|
| Mitsuru (l) and Shinobu (r) exchange a meaningful look. Be still, my heart! |
|
Koko wa Greenwood (Here is Greenwood) was one of the first anime series I watched in my now-nearing one-year obsession with the genre. It is essentially the story of four high school boys and their wacky adventures in Greenwood, or Ryokurin Ryou, an all-boys dorm at the prestigious private high school, Ryokuto Academy. The anime comprises 6 thirty-minute episodes, which was definitely not enough, considering they were based on an 11-volume shoujo manga written by the exceptional Nasu Yukie. I own the manga - I know of what I speak! After watching the anime about 5 times, I knew I was obsessed. To assuage my fanaticism, I went online and fell captive to the wonderful world of fanfiction. Oddly enough, though, most Greenwood fanfiction I stumbled upon shied away from the anime's main character (Hasukawa Kazuya) and focused instead on the terrible two: Mitsuru Ikeda and Shinobu Tezuka, the dorm president and school council president, respectively. (Mitsu and Shin could be classified as main characters but only in the same sense that Han Solo and Chewie were in the first Star Wars movie: interesting, fascinating and outrageous but not much in the fleshed-out character development department.) What was odder was that most of the ficcies written about Mitsu and Shin were unambiguously gay. There seemed to be something in the anime (and in the manga too, I'm told, although I'm still waiting for my translations and haven't read them yet) that hinted at a homosexual relationship between the boys. I won't go over that here; go to Imo-girl's site for more on that (see my links page). Suffice to say, if I wanted to exorcise my obsession by writing about it, and if I wanted a captive audience, I knew I'd have to delve into yaoi. And delve I did. Most of my fanfic started out by exploring Mitsu and Shin's characters and fleshing out their back story, but they always inevitably ended up pairing the two together. As I wrote, I realized that they are indeed soulmates and whether I had them consummate this in a simple kiss or in a more extreme manner, the physicality of their relationship just seemed to fit. I hope you enjoy your trip into my version of the Greenwood realm. And go watch the anime (translated by Software Sculptors and available on VHS tape in either subbed or dubbed format at your local vid store). Then come back and tell me if you, too, agree that Mitsu and Shin, gay or no, are the cutest couple in all of anime-dom. [On His Own]
[Cabin Fever]
[Crimson Dream]
Boys of Summer
Shinobu's Ode
A Fierce Allegiance
Kiss the Rain
|