Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

Yes, I reread volume one because there was this at the library, and the two-in-one volume boasts about fifty new pages.  My policy is I won't say I've read a combined volume if I don't read the whole thing, reread or not.   So, yeah.   Plus, it's Loveless.   I could reread the entire Loveless and Fullmetal Alchemist run today and be happy.   

And the world itself is rich and complex.   The way the fighters and scarifies work are obviously well thought out, down to how they fit into everyday life.   (Soubi worries about how to meet Ritsuka at one point, and thinks that Seimei hasn't told his family about that part of his life, so they won't know who Soubi is.)   It's intricate, and all fits together, but the real draw is the rich inner lives of the characters.   They're psychologically complex, despite the simplicity of some of their motivations.   Ritsuka wants to find, and kill, his brother's killer.   Or so he claims.   He also refuses to cause physical harm to living things, so there's this dissonance between what he says and what he does.   He wants two exclusive things at the same time, and it absolutely makes sense given his abusive family history and the fact that Seimei used to protect him.  Of course he wants to lash out at those who took away the one person who made him feel safe, but at the same time, knowing physical and mental pain so intimately, he doesn't want to cause it - or be the cause of it - either.  

It's fascinating to see him navigate between his two desires, to see how he can join battle and see fighters and sacrifices harmed so easily, but then turn around and chew someone out for hurting someone's feelings.    

And then there's Soubi.   Soubi is even more fascinating to me, in how he has come to grips with doing wrong things for the right reasons, and how he can justify anything in Ritsuka's name.   

Soubi: “I belong to you, Ritsuka.   All of me.”