20. I didn't remember that until I read the thread. he's the 'adult' of the pairing, but he's not even much of an adult, is he? only in comparison to Ritsuka, a literal child. these poor fuckers. I gotta find some way to get my hands on the new editions with the good-quality printing and read it all again.

 

Their dynamic is basically a child forced to grow up too fast and an adult prevented from growing up at all.

 

hahah my first response to this was YES and then wondering if 'adult prevented from growing up at all' describes Seimei better... he sure does fuck around with people as though they're disposable items that serve a purpose rather than people

 

There's SO MUCH STUFF on the theme of adulthood in Loveless! I feel like you could write a series of essays analyzing who's really an "adult" going by various definitions of adulthood. Like, is adulthood power and authority? Is it independence? Wisdom? Being responsible? Being able to move in society? Is it being a person who protects children? Is it just being experienced in sex?

 

Honestly, the total fucked-up-ness of almost all the interpersonal dynamics in the series is what makes me ship Ritsuka/Soubi really hard and want them to have some kind of happy ending where they can work out a relationship at their own pace. I guess that makes me a pedo by tumblr standards, but fuck it. :P

 

Yeah, the thing about Ritsuka and Soubi is that while one of them is technically old enough for sex and the other isn't, neither of them are anywhere near ready for a serious relationship. The power imbalance isn't as extreme as it looks at first glance.