Loveless, Vol. 1 (2-in-1 Edition): Includes vols. 1 & 2

Loveless (Omnibus edition) #1

by Yun Kouga

Soubi leads Ritsuka through a maze of new experiences, from battles wrought in wordplay to making friends at school. But is he any less alone with the secretive Soubi than by himself?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Romance, LGBT, Fiction, Queer, Mystery

376 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Roxana Chirilă · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second time I started reading "Loveless" (and incidentally, the second time I write this review, because Goodreads ate the first version). The first time, I was really confused by the art - there were things like the main character's hair being drawn alternately light and dark on the same page, and that sort of thing. Now, maybe due to familiarity, I'm fine with that.

"Loveless" is a really weird manga even so - and it's the sort of story that can only come from Japan, where you can pretty much assume that if you write about the quasi-romantic relationship between a 12 year-old and a 21 year-old, your readership will be pretty much fine with that and you can build up the weird from there.

So. Ritsuka is a 12 year-old who can't remember anything about his life prior to the age of 10. For some unknown reason, 2 years before the start of the manga, he changed from an outgoing, happy kid with average grades, to an academically brilliant but cold and aloof kid.

His mother went a bit insane because of this, often reproaching Ritsuka for not being himself and hurting him because of it.

And not long before the manga starts, Ritsuka's brother, Seimei, is murdered and his corpse is left in Ritsuka's seat at school, causing him to transfer.

When the manga starts, 21 year-old Soubi appears and tells Ritsuka that he's been sent by Seimei to love Ritsuka and be his fighter - and it's interesting that, despite all the psychological clusterfuck this series has going on in the background, it's still written like a fight-happy story for middle school kids (or a boy's love manga, I assume, or both), with the emphasis on fighting and figuring out who killed Seimei, rather than the darker themes.

It's a strange one, that's for sure.

[~Cyanide Latte~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

[EDIT 2/2/2026: It's been almost six whole years since I read and reviewed this. Upon reflection and an attempt to glance back over the material and the other two omnibus volumes I picked up at some point, I no longer have any desire to try to go back through this series. Despite my hopes to the contrary, I just don't care anymore. I'll look into selling the copies I have on Mercari or Pangobooks.]

*Read as part of the 25 Days of Manga challenge for December 2020.*

If you would like to read my more in-depth review of the Tokyopop edition of volume 1 of this series, just click here to check it out! I do recommend it, since I'll mostly be focusing on the second half of this volume in this review. From here on out however, as I work on collecting these omnibus editions, I'll be doing total volume reviews after this. I originally had been given the first several volumes of the Tokyopop editions of the series from a friend who no longer wanted them, but I also parted with those volumes in favor of collecting the omnibus release, since Tokyopop never fully released the series while Viz did.

As mentioned in my review of volume 1, we continue to see that abuse Ritsuka suffers at the hands of his mother in this volume, and we start scratching at the surface to see just how far that abuse extends. It's pretty clear his mother is severely unwell, and his father just continues to evade or ignore the issues of the household. We still haven't covered much on what caused Ritsuka to lose his memories or change his personality, though we do learn he is seeing a doctor regarding the situation. (What sort of doctor seems vague and unclear; he just goes to a hospital of some kind once a week and talks with this doctor about his situation...allegedly.) But it's evident that this continues to be a huge issue with his mother and it contributes to her already unstable sense of reality and rapid switches between behavior. I bring this up predominantly because it continues to be something that really snatches at my focus while reading.

Additionally, we learn that the Sacrifice-and-Fighter team from the first volume has since been taken off of the pursuit of Ritsuka and Soubi, and they attempt to be more cordial with Ritsuka when approaching him, despite refusing to answer his questions about Septimal Moon and the death of his brother. Another team, named "Sleepless" makes an attempt on Ritsuka and Soubi and gets trounced pretty soundly, as Ritsuka being more...eh, I'll use the word "attentive" here, but I don't feel quite right about it, to Soubi kicks him into high gear. Some panels later on imply their failure to capture/subdue Ritsuka and Soubi gets them executed by higher-ups in the Septimal Moon ladder. A third team, called "Zeroes", is introduced toward the end of the volume, and damn if they aren't creepy, implying they'd rape Ritsuka's teacher purely for fun. Soubi takes them on by himself, and we're kind of left with that cliffhanger.

There's also a fairly nice bit of character development between Ritsuka and Yuiko as she gets bullied in her attempts to do nice things for him, and he stands up for her. To say nothing of a little more focus on Yayoi beginning to creep in, and plenty of focus on the teacher, Ms. Shinonome. This is also the volume where, at the end of the fight with the team "Sleepless", Ritsuka receives another clue regarding the death of Seimei, but for the life of me, even I can't recall what the coded message is meant to mean. It's been a little too long.

Generally speaking, while I don't have much in the way of vested interest in Soubi as a character (really, he's a bit bland-ass boring so far when you get right down to it; he's not even quantifiable as a Gary-Stu with his traits, because at least a GS would have more personality than he does,) the intrigue and secrecy surrounding Septimal Moon and Seimei, the family drama of the Aoyagis, and the growth of the preteen characters is what I'm here for. It's honestly the reason I continue to stick with the series and want to read it through to the end as an adult.

Let's be real, this isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, especially in this day and age. And it's not a series that I feel like I can recommend to anyone now that I'm an adult, unless I know someone else was reading BL manga back around the same time I was in high school as well. (I feel like the tolerance level of older, seasoned BL readers who were around back when Tokyopop was publishing this along other titles such as Gravitation and FAKE is higher than newer inductees. Most of us have seen how bad and problematic some of this shit can be as we've gotten older, but being vets of series such as Loveless or the aforementioned leads to that tolerance level, whether or not we condone the worst of the content.) Heck, even if you're not a seasoned BL reader and you feel like you can overlook the problematic content, I would caution you before going into this anyway. The level of domestic violence and abuse alone is enough cause for concern, so I repeat: please, please be aware of that.

One final note, a nice little addition to these omnibus volumes is a lot of the bonus content that was included in them that didn't make it into the initial Tokyopop translations. None of these are exactly necessary to the story, but it's just nice to see some of these side stories, notes, rough drafts and type-ups anyway.

[Leia Nadler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was good until I realized how problematic the romance was due to the age gap. If Ritsuka was 18+, maybe the age gap wouldn’t have been so odd to me.

[Alex Richey · Rating 2 out of 5]

This made me a lot more uncomfortable that I thought it would. I watched the show about 10 years ago and thought I'd give the book a try. Nope. Art is freaking amazing, though.

[Lou (Lou and Life) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review will be full of spoilers. Summary of review: incredibly problematic with a romance between an 11 year old boy and a 20 year old adult man, and domestic abuse of an 11 year old boy. Yet it does have a good storyline and world which makes it hard for me to decide how to rate this book and if I will continue on with the series.

This manga is one of the weirdest things I've read... and probably one of the most problematic but I also find it intriguing and I think I may end up buying the rest of the series to see what will happen... but then there is sort of like an inner war with myself because of the problematic aspects of this book. This book is problematic because the book focuses on the relationship between a 10-11 year old boy (the book states Ritsuka is in the 6th grade), and a 20 year old adult male. I felt very creeped out when the characters kissed and when there were hints at erotic things because I'm like... he's a child... And What I think makes it worse is the fact that Soubi (the 20 year old) used to be a fighter for Ritsuka's older brother. In this world you have fighters and sacrifices. Fighters fight and sacrifices take all the damage inflicted on the pair. If you're a fighter, you also end up being in a servant-like role to the sacrifice. Ritsuka is a sacrifice which is makes it so weird. Before Ritsuka's older brother is murdered, Soubi gets commanded to look after Ritsuka after he dies. Soubi does this, but he's also always declaring his love and wanting kisses from Ritsuka. It's very weird. On top of this Ritsuka is being domestically abused by his mother as Ritsuka suffers from a form of amnesia and he can only remember like the past two years of his life, and his mother cannot come to terms with that and so takes it out on Ritsuka. In addition, because Ritsuka's older brother is no longer alive, no one is there to stop Ritsuka's beatings.

My conflict comes from the fact that I did enjoy the plot, and I think the world is incredibly unique and I love Ritsuka's friendships. What's hard for me is to judge not only what to give it because if I were to take out the problematic aspects, I would have really enjoyed the book, but also if I want to continue on with the series. I do want to continue reading the series to find out what happens but I am also worried that the series will become even more problematic in the later volumes. I won't unhaul the books for now, and in the future I will see if I want to continue once my feelings have settled. I wouldn't recommend this series though.

[X · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loveless, Loveless, Loveless. What is there to even say about Loveless?

This isn't my first time reading it. I read the first volume when I was 13 and throughout my teenage years, continued to sporadically read further volumes at about the pace the author wrote them. I didn't really understand it, and at the time, I thought it was because it was too deep and I needed to go back and read more closely. Now, I suspect the reason I didn't understand it is because the primary purpose of this manga is to look at the pictures of pretty boys (and occasionally girls) with and without cat ears, and the plot is whatever gives the author an excuse to draw those boys in bandages.

That being said, even though I went into my reread of this with a cynical attitude towards the manga and the middle-school self that got me into it, I have to say for a manga where plot is put on the backburner for the pretty art, the author did a pretty good job of making the plot interesting and the characters likeable anyway.

...All the pedophilia was a bit of a distraction from that likeableness. When I was only one year older than the protagonist, I didn't see why it was such a big deal. Now? YIKES. Soubi is one thing; weird but I was expecting it, and the point is that he's mentally unstable. But when Ritsuka's therapist made an inappropriate comment about him I had to put down the book for a minute.

Nevertheless I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. And in all fairness, the art really is quite pretty.

[Eliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this edition for a proper re-read, as my first (s...) were, as expected, via terrible scans ages ago.

Loveless is still Loveless, and that won't change no matter how long it's been. I knew what to expect from the start - what even is a plot, kinda better than it sounds, still a pile of garbage shota bs for literally no reason (what was the problem with making Ritsuka not such a /young/ child from the start??? the whole thing is forbidden and complicated even w/o adding that factor in, sigh).

I'll say these omibus editions are fantastic though - loved having all the extras in one place, the color pages, and the comfort of purchasing most of the saga in a more affordable, easy way.

[Ana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had this in my TBR pile for years. And maybe that worked against me. I had added it because I had watched the anime so long ago and I though tit might be fun to pick up the manga. In the end, I think I am just no longer into the genre and found myself confused/bored by the story. Shame because I remember liking the anime. I understand the story centers around a mystery and the characters grow as they unravel the pieces but overall the relationships felt off. I pushed myself through it in hopes that it would pick up my interest but that didn't happen unfortunately. Not for me anymore, but I am sure other readers might like the magical battle aspects and the hinted at yaoi vibe.

[MalloytasticBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, Loveless. How it took so long for me to get to you at long last.

One of my friends told me about this manga, and I was interested. Now that I have all the Viz Media volumes loaned from that same friend, I can give an option on Loveless. It’s interesting!

The storyline of Loveless is very interesting and intriguing. While this omnibus doesn’t answer that much, it still kept me interested throughout the 2 volumes. Also, the art is very good, so props to Yun Kouga! The characters were also pretty good as well. This omnibus definitely got me interested in checking out the rest of Loveless.

I’ll give this a 4 out of 5. Interesting start, with pretty good art to boot.

[TP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cw: age gap, underage, maternal abuse, grief and loss, severe mental illness

Soubi (20yo) is the "fighter" for Ritsuka/Loveless (11yo). The lines of their acquaintance-ship are a bit blurred, altho this seems to be a recurring theme in BL..

All that being said I'm really enjoying the action/word battle scenes so far. I feel like I get swept up and carried out to sea only to suddenly find a forgiving shore when it's over. Fantastic art style, too.

[Kristin Katsuye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dudes, I read this in middle school. Actually I watched the anime. Now I’m taking a turn in reading it. I didn’t remember anything about it other than it being a yaoi, a mystery involved within it, & cat ears on humans. Well this is a weird story but I’m still reading on.

Tags:
Yaoi, insta-love, abuse, age gap, master servant relationship, chains

[Rana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I have to write something because if I saw someone else give this more than 1 star and no comment I would think sus. Am I proud of the highly problematic premise? No. Does it give me that nostalgia dopamine when I read? Yes. Extract dopamine and move on

[H.K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird and a little warped but I want to see where this manga goes.

[Shae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how to feel. I am conflicted...

[HeyItsMeGil · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is good and intriguing but I’m a liiitle concerned about the romance in here..? Anyone else?

[Chaela · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is... worse than I remember it being..

[Daniela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mi niña interior está muy feliz con esto. Después de tanto tiempo, por fin lo tengo en mis manos.

[🦷Teeth 🦷 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Um I got this at a charity shop and had no idea that it involved a 20 something and a 12 year old in a relationship I’m uncomfortable mum come pick me up

[MCalhen MCalhen]

Apparently private notes has a character limit... The more I read this, the more I analyze its themes about trauma, and it's always compelling. I recognize so many things more now than I did in the past, and the abuse is the main reason I heard about and first read this series. I was curious to see how it was handled.

It's so interesting to see how much abuse is overlooked: the therapist and teachers being certain it's happening but doing nothing, Ritsuka's father walking out the door instead of stepping in to stop his mother's abuse, etc. Then you have unreliable adults everywhere, and it's painfully realistic.

Then you have the whole "there's two Ritsuka's" and it's probably just PTSD + growing up changes you (like Ritsuka trying new foods).

Knowing what I do about furture volumes and the manipulations in the background and knowing more about Seimei... it's unfortunately relatable.

[Jeni · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those, I started reading it, not sure if I'd like it or not. Now that I've read Volumes 1 and 2...I still don't know if I like it or not. The relationship between the two main characters isn't very good (though a lot of them are messed up), but you know there's a lot more going on then is revealed. That's the book's strength, I'm intrigued (if also confused) and I want to better understand what's happening.

We'll see if I continue. I want to know more, but maybe I don't.

[Brittney Bower · Rating 3 out of 5]

better than I thought it would be.

[Sabrina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I enjoyed the art, however, I'm not sure what is going on and I'm having a really hard time the "relationship" between an 11 year old and a 20 year old.

[Levi Poirier · Rating 5 out of 5]

This manga does have a few confusing bits, but that is something to be expected. I loved the story, and definitely intend to read (and own) the full series.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This manga is so good. I finished it in a little over an hour. I couldn’t put it down. I love the relationship Loveless has with Soubi. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

[Dom]

DNF due to scene of violence against an animal. It was just one page, but I honestly can't deal with even the implication of violence and/or animal death.