Gravitation OVA: Lyrics Of Love

Introduction

If anime is a niche sector of the DVD market, then shonen-ai, or young male romance is a niche within a niche, or a niche-squared. It's aimed at a quite specific audience, teenage girls and young women, who appreciate the finer qualities of beautiful men and boys, and who can get vicarious about romance between them. The manga scene for shonen-ai is pretty healthy in the UK, but when it comes to anime, genuine shonen-ai titles can be counted on the fingers of… well there's just one, Gravitation, which was released in the UK last year. While there are several anime titles like Tactics that hint and suggest, Gravitation is the only one that is centred on the romance that develops between two male characters, pop singer Shuichi Shindo, and novelist Yuki Eiri. I reviewed the three volumes for this site and quite frankly, I wound up loathing it. It isn't just that I'm not in the target demographic, I don't even have an inner teenage girl to access, but I found the main character so annoying, that by the end of the series, his sheer presence was enough for me to want to eat my feet. After volume 3, I put the whole experience behind me, glad that I'd never have to experience Gravitation again. I was happy in my ignorance until the Gravitation OVA dropped into my in-tray.


Before the dread of lurid pink hairstyles, cloying characterisations and another hour of annoyance could overwhelm me though, I read the PR material and paused. It turns out that this is one of those OVAs that are made prior to the main series instead of after, and in some way is more a proof of concept than a continuation. Also the director turns out to be none other than Shinichi Watanabe, who later on would go on to direct Excel Saga and Tenchi Muyo GXP, two of my favourite anime comedies. I'm ready to give it the benefit of the doubt. For reference, although the Lyrics of Love OVA was made prior to the series, it's set after the series chronologically.

Gravitation takes place in the cutthroat music industry, with unlikely romance blossoming for Shuichi Shindo, lead singer of pop band Bad Luck. Shuichi had writer's block and lyrics weren't flowing. Walking home one night through the park, the wind caught his half formed verse and blew the sheet towards Yuki Eiri, an established romance novelist, who took one look at them and dismissed them as crass and worthless, written by a talentless hack. The confrontation pushed Shuichi into completing his song to prove Yuki wrong, but he was motivated by more than just anger. Consequently romance blossomed between the two.


The Tokyo Bay Music Fest is impending, and the organisers have managed a coup by signing Nittle Grasper to play, but for Bad Luck, it looks as if their success may be coming to a halt. There are only a few days until their difficult second album is due, but Shuichi has writer's block again, and no lyrics are forthcoming. He's depressed, down, despairing. Yuki is giving him the cold shoulder at home, and he's spending more time worrying about his relationship than he is coming up with glowing verse. Shuichi's bandmates and his manager try their best to get him out of his funk, but his relationship with Yuki is about to go from bad to worse when he learns just why Yuki has been avoiding him.

The two episodes of the OVA are presented on this disc from MVM.

Picture

Made in 1999, there's not a lot of CGI shininess to this show, and it comes with a very hand drawn feel to it. It looks completely different from the series, the character designs are better, Shuichi doesn't have that frightful shock of lurid pink hair, and the characters aren't prone to transform into toddlers at the drop of a hat. The anime also steers clear of too many primary colours, and in comparison can even be described as dull. But I found it to be a much better experience visually than the series.

The 4:3 transfer is adequate. The image has a softness to it that indicates a tape source, although there aren't any tape artefacts to give the game away. It's pretty clear and consistent throughout though.

Sound

You have a choice between DD 2.0 English and Japanese, and although the audio menu does mention stereo, it's a very centralised and mono sounding stereo. Both language casts are consistent with the series, and the eighties style music that I appreciate is back as well. You have a choice between translated English subtitles and a signs only track.

Extras

There are quite a few extras with this disc, although nothing too weighty.

The most substantive and the one I appreciate the most is the soundtrack only track, with subtitled lyrics. It allows you to watch the show without all that pesky dialogue, and allows you to appreciate the songs and the music in all their finery. Oddly enough, this track has the best stereo range of all three soundtracks on the disc.

There is a gallery on the disc, with 9 images. There are 8 pages of liner notes, which offer some background behind some of the more idiosyncratic translations. Anime vs. Manga also runs to 8 pages, and looks at the key differences between the manga, the anime series, and this OVA adaptation.


There are a couple of sneak previews on this disc running to a total of just under 4 minutes. They are little animations, more slideshows with voiceover actually, that offer mini-stories featuring Shuichi and Yuki. One is a recounting of the start of their relationship (animated in full in the TV series), while the other is an interlude contemporary with the OVA.

You get the textless opening, and the episode 1 textless alternative closing.

The disc concludes with trailers for Daphne In The Brilliant Blue, and Solty Rei.

Conclusion

I quite liked the Gravitation OVA, and that's not just because of the presence of Shinichi Watanabe as director. Aesthetically it's much more pleasing. Shuichi doesn't have the pink fright wig anymore, and the character design ethic is a tad more elegant. There's no predilection for super-deformed transformations or unexpected costume changes. The most important thing is that the characters are actually bearable. Shuichi isn't the whiny, clinging, histrionic puppy, and Yuki isn't the cold, reserved manly dominance that takes pleasure in slapping the puppy down. Instead Shuichi is merely just needy and insecure, while Yuki is strong, silent, and reticent about communicating his feelings. It's almost believable.


Admittedly the big draw for me was the Shinichi Watanabe direction, as his brand of humour often clicks with me. If you've seen Excel Saga, the comedy is a little toned down in comparison, but the puns, sight gags, slapstick, zany, left-field humour is all there, with the fourth wall crumbling early on in proceedings. This is one of those shows that winks at the audience, and invites it to join in the fun. There is the obligatory Nabeshin (Watanabe's animated alter ego) cameo as well.


It's the comedy that makes this show work, as the story is decidedly a pedestrian one of relationship strife coupled with career worries. Shuichi and Yuki's relationship hits a rough spot at the same time as work commitments for both begin to loom. As a plot, it could be taken out of a daytime soap, but as a foundation for a progression of gags and jokes, it's ideal. Gravitation still isn't my particular brand of dolphin friendly tuna, but I'd be happy to recommend a tin of the OVA, where I wouldn't touch the series.