Kizuna (1994) Online

Wonderful (anime) story of two boys in love. One, (Renmaru) is a kendo champion in high school. The other (Enjoji) is the son of a yakuza (Japanese Crime lord) When the son of the crime lord is targeted in a hit and run accident the lover pushes him out of the way, only to be hit himself. While the swordsman recovers the situation is further complicated by the arrival of Enjoji's half brother who also falls in love with Renmaru.

The story is a bit hard to follow. I think that this may be one of those movies where it would have been best to read the book first... Is it even available in English?

I love Kizuna. It actually has a much decent depiction of gay life-style, way better than Sailor Moon could do!

It is about two men, one being a straight ace student in Japanese high school and the other is the son of a Yakuza/Mafia family. The two eventually met and get together, despite their total differences.

The thing I like about Kizuna is that even though the men in there are gay, they actually look like actual men and I did not see them cross-dress and carry around rinstone covered handbags!

For those sick of homophobic sterotypes or a fan of gay romances, Kizuna is the one for you.

My friend and I went into this anime after reading the first couple deluxe editions of the Kizuna manga. I would imagine that if you haven't read the series, it would be hard to follow the storyline without thinking that it is completely stupid. It is no easy task to stuff a story involving a shattered Kendo career, the complicated relationship that a bastard son of a Yakuza boss shares with the younger legitimate child, the desire said younger legitimate child has for the bastard's boyfriend, a gross professor who apparently has access to large gangs of men that beat up random guys for him (?), and the obligatory and never-consensual sexy-time that accompanies most yaois... all within the span of 30 minutes.

The product of this impossible endeavor is a cheesy, complicated, fluffy and confusing anime that we,personally, managed to salvage by poking fun at the entire time.

The original Japanese version of Kizuna was easier to take serious, probably because stupid stuff sounds less stupid when you read it in subtitles. The heightened emotions and reactions are easier to swallow as well when it's delivered in Japanese. However, Enjoji's voice is quite annoying and whiny and made me hate the character.

In the English dub, that voice is significantly improved (and I plan on getting Dan Green to sign my copy of the DVD if I ever see him at a con). However, the actor voicing Ranmaru sounds like he's bored and whiny throughout the entire episode. This is harder to ignore when you actually speak the language. And the voices of the hosts at the gay (ahem, I mean hustler) bar are really, REALLY funny.

The horrible dialogue is also impossible to ignore when put into English. Everything seems forced or grossly cheesy, which I suppose is typical for Yaoi. For example, there is a part where Enjoji gets cut with a sword (Wondering how this happens in a fluffy story about host clubs and perverted professors? Get used to it.). He then licks the blood off of his face while making a noise most akin to a snake rasping its tongue. Also, when characters get mad their eyes turn scarlet red or their entire body is surrounded by a blue glow. I guess that's just what happens to red-headed Japanese boys when they get, like, really, really mad.

I just wish that they had done a better job. Kizuna legitimately had potential to be just a tiny bit better than the average Yaoi, and they totally dropped the ball. Why they chose to put the parts of the story they did into the anime is beyond me but hey: if you've read the manga this will at least be interesting. And if you're willing to go into it with a sense of humor, you might even get a few laughs out of it.