Fanservice Highlight, Presenting Hatsukoi Limited Yet Again
Why, yes, I do care about 20 different shots of Yamamoto’s boobs. Key being framing and presenting said assets, and not merely the demonstration 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 are.
If fanservice is rooted in pornography, it is because pornography is similar in the sense that naked men and women are no different than clothed men and women, sans clothes. The states of dress and undress are a matter of aesthetics after all (unless you’re trying to journey to the South Pole or trying to spacewalk). Fanservice is just a different presentation of the same men and women in various state of undress than outright porn.
Indeed, when we take a look at Kusuda and Kei Enomoto, there’s a theme of unity through aesthetics. Namely, Kusuda is a horndog and Kei is all about face (that kind of face). There’s a vainness to both of them that plays joker to their inner lovers-of-good-inner-qualities. The exercise of Hatsukoi Limited is somewhat superficial in the same way (kind of like why Ichigo 100% was largely D: ).
But that is why I dare to say that Hatsukoi Limited is largely an exercise in aesthetics, in presentation and presenting. And it’s not just in the fanservice.
We should take a step back first. The concept of first love in Japanese culture is one that is about presentation; it is poetic, pure and a matter of prolific literary symbolism. Perhaps substantively different than, say, second love, first love tends to be dramatized as awfully internalized and often feels like a bad case of a crush that bleeds into either fruitful confession or a stalker-like, moe otaku invoking feeling. Or maybe something in between. With that anecdote out of the way, the point of Hatsukoi Limited is all about the various different ways of first love. That’s the namesake. (Hatsukoi = 初恋 = first love if you didn’t know.) And what other ways to do it through changing and shifting the presentation? If first love is just a shade, a version of normal love, how else do you distinguish different shades of the first?
The story of Hatsukoi Limited follows the same paradigm. Actually they spell things out pretty clearly but the story is framed in such a way that subtlety is preserved only between the interested party; everyone else knows everything that’s going on. But subtlety is the game. It’s like photography; why does a pro make much better pictures than I do given the same subject matter, the pictures taken at the same time? There are a hundred and one different things that can make one photograph better than another. The finalized photograph has all the secrets in plain sight, but the actual story is the making-of.
For example we know Kei is a tsundere, Ayumi is in a parody-School-Rumble-type love triangle, and Koyoi is having trouble growing past her brother. We know Yamamoto is a kuudere that’s learning to understand her first love, while taking a very reserved approach compared to Misao. It’s all the same stuff, but approached from different perspectives. It’s a superficial distinction, even if the feelings are, as a gut reaction from the audience, different. They are nonetheless shades of first love.
And it is through the myriad perspectives and angles that we come to understand how hawt Yamamoto is! And it is, gasp, a plot device. Why else would Koyoi-chan fret over her beloved onii-san?
I went here hoping for 20 different shots of Yamamoto’s boobs. There is none. I felt betrayed.
Yes within the web 2.0 of character relationships here in Hatsukoi Limited we see multiple examples of how a ‘first love’ can bloom. It doesn’t need to be deep, and mostly first impressions do last. I finished this manga, and left wanting more, but more or less it still felt complete. The focus is in the ‘first’ love after all.
I’m a sucker for short stories, and Hatsukoi Limited fills that void. The stories are basic and shallow, but there’s nothing wrong with the formula when executed properly. While I have yet to finish the manga, I’m fine if some couplings have open endings, because that’s how life turns out at times. (Yes, I’m a slice-of-life fan)
Now then, if only they animated “Salad Days”…
[…] together Kurogane’s celebration of Kei’s Shizuka Itou-fuelled tsundere and omo’s observation about Kusuda and Kei’s "theme of unity through aesthetics", Kappa-face’s […]
Presentation of 20 shots of boobies > Presentation of first love.
What makes Hatsukoi Limited good is it’s both!
>> I went here hoping for 20 different shots of Yamamoto’s boobs. There is none. I felt betrayed.
I know. I apologize.
Hey, Ichigo 100% was far better than Hatsukoi Limited. But I guess the painful filler chapters and the bizarre scenario choices were definitely not really well controled. The presence of drama though gave the show a depth and a force that Mizuki Kawashita’s last work lacks. But I think I need a J.C. Staff remake of Ichigo 100% to prove my point. (Not to say the manga is dull, but the chapter-by-chapter storyline was a actual weakpoint in tankoubons)
Definitely fresh and amusing. And the presence of marble in the ED is something I look forward every week.
PS : excuse my bad english.