http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/loveless3_resized.jpg
[[caption-width:200:Soubi and Ritsuka battle it out]]
A running manga series and 13 episode anime created by Yun Kouga, ''Loveless'' follows the story of a 12 year old Ritsuka as he searches for the truth behind his brother Seimei's murder -- and, unexpectedly, inherits his brother's [[BattleButler Fighter Unit]], 20 year old Soubi, who in their first meeting declares nonchalantly that he loves Ritsuka, kisses him, and draws him into a world of spell battles, Fighters and Sacrifices. Ritsuka learns that he is "Loveless" (see MeaningfulName), and has a destined Fighter somewhere in the world and an as-of-yet unrevealed birthmark on his body of his "name".

Oh, and all the virgins in their universe have [[UnusualEars cat ears]] and a tail until they lose said virginity.

Despite the considerable BoysLove theme in ''Loveless'', the focus is more on relationships themselves and the dynamics between the people, be they straight, gay, or entirely non-romantic. The relationship between Ritsuka and Soubi, despite its initially [[{{Shotacon}} pedophilic surface aspect]], is more complicated and twisted than a simple case of a college student having the hots for a grade-schooler.

Among other things, the series deals with very real situations such as DomesticAbuse, childhood sexual abuse and trauma, and other "not for kids" issues. The series is also known for having MindScrew aspects of epic proportions.

Is in no way related towards [[SuperRobotWars Lamia]] [[NamesTheSame Loveless]] (this is not an anime of her descendants), nor the {{Shounen}} anime {{NEEDLESS}}. [[IncrediblyLamePun And no, it's not devoid of LOVE]].

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'''Includes examples of:'''

*AbusiveParents: Ritsuka's mother.
*AdultChild: Nagisa. Believe it or not, she's in her thirties.
*AdultsAreUseless: A running theme in the manga, and the consequences reverberate throughout.
*AloofBigBrother: Seimei, in several rather twisted and unexpected forms.
*ArtificialHuman: The Zeroes, a series of artificially created humans without pain receptors.
*BecauseDestinySaysSo: The entire Name system, though it's frequently argued against and subverted in some cases.
*BlessedWithSuck: While the Zeroes can't feel pain, they can die just as easily (if not easier) as regular humans.
*BlindWithoutEm: Kio, going by Yurio's comments on the strength of his glasses.
*BodyguardCrush: Implied in some cases between the Fighters and their Sacrifices, often one-sided.
*BoysLove: Loaded with it.
*BrokenBird: Soubi, a rare male version.
*BrotherSisterIncest: [[spoiler: Seimei is one of the creepiest examples in recent memory]]
*CallingYourAttacks: Justified in the sense that the words ''are'' the spells themselves.
*CassandraTruth: Inverted. The adults WILL believe you. [[CrapSackWorld They just don't care]].
*CatGirl: And ''boys'', earning the series a plethora of {{FanGirl}}s (often of the [[YaoiFangirl Yaoi]] variety).
*ChainsOfLove: Used both in splash pages and literally, in the literal case as part of a spell used by the enemy to restrain Ritsuka in a battle.
*CloudCuckooLander: Misaki is a very twisted version.
*CrapsackWorld: It's hard not to see the setting as this with all of the supremely screwed up stuff that happens in it.
*CreepyTwins: Yoji and Natsuo, who, despite not being actual twins, certainly fit aspects of this trope and usually act like one mind.
*DissonantSerenity: Several characters demonstrate this trope, but [[spoiler:Seimei]] is definitely the best example.
*DomesticAbuse: Ritsuka at the hands of his {{Cloudcuckoolander}} mother, the mentally unstable Misaki. Hence the nearly ever present band-aid on his cheek and frequent absence from school.
*DracoInLeatherPants: It's hard to find a male character who DOESN'T go through this, but Ritsu, Nisei, and [[spoiler: Seimei]] are the most frequent. While not villainous, Soubi is often stripped of his flaws to become a saint in {{Fanon}}.
*EmpathicWeapon: The Fighters are essentially supposed to be these.
*EyeScream: Alluded to, when [[spoiler: Seimei plucks out not one, but ''both'' of Ritsu's eyes]].
** It's made worse when we learn that he did it to [[spoiler: write 'RITSUKA I'M BACK' on the wall. With BLOOD]].
*FanDisservice: Much of the sexuality, made so by the the ages of the ones involved. Most of the stuff involving the young Soubi is like this.
*FeelNoPain: The Zeroes. However, it backfires.
*FreudianExcuse: Ritsuka's abusive mother, Misaki, was abused as a child as well. Subverted, as it's not supposed to make you feel bad for her and was only mentioned once in the entire series.
*FurryConfusion: Besides people having cat ears and tails, regular cats are shown to exist.
*HarmfulToMinors: Just about everyone has had some exposure to this.
*HugeSchoolgirl: Yuiko, who despite being in sixth grade is 5' 6" tall and has very large breasts (that actually earn her much ridicule).
*IdTellYouButThenIdHaveToKillYou: This is what [[spoiler: Seimei]] says to Youji and Natsuo when they ask [[spoiler: why he abandoned Soubi]]. Played straight and to horrifying effect when they start discussing books. Seriously.
**To clarify, [[spoiler:when CreepyTwins Yoji and Natsuo confront Seimei in the library, Seimei tells them about a book where a man captures and tortures a little girl. And that's it. As if this wasn't enough NightmareFuel, just read the following quote.]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Seimei:''' To the person who tortured her... who cut her... to the one who overcame her, she asked... "Why did you do this?" She could see her imminent death.... taste her own mortality... and she denounced the meaningless trampling of her life. To the very end, she preserved her own mind, her own will, and refused to be drowned in violence and insanity. The captor empathized with such deep beauty, and he absolutely could not forgive it. Like him, I hate to be questioned.]]
*IllGirl: Yayoi is a rare male example.
*InTheNameOfTheMoon: Each of the "pairs" has an {{Invocation}} they say before battle begins.
*IntimateHealing: Justified in that when Soubi kisses Ritsuka it strengthens the "bond" between them and makes the attacks stronger (and makes the {{Fangirl}}s {{Squee}}).
*KichikuMegane: Possibly Retsu, but if he is, he has much more depth than the typical example.
*KnightTemplarBigBrother: Subverted with Seimei. [[spoiler:To him, it doesn't really matter HOW you treat his younger brother Ritsuka. Seimei believes that Ritsuka belongs to him and will [[{{Yandere}}get rid of anyone getting in his way]].]]
*LighterAndSofter: The anime. Yuiko and Yayoi are seen MUCH more often to provide both comedy relief and a break from all the MindScrew, which was also less abundant.
*LoveMartyr: Ritsuka is a male version of this towards [[spoiler: Seimei, though it's not of the BrotherSisterIncest variety. Although he is constantly being told of Seimei's sins, he is steadfast in his decision to be angry at him, but always forgive him. ALWAYS]].
*LovingAShadow: Kind of. [[spoiler: Ritsuka learns that Seimei is not at all the person that Ritsuka thought he was. While Seimei was caring (albeit a little distant) towards Ritsuka, he was, in reality, a cold, obsessive, and very violent man who was not above manipulating or murdering people who got in his way. When Ritsuka learns that even HE was manipulated by Seimei because of his twisted concept of [[BrotherSisterIncest 'love']], Ritsuka is angry, but he forgives him. [[LoveMartyr He still loves Seimei like he did when he was a child]].]] This is perhaps THE biggest WallBanger in the series.
** Possibly a case of [[spoiler: StockholmSyndrome]].
*ManipulativeBastard: Ritsu, Nisei, and also [[spoiler:Seimei, who despite all logic is still alive, even though they actually ''did'' [[NeverFoundTheBody find the body]] and even matched dental records. Who replaced him in that capacity is the subject of much fan debate and EpilepticTrees.]]
*{{Meganekko}}: Lots of characters wear glasses, male and female alike, but Shinonome-sensei is the best fit for the trope.
*TheMessiah: Ritsuka, as a somewhat smaller scale version. He's mostly impacted one person, Yuiko (who even states that she "feels so much more alive" when she's with Ritsuka), but has also had a smaller effect on Hitomi-sensei, and seems to finally be starting to have an effect on Soubi as well. Not to mention the (adult) therapist who's in love with him...
*MindGameShip: Any ship involving [[spoiler:Seimei.]]
** People who ship [[spoiler:Seimei]] and Ritsuka as a normal couple are known to be part of the MisaimedFandom, seen below.
*MisaimedFandom: While Seimei was, in fact, first portrayed in a positive light by [[UnreliableNarrator Ritsuka]] as a caring older brother who is unfairly murdered, he is shown in later chapters to have [[spoiler:faked his own death to avoid his execution.]] ItGetsWorse when it's revealed that he was going to be executed for [[spoiler: being a murderer]]. And to top it all off, he does all of this just to [[spoiler: sadistically test his brother's love for him]]. While this recieved a {{Squick}} reaction from some fans, others loved Seimei even more, making him into, horror of horrors, TheWoobie.
*MyHeroZero: For obvious reasons.
*NeedsMoreLove: It's ignored by most [[YaoiFangirl yaoi fangirls]] for its complex story and lack of gratuitous FanService, while it's sometimes snubbed by more serious shonen-ai fans, [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch who make assumptions]] based on the {{Shotacon}} and cat ears. To make matters worse, the fanfiction makes the story seem based entirely on {{Shotacon}} and S&M.
*NeverFoundTheBody: Averted rather disturbingly.
*NoEnding: Not here, anyway. The eighth volume of the manga was released over a year ago, and there's still not any confirmation on a future release date, although the ninth volume is going to be released in Japan on November 25, 2009. [[WordofGod word of god]] says that the series will end at 15 volumes.
*OtakuSurrogate: Seven (who's a {{hikikomori}}, or shut-in minus her internet connection), and Nagisa (a wannabe ElegantGothicLolita) to an extent.
*OyajiKid: Despite being only 12 years old, Ritsuka is noted for acting much older than he is.
*PluckyGirl: Yuiko, despite being a side character.
*PsychologistTeacher: Or rather, ''would be'' PsychologistTeacher, as Ritsuka's good-hearted yet unfortunate teacher Hitomi never really manages to solve anything and has almost debilitating shyness when it comes to confronting problems.
*PsychopathicManchild: Nisei. He takes delight in both stalking and torturing [[spoiler: Soubi and Ritsuka]], but refers to Soubi as 'mad' and 'creepy', and refers to himself as a pacifist. He's [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove a stranger to the concept of love]], but he also has no intention of ever finding out, even going so far as to call it sickening. Of course, the fans [[DracoInLeatherPants will have none of this]].
*ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:Yoji]], for Nagisa, since apparently [[spoiler:Yoji was created from some of Nagisa's deceased sister's genes.]]
** Also the main use of Blank Fighters. Oh, yours died? Well, here's a new one.
*RonTheDeathEater: Yuiko is a constant victim of this. If she was [[DoubleStandard male]], though, she'd probably be part of an {{OT3}}.
*RunningGag: ThisTroper is tired of all the -less, episodes and teams!
** Good thing "Beloved" subverts this a little bit!
** The MyHeroZero pairs too!
*SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Although not romantic, both Ritsuka/Yuiko and Yayoi/Yuiko both apply
*SchoolgirlLesbians: Koya and Yamato, adversaries in the third and fourth volumes of the manga. Note that this was actually made ''more'' explicit in the anime, which in their first scene showed them kiss on the train when the manga just had them hold hands, as if it was just to make ''sure'' we weren't mistaken as to what was going on.
** The manga also showed them with and [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean without]] ears.
*TheScrappy: Poor Yuiko. She's constantly bashed for having a crush on Ritsuka, even though she never acts on these feelings. She even encourages Soubi and Ritsuka's relationship from the beginning (earning a SheIsNotMyGirlfriend reaction from Ritsuka). However, she is somehow seen to a threat to their relationship, and fanfiction turns her into a CompleteMonster hellbent on destroying their relationship.
*[[{{SexAsRite-of-passage}} Sex As Rite-Of-Passage]]: Subverted, turned inside out, and arguably played straight. Particularly twisted when it comes to Soubi [[spoiler:who was de-nekofied as a result of sexual abuse at the hands of his teacher Ritsu]].
* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: Why nobody does anything about Ritsuka's abuse at the hands of his mother.
*{{Synchronization}}: A key aspect between the Fighters and their Sacrifices. If it's off, they'll lose.
*ThereAreNoTherapists: Subverted in that Ritsuka ''does'' see a psychologist weekly, yet Misaki's abuse continues (and it's implied the older female psychologist has a crush on him -- she takes him out on a "date" in an early volume).
*ThirdPersonPerson: Yuiko at first, though with Ritsuka's help she gets over it.
*{{Tsundere}}: Ritsuka is a little bit Tsundere toward Soubi, which is uncommon to his gender. Also, Kouya is arguably mildly tsundere. Nagisa is ''definitely'' tsundere for Ritsu-sensei.
** Mei (who seems to be even younger than Ritsuka) is extremely Tsundere towards Mimuro.
*UnknownRival: Yayoi against Ritsuka for Yuiko's affections.
*WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: At one point Soubi gets a ''nail'' through his hand and is forced to pull it out. That and the fact that he's accused of being a masochist several times makes one wonder if this was intentional. No CrucifiedHeroShot on him yet, though.
** Butterflies, anyone?
*{{Yandere}}: [[spoiler: Seimei is a rare (rather extreme) male example towards his [[BrotherSisterIncest younger brother Ritsuka]].]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Seimei:''' You see, I just want to be loved by Ritsuka. But I'm so insecure. That's why I have to test his love. Is this normal?]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Nisei:''' It's normal for you.]]
*YouShouldKnowThisAlready: [[spoiler: Seimei is alive.]] This one fact accounts for about half of all the spoilers on this page.
*YumYum: A rare male example, with Kio's lollipops.

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