Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

Soubi: I live for you, Ritsuka.   There’s nothing I can’t do if it’s for you. 

 

 Wow.   Loveless is such a mindfuck; it’s like watching a whole bunch of train wrecks all at once.   I can’t help but want to rubberneck, although I know it’s just wrong!   Soubi, a college student, seducing, and lying to, young high school student Ritsuka?   Ritsuka has lost his brother, and he’s lost a lot of his memories.   Because of this, his mother abuses him, physically and mentally, and it’s clear that she’s not quite sane.   Then there’s Ritsuka’s father who is all but absent, and completely useless when he does show up.    All Ritsuka had was his brother to keep him safe and sane.   

 

Without Seimei, Ritsuka is lost, drifting through life, pushing people away and at the same time obsessed with making memories and capturing them on photograph.   No surprise, given his amnesia, and the reaction from his mother, that documenting his life is so important to him.   No wonder that he can manage to latch onto Soubi, who says that he loves Ritsuka from the start; even when Soubi admits that he’s been sent by Seimei, and ordered to love Ritsuka, the boy can’t help but be obsessed by the one person who keeps saying that he loves Ritsuka and will fight for and protect and obey him.     

 

This is also a fantasy manga.   Boys and girls have ears and tails unit they lose their virginity.   Ritsuka still has his ears, and Seimei did when he died, too, but Soubi has lost his ears.   There are fighting teams - a fighter and a sacrifice - and each pairing has a name.   Beloved was Seimei and Soubi’s true name, and Ritsuka is named Loveless.     However, Seimei bequeathed his fighter, Soubi, to Ritsuka should something happen to him.   And the fact that they have different names?   It’s an issue.   Ritsuka can take more damage in a fight.   Also, other pairs are disgusted than a fighter and sacrifice would pair up while having different names.   The names are very, very important, and they come into play heavily even in this first issue.     

 

There’s a lot going on in each chapter, and each volume, and it’s compulsively good.   Stay away if m/m bothers you, or if you aren’t into some of the triggers like the abuse or the way that Soubi seduces Ritsuka.   Ritsuka keeps his ears in all the issues I’ve read - and if he loses them to Soubit, I’ll probably stop reading - but despite the squirminess of this, it’s worth reading if you can bear all the ways this will make you uncomfortable.