Another first for the UK scene with the first shounen-ai/yaoi anime full on in the UK….
What They Say:
“Three very different couples caught up in a storm of pure romance!
Romantica: Misaki is struggling to prepare for his college entrance exams, so his brother arranges for a private tutor. But Misaki’s nightmare is just beginning when his tutor, Usami, comes on to him! How will Misaki ever manage to pass his exam?
Egoist: Just when Kamijou’s life is at its lowest, he has a chance meeting with a man who ever lets anything hold him back. Nowaki, his name means “typhoon”, and he’s about to take Kamijou on a whirlwind ride that will turn everything upside-down.
Terrorist: Miyagi always seems to shrug off the cares of the world with a joke and a smile. But even he has problem, although he doesn’t let them show. Foremost is Shinobu, a relentless young man who’s adamant that they’re destined to be together.”
The Review:
Audio:
The audio has 2.0 release in Japanese only, and whilst the Japanese release was high quality to the point there was no adjustment to the volume, there were a couple of minor issues I noticed with the lip flaps not syncing with the subtitles (English only) – this was rare but did notice it in a couple of episodes, otherwise there were no other issues regarding sound quality, echoing, synching with subtitles, etc – the quality is high overall, just a shame no English dub (especially as at least one yuri series that got a UK release did get one).
Video:
The video is set in full screen format with the show combining animation and colour in a more traditional sense, with no real problems with the subtitles, and to my surprise it is an older series (2008) albeit one that has some sequels (one due out in the UK in November) – despite this, the animation is clear, tight and flows well on a Blu-Ray release and the animation is much more standard which is noticeable but refreshing in this day and age, albeit does give it a bit more of a dated feel (some series like Angelic Layer recently still feel fresh with the style of animation, maybe as the colour scheme is much more used).
Packaging:
There was no packing for this test release.
Menu:
The menu is very basic – we have on the first disc an image of Misaki and Usami and on the 2nd disc we have an image of Hiroki and Nowaki on the white background with the menu below them as Play All, Episodes and on disc 2, credits and Extras (no options for subtitles on and off as one track in Japanese) – it works fine, it is quick with selection and you have a pop-up menu in the show that can return you whilst the show is still playing – works but is very basic and uninteresting (though the opening theme in the background is VERY catchy…)
Extras:
The only extras are on the 2nd disc which are the show’s credits, the clean opening and ending, and a few promo videos.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Junjo Romantica is, as far as I know, the first yaoi show that has had a full release in the UK and at least on Blu-Ray, and the first one I’ve reviewed too. Based on a manga still running (debuted in 2003) this is a series that is very intriguing simply on the way it sets itself up – basically with three pairings with some mingling with each other, but telling their own stories separately but in the same area. Whether this changes in the future knowing there are sequels out, I don’t know but with the title translating as ‘pure-hearted’ there are definitely some…issues with at least that…
Now obviously I’m not the target audience, but I definitely have no problems with and with shows like Yuri On Ice being really popular (I loved it myself) it is being treated as a genuine romance story with 3 couples on focus here. Taking it with that mentality, it does have some issues…
Our primary characters are Misaki, the younger brother of a man named Takahiro…who seems to have a male interested in him named Usami…who also is a well known author of books…particularly boys love manga and fiction. However, whilst some comedy ensues (with Misaki being tutored by him as well), it leads to some angst when Takahiro is engaged to a woman, he suddenly begins to turn his feelings onto Misaki. Misaki in turn starts living with him after his brother leaves, and he gets into the school of his choice, albeit with people wondering why Usami, a famous author, is giving him lifts to school…and when one friend does ask him about this, Usami gets rather aggressively jealous…
…this is where I have a few issues with this pairing for the moment – not only is there an age difference (Misaki is 16, Usami is 28) but it does come off very Christian Grey like of ‘you’re mine and only mine’ which can be a bit uncomfortable especially when they have sex after it and it seems to work in terms of the two falling in love so…
The second couple follows in a separate story which has links a little because the protagonist of this romance Hiroki was a childhood friend of Usami and did like him, however is interrupted by someone hitting him accidentally with a toy rocket named Nowaki. With Hiroki’s thoughts being upsetting, Nowaki goes to cheer him up and the two become friends, with Nowaki asking him to become his tutor for an exam. Needless to say being the series it is, Usami visits during a session but Nowaki releases Hiroki’s thoughts and before anything can go further, confesses to Hiroki. Hiroki dismisses him at first completely, but his thoughts are filled with nothing but him and the two do get together.
It quickly changes back to Misaki/Usami’s story (with the introduction of Usami’s editor Aikawa, a beautiful woman which at first causes jealousy ) which is quite amusing when he accidentally gets drunk and confesses, but once sober stubborningly admits he does, but then we get back into Hiroki/Nowaki’s story as that episode was in fact a flashback, and episode 5 goes 6 years later after that, Nowaki has been in America and apparently left there without telling Hiroki, but the two settle down as Hiroki is now a professor at Japanese Literature at the same university Misaki goes to…which brings us another character which soon becomes part of the third coupling in another professor Miyagi. However, the big thing is that Nowaki seems to be leaving him and thus the two break up despite Nowaki trying to reason with him (and the two clearly still in love with each other) – not helping that Miyagi jokingly flirting with Hiroki making Nowaki think something else…
The two miss each other at a restaurant, cementing both of them thinking they don’t love the other, but the two basically have a rush and catch up as they explain everything, which strangely makes this relationship the most normal of the three (especially as you learn Nowaki leaving for America was actually Hiroki’s fault) and the one that is closest in age (4 years difference) and the two having careers, no real baggage in terms of controlling, and the most equal of the two. (Granted Hiroki can be a bit of a jerk as shown when he is one of Misaki’s teachers but with Nowaki being an orphan and his work ethic being his goal, his love at first sight with Hiroki is a bit of a stretch but not unreasonable).
We return to Misaki who despite having sex with Usami many times is still unsure if he is his lover, so after some jealousy because he knows little about Usami’s past which could have been interesting, but it just becomes at that time about Usami happy Misaki was jealous – however it does lead to Takahiro coming back to Toyko and wanting to take Misaki with him to Osaka, and with Misaki thinking he is a burden to Usami he agrees, but whilst he initially is fine with the family atmosphere, when Takahiro starts complaining about Usami he gets upset and lonely, and the feeling seems to be mutual with Usami – here we learn about Misaki’s past which was that he blames himself for the death of his parents and Misaki tries his best to be a super nice guy who doesn’t burden him, making him quite the heroic character when you look at it in this angle. It leads to the two reuniting and Usami asking Misaki if he wants to stay with him, so the couple now seems to have a bit more solidity…see how this goes.
We go back to Hiroki and learn of his friendship with Usami and how the two seems to be interested in each other – but it does lead to seeing a bit of Usami’s back-story with his parents and how he got into becoming an author. Again, the past is mingled with the present because the previously mentioned Miyagi now gets his angle, as it opens up with a teen named Shinobu confession to him…who is also his ex-brother in law.
Yeah, this one is a bit complicated and probably the worst in terms of reasoning and age difference (35 years old vs. 18 years old)…albeit is also the one with currently the least focus but still…
3 years prior we see another love at first sight scenario when Miyagi saves Shinobu from some thugs but Shinobu has a more ‘it’s destiny we should be together’ mentality despite him marrying his sister – however in present day with Miyagi now divorcing her, Shinobu has returned from studying abroad to fulfil said destiny, not helped by Miyagi being forced to house him for the time being. Realising Shinobu is serious, Miyagi tries to be conflicting with him but we learn of Miyagi’s past with Shinobu trying to dig into it, but it goes too far and it ends with Miyagi chasing him just as he’s about to leave the country….it kind of just ends there so most likely more information in the sequel but as said, least amount of development and definitely the least interesting of the pairs.
The show ends with a bit of a celebration for Usami as he has won an award, which Misaki didn’t know about and feels excluded – we get a bit more about Usami’s family (his older brother gets introduced Haruhiko) and ends rather comically to be honest, but it just again feels like there is more to be learned especially about Usami’s past which is the driving point of his whole character.
Because at the moment, the show just seems like it wants to go further in terms of the character development, learns about the past, etc – but then just ends as the more aggressive character saying that they are jealous and then just kiss and/or have sex at it. Nothing explicit is shown of course, but it almost feels like a show where it is just basically going into sex without anything to really show for it. With the exception of the 2nd couple of Hiroki and Nowaki, it does feel like the show has plenty of build up, but not enough subsistence to carry the story forward.
That said, the fact these separate couples do have some connection with each other (Hiroki used to be in love with Usami, him being Misaki’s teacher, Miyagi being a colleague of Hiroki’s, etc) suggests definite potential for the future when everything is connected, though if we’re being honest, it is one part story and one part romance and beyond is the focus, and in terms of it’s obvious audience it succeeds in doing the latter part…just needs to work on the former…
In Summary:
At times, this show seems to be quite sweet in depicting the relationships between the first two pairings (the third not so much) but on the other hand, sometimes it feels like in particular between Misaki and Usami that when problems occur, it just leads to sex sorting out the problem or Usami trying to control Misaki’s social life. Whilst it seems to get better, with plenty more to explore we need to see how the future holds, because whilst the romance side of this show is definitely up there, the development is slowly getting there and just needs that extra push before this show becomes something more than just a bit of fan service. Definitely interested to see where this goes though…
Features:
Japanese 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Clean Opening, Clean Ending, Japanese Promos
Content Grade: B-
Audio Grade: B-
Video Grade: B
Packaging Grade: N/A
Menu Grade: B-
Extras Grade: C-
Released By: Anime Limited
Release Date: October 29th, 2018
MSRP: £22.99
Running Time: 650 minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
PlayStation 4, Sony Bravia 32 Inc EX4 Television, Aiwa 2 Way Twin Duct Bass Reflex Speaker System.
