Junjou Romantica (anime)
Posted on April 9th, 2009
Junjou Romantica (seasons 1 & 2)
[Rating: 9/10]
Genre: Shounen-Ai, Comedy
The main story follows the misadventures of Misaki, a high-school student as he ends up living with Akihiko Usami, a famous novelist who is a longtime friend of his elder brother’s when said brother gets married. To Misaki’s horror, Usagi starts to develop a more than friendly liking towards him. Hilarity ensues as well as some romancing ensues! Also, there are two other stories revoloving around ‘forbidden’ relationships of some sort. The stories arcs are entitled Junjou Romanticist, Egoist and Terrorist.
My review will be focused on the second season since it has been awhile since I saw the first one. Though I just read the earlier manga volumes which I pretty much the same, let’s just close one eye to that first~
So in the second season Misaki finds himself in deeper water than he can thread with the unexpected appearance of Usagi’s elder brother and father. His true feelings for Usagi get put to the test and as he comes to realize that he is falling in love with Usagi. While Junjou’s plot is pretty formulaic, one great thing about the series is that it’s one of the few shounen-ai (boys love) stories that is not overly angsty and ends with someone dying. It is rather lighthearted and heartwarming actually, to see the three relationships develop. You’ll find yourself rooting for one of the pairs at least. My favourite story is the relationship between Hiroki Kamijo and Nowaki Kusama~ Hiroki was just adorable and Nowaki is a very likeable character, their story was more believable and realistic than the other two, and they had great chemistry that didn’t seem forced. Miyagi and Shinobu was a little squicky I’m not really into shota (underaged relationships)… their age gap was even greater than Usagi and Misaki. I do like the main pair except Usagi’s sexual urges got a little overbearing at times… but he’s an awesome character though. It’s hard for me to describe. The manga is much more explicit with sex scenes than the anime, which was rather toned down in comparison. I also like the character designs, and voice acting plesantly suited the characters as well. It’s one of those light-hearted slice-of-life stories that is fun to watch and doesn’t get boring, even for someone like me who isn’t that into shounen-ai series.
Filed under: ** anime, romantic comedy, shounen-ai