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Gravitation   
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Description
From Tokyopop:

Shuichi Shindou is determined to take his band Bad Luck to the top of the Japanese pop charts. With his drive, talent, and satiny singing voice, he just might stand a chance. But Fate throws a wrench into his well-oiled machine in the form of a handsome stranger named Yuki, a romance writer with an attitude. Yuki is Shuichi's biggest critic, but as the two young artists gravitate towards each other, friendship, and perhaps something more, is sure to blossom.

Type
Manga

Related Series

Associated Names
グラビテーション

Groups Scanlating
Forces of Gravitation project
Mangagedon
Zero Talent Scanlations
SailorSpazz
More...

Latest Release(s)
v.Fanbook 2 c.Bonus by Zero Talent Scanlations over 8 years ago
v.OVA Bonus Booklet c.Track 7005 by Zero Talent Scanlations over 8 years ago
v.OVA Bonus Booklet c.Track 7006 by Zero Talent Scanlations over 8 years ago
Search for all releases of this series

Status
in Country of Origin
12 Volumes (Complete)
6 Volumes (Collection/Complete)

Completely Scanlated?
Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter
Starts at Vol 1, Chap 1
Ends at Vol 7

User Reviews
N/A

Forum
2 topics, 11 posts
Click here to view the forum

User Rating
Average: 8 / 10.0 (349 votes)
Bayesian Average: 7.87 / 10.0
10
 
 35%
9+
 
 16%
8+
 
 17%
7+
 
 11%
6+
 
 9%
5+
 
 4%
4+
 
 3%
3+
 
 2%
2+
 
 1%
1+
 
 3%

Last Updated
October 18th 2023, 2:42pm


Genre

Categories

Category Recommendations

Recommendations

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year
1995

Original Publisher

Serialized In (magazine)
Kimi to Boku (Sony Magazines)

Licensed (in English)
Yes

English Publisher
Seven Seas (April 2024)
TokyoPop (Expired / 12 Vols - Complete)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)
Weekly Pos #694 increased(+2)
Monthly Pos #1644 (No change)
3 Month Pos #2844 increased(+154)
6 Month Pos #3377 increased(+748)
Year Pos #4996 increased(+743)

List Stats
On 343 reading lists
On 313 wish lists
On 781 completed lists
On 103 unfinished lists
On 274 custom lists

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over 10 years ago
over 15 years ago

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User Comments  [ Order by usefulness ]
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the anime is the definitive version  
by MAPLE+STREET
August 23rd, 2023, 8:08pm
Rating: N/A
God friggin chirst, the gravitation manga is the very definition of a mess.

My headcanon is that they had three different authors do three parts of the manga. I'm not even talking about the artstyle, the story alone is enough of a mess.

The first, what, 3 volumes? give me some very somber vibes. I can't really explain it, but it feels melancholic. Like the jokes are just a front and they gonna drop some tragedy on us. That doesn't really go anywhere imo. I mean it technically does but. All in all, a story about the love and hardships of an aspiring artist.
From there on the comedy ramps up and they become physically unable to stop telling jokes in every page. You can legit count the number of pages they drop the clown act and get serious with your fingers. Many characters and storylines get underutilized and glossed over in favor of "big funni" and it hurts because there's still meat under there.

Then the third act happens. Thus far I've had my complaints but it was still manageable. I think its by volume 8? maybe? that this stops being Gravitation and it becomes Bobobobo. I can't even remember what the plot was here I just remember it was Urusei Yatsura levels of 90s slapstick acted out by body doubles putting on a flanderized representation of the character they murdered in cold blood.

The anime staff, bless their souls, saw that the poor thing had absolutely jumped the shark and thus pretended that part didn't exist and tried their best to salvage the first two parts of the manga. They manage to tie the pathos of the first part with the constant comedy from the second part. They allow the characters to have proper personalities, and there's certainly an attempt in giving the secondary characters a purpose, which I appreciate tbh. They streamline the jumbled mess of dropped plotlines into something that fixes it. A good chunk of it at least.
Rewatching the anime the other day I was honestly surprised that they were able to piece together anything coherent at all from this mess.

TLDR: Honestly the anime still holds up, I recommend it. Stay away from the manga. Maaaybe read the first 8 volumes if you're a desperate superfan like me when I was 12 (I still like it tbh). Just... don't read the rest. Seriously. It is *not* worth your time.

... Last updated on August 23rd, 2023, 8:09pm
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My first BL ever  
by kurosu_yuuki
January 23rd, 2021, 3:36pm
Rating: N/A
Gravitation is a BL classic. It was my first BL, as I'm sure it was many people's. I read it almost 2 decades ago and reread it many times throughout my life.
However, it is my first time reading it as a full grown adult (I'm almost 30). And you know what? It still kicks ass.
It's not perfect, there are many problematics aspects, but we have to remember this was written in the 90s, it was a completely different world - and as such, it's insanely revolutionary.
To be honest, even more than what people would actually consider important to be dealt with the right development, like Shuichi being raped (I don't particularly get offended by rape in BL, it's quite normal for these types of stories), it's the deviation from the main plot starting from volume 9 which really bothers me, and it always has since I was a little girl. Things in Gravitation are never dealt with in a normal manner, we all know that, it's basically unreal metaphors for comedic purpose, and that's fine, it's fun, and I laugh way more than I care to admit.
But with each "crazy" character introduced, it gets more nonsensical. To me it really starts when K-san comes into the picture. Then the young keyboard player (I can never remember his name for the life of me), and it all goes downhill with Reiji, which is a completely unnecessary and bothersome character. I remember all these things have made me roll my eyes since I was very young, and do up to this day, skipping those pages every time I read Gravitation again.
But... There really are no other serious issues with it, at least none that are so one so big as to disturb the brilliance of it.
The pace is actually perfectly adequate, with their relationship taking almost two years to fully flourish (something I miss nowadays not only in manga, but entertainment in general, where everything takes a few months only, if not mere weeks or days). Although Shuichi falls for Yuki hard and fast, it's very noticeable that it's infatuation in the beginning, which grows into passion, then into love. The way it should be.
Yuki, on the other hand. has to deal with a great deal more, overcoming his past trauma and personal psychological difficulties before allowing himself to fully open himself up to Shuichi. In the younger years of my life with Gravitation, I used to think Yuki was pretty cold and that Shuichi had sort of forced himself into Yuki's life, but now that I'm more mature, I perceive it completely differently. Yuki never actually denies Shuichi at any point. He plays it cool and distant, but they're actually always close to each other and touching, I would say much more so than in other BL, and Yuki indulges Shuichi's every desire without much resistance, if any at all.
Whereas I saw Shuichi as slightly annoying, albeit it strong, when I was younger, I now see him as the epitome of a main character. The cry-baby stuff is just for laughs, but his actual essence is amazing and something that I've rarely seen repeated, not just in BL, but in manga in general. He's truly unique and I love him so much.
My only disappointment is that there isn't more of Yuki's softness, especially a real "I love you" from him - but hey, that's what the DJs are for, right? And those are the next ones I'm gonna reread, because I think the dive into the "Gravitation" world is NOT complete without them, and I don't recommend skipping them if you really want to get the full picture (nor the anime, especially for the "Bad Luck" soundtrack!).

My favorite character has been, and always will be, since the first time I read it when I was 10 years old, Sakuma Ryuichi. Yes, he's complicated, he's misleading, he lies, and he's difficult. But he's also... everything Shuichi sees him as being. Cool, amazing, adorable and talented.
Funnily enough, my least favorite character also remains the same: Seguchi Tohma, whom, till this day, I don't think I fully comprehend. MURAKAMI-sensei may try to shove it down that he "only loves Yuki emotionally and not sexually", but I can't understand or accept his fierce competition for Yuki's attention. I don't even like that he's married to Yuki's sister, because he doesn't even seem like he loves her at all.
I also don't fully understand Hiro (though, in this case, it's different because I like his calming presence). At times, he seems to actually be in love with Shuichi, but then he turns out straight and had always liked Ayaka? I still don't understand that part of the story either.
In spite of a few side characters who are either annoying or completely unrelatable, Gravitation really shines when it includes so many friends and coworkers in the main story, even knowing about Yuki and Shuichi's relationship, and at times supporting or opposing them. It's, again, something I've seen replicated to this day in other BL, and failing most of the time.

The last thing I'd like to comment on is just how bad the translation of this manga is. I have both a digital copy (which is made of scanlations) and the official published one in my language (which is neither English nor Japanese). The translation of both is so bad that it makes it difficult to read at times, and even though I've read this multiple times throughout my life, there are still bits of dialogue I couldn't grasp because of it, no matter how many times I reread.

With all of that being said, Gravitation will always have a special place in my heart and I will always love it, as people do with their firsts. Even if I remove nostalgia out of the picture, I really think it's a masterpiece that paved the way for so much to come, and really opened up the BL world. It introduced concepts and plot devices that are still being used almost 30 years later.
I can't rate it a solid 10 because of it's inevitable flaws, as pioneers often have, but it could never be less than a 9 either.
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Stupid  
by Meilee123
August 25th, 2015, 2:19am
Rating: 7.0  / 10.0
It started out great. It had real promise. Shuichi had a normal life, he looked great, had clear ambitions and problems. But around the part where the anime starts and the author turns him, a high school graduate plus some more years, to a 12 year old cartoon, it went downhill. This manga was entertaining, but it became too silly. Let me reiterate to emphasize. It was downright retarded. I'm okay with shenanigans but the beginning of this book really lead me to believe that it had a serious itinerary. Frikking pandas, gaijins and stupid songs and worse characters (thats a statement). I was confused many times. And the manga didnt really have an under layer, for all the chapters that it s put out. The closest thing was Yuki's past, which turns out to be .. Oh shocker, betrayal. It only had too many overlayers of gunfighting and the like. This isnt even an action manga; all that stuff was unneccesary and a waste of money. The ending sucked. I dont even understand the last page. Although thats prolly because they translated it wrong.
I gave this a 10 before, because of the anime, but I realised that the manga is completely different in that it s drawn out and carelessly/recklessly made. The author was clearly writing this as she went along. She completely scrapped the beginning part which i loved so much and hoped that none of her readers would notice. What happened to Shuichis family? His classmates? This book is one dimensional. Oh boy meets boy. Get together break up, get together, break up. Lets visit the past? Get back together. Now choose between your career or your love. Happy ending. With the addition of many many useless charcters.

... Last updated on August 25th, 2015, 2:42am
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The Best  
by harmone2528
May 25th, 2012, 11:36pm
Rating: 10.0  / 10.0
This is my most favorite manga of all time. I love it to death. My phone is personally customized to be ALL about it ( my cover is a Gravitation collage, my apps' pics are all gravitation, EVERY background pic i can change is gravitation.) so in short, ITS GREAT!!!!^-^
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Went from good to bad  
by HanaTenshiHimeko
January 9th, 2012, 7:06pm
Rating: N/A
Long story short: beginning was awesome with the craziness, dragged on a bit bit new characters, more craziness, kept dragging on the plot through the mud, and at the end pissed me off so bad that I sold my entire manga collection to the nearest recycling bookstore. The fact that there was a sequel pissed me even more.

Beginning was great, but don't expect the ending have the same awesomeness as the beginning.

... Last updated on January 9th, 2012, 7:08pm
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Amusing win  
by Fansomedreams
August 29th, 2011, 2:48am
Rating: N/A
If you need something to make you smile, read this. The very open and almost rude way the character's interact is hilarious and I I was actually interested in the relationship (something I've been finding harder and harder to do with the BL genre lately). Could've used greater intensity on certain elements is my only complaint, though I do agree the New York arc was rather a fail, but again an intensity issue. (I should add when I mean intensity, I'm talking about the plot elements...)
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My Brain Just Died...  
by asrodeia
February 13th, 2010, 3:32pm
Rating: 7.0  / 10.0
I liked it... but I couldn't help getting frustrated. I found the series hard to follow from the beginning, and although it stabilized for a while, the New York arc onward was completely insane.... The plot seems rushed, and while that may be intended, I barely have time to remember a new character before they're gone for a bit...

A lot was assumed here, the reader does not have an omniscient point of view, we do NOT know the main characters' true intentions at all times. That may have been what I didn't like...

As Guilty said, the comedy does let the series down... it's just too slapstick most of the time.

However... I still read it. So, that says something, right?
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Gravitation  
by Raven
September 14th, 2009, 2:05am
Rating: 9.5  / 10.0
I've finally been able to finish this after five years, since I first uncovered it. It had brought me into a whole new world called manga. This is by far one of my favourite series. It has it's highs and lows, but overall, there is a story there, and to me.. it was beautiful. It was funny, it was frustrating, it was warming, and it was sad. I highly recommend this series.
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Great page turner  
by sosise
August 1st, 2009, 8:47pm
Rating: N/A
i couldnt keep laughing like crazy when i read this; how can She make this kind of out of the world humorconfused i love the fact Mr. K carrying a gun everywhere, it makes me feel like Gravitation is like a military comics.
well, i dont think there is yaoi in it, it;s only shounen ai. but i love the gravi remix; they are really yaoi based PWP.
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it started out good...  
by orangekisse
April 21st, 2009, 2:17pm
Rating: N/A
well its a good manga i suppose. i thought it would deal more with the main character being a singer but its based more on just relationship between yuki and shuichi.... I definitely don't like how the sudden change of art style started...after volume 7 shuichi turned from a normal teenager to a girly little boy.........and so i never finished it.
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