Sekaiichi Hatsukoi: Onodera Ritsu no Baai
The World's Greatest First Love: The Case of Ritsu Onodera

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Okay hear me out, this is a great manga and the story just draws you in so well! BUUUUTTTT do not start reading it right now! There hasn't been any updates in so long, I first started reading this in middle school and 5 years later, THERE'S STILL NOT MUCH!! If you know any place where I can read this or even purchase it outside of Japan, please do let me know because I've been so desperate to read the rest!

I really hope we get more updates soon, every couple of months I come to check it in only to find out ... there isn't much.

I'm going to start by getting this out first: I love Junjou Romantica. Now it's obvious this would come up given that both works are by the legendary genius Shingiku Nakamura whose BL/yaoi have made for one of the best-selling yaoi of all time. Sekaiichi Hatsukoi is somewhat of a 'spin-off' of of Junjou, taking place in the same universe and following a similar style and formula. A guy hired as a manga editor for Makawa Publishing surrounded by men trying to mimic their shounen demographic by way of getting in touch with their feminine side? SOUNDS LIKE AN A+ PLAN TO ME.

But I ... didn't like this as much honestly. And I really wanted to. I know I'm in the minority here but I thought the panels were pretty cluttered and I didn't feel the same endearing quality of Junjou, nor the likability of the characters. It's a decent story and a ton of fun but I couldn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to--I'm not going to knock it for being a sweet romance though.

This is a review of the manga.

I have some mixed feelings about this manga. I really enjoyed this when I started and for the most parts until volume 6-7 but I’m currently on volume 8 and Oda’s constant refusal to admit his feelings is already feeling very repetitive and annoying and looking up the manga it HAS 17 VOLUMES OUT AND NO END DATE YET??? HOW??
The pacing of how we also interact with each pairing is really awkward - sometimes we get jarringly transported to a side couple in the middle of an important moment. Or the fact we got introduced to the childhood ... friends couple at the very start of the series, but we haven’t seen much of them in at least the last 4 volumes. I heard they are introducing another rival for them and I don’t know why this is necessary.
Non of the couples seem to learn from their mistakes - Kisa still doesn’t communicate his concerns to Yukina even though he knows this is likely going to lead to an argument, it makes me feel so bad for Yukina, who is the younger one, but obviously the more mature one.
I’m happy Yokozawa has calmed down a bit, he was really annoying at the start, even though his new love interest came out of no where.

I feel like this story would turn sour from here on now - with at least 10 more volumes to go and no progress with the main relationship? I feel like the story is winding down around volume 8 and I wish it had concluded earlier, but on a good note. I also got spoilers that closer to the more recent volumes there is a scene with dubious consent as well a ?new rival - I don’t know why they thought that would make the manga more interesting and please the fans?

I would continue reading for another volume or so, but I may have to leave this series incomplete if it becomes more unlikable.

I know publishing more books is probably a matter of pride for the mangaka, but a shorter series, which remains beloved seems like a better option.

In general, this has so far been a sweet series, but I don’t know what dark magic the mangaka is using to prolong a series which should in all honesty be under 10 volumes to 16+, but I hope it concludes soon and we can finally put the poor characters to rest.