YAY YAOI !!!
Wait, I’m a dude...
We all have this sense of curiosity when you hear something surprising and unexpected. Both Junjou Romantica and Sekaiichi Hatsukoi series have a whooping score of 8. Eight is like the “great” scope of rating here in MAL, and I was shocked when I saw that score. But I really shouldn’t be shocked; only a few people have watched these series, and trust me, I know exactly who and why they rated it so highly. Yaoi is a very delicate genre to begin with and I honestly thought that people would rate this lowly without even watching it (but it
...
would show on your list so there’s that).
And so I watched it. It was embarassing for me at first but it eventually grew on me. Of course, I still am a dude.
I expect that people would disagree at the things I’ll say later on since there are things that non-fujoshis cannot see. Keep in mind that I’m open-minded on these topics, so if I said something offensive, it is not intended to degrade certain views.
You should try watching too so you can expand your mind on homosexual topics (if you can).
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THE GOOD
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LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE
[Comedy]
is surprisingly funny. Slapstick comedy is often used here and the characters usually turn into simple chibi drawings and the background into plain comedy skits. Without thinking that this is yaoi, you would get some kind of satisfaction or engagement and arguably, you would be able to enjoy this. I was honestly surpised by this and I honestly thought that the show would just throw bishounen, yaoi things at me. It can also provide something enjoyable even for dudes like me, and I enjoyed it. Although it can be corny at times, a lot of the jokes used here will definitely tickle your stomach. But of course, you need to have an open-minded view on this since most of the jokes here are yaoi-related.
TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE
[Multiple Barrage of Couples]
There are a total of 6 main couples throughout the Junjou and Sekaiichi series, 3-4 sub-couples more or less also in the series, OVAs, and movies. That was a good thing since I get to know their views on their relationship rather than fixating on a repetetive main couple that keeps appearing on every other episodes. Unfortunately, this part has issues, but I will talk about that later on.
IS THIS THE REAL LIFE? IS THIS JUST FANTASY?
[The Introduction of Contemporary and Societal Issues]
I was sorta relieved when the show introduced couples that are mature(arguably), working men. Again I have an open-minded view on yaoi but not on shotacon. Shotacon is just wrong wtf. Anyways, I never really thought that topics like age gaps, teacher-student complex, divorce, death of a loved one, and job-related hindrances would be talked about. Even the notion of what people may say if they found out that you are dating someone with the same gender(sex) is tackled. I thought that it would just be about a petty love story (which is true in some degree) but it also ventured on what may be “new” to the anime world. It just shows that this kind of anime would even tackle on trivial things. That’s when I realize that this anime is not for those who simply wants to see guys banging each other; it’s for those who are confused with their relationship (heterosexuals included).
This part also has issues and will be talked about later.
NATSUYUKI RENDEZVOUS
[The Terrorist couple]
Of all the couples, the one that struck me the most is the Terrorist (the straight and the blonde young man). I was talking about death, age gaps and teacher-student relationships earlier since he was the most realistic and moving character in these series for me. The Terrorist tries to make the Straight fall in love with him but the Straight wholeheartedly refused because of a certain thing in the past. He even thought the the guy was delusional and affected by the curiousty of youth. More over, their age gap is very long and some people may not accept that. And fuck, he’s straight; he loved a woman, he married a woman, he divorced a woman. That is something I’m looking for especially for a yaoi series since it complicates their relationship and can venture on a more believable romance.
SHOUJO IS STILL A SHOUJO
[Feels exactly like a Shoujo Romance]
Replace their partners with women and it would still feel the same.
So why is it good?
Genre needs to conform with the likes and dislikes of its audience and utilize that to create stories similar to one another. I personally don’t like cliches, but the show stayed true to it’s demographic and that’s a good thing. Who would want yaoi on a masculine anime like JoJo? Hah.
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THE BAD
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WWE’S WRESTLING MATCH
[Too Submissive]
I don’t know much about the Japanese’s view on Yaoi but almost all of the uke (the bottom partner) here just gives in. I mean characters like Misaki are always angry when their partner tries to kiss them, but becomes submissive later on. The ironic thing is that they keep saying that they are not gay. Maybe men in Japan are ok with homosexuality but they don’t certainly bang each other the first day they met. The beginning of Junjou Romantica proves this wherein Usagi suddenly gropes Misaki on his bed. Misaki, arguing that Usagi must stop, never used his arms, body, nor legs to kick him in the nuts. Note that that was Misaki’s (presumably) first yaoi encounter and I don’t think that people would just give in for that. (The utterance of the words “I love you” is a different submissive thing)
Most of the first sexual encounters here are like “I think I like you so I’ll kiss you, even though we’re dudes”. There was never really a provoking reason why they would like that guy. In other words, it’s shallow, and it makes their relationship questionable.
Maybe I’m looking for realism, but the point is that it is not believable.
JOKES ARE NOT FUNNY WHEN USED THE SECOND TIME AROUND
[Too Repetitive]
---Character Design
When you have multiple barrage of characters, you expect them to be completely unique from one another. But nooo, all of the them look overwhelmingly similar. All the ukes are smaller and thinner with similar hairdos (except the second couple). All the semes have almost the same height, same looks, and same jaws (I laughed when I first saw Usagi, his chin was so sharp it would slit Misaki’s throat if he kissed him at the right angle). It was repetitive and honestly I think the artist just got bored with creating another unique face and just rode along with it. At times I was confused on pinpointing the characters since they have little unique features.
---Personality
This is true for almost all of them since they are all a bunch of airheads. Too many misunderstandings and subtle remarks which are seriously easy to negate, got in the way and made me uninterested with their current arc.
The ukes seem to have the same arrogant personality. I know that people would sometimes get irritated with them because I frequently do. They are loud but submissive when groped by the male partner and really, if they’re gonna do that again then at least change their personalities.
The semes are overprotective when they are confronted by a competition so you would expect them to push these suckers away again and again without any real satisfaction from non-romantic viewers like me.
---Problems
The problem with the first couple is that they keep introducing people who have the same kind of interest to Misaki.
The problem with the second couple is that their jobs/careers repeatedly hinder their relationship, which should have been taken care of since that was already fixed, but still, they raised the same misunderstandings and same outcome again and flunked.
The problem with the last couple is that it went too fast. What could’ve been the most interesting couple got pwned by time. Every season, they have an average number of appearances from 1 to 2 episodes. With that kind of number, you would expect them to rush their relationship, which they did by the way that’s why it became stale. That is also true with the last couple of Sekaiichi and I never got any real interest for them.
The last but certainly not the least problem I have encountered with repetitiveness is that the first couple of both Junjou and Sekaiichi are prioritized. They never slated enough equal time for the other couples, that’s why they were tiresome to watch and they keep repeating the same formula over and over again. When the preview shows that the main-main couple will be the spotlight of the next episode, I frown.
WHO RUN THE WORLD? (NOT GIRLS)
[Lack of Female Characters]
I get that this is BOYS LOVE and it would make sense that all main characters are men but c’mon. I could only remember two females throughout both series and honestly, they don’t really shake the show. They’re just there for conversations and character expositions. Oh, and they don’t care about the yaoi relationship going on with the couples. Maybe it’s because I’m a dude, but there are also things that women can only see and perceive especially on feminine things like yaoi. It sucks that we never got to know any view on same-sex relationships from outside parties. But hey, there are many female viewers so there’s that.
IT’S A TRAP!
[Feminizing Masculinity]
In other words, men suddenly becoming gay. There’s not much to say about this since this is a hands-off for me. The problem I have here is the transformation. That’s all I’m conflicted about.
LOVE AND LOGIC
[Lack of Concrete Reasons]
Okay, you think you love him, but your love for someone who doesn’t have a striking good quality except his looks and his great sexual assaults would make you fall in love with him? (I’m talking to you Misaki).
I’ve been saying this again and again, but a great issue of this anime is the lack of believable reasons why they would love their partner. For example, the Straight suddenly took a liking on our dear uke. Why? Because he just feels like it. Note that he dearly misses this certain someone from a certain event, but suddenly he just realized that he want to give that boy a chance because something is stringing his heart. You can make that relationship though, but the only needed thing here is time, which they, unfortunately, don’t have.
I know that this is yaoi and it’s mostly fan-favored, but this is also romance, it has got to be moving.
STICKS AND STONES MAY BREAK MY BONES
[Sexual Assaults]
This is the most arguable thing here since it seems that sexual assaults are “ok” in a sense. You know what they say, actions speaks louder than words. Well technically, just words and light actions would be shounen-ai, but Junjou and Sekaiichi are yaoi; it has action, but it’s usually forced. Though the forced thing is just groping and kissing, the fucking is not forced on the uke.
There is also a possibility that the uke wants that but just acts arrogant, but that’s a different story.
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THE BEST
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SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST
[Sex]
Not gender, but ACTUAL SEX.
Am still a dude yo.
Sex is like the “denouement” of most of the arcs and I think that it’s a good ending for a plotline of a yaoi. It’s all about build-up; you are together, you encounter a problem, you fight, you find the light, you solve it, you confess to one another, you have sex.
If you replace their partners with a female, you know that you feel it’s good. All the tension the story gives to the characters will eventually boom and explode in sex (no pun intended). Though I have never encountered a male-female sex on a non-hentai anime (I think I don’t), I feel that that would be a good ending on a mature anime like this.
Speaking of mature anime, it’s a good thing that almost all characters here are over 20 years old. If it wasn’t then it would be very controversial. *cough* Boku no Pico *cough*.
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FOR DUDES AND GALS WHO WANT TO WATCH
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Don’t watch this if you do not accept (or you’re not open-minded with) yaoi or even yuri. You would just hate this without any reasons story-wise. It’s perfectly fine for a dude to watch this, but make sure that you wouldn’t condemn this simply because you think same-sex relationships are bad. At some point, you man, will question your sexuality, and that’s normal. But as I keep saying over and over again, I am still a dude, so I am your evidence that you shouldn’t feel guilty watching this, also I have a girlfriend so heh. It’s a different story religion-wise so I’m not talking about that.
Personally, I have all the arsenals to hate this not simply because it’s yaoi but because it is not done well. It has all the potential utilities to become a good anime but it did not utilize that and ultimately became shallow. Most of the stories are not-believable and the overly repetitive problems keep appearing on different episodes. The main-main couples are prioritized so it hurt the other couples who also have the potential to become a great yaoi couple. The character design is also repetitive and it did not help remembering which is which. It definitely feels like a shoujo romance but it’s also a good and a bad thing. I also have problem with their submissiveness and sexual assaults that a moralist person like me would definitely question.
I definitely enjoyed this, but again it has some problems that one would expect on a shoujo anime especially a yaoi one. The fujoshis may rain hate on me but I’m just giving my personal opinion (No h8 m8). Again, all things I have said here are completely subjective and are bound to mistakes and misunderstandings. Feel free to watch this if you want to become open-minded with same-sex relationships and understand that what you think about yaoi is wrong in some degree. It provided something unique yet risky, as it would be the bane of all men out there. I’m not sure if I’ll like this if I was a woman (or a fujoshi/fudanshi), but there’s all sorts of hate from society that people cannot change completely.
I rate this a 7/10 by MAL ranking standards. Not a high score, but definitely not a low score; it’s average. And it presented something average, so i rated it like that. (Though I rated it as 5/10 in my list since I rate things differently, besides, 5 is a very low score in MAL and it would be better if I conform with your standards.)
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Mar 31, 2016
Junjou Romantica
(Anime)
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YAY YAOI !!!
Wait, I’m a dude... We all have this sense of curiosity when you hear something surprising and unexpected. Both Junjou Romantica and Sekaiichi Hatsukoi series have a whooping score of 8. Eight is like the “great” scope of rating here in MAL, and I was shocked when I saw that score. But I really shouldn’t be shocked; only a few people have watched these series, and trust me, I know exactly who and why they rated it so highly. Yaoi is a very delicate genre to begin with and I honestly thought that people would rate this lowly without even watching it (but it ... |
