is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yun Kōga. It is serialized in the Japanese magazine Monthly Comic Zero Sum by Ichijinsha and collected in thirteen tankōbon as of July 2017. Kōga plans to end the manga at fifteen volumes.
A 12-episode anime television series adaptation was made by J.C. Staff, broadcast in a post-midnight slot on TV Asahi and ABC from April 2005 to June 2005. The anime series was licensed and released in the US by Media Blasters in a set of 3 DVDs in early 2006.
The most immediately noticeable aspect of the story is that many characters are nekomimi—cat-like features (in this case, ears and tails) are universal from birth, so there are as many catboys, including the protagonist, as there are catgirls. People in the Loveless universe lose their animal features when they lose their virginity. Those who no longer have animal features are differentiated by society as "adults".
Plot In his first day at his new school, a then 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 2 years earlier. Upon the inspection of Seimei's abandoned computer files, Ritsuka discovers that an organization called 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 Septimal Moon 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.
Characters
Main characters
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; he does not 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 does not 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 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 brother, 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 was not 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 does not 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 will obey Ritsuka's every order, which is not necessarily true. Because Seimei told Soubi not to tell Ritsuka about the seven moons he cannot tell him.
Minor characters
Yuiko is Ritsuka's classmate. Despite her ditzy, bubbly exterior, she is sharp and goodhearted. Ritsuka at first found her annoying. On Ritsuka's first day in school, she immediately is overcome with awe and a fascination for him, and has feelings for him. At the prodding of her mean-spirited classmates, she befriends him, although he is very reluctant to accept her because he thinks she is weird and unintelligent. As Ritsuka overcomes his initial impressions of her, they become good friends. Yuiko and Ritsuka's friendship greatly irritates their classmate, Yayoi. He had been recently rejected by Yuiko, although rather sorrowfully, claiming she will only date boys taller than her. Much to Yuiko's dismay, Ritsuka insists their friendship is platonic and it, indeed, remains that way. However, in two separate confessions to Hitomi Shinonome, Yuiko professes her love and devotion to Ritsuka. Ritsuka seems to trust Yuiko, despite his own issues with that kind of bond. As the series progresses, a rather unusual, yet harmonious, friendship is struck between Yuiko and Soubi. Although it seems their personalities would clash, they have a unique understanding of each other. Yuiko is characterized by her large breasts and considerable height. At 168 cm tall, Yuiko is much taller than Ritsuka and her other classmates and is often mistaken for being older than she actually is.
He is a good friend and current classmate of Soubi's. They are both art students. They study the Japanese art of flowers. He describes himself as Soubi's only friend. Most of his early dialogue is filled with flirtations and passes at Soubi, despite being gently ignored or indirectly rejected each time. Despite his early presence as a character who exists solely to create a lighter atmosphere among a very dark story, he gradually gains depth as the story progresses. He becomes a loud voice that champions pacifism and self-worth. This contrasts strongly against Soubi's submissive nature that willingly accepts violent treatment and strongly desires to be completely controlled, albeit from only very certain people. More significantly, Kio's views are shared by Ritsuka. Together, they provide a very black-and-white atmosphere that allows only one line of thinking. It was recently revealed that Soubi only became interested in Kio because of a tattoo on his back, and a vow that he took when he got it. He has a daughter that looks to be around ten years old; she notably has no cat ears. A twin sister also appeared but he had no knowledge of her.
She is Ritsuka, Yuiko and Yayoi's teacher. She is very naive and innocent, and painfully aware of these characteristics. At twenty-three years old, she is teased and ridiculed for retaining her ears (and therefore her virginity) to such an age. She is visibly embarrassed, but as the story progresses, she gains confidence and pride over making her own choices. Hitomi is greatly troubled by Ritsuka's mother and the injuries he sustains from her, and greatly desires to involve herself in the situation to make a change, despite her fears and her colleagues' dissent. Her very caring and naive nature clashes spectacularly when confronted with Soubi. He brusquely rejects her and says he does not care for older women, although she has never made a romantic move towards him and is no more than three years older than he is. Despite his cold treatment, Hitomi seems to have had some feelings for Soubi. His brash actions are mysterious—the only discernible reason being a general hatred towards teachers as a result of his experiences with Ritsu Minami. Although he has rejected her, it can be noted that Soubi enjoys tormenting her to some degree. This kind of behavior towards Hitomi may have stemmed from jealousy. Soubi refers to Hitomi as 'childish', despite her being three years older than he is. Yet he still respectfully calls her "Shinonome-sensei." The only way he degrades her is by her sexuality, possibly because Hitomi has remained a virgin while he lost his ‘ears’ at a much earlier age. In comparison with his extreme dislike of his own teacher figure, Ritsu, Soubi still manages to treat Hitomi as a subordinate, constantly belittling her.
She is the mother of Seimei and Ritsuka. She has an important influence over her sons. Being emotionally and mentally weak, Misaki has very little grip on reality, and often hallucinates, particularly after certain events in volume 5. She is abusive and violent and blames Ritsuka's personality change for the reason Seimei "left", demanding that she wants her former Ritsuka back when she beats him. To many, she is seen as a monster, but in volume 5, she has inner dialogues of her own, allowing the reader to witness a more human, fragile side to her behavior which she cannot control.
Yayoi is another classmate of Ritsuka's. He is shown as being socially awkward and with low self-esteem, and feels great jealousy towards Ritsuka. Yayoi admits that he loves Yuiko, but when he confessed to her, he was rejected for being too short. Yuiko claims that she only dates boys taller than her, but the truthfulness of that statement is called into question when it is painfully obvious she loves Ritsuka, who is barely taller than Yayoi. Despite his jealousy of Ritsuka's close friendship with Yuiko, he is encouraged by Ritsuka's adamant claims that their relationship is purely platonic. He makes a firm statement he will not give up on Yuiko, and spends more time with her than ever.