Hatsukoi Limited / J.C. Staff
Episodes 12 (6 extra - Limited Girl)
Aired: April 12, 2009 to June 28, 2009
Genre: Comedy, romance, School, Shounen
"Geez, women are so hard to understand”
Hello dear readers, this is my first review so I hope you enjoy.
Intro
I watched this anime a week or so ago, and it was more or less what I expected when I read the synopsis, it is an anime about a group of girls and there quests for love, and I have to say that this anime does push the question of Can guys ever understand girls? I think it is a brilliant take on love life, and stereotypes of girls and boys.
Do you think that guys could ever understand girls?
Art.
The artwork in this anime is perfect in my opinion, it's not too flashy, it doesn't follow down the path of fan service per say, the artwork never distracts you away from dialogue or characters, it helps the story in so many ways, if this anime had artwork like say "High school of the dead", it wouldn't be able to be taken seriously, but if the artwork was too plain, then viewers may lose interest.
The effects of this artwork are to keep you interested and keep you focussed on the characters personalities and actions rather then their looks. I feel that the characters animation caught my eye the most, the background art always seemed to lack in detail but the characters would always make up for that loss. The artwork for the boys was a bit of a let down, but maybe the art was supposed to be this way, the art for the boys was small wimpy looking "Ugly" where as the girls were made to look glamourous, cute and good looking.
7/10
Story
A series relating the intertwined stories about the "first loves" of several middle-schoolers and high-schoolers. Each episode tends to focus on a different character, however the developments established during previous episodes continue to play smaller roles in those following. As the series progresses, an array of unusual and unexpected love webs begin to blossom.
The story is fairly straight forward and each episode tends to focus on a different character, and as you progress through the anime I saw that each episodes has little effects on another, one action of a certain character can effect another.
The story isn't very unique or mind blowing, but it doesn't fail to pull viewers in, it is simply a take on normal lives, it's natural. The story is well structured and never strays of its path, besides the information and story being rushed and pushed at you in the early episodes, it is consistant and never fails. The characters and story are almost attached, with the story following character develpoment. You get to watch the characters grow and mature over the 12 episodes.
7/10
Sound.
I personally thouroughly enjoyed the music throughout this anime, I feel that the music complimented the anime, when there was a funny scene, music that fitted that scene would be played, when there was a serious scene, music that fitted was played, I think the creators did a great job with the music.
The vocals were good throughout, I wouldn't say they were perfect but they weren't bad, the only bad thing is that typically the vocals were wimpy and stupid in certain parts, which lets the anime down in some ways, but also fits in with stereotypes.
The sound effects made me chuckle on the odd occasion, I feel that the sound effects give the anime that comedy feel, when something funny happens the sound effects are always there to add that extra humor, and in contrast, they were also there when serious dialogue or actions were taking place.
The opening theme was short and simple, and the music was calm and soothing, and the ending theme was fantastic.
9/10
Characters.
The main protagonist is Ayumi Arihara the second year middle school student who is the cute good looking normal girl, who follows a normal teenage life.
Other main characters in this anime are the rest of the girls in the group, Koyoi Bessho, Nao Chikura, Rika Dobashi, Kei enomoto. These girls follow certain stereypes with in my opinion enomoto being the most stereotypical, at the start she talks about how looks are more important then anything else but her opinion begins to change as the anime progresses.
Koyoi is the brother loving happy go lucky character that never seems to be sad. She is a bit weird and will do anything to for her brother.
Nao is a jealous, art loving character who's story follows her love for art and how she grows close to a fellow artist.
Rika is the most level headed out of the girls, she enjoys mocking and teasing and is knows as a "tom-boy", due to her athletic ability.
Then you get the boys, who range from the shy and wimpy, to the perverted and ballsy.
Etsu Kusuda is the pervert who has a talent for putting girls to sleep.
Hiroyuki Sogabe is a friend of kusuda, he's insecure and a narcissistic.
Mamoru Zaitsu is the happy go lucky wannabe paramedic.
I feel like these characters are natural, it doesn't feel forced when these characters interact bar the odd occasion, it has the feel of a normal teenagers life. I feel the characters reactions to certain situations show that it is natural and this helps the story progress as it feels as if I was watching an animated version of someones life through the eyes of serveral characters.
8/10
Enjoyment.
This anime is good because of many reasons, it is a simple slice of life romantic comedy that takes the subject of love and teaches it so brilliantly, the characters compliment the anime and vice versa, the music and sound were fantastic and consistant, I loved the artwork in this anime, it is simple yet so very effective.
The bad points for this anime are that it doesn't appeal to the male audiences as much as female which is to be expected, the story is very generic and the anime isn't very unique. Although I feel that this anime is very well done and is brilliant, it never really appealed to me, I could only watch a few episodes a night, it strayed to much on the girly side of anime for me to ever enjoy it to the full extent.
6.5/10
Goal of the anime.
The goal of this anime was simply to show how understanding girls can be very difficult and near impossible, it is showing that love can happen between any two random people, no matter how much you know about one another.
Scores.
Art: 7/10
Story: 7/10
Sound: 9/10
Characters: 8/10
Enjoyment: 6.5/10
Overall: 7.5/10
