Sekaiichi Hatsukoi

After having to deal with jealousy from his co-workers for working under his father's name, prideful literary editor Ritsu Onodera is determined to establish himself in the industry. To accomplish this, he quits his job at his father's publishing company and transfers to Marukawa Publishing. But instead of being placed in their literary division, Ritsu finds himself working as the rookie manga editor for the Emerald editing department, a team that operates under extremely tight schedules in order to meet deadlines. There, Ritsu is introduced to the infamous editor-in-chief Masamune Takano, a persistent man who strives for results.

As it turns out, Takano is actually Ritsu's high school love, and it is the aftermath of that heartbreak has caused Ritsu's reluctance to fall in love again. Now with the two reunited after several years of separation, the reestablishment of their relationship is marked by Takano's vow to make Ritsu say that he loves him again.

Sekaiichi Hatsukoi follows three couples that are interconnected within the manga industry, with each being subject to the budding of first love.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Takano, Masamune Main

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Onodera, Ritsu Main

Kondo, Takashi Japanese

Kisa, Shouta Main

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Yukina, Kou Main

Maeno, Tomoaki Japanese

Hatori, Yoshiyuki Main

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Yoshino, Chiaki Main

Tachibana, Shinnosuke Japanese

Yokozawa, Takafumi Supporting

Horiuchi, Kenyuu Japanese

Yanase, Yuu Supporting

Kamiya, Hiroshi Japanese

Isaka, Ryuuichirou Supporting

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Otoko Supporting

Yusa, Kouji Japanese

Fukuda, Jun Producer

Aoki, Eriko Producer

Kobayashi, Junka Producer

Urasaki, Nobumitsu Producer

Reviews

Aug 1, 2011

helur

Recommended

I decided to give everything this season a shot, and as far as breaking out of my comfortable genres I thought that even BL wouldn't stop me. As a straight man I found it slightly hard to enjoy the romantic moments this is true. However, as I knew beforehand you can find some good stuff in the most deceiving places.

Like the start. I found the setting introduction was pretty funny, and the initial backstory was pretty interesting between Takano and Onodera. A long lost boyfriend from 10 years ago ends up as your boss in the hectic manga section of the company, the section you ... didn't apply for. The attitude between the two is pretty funny with their constant bickering. This does make it slightly difficult for the relationship to develop however, as there is even more issues than just Onodera's attitude. Unfortunately, the story is left unresolved and leaves you with a horrible sense of un-fulfillment by opening up more plot.

The cause for the lack of resolution is the introduction of the two other side couples. The first is between Yuu a popular oblivious mangaka and his childhood friends who became an assistant and an editor. The second between a editor whom has given up on successful relationships with good looking men, and a good looking manga salesmen. They aren't bad stories either, but eventually after episodes 5 through 10 you wonder what happened to the main story. Of course, neither is two or three episodes enough to deal with these new sub-plots either.

I found Hatsukoi to have a surprisingly good sense of humor, and for me that is what I enjoyed the most. However, this pretty much disappeared as things got more serious farther into the stories which is a shame. With the waning of the humor the show turned, metaphorically, into the Uke crying rape and leaving the Seme to scratch their heads at the situation. Seriously, I thought that the female tsunderes were bad, but the male ones can be just as annoying.

For me Hatsukoi started out as an enjoyable show and then turned into somewhat the dreaded show. Of course, if you enjoy BL which would be a logical assumption, then it is a good watch. The issues about the story are somewhat resolved as there will be a sequel leading the once crappy ending into something more acceptable.


Feedback and questions are welcome! Thank you for spending time to read my review!

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jun 25, 2011

QueenOfAlbion

Mixed Feelings

Some may argue that this anime is just another BL anime focused on fanservice for the girls. While I'm not totally denying this, I do have to say that there's more than meets the eye when it comes to Sekaiichi Hatsukoi. Unlike Junjou Romantica where it's just SEXSEXILOVEYOUSEXSEX every episode, this actually has a pretty good story.

Story: 7/10
It's simple, sweet, and straight to the point. Some may view that as a good thing while others may disagree and claim that's a bad thing. Personally, I thought the story was fairly well done considering this is a BL anime. One of the biggest flaws, however, is ... that the drama is kind of forced upon the viewer...but since this is a Shungiku Nakamura series, we all know the drama isn't going to end in heartbreak or tragedy; you know all of these guys are going to eventually end up in a relationship and live happily ever after because, well, that's just what happens in her works. The drama is there to interest the viewer, but it doesn't necessarily serve a big purpose within the story. Do I think that's a bad thing? I believe if it's a device to interest the viewers, then go for it.

Art: 7/10
Deen did much better this time than in Junjou Romantica, that's for sure. The backgrounds have a more soft feeling about them, and it reminded me of Hourou Musuko's background art (if you haven't seen Hourou Musuko, the gist of what I'm getting at is that the background art is done extremely well). So the backgrounds are beautiful, that's fine and dandy. But the characters? I don't mind that they're all bishounen/"bishies" because that fits in with the theme, but...ugh, the faces. And the hair. They're all identical. I'm not talking about the color of the eyes and hair, but the shapes and styles are basically all the same. It's just a little thing but it bugs me when I get the characters confused since they all look too similar.

Sound: 5/10
It's really nothing very special. The opening is upbeat which fits Sekaiichi Hatsukoi considering this anime is a lighthearted romance/comedy, and the ending is more serene. As for voice acting, it was simply alright. The ukes sounded girly and whiny and the semes sounded manly and rough. Too bad that, like the art, everyone sounded the same. It was a mediocre performance on the seiyuu's parts.

Character: 5/10
Character is where the series starts slacking, because they're all so stereotypical and it can get REALLY annoying after a couple episodes. All of the ukes (Ritsu Onodera, Chiaki Yoshino, and Shouta Kisa) have the typical I-don't-want-you-to-kiss-you-even-though-I'm-obviously-in-love-with-you-so-I'm-just-gonna-keep-pushing-you-away-because-I'm-stupid attitude, whereas all the semes (Masamune Takano, Yoshiyuki Hatori, and Kou Yukina) won't give up because they know the ukes are undoubtedly in love with them. There's slight character development, but not enough to drastically change their attitudes or anything. It's the average stuff you see in BL which is why I rated it as such.

Enjoyment: 8/10
I like this series, don't get me wrong, but some major flaws and the ending prevented me from giving this a 9/10 like I would have originally put as my enjoyment score. I looked forward to watching a new episode every week, but it simply didn't astound me like some other anime has done. I'd still consider it a favorite, but objectively speaking there are quite a few weaknesses within this series.

Overall: 6.4/10, rounded to 6/10
Sekaiichi Hatsuko isn't atrocious, nor is it a masterpiece. It's slightly above average. The story and art are nice, but that's really all this anime has going for it. If you like BL, you'll probably enjoy this. If you're wondering whether you should dip your toes into BL by using Sekaiichi Hatsukoi as your starter series, you might finish up episode 12 and feel pretty underwhelmed.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 19, 2017

krzywasabi

Not Recommended

TLDR; Even if it has BL, it doesn't excuse the show from poor writing and poorly written characters.

I like BL... which is something this show has. But I also like good writing... which is something this show DOESN'T have.

Story 3/10

As I mentioned before, this show's writing is pretty bad. The story is basically the characters going through the everyday issues they have at work (needing to meet a deadline, being overworked, ...being sexually harassed by their boss...) and a bunch of romantic melodrama that basically boils down to bad communication. A lot of decisions the characters make are questionable and usually made me go "WTF ... you doin m8". Oh, and apparently all the dudes that work at this shoujo department are gay. Makes sense.

Art 7/10

It's good. Many attractive bishies and stuff. Woo. However, one of my gripes is that all the ukes basically look the same (sneering expression, big eyes, short). Same can be said about the semes.

Sound 6/10

The OP and ED of the first season are okay. Season 2 had a better OP and ED. The rest of the music is forgettable at best and dull at worst. However, I give this a 6 because it has some good voice acting (not to mention that it features many of my seiyuu biases).

Character 2/10

The worst part of this entire anime. Also this part will contain mild spoilers so if you don't wanna know, move on. First off, the personalities of the ukes are basically carbon copies! HINT: They're tsunderes. On the other hand, the personalities of the semes are different but blander than cardboard. Yukina- The "prince". Basically a perfect dude with pretty much no flaws besides the fact that he's a lot younger than his lover (but that's not even a flaw so WTF). Hatori- A kind and caring workaholic who is very loyal. He was actually the most likeable out of the main six but apparently he rapes Yoshino in the manga so nvm I guess. Takano- the seme of the main couple and the dude I had the most issues with. First of all, he basically abuses his power as Onodera's boss and sexually harasses him both in and out of the office. Yes, we as the audience knows that Onodera does like him, but no means no. He tells Takano to stop MULTIPLE TIMES and yet Takano just pushes it further going like "you know you want it". BRUH, STOP. He also takes advantage of Onodera when he's drunk and then has the audacity to get pissed at Onodera when he doesn't remember what happened. Dude, you were completely sober and knew full well that he was drunk and yet you were like "we'll bang okay". Creep. He only gets slightly redeemed near the end when we FINALLY see his backstory.

Enjoyment 6/10

Even though I had issues with the characters and story, I will admit that I enjoyed watching this at times. Why? Cuz I like BL, and there are barely any shows that have it.

Overall 4/10

At the end of the day, this show is only about fan service for BL lovers. There is no depth to it at all and does not portray a healthy relationship in anyway. Don't be fooled by this show's high ratings. We fujoshis tend to cling onto anything that has BL and hype it up to be better than what it actually is. If you can turn your brain off, then you'll probably enjoy this. Otherwise, stay away as this show will make you go "wtf are you doing m8 he said stop OH GOD WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS YOU'RE HIS BOSS I'M PRETTY SURE SOMEONE COULD FILE A LAWSUIT AGAINST YOU FOR DOING THAT". Or something.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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