Junjou Romantica also follows the story of two other couples loosely connected to Masaki and Usami’s “Romantica.”Įgoist shows the very passionate, but often complicated, relationship between university professor Hiroki Kamijou (whose life has reached an all time low) and pediatrician Nowaki Kusama, who falls for Hiroki at first sight and would do anything to make him happy. However, Masaki is about to find out that Usami’s books are of a very naughty genre, and that there may be something naughty waking up inside Masaki as well. In order to reduce the stress of studying, or so he hopes, he accepts the help of his older brother’s best friend, and famous author, Akihiko Usami. Misaki Takahashi is a regular high school student who is preparing for his university entrance exams. The first season of the anime aired during the Spring 2008 comprises of 12 episodes, all animated by Studio Deen… yeah… let that sink in… Like the manga, the anime follows the romantic exploits of three (later four) couples, with the bulk of the story focusing on the relationship between popular novelist, Misaki Takahashi and Akihiko Usami. It is by far Nakamura’s longest and most popular series, spawning a number of other media, including: Drama CDs, an anime with three seasons, OVAs and specials, a light novel series, and a spin-off manga, Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi. But, for the purposes of this review, I’m going to focus solely on the first season of the 2008 anime, and not so much the source material or any of the supplemental media.
Junjou Romantica (roughly translates to Pure Romance) is based on an ongoing BL (boys’ love) manga series of the same name by Shungiku Nakamura that is currently sitting pretty with 21 volumes since it’s 2003 release. So, before I get into my gripes about the first season of Junjou Romantica, I should first give a bit of background about the series… *ahem*
So, in a rather unprecedented turn of events I’m actually going to attempt to write a proper anime review here on Nice Job Breaking It, Hero ( I already write reviews over at MANGA.TOKYO, so don’t get used to it)… Also, y’all can thank Kat over at for this, this is purely for her… Let’s get this review on the road, shall we? Spoiler Alert: I was not amused, in fact I was horrified to discover that this was the series that sparked many a BL journey! This is the BL anime that people fondly celebrate and praise… Junjou Romantica is problematic as hell! But, does that really make it a bad anime? Or is it a seriously flawed, but ultimately salvageable anime?Įh, that’s still up for debate. So, when I finally sat down to watch Junjou Romantica, a series people have been recommending to me for years, lets just say I had high hopes. To make matters worse, I have read and watched some truly amazing BL/yaoi over the years, and it has spoiled me a bit for some of the older much more flawed “classics” the genre has to offer. On the other hand, I started Junjou long after I’d been in the BL fandom, so I just don’t have any nostalgia for the series the same way I do with Finder. The steamy smut, was definitely appealing, but upon subsequent readings (especially those first few volumes) I find myself actively cringing at how… problematic the whole thing is. I started Finder rather early on in my BL/yaoi journey, at a time when I was still figuring what I liked and didn’t like from the genre. So why am I “okay” with Finder, but not okay with Junjou? Well, part of it has to do with when I started both series. But, the infinitely lighter BL classic Junjou Romantica just rubs me the wrong way. I should clarify that I rather enjoy problematic BL/yaoi, hell, I absolutely adore Yamane Ayano’s Finder Series, it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. So I don’t usually write anime reviews here, but, after watching season 1 of Junjou Romantica I have some strong feelings about the series as a whole, none of them good.