Good golly

I was working on my column this evening when Cullen turned on Gravitation for me. If you don't know what that is, I would define it as yaoi, or boy on boy anime or manga. You can catch the first season on the Anime Network right now. Before Cul got me started on the series I didn't quite get the attraction of yaoi, which is just as popular with young Japanese girls as is it with gays. But within five minutes of the first episode I was hooked.

It's funny, sexy, emotional, action-packed and I love the art in the first few episodes. As I watch more anime I am more and more taken with certain conventions, like chibi, showing characters as children when they get excited insecure, getting in touch with their inner children so to speak. Gravitation is also the first show I've seen that shows the characters as animals, for instance Shuichi Shindou, the pink-haired 19-year-old hero of the show, is very emotional and has been portrayed as a cat and a puppy. It's a charming conceit and really lets you know how the character is feeling.


I feel a strong affinity for Shuichi, he's kind of a dork but means well and wears his heart on his sleeve. He's super emotional, as am I, and often gets himself into trouble because he acts without thinking through the consequences.


He's in love with a guy called Yuki Eiri, a romance writer who could almost have walked out of the pages of a Bronte book, he broods, he's got a mysterious dark past, he's about a half a foot taller than Shuichi, he's constantly fighting his love for Shuichi and quite frankly I don't know what Shuichi sees in him. Maybe he's a challenge, he certainly makes for interesting times.



The emotions are palpable in this show, Shuichi's eyes are so big and liquid that sometimes it actually hurts me to look at him. I imagine that to a young girl watching the show is a way to experiment with emotions in a totally safe way; after all these boys are not going to be interested in her so if she does have feelings she's not comfortable with she's certainly not going to have to act on them.

After the show was over I finished my column and then I went online looking for video of Cam's group singing It's Raining Men from last week. I didn't find it but I did find this, an X-Files video set to the song. It's got Mulder, Krycek and Skinner, running around and beating each other up. Don't try and tell me watching video can't be an aerobic workout.