First Impression – Super Lovers
Pedobear approves
Wow, a yaoi right when I’m active again! That’s like, so not a coincidence. I-it’s not like I planned it or anything like that!
A part of me (around 75%) feels happy because they’re making an anime out of Super Lovers. In case the art looks similar, yes they do have the same mangaka. It’s no other than out lovely Miyuki Abe whose works are mostly yaoi, and Hakkenden is one of her successful non-yaoi breakthroughs. Now, it’s complete with the appearance of Super Lovers! Super Lovers is one of those yaoi that actually have plots, and the plot revolves around two pairs of step-brothers who are slowly falling in love with each other as they both seek comfort from one another.
Of course, since this is the first episode, we were only given the part where Haru meets Ren for the first time. In here we are given the history of Haru and Ren’s close relationship which will be one of the most important factors in future episodes later on. Apparently Ren is a stray kid who was abused in an orphanage, and Haru’s mother took him in due to sympathy and how “similar they are”? I love how some yaoi tries to be philosophical but then looks silly due to the lack of depth in the explanation. Ehm, anyway, the two spend beautiful moments and become closer together, and Haru promises that he will live with Ren if Ren lives in Japan. Sounds beautiful, right?
It’s the cold development of your love life, story, animation, background music. Basically everything
Except it doesn’t. I spent 25 minutes watching it, and not a single flower blooms from my heart. I mean, I am the type of person who sobs easily on sad or touching scenes, but my heart didn’t move an inch after I finished watching it. The so-called touching brotherly moments done between Haru and Ren are too cliché. I know it’s cliché already since I do read the manga, but god it was terrible in the first episode. Not only they were cliché, but they were also stiff and too predictable to point where it’s downright annoying. Especially the climax, god. I don’t mind illogical things in yaoi anime at times because well, it’s yaoi anime, but when you’re looking for someone in the forest while raining and you don’t use your five damn dogs, you’re just plain stupid. Moreover, the things Haru and Ren do are not brotherly at all. I know male friends with little brothers and none of them do the things Haru and Ren do. Well, maybe some do, but it’s not something you can commonly see between brothers. The brotherly bond between the two characters are too romanticized. That’s why I can never see the relationship between the two only “just brothers” because it’s obvious their act is beyond brotherly act. Maybe… bromance?
Justified, Ren and Haru are no ordinary people. Haru was raised as a non Nihon-jin, and Ren’s origin…. is just a big lump of mess. Maybe because Haru is too “American-ish”, so becomes a very romantic person. MAYBE. As for Ren, he has never been exposed to civilization and kind of hang around with inu only, so I can see how he sees Ren’s treatment as something natural. Besides, it’s good how Miyuki Abe actually creates history between them, making the intimacy between them explainable. This way, the (obvious) future relationship between the two won’t be just an out-of-nowhere thing.
It was OK for a first episode. Not good, but not bad either. The brotherly atmosphere attempted between the two definitely failed since it didn’t feel brotherly at all, but it is pretty impressive for yaoi since there is no love-at-first-sight moment. Just “yo whaddup bro, hang out with me bro” moments. Miyuki Abe depicts Ren as an odd character, and I love the little details she gives to add more vibe to Ren’s oddness (sleeping in the garage with the dogs, using the word “ningen” instead of “hito” when he talks about people). The backgrounds are pretty cool with Alberta scenery (at least, that’s how it looks like since there are mountains, forests, and rivers?), and the color for Haru’s eyes are really pretty. The art isn’t top notch though, since it looks extremely different with Miyuki Abe’s art. Whatever it was, it was a decent start for a first episode of a yaoi series. I just hope I won’t encounter…. The problem I have with the manga here in the anime.
Preview: Same look, but with eyes that no longer shine.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
This is my sentiment. If felt breezy in some scenes when it should have tightened up, and a bit tight when it should have relaxed. And it felt oddly paced; I didn’t get a sense of progress from one scene to the next.
Other than that, it’s follow-able. DEEN was being a bit to DEEN in relation to the boy’s height; sometimes he looked six other times he looked twelve…either that or the rest of the cast shrunk or grew off camera.
Oh, and it would be ShotaCat that would approve this show….
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
Yeah the transition was awkward, dunno why. There was no problem in the manga though, so I wonder how it became like this.
Didn’t know pedobear got family
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Of course pedobear has got family. You cannot gender discriminate!
Delicious young shotas… mmm…
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Thinking it carefully again, *technically* pedobear also loves little boys since “pedo” is child and not just exclusively limited to girls. 2 cents here.