The sweetest kind of love is first love: that shy, little crush you had when you were, perhaps, thirteen. (Or ten, if you were somebody in the world of Mary-Kate and Ashley) The most agonizing kind of love is lost love: maybe a lover that had passed on, or the somebody whom you never ended up with. It's cruel and painful, it's effects are meant to last.

However, there is a kind of love that is sweet, sweet like a nightingale's song; painful, like ripping the heart apart. It is none other than that forbidden love: the apple on the tree of Eden. Love is forbidden by the society, by rules set by people, by us. From some long long time ago, when God (or evolution)'s actions resulted in us, we were meant to be falling in love with the opposite gender, we were meant to be falling in love with people unbound by blood.

Then, the society also made way for people who have to be pure and clean, untainted by the lures of bodily attraction in order to serve god. The clergymen (and nuns) are a common feature in sensual manga/anime, building the attraction based on the forbidden love. Cosplay maids in Akihabara sometimes dress up as nuns to allow their masters a taste of that forbidden fruit.

Similary, 07 Ghost plays on not just the typical Shonen action to appeal to its shonen audience, but also intense character development and that guilt factor to grab the adulation of its shojo population.

As Kamiru said, in 07 Ghost, "The Bishops are SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE."

Originally a Fantasy manga drawn by Amemiya Yuki and Ichihara Yukino, 07-Ghost had been produced into a First Season of 25 episodes, with a Second Season pending in 2010. The plot follows protagonist Teito Klein, a former slave with no memory of his past, who has been training as a military officer in the Barsburg military academy. Because of his slave background, he was otracized by all his school-mates except a particular young lad named Mikage.

On the day of their graduation examination, Teito discovered a crucial piece of memory and the identity of a murderer who killed his father. As a result of this newfound piece of memory, he hot-headedly attacked Ayanami, the main antagonist and mysterious man with superior Zaiphon (a form of fighting) abilities and a equality mysterious past. Being the cruel and merciless (although it was later revealed that Ayanami may not be as heartless as he seems to be) but loyal military man that he is, Ayanami sent troupes after the escaping failure of Teito Klein. Teito, however, managed to crash land and get saved by passing Bishops Frau, Castor and Labrador in District 7, the God's District and Military-Free Zone. Instead, Ayanami captures and tortures Teito's best friend Mikage.

Filled with hatred for Ayanami and bothered by his missing memoris, Teito decided to seek the truth sealed within him by becoming a bishop himself. In his time at the church, he also met another friend name Hakuren Oak, a loving, strong bishop-wannabe. It was revealed during this period also the fighting abilities of the bishops, as well as the true identities of Frau, Castor and Labrador as three of the Seven Ghosts protecting the world.

Legend has it that the Shinigami of 07 Ghost, Verloren, is some evil that was sealed on Earth and split into the Seven Ghosts by the Chief of Heaven (God, I guess?) and the Seven Ghosts will protect the world at all cost. Some of the ghosts include Zehel and Feist.

The general story is easy to grasp. I must fight to survive, and to survive means seeking the truth. However, the details in the story are too vague to really be understood. In fact, despite the supposedly intense and complicated plot, the main selling point of 07 ghost thus far is still the sexy men. 07 Ghost has one of the best art styles of the entire 2009 anime seasons and also excellent animation. There are no awkward frames or ugly angles as far as the novice watcher is concerned. It is indeed a visual feast.

There seriously isn't a single ugly person in the entire series, neither are there irritating girls, even though there are some irritating girly boys. Like Maruko-chan says, "Everybody in the series is hot except the main character." While Teito Klein is neither severely disfigured or badly drawn, his character is actually similar to the main female character in reverse harem series, effectively placing 07 ghost in the Yaoi/Shonen-Ai category. Another character in the series with identity crisis is the antagonist Kuroyuri who words under Ayanami. The entire wikipedia paragraph on him/her used the "he/she" format because Kuroyuri's gender has not yet been confirmed. (Let's hope he/she is not another Yoite)

Aside from that, nearly everybody else is hot.

First, there is Frau, the perverted bishop. He's extraordinarily skilled with the scythe which only he can control, and is tall and intimidating. At the same time, Frau is one who hides pornographic magaine inside obscure volumes in the library and rebels again all the words of god, smoking and flirting with girls (including nuns)



However, his seemingly unholy ways also have the soft side of playing with children, caring for animals, and protecting others, including Teito Klein. His relationship with Teito is an incest-like brotherhood, which annoys me to no end. Everything about Frau is the sex god reincarnated. It's such a wast to have him as a bishop. But at any rate, the sexier he is, the more fatal the attraction is. Frau is at his best when he smokes in that ultra-low V-neck black suit while leaning against the wall. Between episode 12-18 he has also appeared once in apparently some ripped black strips of cloth that is supposed to be his pyjamas.

Another character popular with females is Frau's friend and partner Castor, who possess that calm, knowing demeanor practiced by Aizen Sousuke and Ootori Kyouya.



Castor is, however, as kind and caring as he is scheming and intelligent. He was Frau's partner in the Bishop exams and failed two years in a row thanks to Frau. Castor's charms lie mainly in his attractive smile behind those spectacles. However, he is also dangerously sexy when fighting as his caring Bishop smile transforms into that conceited Seven Ghost smile, always confident, always victorious.

Other notable characters on the good side are Mikage, Teito's best friend, and Hakuren Oak, Teito's new friend. The two of them have nearly the same shade of blonde hair (Mikage's is lighter) and nearly the same face, although Mikage has a scar in the shape of a cross on his chin.



Anyone who has watched Ouran High School will find both of them strikingly similar to a certain mad Host Suou Tamaki. As a result, Mikage and Hakuren are obvious complete cuties. However, both of them have the bad habit of hugging and petting Teito Klein and are so extremely devoted to him that it is hard to believe this wasn't a Shonen-Ai series.

On the bad side, the main antagonist Ayanami is the silent killer type that not only tries to kill Teito Klein but also the hearts of all fangirls. His eyes are always glancing around from behind his white hair and cap and the overall style of his character just screams "MILITARY SEXINESS". It is also revealed in the manga omakes of 07 ghost that Ayanami can be rather kind (in the stoic manner) to animals. He has also shown mercy to one of his underling, the genderless Kuroyuri, when he nearly died in a battle. In fact, the bad guys adore Ayanami as much as the good guys to Teito, in a rather different manner. Also on the bad guys' side are Hyuuga, Haruse and Konatsu. Hyuuga is the joking type with the black hair and looks Kyouya but the character of the Hitachiin Brothers from Ouran.



Equally adorable is Haruse, who is like an evil Mori-Senpsi (Ouran). Haruse is devoted to his master/mistress Kuroyuri and is often seen carrying him around, making him the hot "cute-little-things-lover", just like Mori.



Konatsu looks almost exactly like Wolfram in Kyou Kara Maou, and is a loli-shota character that works the same way as Hitsugaya: attracting older women by looking like ten and acting like eighty.



On the whole, the series is one wonderful load of sexy guys with no distracting women, making it a OH-SO-FRIGGING-SEXY show. In fact, for some strange reason, the entire character design just screams "ACTION VERSION OF OURAN HIGH SCHOOL" which makes it one of the Must Watch animes of the season, since it combines our favourite elements: hot guys and fighting into one. Of course, another main appeal of the series is the ALL STAR seiyuu cast combining all our favourtie seiyuus into one show. On the cast includes Mikage's seiyuu Namikawa Daisuke, the voice of Bleach's Ulquiorra, Hetalia Axis Power's Italy, and Nabari No Ou's Thobari; Frau's seiyuu Suwabe Junichi, voice of Bleach's Grimmjow, Kuroshitsuji's Undetaker, Vampire Knight's Akatsuki Kain and Nabari no Ou's Shimizu Raikou; Castor's seiyuu Chiba Susume, voice of Bleach's Ichinose Maki and Vampire Knight's Takuma Ichijo; Hakuren's seiyuu Fukuyama Jun, voice of Code Geass' Lelouch, S.A.'s Takishima Kei, La Corda's Shimizu Keichi and Vampire Knight's Hanabusa Aido among a thousand others; Ayanami's Seiyu Hayami Shou, voice of Bleach's Aizen Sousuke, Konatsu's seiyuu Kishio Daisuke, voice of La Corda's Azuma Yunoki, Bleach's Luppi and Vampire Knight's Kuran Kaname. The cast alone was something to look forward to.

After watching the series, I contemplated going to church. But Kamiru, once again, spoke her wise words, "Trust me. You won't find a single sexy bishop in the world."

That's that, I guess.

~~Kobayashi Natsune~~

P.S. Another anime to look forward to with a cast that equals 07 Ghost is Durarara! starring award winning seiyuus Ono Daisuke, Kamiya Hiroshi, and MIYANO MAMORU AND FUKUYAMA JUN in one series!!! (the last time both appeared in the same series was in Vampire Knight, which had one of the best casts in the world of anime) Look forward to 2010, another year of AWESOME OTAKUISM!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!! Random picture because 07-ghost had ended before it could have a Christmas magazine spread ><