LOVELESS

Plot
In his first day at his new school, twelve-year-old Ritsuka Aoyagi meets a mysterious twenty-year-old male named Soubi Agatsuma. Soubi claims to be a good friend of Ritsuka’s brother, Seimei, who was murdered a few months earlier. Upon the inspection of Seimei’s abandoned computer files, Ritsuka discovers that an organization called ‘Seven Moons’ (Nana no tsuki 七の月) was responsible for Seimei’s death.
As Ritsuka quickly discovers, Seimei and Soubi acted as a pair involved in spell battles invoked by carefully selected words. Now Soubi is Ritsuka’s ’sentouki’, or Fighter Unit, and Ritsuka is his ‘Sacrifice’. Together, they challenge Seven Moons to find out the truth behind Seimei’s murder and the reason for Ritsuka’s amnesia, and form an intimate bond as they unravel the mystery.

Main characters

Ritsuka Aoyagi (青柳立夏, Aoyagi Ritsuka^?)

Ritsuka Aoyagi as he appears in the manga

Voiced by: Junko Minagawa

Ritsuka is twelve years old and the protagonist of the story. He was named after the lunar day “Rikka,” which fell on May 5 in the year 2005. His “true name” is Loveless, although it is yet to be seen on his body as the other teams’ names are. He enjoys taking photographs and “making memories.”

In the first volume, the story alludes to an abrupt change of personality occurring in Ritsuka two years prior. It is seen often through flashbacks, when his mother beats him and denies that he is truly Ritsuka and that he is actually someone else in his body. Before this change, he was a popular, yet academically average student; presently, he doesn’t get along with his classmates, and he purposely points out their faults. In contrast to this, he is the perfect student. In addition to the personality change, he suffers a loss in memory. The cause of these drastic changes is still unknown, although he has regular therapy sessions to determine why.

On his first day at his new school, Ritsuka meets Soubi Agatsuma. Soubi confuses him with his sudden intimacy and puzzling claims that he was Seimei’s friend and Fighter Unit. As Ritsuka discovers, Seimei’s impromptu will dictates that Soubi shall “become Ritsuka’s” upon his death.

Ritsuka and Soubi’s relationship is complex, but in many ways Ritsuka admires Soubi. However, Ritsuka has trouble trusting others, and Soubi’s various secrets continue to have an adverse effect on this.

Despite his young age and inexperience, Ritsuka is very intelligent and approaches things with startling maturity. The circumstances of his life encourage his lack of innocence; however, there have been notable incidents that bare his naïveté, particularly in sexual love and healthy relationships. Despite this, he still has firm opinions and unrelenting ideas about those subjects. It is these opinions that clash dramatically with adults and authority figures around him, most notably Soubi. Ritsuka is a pacifist, and strongly opposes violence under any circumstance.

Love is an uncomfortable subject for Ritsuka. He is wary of compliments, and doesn’t like affection. Ritsuka’s inner conflict over believing Soubi’s declarations of love becomes a source of great tension and bitterness in their relationship.

Soubi Agatsuma (我妻草灯, Agatsuma Sōbi^?)

Soubi Agatsuma as he appears in the manga

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi

Soubi is a twenty-year-old student, studying Japanese art. He is a former student of Shichisei Gakuen (“Seven Moons Academy”), a school for fighters, where Ritsu Minami was his teacher. He arrived at the school and became Ritsu’s student after the death of his mother, who was Ritsu’s former partner. Ritsu raised Soubi and, incidentally, was the person that took his ears. Whether it was a consensual act or not wasn’t specified. It is hinted by another teacher at the school that Ritsu took Soubi’s virginity because Soubi had his mother’s face, which made Ritsu desire him. Ritsu explains to Soubi that he took his ears to make him a better fighter.

Soubi is later partnered with Seimei. He doesn’t enjoy this, feeling attached to Ritsu and resenting that Seimei is younger than he is. Seimei notices this and mocks Soubi for feeling attached to Ritsu. He later carved the name ‘Beloved’ into Soubi’s neck, making him his fighter unit.

As ordered, Soubi contacted Ritsuka after Seimei’s death. He introduced Ritsuka to the world of fighters and sacrifices and told Ritsuka he would be his Fighter Unit. He fought beside Seimei for some time, and many people believe that he is Beloved’s Fighter Unit. The appearance of Nisei in the manga, however, proves this to be false later in the manga. Soubi now fights for Ritsuka as Loveless, which is considered taboo because there is not a fighter-sacrifice bond between them. There is also a severe loss of strength, and in Soubi’s case, his markings bleed in battle. Soubi was revealed to not have a true name at all — in fact, Ritsu comments that he is a blank slate, and whatever marking he is given becomes his name. Since Seimei carved Beloved into his skin, it became his name. When given a command to break the windows, courtesy of Seimei, in volume 8, it is shown that he cannot disobey, no matter how strongly he is against it.

Soubi appears to know much more about Seimei and his cause of death than he will divulge. Despite Ritsuka’s insistence that he tell him everything he knows, Soubi refuses. In volume 5 of the manga, he even says, “Seimei is my God.” He openly declares that he lives his life by Seimei’s orders, but still says he’ll obey Ritsuka’s every order, which is not necessarily true.