I remember the first time I watched shoenin-ai manga video conversion “Gravitation” when it was received in our DVD store where we used to sell anime videos that had either perceived or explicit gay scenes or characters.   Watching “Gravitation” sparked my desire to find as many more anime videos with gay themes as I could, which proved much harder than I thought.  Sure there was Fake, Blaze, Level C, My Sexual harassment and of course Gravitation and a few others with a gay or gay-ish scene here and there, but I kept running into a wall when I went looking for more.  I talked to our distributor AAA Anime in California and they indicated to me that there just aren’t that many OVA’s made for the gay consumer but couldn’t really tell me why.   All they knew is that they only had a select few titles available but that they would let me know if any “new” ones were released.  I could have left my quest there and decided to just sit back and wait, but that’s not my nature.  I wanted to know WHY!  WHY aren’t there more gay OVA anime videos?   Why aren’t there OVA videos that are completely gay?

 
I went to Comic-Con in San Diego that same year and searched high and low through as many booths as my legs could stand walking to (have you ever been to Comic-Con in San Diego?  LOL, then you know how big it is and how hard it is to do it all in a single day) without finding any gay themed OVA’s either for sale at a wholesale level or for licensing.  At the time I was seeking video licensing deals for the SpunkToons.com site and needless to say, I left Comic-Con empty handed (well as far as OVA gay videos was concerned.  Other than that of course it was a great experience and hope to be in attendance later this month to try again to find OVA licensing deals).

 
Still not finding a source for gay anime videos I began to consider that there must be some in Japan, but they had just not been licensed in North America.  I tried contacting a few video companies in Japan as well as some video distributors, but never got any response from any of them. I even had my friend who is fluent in Japanese write a letter for me and sent it out to more than 10 studios or distributors, and likewise, never got a response. So I set out to find out if I could produce some gay themed anime videos and hired an adviser to research the prospect.  What I found out as a result of that research answered all my questions.  Just like every other business decision in life, it all comes down to return on investment (ROI).  The cost of a 30 minute animation video, including the writer, animators, story board artists, pencilers, inkers, color artists, editors and other associated staffing requirements would be over $200,000 USD!!!!  I even went so far (after recovering from my sticker shock) of pricing the video made in an Asian country and it still clocked in at more than $60,000 USD.   That’s between $2,000 and $6600 USD per minute!  Then it dawned on me…no wonder there weren’t any completely gay themed OVA videos! It was COST PROHIBITIVE! The perceived consumer market was too small and the production cost too high to make it attractive for anyone to produce them….including me!

 
So I had my answer.  Now I know why there aren’t more gay themed OVA videos and it just frustrates me.  I would love nothing more than to be able to provide a steady stream of anime video for the members of SpunkToons but it just doesn’t look financially feasible for the forseeable future.    Until then, if “then” ever comes, I guess I’ll just have to be content with the OVA fan subs or perhaps the OVA interpretation videos that are on YouTube and a few other video sharing channels.
 

Sometimes the manga original of a yaoi storyline is better than the anime OVA DVD . This seems to be the general consensus of those who took the time to review the Fake DVD on Amazon.com.  As I read through the comments, more than 50 of them, the general consensus seems to be that this anime OVA is one of the better ones produced, with a compelling storyline and nice action sequences, yet falls short of the original manga when it comes to conveying the emotion and interpersonal relationship between Dee Latener and his partner Randy “Ryo” McLane. 

For those of you not familiar with the story, Dee Latener and Ryo Mclane are New York City Police detectives assigned to the 27th Precinct.  Dee is a gay cop who has the hots for his Japanese-American partner, Ryo.  Having earned a nice vacation away from the crime and congestion of New York City, they head off to England for some relaxation at a very charming lakeside hotel.  Some of the story nuances and possible sub-plots leave open the possiblity that Dee sort of planned the get away so he could be closer to Ryo.  While in England on holiday, Japanese-Americans started turning up dead near their hotel. Once a cop, always a cop, vacation or not, and the two detectives got involved in trying to solve the crime.  Ryo seems to be the more focused of the two on crime fighting and solving the case, while Dee seems more intent on chasing Ryo instead of suspects.  

One of the often stated faults of this shoenen-ai dvd is that it starts with volume 2 of the manga instead of at the beginning of the story.  Another oft repeated complaint is that, depsite this OVA’s popularity among shoenen-ai fans, there was never a follow on DVD, they did not continue the story line.  There is no nudity in this anime OVA, and some complain that the video does not go far enough in the gay relationship that grows out of this police partnership, something that became more evident in Volume 7 of the manga. 

Several of the comments about the Fake OVA is that it is very similar to “Kizuna” in both style and plot.  Both “Fake” and “Kizuna” are stories about the long term growth and development of a gay relationship where one of the main characters has a crush on the other.  Through their shared experiences during the course of the stories, in both cases the straight guy ends up falling for the gay guy by the end of the story, realizing that through all their experiences together, they had fallen in love.  It’s easy to see why this is a popular subject among gay men in a world where many have fallen in love at one time or another with a straight friend or acquaintance, except in real life, it rarely works out as well for the relationship as it seems to have in both of these manga stories. 

I know, from having worked with artists over the years, that it is very hard to create nuance in an anime DVD, and due to the costs involved in producing an anime movie, it is often more cost prohibitive to explore sub-plots and nuance in an anime movie than in a manga where the cost of production is much less.  It’s not surprising to me that some feel that the story is better in the manga version of the “Fake” series, and perhaps it is, but for me, maybe for you too, there is nothing more pleasurable than seeing one of my favorite mangas come to life through an anime OVA DVD. While the “nuances” and sub-plots of the budding romances in these stories don’t seem to convey the depth of emotion that is achieved in the manga versions, they are still well worth the purchase and certainly good entertainment that for me gives more dimension and renewed interest in the original mangas.

Oh, and the closing song, “Starlight Heaven”, is not bad either

Many people dismiss Level C as a plot-less sexual romp that has little plausibility and only serves to appeal to the Yaoi crowd because of the explicit sex. A good majority of reviews I have read on this OVA complain that neither the plot, nor the characters were adequately developed, rendering this manga and OVA as nothing more than a gay hentai sexual romp.

While I agree that the story was not developed completely, with only a 30 minute video canvas in which to paint the picture, its not really a surprise. However, if you examine the characters a bit more closely using the bits of information given in snippets throughout the video, it is possible to see traces of a story that repeats itself every day in real life.

Kazuomi is the typical good looking and seemingly narcissistic man who thinks too much of himself using his good looks and charm as currency, bouncing his way through life from relationship to relationship without consideration for anyone’s feelings but his own. The type of guy who is only there for the moment, as long as that moment lasts, never bothering to look beneath the surface of the person he is involved with or to even try to really love them for more than their bodies and the sexual moments they share. But is this all Kazuomi represents? I think that interpretation might be a bit shallow. When his girlfriend is breaking up with him and asks “did you ever love me?” Kazuomi replies “I loved….your body.” On the surface I took this as further evidence of his narcissicism, but after thinking about it for a while, perhaps Kazuomi knew that something was missing, some emotional spark, some inner connection. It is possible Kazuomi was simply going through life doing what society expected of him, yet feeling or possibly even knowing inside that what society expected of him he could not do.

I believe there is some merit to this interpretation of the story. When Kazuomi is having sex with Mizuki you will notice that he is always pleasuring Mizuki which would not be typical of someone overly narcissistic. The fact that Kazuomi swallows Mizuki’s cum and rims his ass, both decried as “dirty” by Mizuki, are in themselves indicators that Kazuomi is finally into someone else more than himself. If Kazuomi were truly only after what his sexual currency could buy him he would not be putting himself in the position of pleasuring others, instead he would be laying like a dead fish letting his lover worship him. In the end of the video, it becomes known to Mizuki that Kizuomi is part of a larger plot with his sister Haruno to lure Mizuki away from his modelling contract with his older brother’s company. When Kazuomi confronts his sister, protecting Mizuki, it is at this point that he realizes he has fallen in love, possibly for the first time in his life.

Perhaps this story is not so much that of one catering to his own ego as much as it is the timeless story of ones search for who they really are and having the courage to accept it.

Am I way off base here? Am I reading too much into this story? Should I just accept it on it’s surface and shut up and appreciate that there is at least one of a few anime videos dedicated to gay sex? What do you think?

This DVD movie, based on the original manga by Kazuma Kodaka, is the first of two parts from it’s 1994 original publication date, and is an updated version complete with subtitling.

Young and handsome Japanese sword fighting (Kendo) champion Samejima Ranmaru saves his future boyfriend, Kei Enyoji, from an almost certain death at the hands of assasins, seemingly out to destroy him because of his family’s ties to the Japanese Mafia (Yakuza).  Because of injuries sustained in saving his Kei, Ranmaru has to give up the beloved sport in which he was a rising star. 

Three years later, Ranmaru and Kei end up as college roommates and become lovers.  One day Ranmaru is invited to go for drinks by his professor, claiming he knows a good place to drink but doesn’t want to go alone.   Although Ranmaru doesn’t like going to bars, the professor was insistent, and he agreed to go.  Going with his professor, they end up in a Japanese host bar where special favors can be arranged with the pretty yaoi boys that hang out there.  Having been offered a drink, Ranmaru, a non drinker, orders tea instead.  As they sit in the bar drinking, Ranmaru starts feeling a little uncomfortable, and can take it no more when his professor tries to physically come on to him.   Deciding he has had enough, Ranmaru decides to leave the bar only to realize he had been drugged.  

One of the waiters, Sagano Kai, possibly aware of the professors intentions, or perhaps in cahoots, steps in and saves Ranmaru from the professor’s lustful clutches.   However, it becomes apparant that this is no accidental meeting.  Sagano Kai knew of Ranmaru when he was a Kendo champion, also training in Kendo just to be close to him.  While it’s not specified in the plot, it’s possible that Sagano may have been complicit in finding Ranmaru at his university and arranging, through the professor, for Ranmaru to be brought to the pub in which he was working.

Here the story takes a very interesting twist when we find out that Sagano Kai is actually Kei Enyoji’s half brother.  Kei’s mother is the mistress of a Yakuza and Sagano Kai, a few years younger than Kei, is the son of the Yakuza and his first wife.   Being the son of a Yakuza, Kei Enyoji and his mistress mother are kept by the Yakuza in a mistress’ house and see his father only periodically.   Sagano Kai was raised in the Yakuza’s house, being raised more by his hired assassins than by his father, and through them learned the ways of organized crime.   Because of Kei Enyojis’s mother being the mistress of his Yakuza father, Sagano Kai blames her for his own parents loveless relationship.  Because of his sadness from the lack of love at home, Sagano Kai actually hates Kei Enjoji and is using the guise of being in love with Kei to get close to him.  

This sets up a drama filled story filled with lust, love, pain, desire, and obsession culminating in a violent rivalry between two half brothers.