Junjo Romantica

While anime generally conjures up images of monsters, zombies, alien invaders, and slam-bang violence, this collection expands the genre into the realm of gay soap opera, with plotlines focused on same-sex couples facing romantic dilemmas, mostly marked by insecurity and possessive behavior. The central characters are struggling student Misaki and his older tutor, the writer Usami, whose relationship creates problems with Misaki's classmates, while Usami himself occasionally exhibits jealous behavior. A second storyline involves a pair of volatile young men, Hiroki and Nowaki, whose interactions continually border on melodrama (an abrupt six-year jump in their narrative finds the two older but no wiser). Yet another peripheral thread involves one of Hiroki's colleagues, Miyagi, who appears to be straight but is relentlessly pursued by Shinobu. While Junjo Romantica deserves credit for exploring something other than killer mutants or apocalyptic calamities, it also gets a thumbs-down for continuing the stereotypical presentation of homosexual men as immature, sex-obsessed, and emotionally needy. While exaggeration of personalities and circumstances is admittedly a key feature of anime adventure stories, stretching reality within a romantic drama is less effective. Compiling 12 episodes from the 2008 first season in a three-disc set, in Japanese with English subtitles, suitable for 17-up, this is not recommended. (P. Hall)