Loveless Vol. #3

By Chris Beveridge     April 04, 2006
Release Date: April 25, 2006



What They Say
"Why do you always break your promises?" His feelings confused, Ritsuka tries to pull away from Soubi. A strange message prompts him to confront Seven Moons alone. To uncover the secret of his brother, Ritsuka finds himself trapped in his own mind, all of the horrors of his subconsious attacking him at once. But his salvation is not to be found with his brother Seimei, Soubi, or the mysterious battles he has been taking part in.

To become whole he must answer the riddle of his true name, "Loveless" which is tied to how he feels about others, not how they feel about him.

The Review!
Loveless comes to as much of a conclusion as it can with the manga still running as it explores some very complex emotional relationships.

Audio:
For our primary viewing session, we listened to this show in its original language of Japanese. Media Blasters opted not to dub this show so there is no English language option available. The show has a simple but effective stereo mix which really pushes forward some of the music throughout it, such as the distinct piano moments or the overall sound of the opening and closing songs. The bulk of the show is dialogue based though with very little action so it's mostly center channel based but when it does shift to action or some of the more expansive dialogue scenes, placement is well done and it flows well.

Video:
Originally airing in 2005, the transfer for this series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is enhanced for anamorphic playback. While this series is definitely done with a cost conscious approach based on the number of pans and still scenes throughout it, the actual look and quality of it all is quite good and the transfer captures the moody and almost dreamlike nature of it where there's a certain softness to the backgrounds. The character designs exhibit this as well where you get things such as blacks that aren't quite meant to be dark blacks but rather well shaded that add to the overall softness. There are some very vibrant moments throughout, such as during the spell sequences, and the materials overall here look fantastic.

Packaging:
Using the Japanese artwork with a little bit of modification for the US market, the final volume is one of the best ones to use for the close of the show as it has the trio of Soubi, Ritsuka and Seimei together. It's not quite as dreamlike as the previous ones due to the strong colors and clarity of the character designs in the foreground but the background still pushes that feel overall. It's a good looking cover that fits well and gets an added plus for using the Japanese logo, though they dropped the subtext that was on the Japanese release. The back cover takes the style from the front and builds nicely on it with the blues and whites meshing well to create the right mood as it provides the summary of what to expect, a few shots from the show and a list of the features. The discs technical information is all clearly listed in the grid below, something that we don't always mention but continue to find it an area where Media Blasters excels over most other companies.

Menu:
The menu layout uses the artwork from the cover off to the left side while using the designs from the back cover to serve as the design for the menu selections while some of the vocal music plays along. The layout and design does a good job of once again capturing the nature of the show in these early episodes and mixing it all together to put you in the right frame of mind for the show itself. Access times are nice and fast, free of extra animation between menus and due to the language options of this release the players' presets are pretty useless.

Extras:
The main extra included this time around is the final installment of the SD Theater pieces which continues to be far too amusing for its own good. There's also a sampler preview for the TOKYOPOP manga release which some may or may not consider to be an extra.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Loveless comes to a close with the final four episodes of the twelve episode series and while it does manage to bring things to as much resolution as is possible at this point, there is simply so much left over that needs or demands explaining that it manages to be just as frustrating as earlier episodes in the shows run. This is of course to be expected considering how little of the manga was done at the time of the show being animated.

After everything that had happened in the last battle, it's not surprising that Soubi is as bad off as he is but Soubi himself is quite surprised that before he can call on the pair staying with him for a bit of assistance that Ritsuka finds him and takes care of him. Having been able to get him back to his apartment, Ritsuka's not able to actually do a lot for Soubi but with the recuperative abilities that he has it's not that a lot is really needed. Soubi's essentially out of the picture for a bit here but it leaves Ritsuka with the others who are alternatively mocking or sarcastic with the young lad by his lack of knowledge about what's going on. They do fill him in a bit on some of the big game that's going on but it's such small and curious pieces that it only really adds to the mystery of what the events are about.

At the same time, we get a lot of material that deals with the relationship between Yamato and Kouya, from how they first got together and how close they've become since their names matched. Their Zero aspect gives them a bit of a different angle than the previous ones since there are some basic differences in how they operate compared to the things that Ritsu has been working on, but for the most part the pair as they become more deeply involved with each other have become quite powerful. With the belief that they can win over anyone and having Nagisa behind them, their confidence level is quite high but their involvement with Soubi has led them to an area where their bond is now in question. Sometimes all it takes is a particular crack in the armor for a lot of revelations to slowly trickle out and with the curious and almost calming nature that Ritsuka sometimes exhibits, he's able to get close to Yamato with trying to and starts to understand that there may be more to the Zero's than previously thought.

Everything slowly starts coming together for the few tangents that the show does go through here but the real focus on these episodes continues to be the relationships between the characters and primarily that between Soubi and Ritsuka. While a lot of Ritsuka's early impetus was to discover what went on with his brother, he's finding that his adoration of the older sibling may have clouded his eyes to a great many things and some things he firmly believed in may no longer be true. Ritsuka's been forced through his own discoveries to grow up a bit about this as Soubi hasn't been forthcoming with the information and that self growth has been good for him as he's now stronger and more capable of dealing with the larger issues that are coming his way because of the growing relationship between him and Soubi. So much of this show revolves around their relationship but so much more of it is about relationships and their emotional complexity than just those two. There have been so many pairings that have come into the show so far and each so different yet very deep that they all could justify their own show.

In Summary:
The conclusion to Loveless isn't exactly the way you would want to close any series but I've been far less interested in the ending due to its origins than I have in the show overall. It's been a curious, complex and confusing journey where there are so many elements to the show that could carry it for a regular season. While on their own the individual layers may not be anything amazing, the combination of all of them with the atmosphere, designs and quirks to it really managed to elevate this into something else. Loveless isn't a show that's as instantly accessible as what a lot of people are used to and that'll certainly turn plenty away as if the sexual issues weren't enough, but for those that get into it, this is the kind of show that will drive them passionately and for quite some time.

Features
Japanese 2.0 Language,English Subtitles,SD Theater

Review Equipment
Panasonic PT50LC13 50" LCD RP HDTV, Zenith DVB-318 Progressive Scan codefree DVD player via DVI set to 480p, Sony STR-DE835 DD/DTS receiver, Monster component cable and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.