First Impressions – Love Stage!!

*Metanorn fangirls and Fosh crying tears of joy*

I actually was only mildly interested in Love Stage!! until I watched the episode. Now I’m dying from moe overload. …Send help.

 

KARA FEELS GAY AND I ALSO FEEL GAY AND I’VE NEVER FELT THIS GAY IN MY ENTIRE ANIME LIFE BEFORE         (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧✧✧✧✧✧✧

 

The befores and afters that turned men gay

Main Character with Charm // Actually, I can totally relate to Ryouma here. Not that I’ve ever found out that a childhood crush of mine was actually the opposite gender, but HOLY SHIT Izumi is absolutely adorable. Male, female, whichever (both versions are good), his reactions to things is just too cute. “Charm” was the way that anaaga explained Izumi’s character it to me, and that seems like a good word. Really, Izumi does have a charm to him, even if he was introduced as a hopeless otaku who wasn’t really going anywhere in life. Hell, Izumi managed to catch Ryouma’s attention after a single meeting, and his whole family seems to dote on him in one form or another. …Maybe Rei is an exception (not that he’s really related, but it’s close enough), since Izumi seems to maybe have a thing for him instead of the other way around, but Rei probably is just using tough love. So long story short, Izumi seems to have something about him that draws people in. This trait will probably be good for his entertainment career, provided that he continues on after this commercial. Also, hopefully Ryouma isn’t too put off that Izumi is actually male, because this romance looks like it will be super cute. …Or at least, Izumi’s reactions to things should be super cute.

Non-gay characters with faces!

A satisfying episode // I have nothing much to say because the whole episode consists of Izumi’s adorable gay phenomenon, but I can say I’m definitely satisfied with everything here. So far they’re being consistent with the manga, from the beginning until the end. They even included Izumi’s daily routine, something minor that plays a big role at describing Izumi’s personality. I like how JC Staff actually cares about the little details that are somehow pivotal for the characters, especially Izumi. The pace of the story is pretty slow in the first half, but it was good at building up the climax of this episode. Some manga readers think that the cliffhanger is not like how they expected it to be (there’s a surprising scene next week that will made everybody go ASDFGHJKL), but I think the cliffhanger is good enough for the anime viewers

Too beautiful to be straight

Besides Izumi and the consistent plot, I think the other characters are pretty awesome too. I love how ignorant the mother is and how the father dotes at his wife so much. Even though they’re not the best model parents, it’s nice seeing a hetero pairing that actually has a role in the story. And the female stylists! Though they look the same, they seem to be fun characters. The same goes with Rei and Shougo. I was totally surprised when I found that that Free!!’s Rei seiyuu also voices the Rei in Love Stage!! www, it’s as if this anime is the sequel of Free!! This just proves that Hirakawa Daisuke is the perfect tsundere voice. Speaking about voice, DAIGO’s voice sounds hella awkward, and I can see that he still can’t get rid of his weird accent and way of speaking, but it’s cool how JC Staff recruited the person who inspired Shougo’s creation as his VA (DAIGO, the mangaka’s brother, is where the mangaka got the inspiration for Shougo). Imagine yourself being a model for a gay brother complex character. Anyway, the point is, there are still some flaws in this episode, but just like what I did with Sailor Moon Crystal, I’m going to overlook them and enjoy this yaoi show wwww.

More Traps, now with Fosh:

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Gah, like I said, I was only half interested in the premise until I got to the actual episode. Then I sat there the entire time going (*´ω｀*)萌えぇぇぇぇ over pretty much everything Izumi did. I don’t normally find traps any more adorable then other characters, but that combination of character design, character actions and Yonaga Tsubasa is just deadly. I am SO looking forward to seeing how this romance with (presumably) Ryouma goes. Actually, speaking of the romance itself, I can’t even remember the last BL show I saw that was actually BL and not just REALLY CLOSE “friendship” that never went anywhere (…or otoge adaptations that really aren’t supposed to be BL but had obvious undertones are for some reason). anaaga probably knows when the last one aired better than I do, but it seems like it’s been a long time.  Of course, I haven’t read the manga, so this could have been a terrible adaptation without me realizing it, but as for now, I’m definitely sticking around. I don’t even have anything to complain about. The adorableness of the characters right now is blinding.

Holy yaoi jesus I didn’t expect much for this anime only to find it going beyond my expectations. That. Was. An awesome. First episode! And I’m not talking about the yaoi part, though the awesomeness has something to do with yaoi. I mean seriously, the nicest anime yaoi with great animation quality I watched is probably Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, and it was animated by Studio DEEN so yeahhh we all know the definition of nice when it comes to DEEN. But then we all know what happened to Togainu no Chi and other yaoi anime, so Studio DEEN’s Sekaiichi Hatsukoi has been my standard for a “good yaoi anime with good animation quality”… Until I watched Love Stage. Beautiful. Although the mooks were not colored (probably to save money), the animation is still beautiful. The characters were blinking their eyes, and cars actually pas by on the road *stare at DRAMAtical Murder anime*. And did you see Izumi’s eye color? And the other colors that were used in this episode? It was- it was beautiful I can’t *tears of joy* and combine that animation with Zaou Taishi’s beautiful art, Love Stage becomes my standard for a “good yaoi with good animation quality.” SERIOUSLY GUYS ZAOU TAISHI’S ART AND THAT VISUAL COMBINATION IS HEAVENLY. Jeebus I just loved everything about the first episode, from the consistent plot to the animation quality. Good job, JC Staff! Now keep doing this until the last episode, and I might actually like you more!

Preview: Here comes that scene… *drum rolls*