(L) Gakuen Heaven

[musouka]

No great loss, this one. It sucks just like almost every other BL-turned-anime series in existance.

Originally Posted by crisis

(Though there's one live action series based on the works of Akimi Toshida that fascinated me with its depiction of love between an experiment and his special childhood friend. )

You're talking about Yasha, right? The manga actually had a canon male/male relationship (not the one you're thinking of) that was changed to a het one in the drama. I was sort of on the fence about that one though, so it wasn't a huge deal to me... (Actually, I liked a lot of the cast changes in the drama)

[NoSanninWa]

Live-eviL did something tasteless for April's Fools Day. Everyone agrees that it was tasteless. Even the L-E people responsible know that their joke was tasteless. (Though they seem to be eager to argue about their right to be tasteless.)

Let's let that joke go now. It seems that L-E isn't going to be issuing an appology, so let's not let them ruin this thread with pointless bickering. I'm sure that they are enjoying all the attention that you are giving them. Simply ignore their tasteless parody and enjoy the actual show. You can boycott all L-E subs if you want, or else just pretend that they don't exist when you post here.

[cheesie]

Originally Posted by musouka

No great loss, this one. It sucks just like almost every other BL-turned-anime series in existance.

For good BL anime adaptations, I'm thinking Ayano Yamane's Viewfinder series. I thought it's overrated at first, but the more I think about it, the more it could perhaps set an example that maybe guys don't have to be girls to get banged.

You're talking about Yasha, right? The manga actually had a canon male/male relationship (not the one you're thinking of) that was changed to a het one in the drama. I was sort of on the fence about that one though, so it wasn't a huge deal to me... (Actually, I liked a lot of the cast changes in the drama)

Indeed, I am! The only het pairing I saw in the series was Rin and his girl - is that the pairing you're talking about? I'd love it if you could enlighten. The other candidate I could think of was that doctor and the woman who caught the virus, and finally, SeixTouko, but then I heard Moichi doesn't have a sister, but a brother called Toichi, which was supposed to be the counterpart of the Moichi in the drama? I'm much curious to know how Sei/Moichi (Toichi?) are like in the manga.

On topic: When Keita the runt screamed out for Kazuki in the opening scenes, my eardrums were dealt merciless damage.

[thomasvye]

Originally Posted by crisis

But that's the thing. Who was expecting plot in the first place? It's all about the guys, and I eagerly await the moment when it shows Meine Liebe how it should be done.

As for good BL series? I'm not holding my breath. Not until someone actually picks up a good manga and take it seriously without the roses and sparkling bubbles and whatnot. ._. (Though there's one live action series based on the works of Akimi Toshida that fascinated me with its depiction of love between an experiment and his special childhood friend. )

Well, quite; Plot? Duh! Who cares about the plot! It's all about the pretty boys. Half an hour or so of brain relaxing eye candy. I have plenty of other shows for plot. If the boys can have their contrived panty shot shows then the girls can have Gakuen Heaven. :lol:

[Tofusensei]

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa

Live-eviL did something tasteless for April's Fools Day. Everyone agrees that it was tasteless. Even the L-E people responsible know that their joke was tasteless. (Though they seem to be eager to argue about their right to be tasteless.)

Let's let that joke go now. It seems that L-E isn't going to be issuing an appology, so let's not let them ruin this thread with pointless bickering. I'm sure that they are enjoying all the attention that you are giving them. Simply ignore their tasteless parody and enjoy the actual show. You can boycott all L-E subs if you want, or else just pretend that they don't exist when you post here.

You took the words out of my mouth.

I didn't want to offend any body, I purposely avoided using certain language or lines of joking that could be found extremely offensive in my mind (like that dreaded "f" word (and no, not the 4 letter one)). I thought that "q" word was okay cause we have a team of guys parading around on TV calling themselves that, but what can you do... It was suppose to be trolling shounen ai fans and apparently it worked well. It was NOT intended to be a personal attack on anyone. If you notice we've had a disclaimer up on our site about its offensiveness since April 2nd since April fools has passed now...

PLEASE, get back to discussing the merits of the show itself. I'm sick of this discussion ^^; If I've offended anyone on a personal level, I am deeply sorry.

-Tofu

[Friera]

But will there be the first episode without the "joke- subtitles"?

[gknight]

Originally Posted by Friera

But will there be the first episode without the "joke- subtitles"?

not by L-E but aarinfantasy will probably release it. ^^ <3

[musouka]

Originally Posted by crisis

Indeed, I am! The only het pairing I saw in the series was Rin and his girl - is that the pairing you're talking about?

Indeed it is. Rin has a BF in the manga. (Part of the reason I DLed the drama in the first place was to see if they actually kept that relationship intact. But of course they didn't. Like I said, no huge loss, though...)

Originally Posted by crisis

but then I heard Moichi doesn't have a sister, but a brother called Toichi, which was supposed to be the counterpart of the Moichi in the drama? I'm much curious to know how Sei/Moichi (Toichi?) are like in the manga.

For the drama, they sort of combined Moichi and Toichi into one person, added blindness and upped the undertones times one hundred. To be honest, I kinda prefer the drama's interpretation. As for Sei and Toichi's relationship, they kinda remind me of Ash and Eiji, minus all the "soulmate" undertones. Sei is the cool, special one and Toichi is the one who is completely normal. (Though I much prefer Eiji over Toichi)

[cheesie]

So they upped Sei and M/Toichi's relationship to a whole different level, yet made Rin's male partner into a female? It seems they noticed a lack of female love interests. In any case, though this raises my interest to check out the manga adaptation, I must say I agree with you on the drama. How clever they are for pushing all my buttons when they even included a long beach scene. But more than that, Moichi was Sei's pillar of strength, and I ached for him when he lost Moichi, which lead to him losing his sense of empathy, in the end.

Hideaki Ito and Shuji Kashiwabara, you are wonderful. Shoujomagic lost all interest in this project, but that certainly won't discourage me from tracking down the manga in the bookstores. Because Yasha captivates that much.

On Topic: Um, uh, Kazuki should stop with the stalker tactics now.

[Grifis]

(Oh boy, L-E is shooting themselves on the foot this time.) Anyways, the art looks great for this new BL series. The bishies all look so good. (sorry let me wipe my drool.) I was hoping it'll be 26 eps long but I guess BL can't go so far.

Originally Posted by crisis

So they upped Sei and M/Toichi's relationship to a whole different level, yet made Rin's male partner into a female? It seems they noticed a lack of female love interests. In any case, though this raises my interest to check out the manga adaptation, I must say I agree with you on the drama. How clever they are for pushing all my buttons when they even included a long beach scene. But more than that, Moichi was Sei's pillar of strength, and I ached for him when he lost Moichi, which lead to him losing his sense of empathy, in the end.

Hideaki Ito and Shuji Kashiwabara, you are wonderful. Shoujomagic lost all interest in this project, but that certainly won't discourage me from tracking down the manga in the bookstores. Because Yasha captivates that much.

Indeed, Yasha is great. I love the drama. I've been thinking that Sei and Moichi were an item all this time (and refuse to believe otherwise) after seeing all those tender moments you know (reunion, beach scene, Moichi's debut, Moichi looking for lost Sei, Moichi's last minutes, etc...) I was so in love with Hideaki and Shuji as a couple. Reason why I bought the whole darn R-2 drama set.

[Friera]

I know it's shounen-ai but how come there is almost never strong female characters in those shows? It should be a balance there because the show is somehow "missing" something without any sentral female character. Like Gravitation has this perfect balance.
What's the odds? No females only because it's an all-boys school.

[musouka]

Originally Posted by Grifis

I've been thinking that Sei and Moichi were an item all this time (and refuse to believe otherwise) after seeing all those tender moments

In the drama, Mochi and Sei are closer to what Ash and Eiji are like than Sei and Toichi are like in the manga. If you liked that sort of love between two guys, I strongly urge you to read Banana Fish.

Originally Posted by Friera

I know it's shounen-ai but how come there is almost never strong female characters in those shows?

Uh, you're missing the point.

[setsuka]

Originally Posted by Friera

I know it's shounen-ai but how come there is almost never strong female characters in those shows? It should be a balance there because the show is somehow "missing" something without any sentral female character. Like Gravitation has this perfect balance.
What's the odds? No females only because it's an all-boys school.

You could say the same thing about most Shoujo-Ai series released this season (Simoun, Strawberry something). There's no strong male character and if there is, there are disposed of quite quickly.

If you want to watch a series with equal amout of straight/gay characters who actually get important storyline then I'd recommend watching CLAMP series like X or CCS.

[warpshadow]

Originally Posted by Black_Sharingan

Moving on to the actual show, I'm a bit disappointed that the series seems quite clear on who the main pairing of the show. I was hoping that it'll be a bit unclear so viewers will be able to root for the pairing that they want to see.

Sorry to break it to you but out of all the romance anime I have seen (and that is well over a hundred and in multiple subgenres) I can count the amount of times where the main pairing wasn't broadcasted quite obviously to the audience in episode 1 on one hand.

[tsuraramai]

Originally Posted by Gankutsuou

Go do yourself a favor and watch the episode all over again. The parody was a completely different series. The series itself is a very serious boy love anime series. It's basically a normal story between certain characters.

uhhh.... I understand Japanese T_T;; I know what they're actually saying, parody subtitles or no. I'm a translator... and at least half of Live-Evil's translation was close enough to the original to convey quite a bit of the actual storyline. They didn't just sit down and write a new gay-bashing plot. A lot of the jokes about the school and its denizens being gay are in the original ^^; Gakuen Heaven is a COMEDY, based on a comedy game... By NO STRETCH of the imagination is it a "serious boy love anime series". It makes fun of gay stereotypes in the original...

The academy's initials are "BL" for Goddsakes... and everyone... I mean EVERYONE is a flaming, flamboyantly gay stereotype after the hero from the start.

[tashi]

I've found this thread to be of equal parodic value to E-L's fansub. Allow me to quote some of the things I have read here and so that we may all see the humor. Laughter is some kind of soul medicine, after all.

Originally Posted by crisis

But that's the thing. Who was expecting plot in the first place? It's all about the guys, and I eagerly await the moment when it shows Meine Liebe how it should be done.

This is a punch line.

Originally Posted by thomasvye

Well, quite; Plot? Duh! Who cares about the plot! It's all about the pretty boys. Half an hour or so of brain relaxing eye candy. I have plenty of other shows for plot. If the boys can have their contrived panty shot shows then the girls can have Gakuen Heaven. :lol:

This is another one for good measure.
The OP subbing poked fun at this. If you saw it, then it would be the punch line.
And

Originally Posted by Tofusensei

Hehe, just wanted to poke some fun at the whole concept of shounen ai, that's all. No harm intended :X

Maybe this isn't good enough as an apology.. =/

Originally Posted by gumbaloom

Like we've said before we apologise to those to whom it caused genuine offence and as I said above it was not intended to be harmful.

I think this one is pretty hard to miss, though.

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa

It seems that L-E isn't going to be issuing an appology, so let's not let them ruin this thread with pointless bickering.

This is the punch line.

Recognizing that one's actions sometimes seem silly makes one humble, healthy, and happy.
(disclaimer: I am not trying to attack anyone or suggest I don't do stupid things.)

[Friera]

Originally Posted by musouka

Uh, you're missing the point.

Haha, not at all. I'm just saying that even it is a show for girls who enjoys shounen-ai it doesn't mean there should be no girls.

[gknight]

Originally Posted by Friera

Haha, not at all. I'm just saying that even it is a show for girls who enjoys shounen-ai it doesn't mean there should be no girls.

i agree, it's also annoying that everyone's gay, i think the shows would've been much more interesting if only one or two or three of the characters would've been,,,,,

[musouka]

Originally Posted by Friera

Haha, not at all. I'm just saying that even it is a show for girls who enjoys shounen-ai it doesn't mean there should be no girls.

Don't get me wrong, I too generally like at least a few girls along with my BL, and I think the "everyone is GAY (Or just happened to fall in love with this other guy!)" aspect is silly, most of the time.

Having said that, BL is about guy/guy relationships and interactions. Even if they don't even remotely resemble real guys, that's what the emphasis is on. I think it's pretty understandable why a lot of authors just stick with an all male cast, in that regard.

(I also like one gender--male or female--boarding school stories, so perhaps I don't really mind it all that much...)

[cheesie]

Indeed, Yasha is great. I love the drama. I've been thinking that Sei and Moichi were an item all this time (and refuse to believe otherwise) after seeing all those tender moments you know (reunion, beach scene, Moichi's debut, Moichi looking for lost Sei, Moichi's last minutes, etc...) I was so in love with Hideaki and Shuji as a couple. Reason why I bought the whole darn R-2 drama set.

And don't forget, the Tree scene. Throughout, it's always been Sei reaching out for Moichi (though of course, there ARE certain instances where he tries not to - and it backfires in his face anyway ) but the tree scene just tugs at your heart, when we find out Moichi's inspiration to further his career with piano was Sei, that it's his only link with Sei. I just about lost it at that point. In fact, I was once tempted to do the same thing and buy the DVDs, had it not been for my wallet which, er, doesn't hesitate to bring me back down to earth.

In the drama, Mochi and Sei are closer to what Ash and Eiji are like than Sei and Toichi are like in the manga. If you liked that sort of love between two guys, I strongly urge you to read Banana Fish.

Indeed, Grifis, what say we jump into the fandom and look for these two prototypes of Sei and Moichi?

You could say the same thing about most Shoujo-Ai series released this season (Simoun, Strawberry something). There's no strong male character and if there is, there are disposed of quite quickly.

Strawberry Panic is boring, but Simoun is pretty captivating, and this coming from the person who, er, had fits of laughter over most GL shows. Simoun is a fairly good example of how I want BL shows to be, the GL aspect not as important as the plot (!), lots of careful and little touches here and there... I agree, it fits Loveless to a tee; it's too bad there're no suggestions that there might not be another BL anime like this (maybe Angel's Feather or, to push it to the extreme, xxxHolic.)

Don't get me wrong, I too generally like at least a few girls along with my BL, and I think the "everyone is GAY (Or just happened to fall in love with this other guy!)" aspect is silly, most of the time.

I agree. :x I didn't quite mind that in FAKE, when the whole New York police department is GAY, but maybe it's just because I forgot about it in the later arcs. But I'll say, that in my opinion, when it comes to making a fangirl's heart flutter with so much as a gentle touch, nothing could top Sei and Moichi (and pretty soon, Ash and Eiji, thank you for that! )

On topic, I want to say I'm so glad it's Kazuki x Keita. Points if there are secondary romances along the way, then, I could shamelessly gawk at the pretty in that series.