Sometime Short is Better: Brilliant Adaptation

Written by Ysabel on March 22, 2011 at 2:50 AM

Gravitation is special---and often overlooked by "serious" anime aficionados. I suggest they actually watch it without prejudice before bringing down judgment. It was truly groundbreaking at the time it came out, and remains a delightful, and often thought-provoking story. The manga is charmingly offbeat, and goes on far beyond where this thirteen ep season leaves off. But mostly, it just takes a far more circuitous route to the same satisfying conclusion.

As with any good story, this one can be taken on many levels: a light yaoi tale, sure, tho the relationships really are more complex than any other openly yaoi story I've run across. Yes, relationships. Certainly the primary one is between Shu and Yuki, but the other characters, especially Ryuuichi, Hiro and Seguchi, are pivotal in bringing those two to their happily ever after---a state which requires massive growing up in both characters.

What appeals to me most is the truly fascinating examination of the obsessively creative personality, and the contrast between the hermetic writer and the stage performer who can't live without his audience feedback. Both are carefully controlled balancing acts of sanity and creativity, competitiveness and neediness, and this story, both manga and anime, does one of the best jobs ever of examining that mindset...all wrapped in a charming and often crazy-funny package.

For those ready to look beyond the obvious, this is a secret little gem of story and characters...and the music truly is wonderful...the artist has just the kind of pure, energetic, and gut-wrenching voice I imagined for Shu when I read the manga.