Review of Junjo Romantica

What you're about to read will be really deep, that's what you need to know. I've never really understood why people even liked yaoi or why there were so many people fangirling over it. One day, I was really curious about what yaoi anime was like, so I looked up for some and found Junjou Romantica. I was a young teenager during this time, going through puberty and all. I have had a history of being emotionally abused often, so when I saw this anime I thought it was cute and couldn't see the abuse at all because I thought this was normal, and thecharacters really reminded me of how my emotionally abusive mom who was super overprotective like the characters in the anime. I didn't understand what healthy relationships or friendships were like back then, so yaoi became my coping mechanism for that. I went to a toxic school, and also got sexually molested once which basically traumatized me but yaoi made me feel safe and not have to deal with the emotions that come with trauma most of the time. It was my escape.

I know not everyone was like me. This anime basically made me feel comfortable and made me feel nostalgic for some reason. I really liked this one, but opened my eyes...

I realized it wasn't a great anime. Plenty of kids go around watching stuff like this, and you've probably met some annoying fangirls in your life. Luckily it didn't make me fetishize gay men, but recognize that hey, gay relationships are pretty normal like straight ones.

Either this anime will make you fetishize gay men or not, there's no in-between. The story isn't that great, it's pretty cliche but I have to say that the strongest point of this anime could be the characters since I did feel emotional while watching this and for whatever reason am able to empathize with them. But they were not written well, at least not developed enough for me to find them memorable. The character designs are OK.

As for the sound, pretty average but it's addicting. The opening song ( first one ) was my favorite, the rest... not really. The OST is also good, at least it suits the mood of the anime but the opening and ending songs are actually quite awkward to listen to because of the lyrics. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the anime at the time I saw it. I give the art an 8, at least the animators drew the scenes better than the mangaka because honestly I couldn't even get through reading the first few chapters of the manga, the anatomy was just so terrible. At least her art has improved over the years, but I don't like how they have seme and uke stuff and how they give them different characteristics. Normal gay couples don't look like that, nor do they always have huge age gaps.

Also can't deny that this would be a terrible influence on younger people nowadays, doesn't matter what gender you are. If you don't understand what abuse is, you will think that someone who is mean to you is in love with you. That's not how real relationships work. And as we know, the first couple basically involved sexual harassment. Most yaoi mangakas play it off as if it's no big deal and turn it into a romantic love story, where the guy eventually falls in love with the other guy. If this event happened in real life, the person would be traumatized. It kind of gives away the message that people who get sexually harassed actually enjoy it, this is NOT true at all.

It is easy to get attached to the characters, I think a lot of young teenagers like this anime because it's super girly but has a childish side to it which they can connect to. Some people use it to cope with trauma ( that's me ), while others are going through puberty and maybe some are just here to fetishize gay men. There's nothing wrong with shipping two men, but if you are shipping someone non-fictional in real life with someone else... you have a problem here.

The author may have been sexually harassed and is writing this to cope with trauma. This is a possibility, because sexual harassment against women is quite common in Japan to the point where they have trains for only women. I do recall watching the spin-off of this series, The World's Greatest First Love. In one of the episodes, Kisa mentions that he got sexually harassed sometimes because he got mistaken for a girl.

Back then, I might have given this anime an 8. I'd give it a 6/10 now after knowing why I liked this. It was better than most yaoi animes on average back when I watched this, but nowadays they're releasing better BL anime.

If you want good BL, watch Classmates. I would highly recommend it. And maybe Tiger & Bunny for real queer representation, although Tiger & Bunny isn't really yaoi, the two main characters are meant to be interpreted as a gay couple or bromance, you choose. I wouldn't blame anyone who watched Junjou and thinks it's great, if you are reading this and may consider watching it then please educate yourself on abusive and healthy relationships and STDs, and then watch the anime. It's better to be safe than sorry.