Gravitation: Lyrics of Love
グラビテーション
- Boys Love
- Comedy
- Adult Cast
- Music
- Showbiz
- Episodes
- 2
- Duration
- 26 min per ep
- Aired
- Jul 23, 1999 to Sep 22, 1999
- Status
- Finished Airing
Synopsis
Bad Luck’s vocalist and lyricist, Shindou Shuichi, has hit a wall. With the next album’s deadlines closing in, the usually high-energy frontman can’t bring himself to write—stuck in a slump brought on by Yuki, the person he loves most, suddenly turning cold and distant. Instead of lyrics, Shuichi can’t think about anything except how to get Yuki to finally talk to him.
Making matters worse, Shuichi’s own bragging to the press has backed the band into a corner: bringing in another lyricist isn’t an option. Unless someone can pull Shuichi out of his spiral, Bad Luck’s future may be on the line.
Otaku Consensus
Gravitation: Lyrics of Love earns its cult afterglow by treating Maki Murakami’s shoujo-BL material as a gag-first music-showbiz pressure cooker, with Shinichi Watanabe’s comic direction, Tomokazu Seki and Kazuhiko Inoue’s vocal contrast, and Daisuke Asakura’s soundtrack giving the two-episode OVA more personality than its 6.87 MAL and 62 AniList averages imply. The recurring criticism is also consistent: Studio Plum’s late-’90s animation shows its age, a few jokes lose force in translation, and the pacing reportedly sags once the initial burst of comedy cools.
Why You Should Watch
Watch this if you want BL with showbiz nerves, band-room chaos, and punchline velocity rather than the restrained melancholy of Given or the more risqué buddy-comedy angle of Fake. Lyrics of Love is only two episodes, so it works best as a concentrated time capsule of pre-2000s shoujo BL: loud reactions, emotionally extreme romantic friction, and music-industry stakes filtered through comedy instead of realism. The draw is not polished modern production; it is the specific chemistry of a male-heavy cast, Kinya Kotani’s theme-song energy, Daisuke Asakura’s pop sensibility, and a lead performance from Tomokazu Seki that turns creative panic into slapstick rhythm. If you like romance that behaves like backstage farce, this is the compact version.
Key Characters
- SShuuichi Shindou(VA: Tomokazu Seki)
Shuuichi is built for maximalist BL comedy, and Tomokazu Seki’s performance sells him less as a smooth music star than as a hyper-expressive creative disaster.
- EEiri Yuki(VA: Kazuhiko Inoue)
Yuki’s kuudere appeal comes from the friction between his polished adult composure and the messy romantic pressure he creates around him.
- HHiroshi Nakano(VA: Yasunori Matsumoto)
Hiroshi functions as the band’s sanity check, the steadier presence fans point to when Shuuichi’s emotions and the show’s comedy start accelerating.
What Makes It Stand Out
- 1
The OVA is a compact two-episode release that aired from July 23 to September 22, 1999, making it closer to an hour-long concentrated companion piece than a full music-industry series.
- 2
Director Shinichi Watanabe and scriptwriter Hiroyuki Kawasaki emphasize broad romantic comedy; contemporary review coverage specifically praised how much of the humor lands without leaning heavily on risqué BL jokes.
- 3
Daisuke Asakura handles the music, while Kinya Kotani performs the opening theme, giving the OVA a stronger pop-performance identity than many short tie-in OVAs of its era.
- 4
Studio Plum’s production uses late-’90s OVA character staging under Hiroya Iijima, who is credited as both character designer and chief animation director; the same period look is the source of the most repeated animation complaint.
- 5
Its reception profile is niche but durable: MAL lists it at 6.87 from more than 19,000 votes, while AniList records a 62/100 score and 47 favourites, matching its reputation as a modestly rated but remembered BL time capsule.
Fun Facts & Trivia
- Fun fact 1
- Maki Murakami is credited as the original creator, and the AniList tag spread still reflects that source identity: Boys’ Love, male protagonist, primarily male cast, and band are all marked at 79%.
- Fun fact 2
- Hiroya Iijima has two major visual credits on the OVA, serving as both character designer and chief animation director, which means the character look and animation consistency passed through the same key staffer.
- Fun fact 3
- The localization history is visible in the staff credits: Bill Timoney is listed as English ADR director, while Thomas Prauße is credited for both German script work and German ADR direction.
- Fun fact 4
- The Anime Review compared its comedy-forward shonen-ai appeal to Fake, but noted that Lyrics of Love relies less on risqué humor and more on high-energy gag timing.
- Fun fact 5
- The OVA’s themes are more specific than the basic genre label suggests: alongside Boys Love and Comedy, database tags frame it around music, showbiz, adult-cast dynamics, idol culture, and a kuudere romantic lead.
Studios
- Plum
