Plot Details: This opinion reveals no details about the movie's plot.

Loveless Volume 3: Hope on the Run Created by Yun Kouga

Warning: This is a Yaoi review.  Yaoi is a Japanese Graphic Novel featuring romances between men, written for women, by women.  They can range from sweet school boy romances, to quite steamy.  And considering the Japanese view of sex is much more...liberal than ours, they can be, at times, disturbing.  So, if this is not your cup of tea, well, you have been warned.  And while we are at it, we are going to teach you a new word.  Yuri.  Yuri is Yaoi, but with girls.  Yes, there are young high school girl mystic assassins making out with each other.  Hhn!  That's what I thought.  A lot of you men that were going to skip this one are now reading.  *Tsk* What is the world coming to?

Still with me?  Let's recap.  Agatsuma Soubi (Katsuyuki Konishi) and Aoyagi Ritsuka (Junko Minagawa) have been thrown together by fate.  Soubi was part of a wizard pair with Ritsuka's older brother Seimei.  His death should have killed Soubi.  It added to Ritsuka's extensive problems, including total amnesia prior to two years ago, and his mother's deteriorating mental health, and abusive treatment of him.  Incidentally; all children are Kenomomimi, born with cat ears and tails.  They lose them with their cherries.

Now assassin pairs are coming after Soubi and Ritsuka.  Breathless, Sleepless, Zero (kids) and Zero (Lesbians.) Each set is more dangerous than the one before.  And the vows that bind Soubi to Ritsuka also prevent him from telling the kid anything.

Now, finally, we are getting a peek behind the workings; we knew that the Zeros are artificially created, and do not feel pain.  This is both a strength, and a weakness.   Their creator, Dr. Nagasi (Sanae Kobayashi) is a beautiful, callus monster, locked in a battle of wills with Dr. Ritsu (Takehito Koyasu) who was apparently the patron of Beloved: Soubi and Seimei.  And it appears that all the battles, all the suffering are nothing more than her attempt to get one up on her colleague.

In the mean time, Ritsuka worries a lot about his past memories.  He seems to feel that if the ten years of memory he lost come back, they will wipe out his two years of existence (It doesn't work that way, but go with us here.)  He is finally building a world.  He likes people again.  And they, for the most part, like him.  Yuiko has a crush on him.  His therapist has a crush on him.  Soubi has the same problems; his friend Koi has a crush on him, and so does Ritsuka's teacher, the virginal Miss Shinonome.  In fact, it can safely be summed up nobody likes anybody unless they are somehow unattainable.  Youyi has a crush on Yuiko, which she won't return because she's stuck on Ritsuka.

Now there is a lot of creepiness going on in the relationship between Soubi and Ritsuka, so I will drop a spoiler here.... (Skip ahead if you don't want to know.)  Everyone comes out with their ears intact. (Spoiler over.)

Still, there are many mysterious unanswered, and we will just have to wait for season two to discover who and what Septimal Moon is, and why Seimei died.

This is a ripping good Anime.  It sits on the boarder of being a Yaoi, and a Yuri, though the relationships never get much further than kissing.  Still, the implication, and the tension is there.  It is also an angst fest; Soubi desperately needs someone to order him around; it seems to be part of the paired wizard condition.  Ritsuka hates any sort of coercion, or following the crowd.  One gets the impression that his mother gets upset when he does not act like himself before the incident that lost him his memories.  His behavior is clearly born of resentment for that fact.

This alone tells you this is not a simple anime, with staged fights, but something more.  It is poignant and disturbingly beautiful.

This review, like Ritsuka, is Lean-N-Mean.  It weighs in at a concise 666 words.

The Loveless Saga:

Lost and Found
Soul of Chains.
Hope on the Run.
The Complete Saga.

Gay Movies:

La Mission***Burnt Money***8: The Mormon Propo$ition***In The Flesh***The Sensei***The 24th Day***Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon***ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction***East Side Story***Dorian Blues***Creatures From the Pink Lagoon***Satyricon***Ice Men***Richard O'Briens Rocky Horror Tribute Show***Prom Queen***The Kids are All Right***Between Love and Goodbye***The Mudge Boy***That Man: Peter Berlin***A Single Man***Almost Normal***Outing Riley***Outrage!***Law of Desire***Love is the Devil***Cowboy Junction***Horror in the Wind***Bedrooms and Hallways***Cut Sleeve Boys***Big Eden***For A Lost Soldier***Midnight Cowboy***Redwoods***The Massuer***Boy Culture***Breakfast With Scot***The Fluffer***Flesh***Little Ashes***L.I.E. ***Dorian Gray***9 Dead Gay Guys***Shank***I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry***Beautiful Boxer***Bangkok Love Story***Schoolboy Crush***Shelter***Back Soon***Dog Tags***Theft***The Mulligans***The Velvet Goldmine***Swashbuckler***Smoke Signals
***C'Thulhu***Milk***The Picture of Dorian Gray***Brideshead Revisited***Notes on a Scandal***RocknRolla***Mamma Mia!
***Priscillia: Queen of the Desert***The History Boys***Brokeback Mountain***The Broken Hearts Club*** Yaji and Kita: Midnight Pilgrims ***Surge of Power ***In & Out ***Mambo Italiano ***Touch of Pink ***To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar ***Wolves of Kromer ***Rocky Horror Picture Show ***Taboo ***Deathtrap 


Gay Themed Series:

Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Dante's Cove
Hex
Carnivale Season One
Carnivale Season Two
Rome Season One
Rome Season Two
True Blood
True Blood: Season Two
The Book of Daniel: The Complete Series
Torchwood: Children of Earth
Torchwood: Season One


Gay Animation:

Pirate's Booty***Sensitive Pornograph***Loveless: The Complete Series***Loveless: Hope on the Run***Loveless: Soul of Chains***Loveless: Lost and Found***Embracing Love: A Cicada in Winter***Embracing Love: Cherished Spring ***Stonewall & Riot***Drawn Together Movie: The Movie***Drawn Together: Season 2***Drawn Together: Season 3

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age