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Super Lovers the Manga...

After watching 2 seasons of the Anime I still had a lot of questions about what was happening or what was going to happen to our main characters Haru and Ren. So naturally I'd look at the source material if it adds any more context to why a very grown man in his mid twenties should be interested in a teenager. But unfortunately I did not find said context, even after thirty plus chapters.

In my other reviews of the anime I already explained why it's harmful to normalize relationships like that as it reinforces how codependency begins and how it can ... be very unhealthy especially at such a young age for someone like Ren, who's already had to deal abuse and neglect early in his life.

This leads me to my first critique of this manga: The Story.

I gave this a 2 because I feel like after the many chapters I read, I don't know where the author is going. It's hard to tell if I'm still at the beginning of the story or are we somewhere near the end. For whatever reason a lot of plot points raised in the story are either not resolved in any satisfying way, or they where dropped and never seen or heard from ever again..

For instance, in one of the chapters, the cafe was pretty much ransacked, I know it's technically a spoiler but if we were to take this part out of the story, it wouldn't change the trajectory of what happens. We don't even find why it happens or even who did it. We can pretty much say that for most of the drama that happens, if it doesn't add or change anything to the story, then it's just drama for drama sake.

This manga seems to avoid answering of the major problems or trauma surrounding either of the main characters. That leads me to my second problem: The Characters.

I also gave this a 2, at first I thought this was just a problem of the anime due to pacing which of course happens with many adaptations. But after reading the Manga, there's still a lot of questions about the characters I have that didn't get an explanation.

Ren's probably the only exception to this, seeing how we're mostly following what he's doing for most of the manga, we know his motivations and why he does certain things. Fundamentally this is a coming of age story for Ren if we take the romance out if it.

But that leave the big problem of characterization to the other main character Haru. After 38 chapters, there's still a lot we don't know about him. After the first few chapters we aren't even sure what his motivations are as a character after he moves in with his brothers and opens his cafe. The times we are let in to his perspective it doesn't really explain what he's thinking and why he's thinking it. He doesn't like talking about his past but we aren't told why in much detail. Just having a chapter or two on him could help him be more developed, being pretty or handsome isn't enough to be an interesting character.

The same could be said for the secondary characters in this manga, some of which are more interesting to learn about than even Haru at times. Whenever a new character is introduced I know that their presence isn't really going to affect the long term of the story, so there's not a point to be invested.

The Art, I gave a 7 and it's one of the things that I didn't hate. It's nice, but when you think of the overall topics covered in the story? It gets a bit creepy, almost like a midsommar vibe when I ignore what else is going on because it looks good.

Overall I found it hard to stay immersed in the story because there's just not much substance.

Where do I even begin with the 2nd Season of Super Lovers, somehow it's even worse than season 1. It takes all of the problems from season 1, no plot, lack of development of main characters, and overall creep factor and multiplies it by 10. Ren is becoming a young adult and he wants to start pulling his own weight, but everytime he tries to take a step forward there's something (someone) holding him back. That someone is Haru, and like others have said he's a big problem in this series in season 1, but this again is amplified in season 2.

I ... guess the problem for me is Haru's characterization, again he doesn't really change much in this season, there not really any satisfying explanation as to why he is the way he is other than quick snippets of what happened to his mom and stepdad, his own trauma never was expanded upon and in some ways it seems obvious that his trauma was never dealt with healthily but we aren't shown to how it affects him now other than a vague health problem that is never mentioned after said episode even after we are told he's completely healthy. Strangely enough for a flat protagonist, his moods change in an instant almost like Jekyll and Hyde, in one moment he acts like a caring and concerning person who'd do everything for his brothers and in the next moment when nobody is watching he turns into a self serving jerk who only seems to care about satisfying himself and not about how his actions and words can affect Ren(an abused minor nonetheless), someone he claims to care about.

Here we're introduced to a *rival* Natsuo, but like the other characters in the story except for maybe Ren, he doesn't have a lot of development. He plays second fiddle to Haru, and we learn nothing about him until the last episode. Just as soon as he's introduced in the story, he kinda fades to back ground when he's served his role as rival.
Natsuo probably does better to do his own thing than be jealous, at least he seems more self aware than some people.

The major disappointment of the season was seeing how Ren, was essentially blocked at every opportunity to improve his life and perhaps deal with his own trauma and insecurities just because Haru was being selfish and petty. Haru gets mad at Ren's recklessness but takes no responsibility in allowing the situation to happen, it's no secret that teens who aren't properly taught about sex ed, tend to make mistakes, had Haru been honest I doubt it would have played out like it did. Course if Ren was taught proper sex education, then he'd know about consent, which is likely why Ren isn't allowed to learn said subject cause it's not in Haru's agenda to ever be held accountable for his actions cause he's perfect and pretty and never does anything wrong.

I like characters like Ren, and if he were in another genre, his story would likely be a lot different. But because this a romance show and characters can't live without each other without dieing,(actual quote). I'll feel like he'll never get the ending he deserves, because let's face it Haru is an abuser and he doesn't seem to feel much remorse because he does the same thing over and over again. Doesn't matter if Ren is 15 or 150, what Haru's doing is wrong and sets a tone for how unhealthy relationships start, especially in the LGBT community with the stereotypes of bisexual people being inherently promiscuous or that gay men are predators.

When I initially saw this anime I naively thought it would be like Barakamon, cute story and generally loveable characters. Despite the bright cover art, this is as far as you can possibly get from it.. The show's premise is of a 20 something year old man (Haru), pursuing a relationship with a 15 year old(Ren)... And some how that's supposed to be cute, or acceptable, and nobody should question the status quo about this very problematic relationship.

In real life and in anime I have no problem with age gaps as long as it's between consenting adults. But the problem here is that ... Ren is a minor, an abused minor, and there in lies the problems with the relationship with Haru and effectively the series as a whole, because without the romance there's not much plot here. This BL anime like other popular works in this genre are shown in a bright cheery note as a cute romance show, but as I said one of the characters is a minor. Despite the sparkles and weird floating geometric shapes, the actual story of the relationship is pretty dark when you think about it.

Haru is responsible for Ren's wellbeing, but seems unaware about a lot of things given the fact he's responsible for raising him essentially. We have to assume that Haru knows about some of the things Ren had gone through, he even mentions it in the first episode, but past that it seems like he doesn't know why Ren is acting the way he is or he just simply does not care like he says he does. For instance if someone doesn't like to be touched, kissed or hugged, you don't keep forcing yourself on them, this is typical behavior in those who've been abused physically, and that's the only abuse we're told about. This constant violation of boundaries continues for much of the series, Ren does or says something contrary to what Haru wants and Haru pretty much forces himself on Ren to get the result that Haru wants. It makes me think that Haru doesn't care if he comes off as abusive, that's horrible.

Ren is probably the saving grace of the show because he is fundamentally different than what he was at the beginning of the season, he has growth, but I can't say the same for Haru he really doesn't change at all even though he's supposed to be the main character and *love* interest. I also generally like the supporting cast, especially Haruko, I'd almost rather see a series of her and Ren, then Haru and Ren. Tanuki might also be my favorite character even more than the people in this show.

The art is also another thing I didn't hate, yes it's generic and stiff, and there's errors in animation. But given the fact there's still not a lot of Yaoi anime out there even now, it's not the worst out there.

Overall I stuck with watching the series because I like to hate watch, and like to make myself mad over fictional characters. If your unable to turn your brain off to watch this show, you probably aren't going to like this.