Shonen-ai Review: Gravitation

The anime "Gravitation" is based on the manga by Maki Murakami. It tells two closely intertwined stories; the rise of the pop band Bad Luck, and the love story between the band's vocalist, Shuuichi Shindou, and the famous novelist Yuki Eiri. (All right, three stories, if you count the constant flashbacks into Yuki's dark and tragic history.)

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When the story starts, Bad Luck has found a manager who works for a large record company. If they can come up with a brand new good song by tomorrow, their manager can persuade the president of the company to let Bad Luck open for a bigger band at an upcoming concert at the famous arena Zepp Tokyo. Problem is, Shuuichi, who writes their songs, has no inspiration. His best friend Hiro (who's the band's guitarist) suggests that Shuuichi should find himself a girlfriend. That very same night, Shuuichi runs into a cool and handsome stranger, who tells him that his lyrics are crap and that he has no talent for writing love songs. The insolence is just what Shuuichi needs to get inspired – he'll show that jerk!

The next morning, the song is ready – and it's great. Bad Luck has landed the gig as an opening band – their first big chance!

When Shuuichi finds out who the mysterious stranger is, he seeks him up. At first, Yuki is his cool and charming (ahem!) self, but when Shuuichi keeps pressuring him, he finally looses his cool and kisses the other boy.

Shuuichi's in love, but feels a little awkward about having these feelings for another man. Yuki doesn't seem to care about the gender of his lover, but he's very reluctant to admitting having any other feelings than lust for Shuuichi.

While Shuuichi – who is the younger and less mature of the two – is a noisy and rather naive doormat (he even dresses up in drag in order to seem more attractive to Yuki!), Yuki shows his boyfriend tough love. He's not afraid to tell Shuuichi off when he's acting stupid, but he also acts supportive and protective when it REALLY counts, and it's often thanks to Yuki that Shuuichi matures as a man and as a musician.

As the story advances, we find out why Yuki's so reluctant to trust his good fortune regarding Shuuichi's limitless love for him, and why he chooses to stay away from his family who's worried about him. But just how deep Yuki's scars go, is not revealed until the very last episode – a very shocking truth awaits the viewers!

Bad Luck advances up the track records, much thanks to a little help from Ryuichi Sakuma, the extremely popular vocalist of the former band Nittle Grasper. Ryuichi takes a liking to Shuuichi, who's not just Ryuichi's no. 1 fan, but also a spitting image if his idol. Not only does Ryuichi help promote Bad Luck, he also inspires them to try and become even greater than their role models, Nittle Grasper!

The plot gets complicated because of a jealous rival band, a teary-eyed fiancee, a trigger-happy manager, tabloid reporters, a lovesick Yuki-look-alike, a new band member, and fights between Hiro and Shuuichi.

Just as things are looking up for Shuuichi – the band's got a live concert coming up, their selling tons of records, and Yuki's warming up to him and taking him out on a date – then suddenly his world crashes. Yuki gets sick, and the president of the record company – who happens to be Yuki's brother-in-love – tells Shuuichi to stay away from Yuki, since it's Shuuichi's presence that's making Yuki ill. When Yuki suddenly disappears right before Bad Luck's great concert, Shuuichi's forced to choose between Yuki and Bad Luck...

This anime is great. The story's angsty but sweet. The end is a complete surprise! The drawing and the animation is exquisite, and the music by Japanese cutie-pie Kinya Kotani is energetic and groovy. The only negative thing I can say about this anime is that it's too short. The original series has 13 episodes, followed by an extra short story of 2 episodes. I'd like to see much more of Yuki and Bad Luck!

This series is definitely shonen-ai and not yaoi. There are hints of the sexual relationships between the characters, but no actual sex scenes. If you like to watch cute boys together, then I definitely recommend "Gravitation" – but make sure you get a Japanese version with English subtitles, that's the best! The original voices for the characters have been chosen among great Japanese actors with an experience of voicing shonen-ai animations, and the music by Kinya Kotani is just wonderful.