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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 Fighter Unit, 20 year old college student 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 Meaningful Name), 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 cat ears and a tail until they lose said virginity.
Despite the considerable Boys Love 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 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 Domestic Abuse, childhood sexual abuse and trauma, and other "not for kids" issues. The series is also known for having Mind Screw aspects of epic proportions.
Is in no way related towards Lamia Loveless (this is not an anime of her descendants), nor the Shounen anime NEEDLESS. And no, it's not devoid of LOVE. Also has nothing to do with the iconic Loveless, of My Bloody Valentine fame.
Includes examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Ritsuka's mother.
- Adult Child: Nagisa. Believe it or not, she's in her thirties.
- Adults Are Useless: A running theme in the manga, and the consequences reverberate throughout.
- Aloof Big Brother: Seimei, in several rather twisted and unexpected forms.
- Artificial Human: The Zeroes, a series of artificially created humans without pain receptors.
- Because Destiny Says So: The entire Name system, though it's frequently argued against and subverted in some cases.
- Blessed With Suck: While the Zeroes can't feel pain, they can die just as easily as (if not more easily than) regular humans.
- Blind Without Em: Kio, going by Yurio's comments on the strength of his glasses.
- Bodyguard Crush: Implied in some cases between the Fighters and their Sacrifices, often one-sided.
- Boys Love: Loaded with it.
- Broken Bird: Soubi, a rare male version.
- Brother Sister Incest: Seimei is one of the creepiest examples in recent memory
- Calling Your Attacks: Justified in the sense that the words are the spells themselves.
- Cassandra Truth: Inverted. The adults WILL believe you. They just don't care.
- Cat Girl: And boys, earning the series a plethora of FanGirls (often of the Yaoi variety).
- Chains Of Love: 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.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Misaki is a very twisted version.
- Crapsack World: It's hard not to see the setting as this with all of the supremely screwed up stuff that happens in it.
- Creepy Twins: Yoji and Natsuo, who, despite not being actual twins, certainly fit aspects of this trope and usually act like one mind.
- Dissonant Serenity: Several characters demonstrate this trope, but Seimei is definitely the best example.
- Domestic Abuse: 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.
- Draco In Leather Pants: It's hard to find a male character who DOESN'T go through this, but Ritsu, Nisei, and Seimei are the most frequent. While not villainous, Soubi is often stripped of his flaws to become a saint in Fanon.
- Empathic Weapon: The Fighters are essentially supposed to be these.
- Eye Scream: Alluded to, when Seimei plucks out not one, but both of Ritsu's eyes.
- It's made worse when we learn that he did it to write 'RITSUKA I'M BACK' on the wall. With BLOOD.
- Fan Disservice: 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.
- Feel No Pain: The Zeroes. However, it backfires.
- Freudian Excuse: 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.
- Furry Confusion: Besides people having cat ears and tails, regular cats are shown to exist.
- Gecko Ending: The anime, and a very mindscrewy one at that.
- Harmful To Minors: Just about everyone has had some exposure to this.
- Huge Schoolgirl: Yuiko, who despite being in sixth grade is 5' 6" tall and has very large breasts (that actually earn her much ridicule).
- I'd Tell You But Then I'd Have To Kill You: This is what Seimei says to Youji and Natsuo when they ask why he abandoned Soubi. Played straight and to horrifying effect when they start discussing books. Seriously.
- To clarify, when Creepy Twins 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 Nightmare Fuel, just read the following quote.
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.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode of the anime is titled as "X-less"; Bondless, Tearless, etc. The creepiest is probably "Skinless".
- Ill Girl: Yayoi is a rare male example.
- In The Name Of The Moon: Each of the "pairs" has an Invocation they say before battle begins.
- Intimate Healing: Justified in that when Soubi kisses Ritsuka it strengthens the "bond" between them and makes the attacks stronger (and makes the Fangirls Squee).
- Kichiku Megane: Possibly Ritsu, but if he is, he has much more depth than the typical example.
- Knight Templar Big Brother: Subverted with Seimei. To him, it doesn't really matter HOW you treat his younger brother Ritsuka. Seimei believes that Ritsuka belongs to him and will rid of anyone getting in his way.
- Lighter And Softer: The anime. Yuiko and Yayoi are seen MUCH more often to provide both comedy relief and a break from all the Mind Screw, which was also less abundant.
- Love Martyr: Ritsuka is a male version of this towards Seimei, though it's not of the Brother Sister Incest 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.
- Loving A Shadow: Kind of. 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 'love', Ritsuka is angry, but he forgives him. He still loves Seimei like he did when he was a child. This is perhaps THE biggest Wall Banger in the series.
- Manipulative Bastard: Ritsu, Nisei, and also Seimei, who despite all logic is still alive, even though they actually did find the body and even matched dental records. Who replaced him in that capacity is the subject of much fan debate and Epileptic Trees.
- May December Romance: Does this even need to be explained?
- Meganekko: Lots of characters wear glasses, male and female alike, but Shinonome-sensei is the best fit for the trope.
- The Messiah: 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...
- Mind Game Ship: Any ship involving Seimei.
- People who ship Seimei and Ritsuka as a normal couple are known to be part of the Misaimed Fandom, seen below.
- Mind Screw: Take a look at any of the spell battles, or anything involving Nanatsu no Tsuki.
- Misaimed Fandom: While Seimei was, in fact, first portrayed in a positive light by Ritsuka as a caring older brother who is unfairly murdered, he is shown in later chapters to have faked his own death to avoid his execution. It Gets Worse when it's revealed that he was going to be executed for being a murderer. And to top it all off, he does all of this just to 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, The Woobie.
- My Hero Zero: For obvious reasons.
- Needs More Love: It's ignored by most yaoi fangirls for its complex story and lack of gratuitous Fan Service, while it's sometimes snubbed by more serious shonen-ai fans, 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.
- Never Found The Body: Averted rather disturbingly.
- No Ending: 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. word of god says that the series will end at 15 volumes.
- Otaku Surrogate: Seven (who's a hikikomori, or shut-in minus her internet connection), and Nagisa (a wannabe Elegant Gothic Lolita) to an extent.
- Oyaji Kid: Despite being only 12 years old, Ritsuka is noted for acting much older than he is.
- Plucky Girl: Yuiko, despite being a side character.
- Psychologist Teacher: Or rather, would be Psychologist Teacher, 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.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Nisei. He takes delight in both stalking and torturing Soubi and Ritsuka, but refers to Soubi as 'mad' and 'creepy', and refers to himself as a pacifist. He's 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 will have none of this.
- Replacement Goldfish: Yoji, for Nagisa, since apparently 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.
- Ron The Death Eater: Yuiko is a constant victim of this. If she was male, though, she'd probably be part of an OT3.
- Running Gag: This Troper is tired of all the -less, episodes and teams!
- Good thing "Beloved" subverts this a little bit!
- The My Hero Zero pairs too!
- Savvy Guy Energetic Girl: Although not romantic, both Ritsuka/Yuiko and Yayoi/Yuiko both apply
- Schoolgirl Lesbians: 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 without ears.
- The Scrappy: 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 She Is Not My Girlfriend reaction from Ritsuka). However, she is somehow seen to a threat to their relationship, and fanfiction turns her into a Complete Monster hellbent on destroying their relationship.
- Sex As Rite-Of-Passage: Subverted, turned inside out, and arguably played straight. Particularly twisted when it comes to Soubi who was de-nekofied as a result of sexual abuse at the hands of his teacher Ritsu.
- Social Services Does Not Exist: 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.
- There Are No Therapists: 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).
- Third Person Person: 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.
- Unknown Rival: Yayoi against Ritsuka for Yuiko's affections.
- Viewer Gender Confusion: Could someone confirm once and for all whether Yurio is a guy or a girl?
- What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: 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 Crucified Hero Shot on him yet, though.
- Yandere: Seimei is a rare (rather extreme) male example towards his younger brother Ritsuka.
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?
Nisei: It's normal for you.
- You Should Know This Already: Seimei is alive. This one fact accounts for about half of all the spoilers on this page.
- Yum Yum: A rare male example, with Kio's lollipops.
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