First Hop for Hatsukoi Limited
Funnily enough, the show taking up most of my attention this season is Hatsukoi Limited. I anticipated this anime for some time (about a year…I guess) so I know if it works out, I would be all over it. Still, I did not expected it to be so consuming!
I guess I’m just a big o sap. Otaku flavored sap.
There is very little in terms of basic information that I can tell you that you can’t find via Google and Wiki, so I’ll just say that despite what you may feel about Lilim Kiss or Ichigo 100%, Hatsukoi Limited is its own thing. Hatsukoi Limited is a relatively novel concept–basically you take a group of teenagers and you network them via friendships, family ties, and romantic interests. The end result is a comic-esqe web of one-shots, ongoing drama arcs, and an ecology of LULZ and AWWW featuring a diverse selection of personalities, philosophies, and emotional IQ. There is little in terms of the central focus in the manga, but due to format and time constraints we will probably see Ayumi take center stage a little more so.
I think reading the manga also enhanced my anticipation and excitement for the anime. I actually “dropped” it about 1 volume in when I first started, even if that one volume left a positive impression. As the anime picked up I ended up reading the other 3 volumes to satisfy my urges for the story and characters. It didn’t make things any better–the entire experience was sweet, if a little short. It didn’t outstay its welcome, at the least, but it left me wanting more.
(By the way, if you didn’t know, I don’t really read much manga. But at the same time, why did so many people interested in this anime read it? Just for the hot chicks?)
Despite all my positive endorsement, Mizuki Kawashita constructed Hatsukoi Limited in a typical, genre-trope blending way. The canned feeling that turned me away from Ichigo 100% surprisingly works with Hatsukoi Limited to provide a floor for the whole experience; it sets my perspective low enough that each…introspective moment into the psyche of these teenage girls and guys is like … an upskirt moment? Romantic fanservice? Shipping outlet? I’m not sure how to describe it. If anything, Kei Enomoto x Kusuda will be the darling couple this spring, I can almost guarantee it. Oh So Tsun. And Dere. But oh so what?
Yes, the girls are like walking boners–that’s par for the course in the shounen romance genre. Yes, the guys are doofs, since the story is built on the chasis of an average rom-com. But it’s about the nature of relationships (for both guys and girls), its varied offering and the trace satire hidden next to the aww moments that makes Hatsukoi Limited so interesting. (…And the walking boners, yes.) It’s no more spiritual successor to Kimikiss than it is the spiritual successor of Honey & Clover or School Rumble. The ability to ace the core comedy/romance arc, while rising beyond that, is what I am after. Hopefully the anime can deliver on that like the manga did.
In short, yeah, it is School Rumble meets Kimikiss. Or just a slapstick rom-com version of Kimikiss with some Honey & Clover thrown in there for good measure. Maybe even a sprinkle of Amagami for that edginess? I kid.
It’s definitely fresh, is what.
“walking boners” sounds way too much like “phallus with muscles”
(http://books.google.com/books?id=9_Ijvzk6dR0C&pg=PA232&lpg=PA232&dq=phallus+with+muscles+barbara+creed&source=bl&ots=o3tz3-WZ_u&sig=oV3Vs9PR9CI3eRcTlSUcCra-J3c&hl=en&ei=ZfjtSdDFNpbhtgeBiqXDDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2)
Leg muscles?
School Rumble perhaps, but Harima > Misao, even if it is a pointless comparison in the first place.
Thanks for the pointless comparison. I would not have thought of comparing the two on my own. I mean, I guess I ought to, but I would go for Ayumi Yamada > Yoshihiko Bessho or Yamamoto > Morita first.
[…] to mention Hatsukoi Limited, which perked my ears up from the first hint of a mention of KimiKiss (but which I have not watched yet). And naturally I should mention the […]
You’re right, it’s definitely fresh. I doubt I’ll like it more than KimiKiss, mostly because I have a thing for stories that blend romance and slice of life, but the general rom-com genre isn’t half bad and this is certainly an original way of looking at it. It’s also going to be nice seeing things from the perspective of both genders, and that’s something that many anime never do.
[…] Omo, girls looking like ‘walking boners’ may indeed be ‘par for the course in the […]
Honestly, as much as I like this show, I don’t know how good it’ll turn out to be. I’m just glad it has some redeeming value already as is.
[…] of its presence as used for profit towards plot and audience’s satisfaction. The essence of a walking boner is the walking aspect, and not merely because boners are what they […]