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skysenshi (07.07.2001)
A twinge of longing...
I had a vague sense of déja vu while I was watching this
anime, but I couldn't pinpoint what it was that seemed familiar.
It wasn't when I began scouring the net for additional information
and saw the sample panels that it hit me: This was based on the
second shonen-ai manga that I had ever read (the first one was
FAKE)!
I remember I had a friend, a Korean named Stella, who was nuts
about shonen-ai. Back then I didn't know what shonen-ai meant,
so she sent me some sample JPEG scans of FAKE
over email. It was one of the sweetest things I had ever read.
It was probably the sort of romance that my gay college buddies
would dream about. I told Stella sheepishly that reading it made
me feel a bit strange, like I was longing for something forbidden
but didn't have the right words to describe how I feel. That was
when I first started getting curious about shonen-ai and began
reading manga titles like Kizuna.
Seeing Kizuna onscreen was a different experience, though.
For one, colored animation has a more surreal impact than
grayscale drawings. Enjoji and Ranmaru reminds me of the lesbian
couple Michiru and Haruka of Bishoujo Senshi SailorMoon. There's a difference in gender of course.
The cuteness and intimacy wasn't lost just because the couple
were of the same sex. Dear gawd, the sexual banter and erotic
moments gave me so many butterflies in my stomach!
The story basically revolves around two lovers, Ranmaru and
Enjoji. While these two are out to prove the world that what
they have is solid and true, everything and everyone would
just go out of their way to pull them apart. Ranmaru, especially,
seems to have so many admirers that it's quite fascinating
to see Enjoji bend over backwards just to stake his claim.
I'd recommend this to many of my female friends, especially as
it isn't the disgusting adult fare that most h-animators usually
come up with. The love scenes were executed tenderly, with no
trace of fake orgasmic screaming to be heard.
If I were my college friend Jude, though, I'd be disappointed
with the sex. Most of it was rendered in darkness. You can barely
make anything of the body parts. I guess, some guys just like
it rough, whether they're straight or not. As for me? I'd probably
be contented living in Ranmaru's or Enjoji's body.
NOTE on the second volume: I was a bit disappointed
with it because the focus swerved away from Ranmaru and Enjoji,
and there wasn't much development in terms of plot. Looking forward
to upcoming volumes.
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