2008-06-20 Loveless Volume 3 - The Volume of the Absolute Toy Master II

As the storyline of "Loveless" continues, Ritsuka and Soubi are still butting heads trying to figure one another out. Ritsuka is confused by Soubi's apparent inability to just say what he wants out loud, and by Soubi's insistence on receiving orders rather than requests. Meanwhile, the puzzle of his brother's murder hangs over him. A chance occurrence leads to a major breakthrough.

The world Yun Kouga creates in "Loveless" is fascinatingly complex, and multi-layered. The characters are all complex, even those who play bit parts, such as Ritsuka's friend Yukio Hawatari, and Soubi's friend Kio Kaido. Some people may find themselves put off by the shota-con implications of the relationship between Soubi and Ritsuka, although my own reading of it is that the relationship is much more along the lines of pure dominant/submissive (Soubi is so sub it's frightening at times) than of any particular gender orientation. The artwork is fascinating (to the point where I'm wanting to learn to read Japanese, just so I can find out whether the characters in the backgrounds of some of the images are relevant to the plot) and while the dialogue occasionally has clumsy moments, I'd be willing to put these down as artifacts of the translation process.