loveless meta

This fandom is miniscule in the year 2020! I wanted a place to chat about the anime and manga, so I made a Loveless Discord server. As of right now, the link is public, but that might change in the future. I know poking your head into a brand new Discord server can be nervewracking, so here are the rules upfront:

This is an adult (18+) space.

Don't be an asshole. Bigotry and harassment of any kind will not be tolerated.

Officially, this server is a "choose not to warn" space. Given the themes of Loveless, you can expect to run into discussions including fictional underage content and abuse. You may choose to use spoiler tags and content notes at your discretion, but it's not required.

Do not screenshot or otherwise share content from this server without the permission of the people involved.

Mods reserve the right to remove people from the server in the event of egregiously bad behavior that cannot be resolved through discussion. Feel free to DM a mod if you need some kind of assistance.

I really wanted this to go without saying, but please no anti bullshit in here.

Part of the issue of joining a fandom late, especially a fandom that was in its heyday before the rise of Tumblr, is that it’s hard to know what meta’s already out there. I’m most interesting in wrapping my head around the magic system in Loveless, and considering it seems kind of nebulous and is never explicitly explained (for instance, what kinds of magic can people work outside of official battles?) the best way to do that seems to be going through the manga and actually cataloging every instance of magic use.

I’m willing to do it! It sounds like a good time, and I’m here for that kind of obsessive close-read. But! I’d rather spend my time doing something else if a resource like that already exists.

This is an unfinished thought, but Soubi… for as much as he wants to be controlled, is there something he likes about having more power and influence over Ritsuka? His disobedience is never punished, which I’m sure is largely uncomfortable for him, but… it also means he can assert his needs, maybe for the first time in his life.

Not in any straightforward way that would make sense, but particularly through the physical touch that he needs for reassurance. After Loveless’ first fight with Nisei, Soubi sits on the floor and hugs Ritsuka to him. After a while, Ritsuka tells Soubi to let him go, and Soubi says, “Just a little longer. Let me stay like this a little while longer”—and they do. Soubi gets what he wants.

There’s this scene in volume 11 that just gets to me. Mikado is talking about her sexual abuse at the hands of Seimei and Nisei. Soubi jumps in to defend Seimei, calling Mikado a liar, and Ritsuka jumps in to defend Soubi. There’s this kind of… kinship and solidarity between Ritsuka and Soubi in that moment, in that I think they’re the only two that understand each other’s feelings about Seimei.

I don’t mean to imply that I think their experiences with Seimei are similar or even compatible; Soubi has absolutely had experience with the brutal aspects of Seimei that Ritsuka is still just starting to learn about, and he’s doubtless participated at times, just like Nisei. But… their defense of Seimei is also a defense of each other. In some small way, it’s an affirmation that the love they have for this terrible person is somehow defensible—that it’s understandable, at least in their own little kingdom of two.

It feels relevant that Soubi was the only person who wasn’t badly affected by Yurio’s spell in the fight against Bloodless. Youji says that he feels bad for Soubi because he doesn’t know how to fight against fear, but I think it’s the opposite. 

He tells Ritsuka that he doesn’t have to see terrible things, that he doesn’t have to think about them, and I’m pretty sure he’s trying to lend Ritsuka his own coping mechanisms. He talks like someone who has long experience putting the things in this head in boxes that don’t bear examination.