Product Details

• Studio: MEDIA BLASTERS
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00151QYI0
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #40,126 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Kyousuke Iwakai and Youji Katou are two of the hottest stars of Japan's all-male adult film industry. They share the dream of shedding the bonds of their trade and emerging as true actors. The two share many sordid encounters on and off the set until the pair is pitted against one another for a mainstream role. Kyousuke lands the part but drives a wedge between himself and Youji. Their relationship may not survive Kyousuke's success or Youji's new co-star in the adult film world: a handsome but rough returning star who will stoop to anything to have Youji to himself.System Requirements:Running Time: 60 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MATURE/ADULT UPC: 631595082067 Manufacturer No: KVDVD0820

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well, it only took eight years to get here..., June 7, 2008

By	T. LaPonte "mo" (Connecticut) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Eight years after the original release of the classic yaoi OVA for the widely popular manga series by Youka Nitta, we finally have Embracing Love (Haru wo Daiteita) legally available on American shores thanks to Kitty Media's license. Previously, the title was only available for download or viewing on streaming websites via fansubs, but now a legitimate DVD release is here.

Embracing Love is the story of two rival adult film stars who by chance are selected to compete for the same role in a gay erotic film. This chance encounter results in a passionate relationship between the two men, who break from adult films and into more mainstream roles in films and television, while juggling this new and controversial foray into a same-gender love affair. The OVA covers about the contents of the first two volumes of the manga series, summarizing what led Katou and Iwaki together in flashbacks and skipping over a number of the less significant details in the story in favor of covering more plot.

The animation quality is surprising good for this genre. Characters move smoothly, backgrounds are detailed and color and lighting are apropriate for each scene's mood. The OVA predates the excessive use of CG found in so many anime now, making the animation more cohesive overall. The audio is also of a high quality, featuring veteran voice talents for both male leads and a soundtrack of more popular musical fare than the average yaoi DVD generally offers.

The love scenes are numerous and range from the innocent to the erotic. They still don't break from censorship conventions and don't show all the naughty bits, but there is actual animated sound, sweat and movement. The uninspired obscuring of naked bodies can at times be almost frustratingly laughable. Limbs, faces, sheets and clothing (especially the clothing) "in the way of the good stuff" serve only to torment the inner fangirl of the viewer.

The translation is sometimes awkward. They opted to go with a straight translation of honorifics (the -san, -kun, etc. used after names to denote formality or familiarity between people) rather than retaining them in the subtitles. This works sometimes, but comes off strange to a Western audience who probably can't fathom why Katou refers to Iwaki so formally throughout the series as "Mr. Iwaki" (particularly in the bedroom). There simply isn't a smooth way to translate this uniquely Japanese convention, which is why many translations simply don't try to and instead retain the original honorofics in the English localization. There were also times when the translation was just a bit too literal and ended up reading stiltedly, taking the English-only speaking viewer out of the story. In that regard, the original fansub, which took a few more poetic licenses for the sake of a smoother read, captured the essense of the script somewhat better than this professional translation.

The DVD menu has an amusing feature in that instead of simply omitting the Set Up menu, you are given the only (selectable) choice of, "Japanese with English Subtitles." The special features include some original and unsubtitled spots for the Japanese DVD release, clean opening and closing animation and previews of other Kitty Media titles.

Considering the questionable future of the Embracing Love manga releases in English, I highly recommend picking this DVD up to quench any frustrated desires to experience this story. This is one of those classic titles, the ones that originally defined the BL genre and helped it to explode in popularity: one of those "must see" titles. For a 60 minute 2 part OVA, though, some might find the retail price a bit high, but as starved as we are in the west for legitimate localizations of BL and yaoi on DVD, and the quality of this one in particular, I don't think that should be considered a deal breaker.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Embracing love Dvd, September 8, 2008

By	Marjorie Moreland "YamiSeto" (United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Is a great dvd for yaoi lover's, especially yoai lovers who want some cute romance not just the love making.