broken-nosed gods

i really don't know how i feel about the loveless manga nowadays—my first encounter with it was when i was ritsuka's age, and now i'm soubi's age, and it's been years since i read any of it, and i'm never sure if i'm imagining how good it was—but as a teenager it was a very useful treatise on all the things we (accurately or not) call by the name of 'love'. Good and bad and complicated as they are.

i should read it again, and catch up to the new releases.

This is my impression of Loveless, written months after having read it. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm giving the mangaka too much credit, maybe it's been too long since the read and I'm imagining depth that's not there. But to all of you who see this post, who have always thought Loveless was just that pervert manga with the twelve-year-old boy in cat ears, here is the heart of what I think it really is, the most basic statement I can make. I have so much more to say about this manga and its anime, but these are the words that really matter.


Loveless is, really, a Dealing With Characters' Issues story.

And that's why I like it, because these issues are complicated, not to be resolved with a quick "It was all a misunderstanding!" or the complete reversal of someone's personal ideology. There is no fast solution. They are all bound up with love and pain and perceived duty, family and upbringing and the wish for an easy way out, the desire not to make anyone overly concerned.

Wanting things you can't have. Like happiness.

Small cruelties and large ones. Being cruel because it's easy, because it's fun, because you feel you have no other choice. Being cruel to the people you love, because they need it (you're sure they do).

Lying about little things and big things, because it's the only way to get love or trust or left in peace. Not-quite-lying, playing up the good things because you don't want to think too hard about the bad ones.

Anger, because you're finally comfortable enough to let yourself be angry.

Honesty, because they've earned it.