AKA: Bronze: Zetsuai Since 1989

Genre: Yaoi / shounen ai

Length: OAV, 50 minutes

Distributor: Currently unlicensed in North America

Content Rating: 15+ (adult situations and innuendo, angst up the wazoo)

Related Series: Bronze: Cathexis

Also Recommended: Fake, Gravitation

Notes: This anime is based off an equally bad manga by Ozaki Minami which ran in Margaret and is considered to be one of the pioneers of yaoi and shounen-ai manga. This doesn't change my opinion of it, though.

Rating:

Bronze: Zetsuai

Synopsis

Nanjo Koji is a playboy rock star who has just been reunited with the person he fell in love with at first sight 6 years ago, named Takuto Izumi. However, Koji thought that Izumi was a girl, but really, he's a boy, and a very angsty, depressed boy at that. Koji, of course, takes a long time to come to terms with his feelings towards Izumi and it takes Izumi longer still, especially since he at first hated Koji. But when they do come to some sort of understanding, all sorts of doinky obstacles get in their way. Let the angst begin...

Review

Let me make this totally clear: Bronze/Zetsuai was horrible and doinky. In fact, it was horribdoinky. Words really cannot describe just how bad this anime is, but let me try to spell it out for you in this review.

First off, all the characters are a bunch of doinks, especially our leads, who I'll just call Blonde Angsty Doink (Koji) and Brunette Angsty Doink (Izumi). The things that happen to these people are beyond ridiculous and beyond melodramatic. It's like a soap opera gone mad. Here is what basically happens during Bronze/Zetsuai: Brunette Angsty Doink finds Blonde Angsty Doink lying drunk in the rain and takes him home, nursing him back to health. Blonde Angsty Doink comes down with pneumonia and Brunette Angsty Doink nurses him back to health, then Blonde Doink gets hit by a car, Brunette Doink nurses him, Blonde Doink stands in the rain and angsts, Blonde Doink is hit by a car and goes into a coma, Brunette Doink gets anthrax...you get the picture. And this goes on throughout the anime! If these guys were real, the hospital would probably have a permanent ward set aside for them! Geez!

The other characters are just as bad. It seems that, in the yaoi tradition, most of them are opposed to Blonde Angsty Doink and Brunette Angsty Doink's love, but you never really know why. Of course, Blonde Angsty Doink and Brunette Doink are constantly doubting their relationship, threatening suicide, running away, doubting their feelings...and there are only two minutes where they're actually *happy* for once. But of course, it doesn't last long and something awful happens again.

The character designs are also very crude and awful-looking. The two Angsty Doinks have all the features of your standard yaoi bishounen: Long spindly limbs, super pointy chins, huge necks, and long spider fingers. They look like they got mutated in some freak accident. Sorry, but I do not think that boys who look like mutants are sexy, and it definitely is not enjoyable watching said mutant boys make out. Other than that, the animation and music are pretty unremarkable. It also didn't help that the Brunette Angsty Doink's real name is Takuto Izumi, which prompted instant flashbacks of the two shinigami Takuto and Izumi from Full Moon wo Sagashite, and made me think of how I could be watching an episode of FMoS at the moment, instead of watching this pile of elephant dung.

In conclusion, I guess I knew what to expect from a show whose title translates to "Bronze: Hopeless Love", although a better title would be "Bronze: This Is Really Doinky Love". Let it be known that I don't have anything against gay people or yaoi in general...but I really, really despised this anime and I wouldn't recommend it even to the most militant yaoi fangirl.

An incoherent, angsty mess. Add two stars if you adore yaoi or angsty dramas in general. — Jennifer Berman

Recommended Audience: To be honest, compared to some other yaoi anime, this one isn't very explicit, only containing some tame fondling. However, the constant angst and the fact that the main characters constantly threaten suicide, coupled with the fact that some people wouldn't take very kindly to the idea of a gay romance, limits this one to people 15 and over.