Junjou Romantica: A Word of Advice
Hear ye hear ye~ Especially ye ‘ol [straight] homophobic guys~
If there’s one show you have to be wary of in the coming Spring 2008 anime line-up, it’s probably Junjou Romantica. I never really thought guys would be interested in watching this show, despite the seemingly amusing premise and characters. Hence, it was to my surprise when I found out that psgels was looking forward to this. I already warned psgels about it, and decided to make this post for the benefit of people who are unaware of what they’re plunging themselves into with Junjou Romantica.
By now, you probably know that Junjou Romantica is BL (as if that picture in the official site wasn’t enough proof). At first glance, it might seem like a harmless shounen-ai show, especially with that 「純情」 (junjou) in the title, which means “innocent”. After reading the first volumes of the manga, however, I’ve come to the conclusion that this is so not something an ordinary [straight] guy can bear to watch.
I found this scene really touching, albeit being less touchy-feely. And I think you’ll be better off thinking the manga ended at this point.
If you found Gravitation unbearable, then it’s all the more reason for you to stay away from this show. First of all, in Junjou Romantica, we have triple Brokeback action, as there are three BxB pairs in this series, whose fates are intertwined. There’s Usami x Misaki, whose relationship developed after Usami (the seme) comes into terms with his unrequited love for Takahiro, Misaki’s brother. Usami starts setting his eyes (and whatever faculties of showing ‘love’) on Misaki, after discovering his cute and sensitive (a.k.a “uke”-ness). Misaki also falls for Usami as he realizes his yummy manipulativeness and overall hawtness (=_=”)
For the other relationship in the series, we have Hiroki, who’s consumed by his unrequited love for his childhood friend Usami (Yes, it’s the seme Usami of the previously mentioned “couple”). That is, until Nowaki came into his life like a hurling storm, turning his life of a hopeless love, to one that is full of BL and hawt buttsecks. The third pair in the series involves the colleague of Hiroki, by the name of Miyagi, and his relationship with his student Shinobu. I haven’t read the story of this last pairing, so I don’t know what became the catalyst of their smexyaoi action.
These scenes in the show would’ve great and less damaging, if it wasn’t followed by yaoiness passion afterwards.
Aside from the triple yaoi treat offered by this series, it’s also more explicit and steamy than Gravitation. What’s worse is the lack of drama to justify the fatal attraction between the characters, especially that of Usami and Misaki.
Click at ur own risk. somewhat NSFW.
Junjou Romantica is far from innocent, unlike what the title “Innocent/Pure Love” might otherwise suggest. In just the first few pages of the manga, we already see hawt steamy scenes with Usami and Misaki. As for the events that led to this, let’s just say Misaki faces the consequence of Usami’s wrath, after insulting him for being a cheap gay bastard who fantasizes about his brother. Innocent(?) Misaki easily falls prey into the hands of Usami (literally), and things become all the more steamy when Usami discovers tsundere Misaki’s cute(?) dere side not long after, and Misaki also realizes Usami’s smexyness (albeit being profusely denial and tsundere about it). Then it’s basically buttsecks every chapter, which always starts off with Misaki fending off Usami’s sexual advances, only to end up failing miserably.
The anime will most likely tone down the yaoi-explicitness of the manga, though they’ll just probably minimize the buttsecks, while making the anime still as steamy as possible. The target audience for this are yaoi fangirls (and fanboys?) after all. I might take a peak at the anime, and poke fun at it, but I doubt I’ll be able to stand watching this show till the end (or even halfway). There are other shows in the Spring line-up which would be a more worthy watch, so it’ll be better to focus our time and energies on these instead. Unless, of course, you are the type of person who delights in hawt yaoi fanservice, albeit being nonsense, in which case I am no longer in a position to keep you from watching.
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I already read the first two volumes of the manga, so I know what’s coming.
Plot? Who needs plot when you have hot guys getting it on?!
(Translation: Yes, I will be watching this, at least, until I get bored by the lack of a story i.e. around the third episode or so.)
>>Hear ye hear ye~ Especially ye ‘ol [straight] homophobic guys~
Bigots are bigots, there’s no reason to cater to their idiocy.
sounds interesting…I’ll have to check it out as I was a pretty big Gravitation fan…
I saw the first paragraph of this and was like “Romance? Not interesting to guys? I’ll show you silly usagijen!”
And then it went all BL and whatnot.
The masochist in me (the same one that refuses to delete Moetan) is still screaming DO IT DO IT DO IT if only for one episode. Please do cover the first episode so I can deem whether I can watch it without having to bleach my eyes (only my mind, probably).
Oh, curiosity, you’re going to be the death of me.
No offense and i dont know if this was the intention of this post but it sounded really homophobic
its series like these and the incentive to watch them are what are gonna help people open their minds about homosexuality and tolerance
@flou: hehehe, I know it’s hawt. But it’s really silly when all they do is *that*. I hate to admit it, but I found the antics amusing, just not the buttsecks lol. I might watch a couple of episodes of this too, then drop it :p
@Flak: this post might actually pique the interest of homophobic people
@Stephenie Terry: this one has less drama then Gravitation, and more sensually explicit… which is quite a shame actually. =/
@CCY: LOOOL. I hope you won’t regret your decision later :p There’s a high chance that I will cover at least an ep of this, if only to see how much they toned down the anime
@Vini: just for the record, I’m not homophobic. And even though I hate to admit it, I found the manga amusing, a guilty pleasure I’m restraining myself to be indulged in.
And, I don’t think this is a show I’m going to recommend to people to help them become open-minded about homosexuality. I’d rather recommend Brokeback Mountain, or even Gravitation, and some other less explicit and more dramatic shounen-ai shows, than this one.
I wanted to read this, but I don’t tend to watch the anime afterwards so I’ll let the show give me its own surprises. X3
Damnit, the way everyone is talking about it just makes me want to watch it DX
Maybe I should try reading the first volume of the manga first as well.
Ha, I’ve read the manga and I’m quite prepared for what is to come. And as a self-proclaimed yaoi-fangirl, I’ll watch it.
The problem is that I don’t mind yaoi manga, but the animes tend to be very idiotic and plotless, and they don’t even have the hot buttsecks to make up for it.
Gravitation was barely tolerable and apart from Ai no Kusabi and Loveless I don’t believe I’ve seen a BL anime that was worth it. And I’ve seen more than my fair share.
Well, there’s always the possibility that this one would prove me wrong. Then again, probably not.
I appreciate your post though. A person should be prepared for what is to come :).
Now you’ve piqued my curiosity too. I might just watch and blog it just for the hell of it.
Might be worth it just to see the look on Impz’s face when he sees a yaoi/BL post on his blog. 
>>this post might actually pique the interest of homophobic people
Bargle fargle. I think my point is that WARNINGS of this nature don’t deserve to be written. If some dumbass is put off by what they’re watching because it’s gay, then that dumbass is just that: a dumbass.
And if you mean that this post might *actually* get homophobes to watch the show, then that’d be funny, because they’re only going to hate it or be amused by it…
@Ritsuka: hehehe, we’ll see about the surprises this show will offer
The manga is quite hardcore… ^^:;;
@Nekonron: lol. I think reading the manga will be even more shocking, than trying out the first ep of the anime
@Alexis: Papa to Kiss in the Dark had the buttsecks… but meh… I spit it out of my system after a few minutes of watching x_x
We’ll see about JR… hehe :p
@Briar: nyahaha
Go Briar! My support is with you! >3
@Flak: who knows, perhaps the homophobes themselves might be curious enough to at least take a peek at this
I’d love to see their reactions upon watching this, may it be of hate or amusement XDDD
Hmm, this being a TV series, I seriously doubt that they will show explicit scenes like in the manga–me thinks they’ll tone it down to cater to more viewers (and maybe make BL shows more acceptable with the mainstream market)
Will be looking forward how they’ll work on this adaptation. ^^
Just to let you know, I believe it said in an interview, that the writers and the studio were going to try and make it focus more on the relationship between the three couples =/
Ah, thanks for the warning, Jen. Much appreciated. This line
kinda says it all, which means that it’s a type of show that harps on the fetish (here being yaoi) as opposed to actually telling a story, I assume?
It’s amusing how Flak preaches about bigotry while coming off as a bigot himself in the comments, but eh. The anti-anti-gay agenda can be terrifying at times.
@Roxanne: hmm… I don’t really know what to make of that interview @_@ focus on… relationship? hmmm
@Owen: yep, it’s full of BL fanservice, like 80% or something. I’ll reserver further judgments on the anime until I get to watch it~
Owen—no tolerance for the intolerant.
I agree with you about the multitudes of sex scenes in Junjou Romantica. I first dismissed the manga when I read it since I hated the premise - the whole Usami raping Misaki to punish him thing just had me banging my head against the wall since it was just so ridiculous. However, after being persuaded to read more of the manga due to my favourite coupling of Nowaki and Hiroki, I now really like the manga because the character interactions between Misaki and Usami are hilarious, and Hiroki and Nowaki are such an adorably cute couple.
Although I AM wondering how they’ll deal with the
hawt buttseckz aspect of the series, since there’s just SO MUCH of it in the manga. I’m actually thinking that if they have less of the sex scenes in the anime I’d actually like it much better since there’s more time to see the relationships between the characters. Since really the appeal of the series to me is cute Misaki’s explosive reactions whenever Usami drives him up the wall, as well as Hiroki and Nowaki’s interactions. Nakamura-sensei really excels at writing explosive ukes since Hiroki is really funny too whenever he gets embarrassed and starts throwing stuff at Nowaki. XDXDXD
Actually, I kind of wished that you’d focused more on the humour of the series as well as the character relationships in your review as opposed to scaring away potential viewers by mostly talking about the pr0ny content. I’m not criticising you, though, since I understand why you’d want to do that; I know most male anime watchers can’t stand this kind of thing and it’s probably a good thing that you’re warning them away before they get traumatised. :p I just wish that the review was a bit more fair so as to allow people to give the series a chance before deciding whether they want to watch it or not.
@modorenai: hehehe, I guess the irony of my post wasn’t so obvious? rest assured (?) that I was being a pretentious tsuntsun in this post, because I am interested in watching this show, for the LOLz
I just hope they tone down the buttsecks so I can enjoy this with less guilty pleasure =__=”’
and, I do plan on making funny posts for this one, perhaps a little sarcastic in tone, but hopefully still funny
I’m perverted gurl, I can’t wait to watch this
Junjou Romantica anime is surprisingly much better than I expected.
(silence) I can’t believe it.
I just watched this today by chance and loved it. I have yet to read then manga (which I intend to after I post this..). It’s not really that graphic. They don’t really show anything really. (and I don’t mind smut). They show Usami in certain position with Mizaki but nothing too outrageous. I’m enjoyed watching this.
@yaoifangirl: well the manga is outrageous
I’d think the manga is like 70% lulz and 30% sweet + serious, or something :p
i totally love the anime!
Lol. It looks like this blog didn’t work so well with warding people away from watching/reading Junjou Romantica, rather than incensed people to do so.
Haha for you.
Open your minds, everyone, to the fact that just because people don’t fit your definition of normal, doesn’t mean they aren’t. Everyone has their own perspectives, and if people are truly wise, they would accept not, whether or not they agree.
Junjou Romantica is pretty good for me, including the sexy man actions.
I agree with the author of this blog, that it isn’t recommended for ’straight’ guys, but for squealing fangirls(boys) the plot is pretty exciting, and the quality is superb.
It isn’t redundant like some anime, and each episode has a different plotline. Have fun peoples!
Wow i dont see what is wrong with this anime. Me and my best mate are yaoi fan boys and it aint shameful. Gravitation and loveless are just two of the many greats, this one seems good, might aswell give it a try.
i know how you feel about plotless yaoi but i guess the humor of junjou and hawtness makes up for it. I keep laughing at usagi-san.
and anyway, there are other BL stories I would like to recommend that you won’t get bored.
Count Cain (just manga, slight shounen ai… no real proclamations of that kind of love but you can’t just help but notice the deep connection between the two male characters and some subtle innuendoes. very dark and twisted plots with equally twisted caracters)
Fuyu no Semi/Winter Cicada(lovely historical romance. tragic but very lovely)
