Episode 1 - Breathless is the first episode of the Loveless anime.
Synopsis[]
Twelve year old Aoyagi Ritsuka begins his first day at a new school. Upon leaving at the end of the day, he is stopped by twenty-one year old Agatsuma Soubi, who claims to know his deceased brother Aoyagi Seimei. When Ritsuka invites the older male to make memories in the park, they stop to rest in a clearing. It is there that Soubi kisses Ritsuka and the outraged boy tries to flee. They are soon confronted by a pair that address the confused Ritsuka as 'Loveless'. They begin to battle two-on-two, revealing the other set to be Breathless. Soubi removes the bandages around his neck to reveal the word Beloved scarred into his flesh. Ritsuka recognizes it as what Seimei once said his true name was. Before he can get the answers he craves, the battle between Soubi and breathless begins. Soubi wins and sends Breathless back to where they came from. When Ritsuka opens his eyes again, Soubi is gone.
Breathless is revealed to be talking to a mysterious man who sent them after Ritsuka, who is less then pleased with their failure in capturing him. They ask for another chance to prove themselves, which he grants them.
Ritsuka reflects on the day's events while working on his computer, wondering if what happened was real or something made up in his mind. He concludes that it had to have happened because he has memories (photographs) to prove it.
Difference to the Manga[]
- In the scene where Soubi picks up Ritsuka from school, several lines of Soubi's dialogue where omitted that were present in the manga in which Soubi stated he showed up to ensure Ritsuka made it home safely. Instead, the only lines of dialogue that remained unaltered were Soubi's remarks on how he thought Ritsuka would be happy to see him. Because of this, the narrative makes it seem as if Soubi was more egotistical than concerned for Ritsuka's actual well-being.
- In the manga, Ritsuka is depicted wearing a jacket with an elaborate floral design on his first day of school. In the anime, the design was scrapped completely to cut costs on animation. Instead, Ritsuka is depicted wearing a solid light blue jacket.
Trivia[]
In the manga, Minami Ritsu later acknowledges that he is the one who sent Breathless after Ritsuka. However, later in the anime, he says it was not him who sent them and that he doesn't know who did.