"Fake" (Anime)

[pkristen]

2 Episode OVA. Originally reviewed January 3, 2002.

Summary
NY City male cops Dee and Ryo are on vacation in England and stumble across a murder investigation at the very isolated resort they’re staying at. At the same time, however, the two men are also trying to sort out their feelings for each other, away from the minors and romantic competition that plagues them at their home and work environments.

Review
Okay, I’ll state right now that if the reason why you’d be interested in this anime is because of the murder-mystery, you’re going to be disappointed. The crime is obvious as well as the resolution to it.

But that’s not why I wanted to watch it, so that point is forgivable. It’s obviously the yaoi aspect that made me interested. After having such a bad viewing experience with “Kizuna”, I decided to give this a chance in the hope that not ALL yaoi anime was of the similar mediocre quality.

Dee and Ryo are interesting and charismatic characters, who play off each other very well (and no, that wasn’t a sexual pun.) Their banter is cute and you get a sense that the story is genuinely trying to show these characters at a hopeful crossroads in their presumed long-standing relationship.

The animation is above average, even occasionally employing the more cartoony expressions and actions without taking away from the feel of the story. And it doesn’t hurt that all of the main male characters are your typical bishonen with the more macho edge. And because the genre audience is really Japanese women, it doesn’t deal with more traditional American gay subject matter as homophobia and diseases, which for someone like me who’ve seen dozens of such movies/stories, this was a refreshing change.

Needless to say, I enjoyed the piece for what it was meant to be: a good hour of romantic comedy/mystery entertainment.