Hatsukoi Limited.

Hatsukoi Limited is a lesson on how to successfully tell multiple compelling stories in a short amount of time. You're not going to see anything you haven't seen done before but everything here is done well and given time to breathe.

Story - 8

Like I said above, you're not going to see anything you haven't seen before but it's all done well and with care. The story focuses on a collection of students ranging from 14-16 years of age and their first experiences with love amongst each other. Every main character (and there are a bunch of them) gets their story told and surprisingly it ... never feels rushed. Some characters have more interesting stories than others but they're all compelling for the most part. This is a bit of a slow build though in my opinion. I found the 2nd half to be a 9/10 and the first half to be a solid 7/10 so 8 felt like an appropriate score to give.

Art- 9

Art is always going to be a very subjective category when reviewing anime but I really enjoyed the art style here. As I'm writing this now the show is 10 years old so I think it's held up well over that time. Is it perfect? Of course not but nothing stood out to me that was distracting.

Sounds - 9

Sounds is either going to be really good or awful. There isn't a lot of in between with this category. I felt like the voice actors did a great job conveying the proper emotion with their lines. There were a few moments in particular that stood out as very good acting but I won't spoil anything.

Characters - 10

This is the part of the show I was so impressed with. Yes, there are a lot of typical character traits going on here but they're all done so well. With such a big cast and so many different love stories to tell it would be easy for some characters to be lifeless but I felt like everyone here could be real. Every character was given enough time to make me care about them and also enough time to experience some personal growth. With only 12 episodes to work with I find that to be very impressive.

Enjoyment - 9

I can't possibly give this anything lower than a 9. Like I said before, I didn't enjoy the first 5 episodes nearly as much as the last 7 but I was never bored once and as the last episode finished I had a big, dumb smile on my face. You really can't ask for much more than that with anime. If this were 24 episodes I could see myself getting a little tired but 12 episodes was surprisingly perfect. Usually I hate when a show I love only has 12 episodes.

Overall - 9

I was honestly giving this show an 8 after episode 10 but I really enjoyed the way this show wrapped up in the last 2 episodes. This show was a lot of fun overall. It's not a game changer or anything but it's definitely something I'll revisit in the future. It left enough of an impression on me to want to write this review at least. For anyone that enjoys a good ROMCOM, you'll appreciate this.

Thanks for reading.

for some people like me whose so picky in watching anime... when i first watched the episode 1 i find the anime boring but as i watch the anime until episode 6 the story's getting more and more interesting because first i was really captivated by the idea of the creator of this manga... you'll really wonder who's love will survive and in every episode it revolves each and every characters of the anime... slowly every character show their personal and emotional qualities and therefore we tend to know them in just 1 episode... and also most of the story in this anime happen in ... real life and to anyone i'll really recommend watching this anime though it's a bit ecchi and some fanservice, the story's nice

"If you're good on the inside, then looks don't matter!"
"Boys do not equal their looks, if you look past that you'll see someone who acts with the purest of hearts."

Hatsukoi Limited. A lot to love, but also, at the same time, a a few things to dislike.
The story as a whole is good. The way the first 9 or 10 episodes are made in such a way that the final two come together is a really nice touch. It really works. However that's all I can say that's good. At times, it's a little repetitive. The same characters doing ... the same things to eachother is apparent. For some, it's going to be boring. Nevertheless if you stick with it the story couldn't end better.
The programme is certainly great on the art front. All I'm going to say is that the last episode has some stunning animation and design, it helps to bring the story itself to a close. It's that good.
Sound wise, it's impressive. The piano on its own is always a good thing in a programme like this. The emotions are portrayed better that way. It helps you to immerse yourself in each characters situation and that's what I like so much about this anime.
But, and this is about the biggest but you can get. The characters are let down by one thing: there's way too many. You can't place names, they don't get as developed as much as you want, and it all becomes very complicated. Because of that, the emotions of the characters are spoilt because sometimes you don't know exactly who they are, and who the emotions are linked to. It's a huge let down. It got to me, but it didn't make me stop watching it. It gets better at the end because you get to know who is with who, and by then you'll know names well. It's not good enough though, it would deter quite a few watchers away I think. What Im saying is, if you are going to get confused about who is who, or you will be annoyed at how the characters barely have the chance to develop, then I'd be wary if watching.
As for enjoyment though, it was good overall. Sure, the amount if characters are about as many as about three different series put together, and yes it ruins the development if them, it still pleases you. Because the end makes up for the shortcomings rather well. It will leave you with a smile on your face, and ends on a good moral. Something along the lines of "don't judge a book by its cover" is the best way of describing the message of Hatsukoi Limited. It makes up for its issues well, which is why 7/10 is appropriate. Also, in regards to length, it's great because the story is told, and you're not left wondering things. They could have made it immensely long to develop the characters but then it would have become boring on a monumental scale. I like it how it is.

If you like a good romance, and you can get your head around 22 (Yes, Twenty-Two!) characters, this is worth a watch, I doubt you'll regret it.

Thank you for reading,

Reflex96

"Are you in love right now?"

Well with this anime..it's more divisive than "in love" actually...

Hatsukoi Limited follows several unrequited relationships and each of the earlier episodes focuses on one set of relationships while developing the ones from the previous episode in tandem, which makes one elaborate love dodecahedron.

Well since this is a relationship-based romance naime, LA needs to start off with the characters themselves and their relationships. Let's start with Ayumi Arihara voiced by Mariya Ise, one of the genki ditz of her girl group who has a crush on Mamoru Zaitsu voiced by Miyu Irino but his older brother Misao voiced by Kenji Nomura ... also has a thing for Ayumi, she was probably LA favourite character in the anime mainly due to personality. Next we have Rika Dobashi voiced by Minako Kotobuki a calm yet athletic member of the girl group who has a nice romance with Haruto Terai voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto in which they have this superiority inferiority complex towards each other. Next is Nao Chikura voiced by Ayumi Fujimura, one of the more shy member of the girl group and Hiroyuki Sogabe voiced by Takahiro Sakurai had a crush on her BUT she also has a fleeting romance with one of her former art club seniors by the form of Yukito Renjou voiced by Akira Ishida. Next (YES, there's still more!) is Misaki Yamamoto voiced by Rie Tanaka and Mamoru Zaitsu has a crush on her BUT Misaki likes Ayumi's older brother Yuuji voiced by Hiroyuki Yoshino (in which HE has a sister complex and doesn't really have feelings for Misaki), next is Meguru Watase voiced by Ryoko Shiraishi in which she and Gengorou Takei voiced by Kazuya Nakai DO have feelings for each other ALONG with their love of swimming but Meguru has other worries but that a bit later. Second to last is Koyoi Bessho voiced by Aki Toyosaki who has a brother complex to her older brother Yoshihiko Bessho voiced by Satoshi Hino in which he has feelings for Misaki and FINALLY we have Kei Enomoto voiced by Shizuka Ito, the alpha *ahem* bitch of the girl group in which she has a violent tsundere relationship with Etsu Kusuda voiced by Shintaro Asanuma the local pervert of the series and friends of Sogabe and Mamoru and later on Enomoto gets a rival in the form of Sumire Fudounomiya voiced by Ayako Kawasumi. Did you get all that???

Ok in all honesty, the relationships ranges across the board and even the "great relationships" has skewed priorities to the "horribly awful relationships" have a silver lining. In terms of favourites and worst romances in the anime itself, LA thought that Chikura's and Dobashi's were some of the best one-shot romances with hardly a gleam of skewed priorities to them. Misaki's, Meguru's and Ayumi's were ok relationships with a few problems to them (Misaki's due to the fallout results concerning Mamoru, Meguru's for skewed priorities such as -sigh- her big boobs and Ayumi's for not being developed enough not just to Mamoru but to Misao as well and it's NEVER resolved...completely). LA would place Koyoi's relationship to be of comedic relief in a ways and NOT meant to be taken seriously, even if it's incest and you know LA rule with incest in anime (as long as it's their completely serious about it's subject matter of incest or it plays it up for the sake of comedy with no seriousness and dignity towards it's characters and Koyoi's is essentially this) thus Koyoi's only focus episode is a bit grating but it's only for the sake of comedy. -sigh- here we go...LA REALLY didn't like Enomoto and Kusuda's relationship, Enomoto for always having her belief that they need to be handsome and rich in order to even START dating her (see what LA means by alpha bitch?) AS well as Enomoto's CONSTANT tsun and violent verbal and sometimes physical abuse to Kusuda just because he's being perverted and eyeing someone else, Kusuda is no better as he's one of the main source of pervertedness in the anime besides the stray panty shots. Relationship-wise it's one of the most destructive relationship in the anime and by the end of it even with Enomoto and Kusuda's realization LA still hated the both of them by the end of it.

Well here's also the thing, be it relationships that has no flaws and it's the perfect romance or one of the most destructive ones and LA didn't like them one bit, the perfect romance will have quips of completely idealistic to the destructive romances to be too harsh or unbelievably pessimistic and because of that LA chose Ayumi as LA's favourite she's in the middle of having flaws in her relationships but she's also idealistic in a ways.

In terms of animation by JC Staff, the character designs were pretty to typical designs for the vast amount of characters in this anime and sometimes LA mistook characters for other similar looking characters (see Yoshihiko and Mamoru...no seriously...one time LA ACTUALLY thought this at one point), the backgrounding is typical but nothing to gawk at either. Finally the comedic moments does use the chibi visuals (both facial expressions and their entire body at times...Koyoi and Ayumi being the main culprit what with both of them being the comedic reliefs). The animation overall is decent with some level to detail on it's character designs but not much beyond that.

In terms of voice acting, well this voice cast is JUST amazing, from Mariya Ise to Ayako Kawasumi and even Sayuri Yahagi!. Yes, LA did have a HUGE problem with Shizuka Ito's character but it is her CHARACTER LA didn't like, her vocals were still suited to Enomoto nonetheless. LA's favourite voice actor would go to Mariya Ise along with Ryoko Shiraishi. Nonetheless fantastic vocal line up!.

Hatsukoi Limited for LA's experience in watching this anime ultimately depends on how you view the characters and their relationships in which they entail, you might hate some of the characters or you might love them and their relationships for the one true pairing or you see both the good or the bad towards one of the relationship. LA overall felt VERY divisive about this anime due to this but ALSO thought it had shades of wasted potential towards some of the relationships it had going for it.

Honestly, a lot of things that happened in this anime wound up annoying me. In the end, the only ships I wound up caring about were Dobashi and Terai, and Enomoto and Kusuda. The dynamic of Enomoto and Kusuda was nice and sent out a good message, plus Dobashi and Terai were just simple and straightforward, plus totally supportive of each other and communicated well.

The rest were just wtf to be honest. One that came close was Arihara and Yamamoto, but in the end I only cared about that one because Yamamoto is my preferred type of girl.

In the end, I'd give it a 5.5 ... to 6 at best. Maybe it's just me, not shitting on anyone else who enjoyed it, but It didn't work for me. It was something nice to pass the time, but nothing much more than that unfortunately. I did enjoy Enomoto and Kusuda's relationship dynamic, and if there's other anime romances like theirs that have proper resolutions do recommend I'd love to check them out. But just not in this anime. If it was an anime focused purely on their relationship then sure, I might rank it higher and watch it more enthusiastically, but in this situation Hatsukoi Limited just doesn't work for me.

Come on, hatsukoi is a story about "puberty", a group of boys and girls discovering about love, I was not expecting much from the anime, in the end it's very simple, we have the types of "deres" and the boys who fall in love with them. I should praise a few things about anime, such as: Not all romance works, and not all feelings are mutual. The characters have their romantic interests, some a bit incestuous... Others hate, but in the end what matters is how they deal with it, and surprisingly it was "realistic". I loved the last episode mainly the part of the ... boys arriving at the beach, it was the best scene of the anime without shadow of doubts. (I apologize for my spelling mistakes)

(PT-Br) Vamos lá, hatsukoi é uma história sobre "puberdade", um grupo de garotos e garotas descobrindo sobre amor, eu não estava esperando muita coisa do anime, no fim ele é bem simples, temos os tipos de "deres" e os garotos que se apaixonam por elas. Eu devo elogiar algumas coisas sobre o anime, como por exemplo: Nem todo romance dá certo e nem todo o sentimento é mutuo. As personagens tem seus interesses românticos, algumas um pouco incestuosos... Outros odiosos, mas no fim o que importa é como eles lidam com isso, e surpreendentemente foi de forma "realística". Eu adorei o ultimo episódio principalmente a parte dos garotos chegando a praia, foi a melhor cena do anime sem sombra de duvidas.

REVIEW:
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

Done watching HATSUKOI LIMITED and it was a blast that I couldn't stop until I finish it!!! The story is pretty interesting and full of comedy cliches which makes it fun to binge watch. It involves a mix of unrequited, mutual, friendship and family love of the characters... in short a complex love setting! xD HAHAHAHA!!! I really enjoy how each characters love story has a little bit of influence to one another till the end. It's one of those shows that leaves you smiling and begging for more episodes! A hidden gem and a must watch for romance anime lovers! The ending song is ... pretty catchy too!!! <3 9/10!

Has very strong first 2 episodes, but goes downhill afterwards.

It starts by introducing the relationship mentioned in the synopsis, which threatens to equally likely fall into either the "Gentle Giant + Loli" trope you may have seen in other shows if you are a romcom fan or some stalker horror story. It quickly grows into a triangle in the very first episode, and there is sort of a resolution at least about the fear aspect that's simultaneously a bit cliched and with an interesting twist at the end.

In the second episode another relationship is tacked on to the chain and I'm almost sad that the ... focus is shifted away from what I thought was the main theme. The growing relationship network is perhaps a bit more boring as it now has two clear favorite sides and a doomed side between them, but the situation is still ok. The new character certainly is interesting enough to make me forgive the distraction. It still seems like a potential 10/10 story show at this point.

As we go on further however, the relationship web keeps expanding until we have a whole football team of "main" characters with a whole lot of "setup" and very little "development". This makes the show way too bloated, each particular sub-story too brief and watered down by the others, the details of the initially introduced relations (or any other for that matter) that originally seemed interesting become unimportant, etc. Towards the end we do get some progress for several of the central relationships "in bulk", but not a conclusive resolution to most so the show feels unfinished and unsatisfying.

Ultimately, I am disappointed. None of the components of this show were bad by themselves, but the overall combination somehow didn't work. Most of all, the contrast of my mistaken initial impression/expectations and reality makes me lower the score down to 6.

Cute story arcs though it feels like too many different narratives were attempted yet not fully explored. Happy endings for some though not for all. Nothing too incredibly sad or depressing. Good character development; some characters grow and change. Overall plot is not incredibly original, but that is not usually the reason one watches this genre. The only thing that caused my rating to be so low was the constant unnecessary fan-service. But that is just my personal tastes and I realize not a particularly popular one. If that really isn’t a problem for you then I would recommend this show. It’s an easy watch ... without much thought required.

Hatsukoi Limited is a show wherein in they displayed the love life of different characters that are related to one another. there's no real focus but the story revolved around the group of girls and their siblings and colleagues. It was fun to watch from start to end, the story became more interesting towards the end. It showcased the reality of falling in love and the excitement as well as frustrations that comes with it.

I would say that this anime is on point, looking back at my past journeys, there were a couple to several times i have experienced such heart beating/aching events. I cant ... help but reminisce and laugh out loud as i watch the characters go thru this bitter sweet feeling called love.

Just like in the anime, in reality most often than not, its just not meant to be and that one sided love will stay the same until you find someone who will return the favor. There will come a time that hate can be converted to love that can bloom into a beautiful relationship.

I was able to feel the emotions in this anime and it made my heart flutter. I have to say this is one of the best romantic comedy animes of all time. And again what made this anime special and above others was the fact that it was able to make a lot of characters partake in a love story flawlessly and still had that impact.

In addition, I have to give credits to the ending anime, it really went well with the anime and each of the episodes. It made the memories last longer and taste sweeter. It made me wanting for more.