Visionary Nexus Network

It’s really hard to say since this series is bipolar in its approach to the romance genre. Considering that I’m one episode shy of finishing this series (I’m noticing a trend where I comment about a show after watching the penultimate episode), I’ve noted that Hatsukoi Limited has offered its fair share of ups and downs. A show that started out with nothing more than mere silliness evolves over the span of 12 episodes to deliver a decent dosage of drama, comedy, and of course, panty shots.

My interest in this show had been piqued when I noted that the promotional pictures bore a striking resemblance to the highly-regarded Kimikiss ~Pure Rouge~, but when I looked further into the source material, I discovered, to my dismay, that the writer/artist was behind Ichigo 100%; hardly a vote of confidence as far as quality goes. The first episode also didn’t leave me with a positive impression either since most of the girls are shallow, air-headed, or both. And the panty shots. Oh god, did they serve them up in spades. I probably wouldn’t have an issue with that so much if the panty shots made some degree of sense, which, in retrospect, is really tough to justify either way. However, Hatsukoi takes it a step further by using it at the most pointless of moments. You’d be watching a scene dripping with emotion and drama, and suddenly, a panty shot appears right out of nowhere with the subtlety of a pink elephant farting sunshine and rainbows, ruining the emotional buildup of the scene. I can tolerate mild doses of fanservice, but Hatsukoi’s utilization of fanservice shots at such random moments was just jarring and was going to be a huge strike against the show itself. Why I continued watching it after that point will remain a mystery, but somehow, I drew up from my wellspring of tolerance and forged onwards!

So to recap, shallow, air-headed characters who you’d like to beat with a baseball bat and pointless fanservice are hardly ingredients to make a show stand strong. It certainly doesn’t have Kimikiss’s strong cast either, thereby weakening the value of this title further… and yet, when the series shines, it does so most brilliantly. Shows revolving around coming-of-age stories are hardly a novelty and in this instance, it’s about characters who are aiming to succeed in pursuits of love while coming to terms with their own personal conflicts and biases. Given the gripes that I had with some of the girls at the beginning, I found that, to my surprise, they were not beyond redemption. And watching them change over the course of the show or delving deeper into their lives was what made this series enjoyable.

Take Dobashi, who manages to stand out as a character who can be reasoned with and who takes a normal, practical approach to relationships that I found to be a pleasant change from the pining, tsun tsun approach that’s been way overdone. Or how about Chikura’s story, which offered a rich viewing experience as you watched her start from a state of admiration that grew into pure, innocent love which made for an extremely heartfelt story. And then there were the boys who sought to seek meaning within themselves by embarking upon that journey of discovery and how they cope with the obstacles they had to face. Hell, even though I despised Kei Enamoto at first, she redeemed herself through her actions even if she was lying to herself the whole time.

So watching this show will involve some selective weeding on the viewer’s part. Unless the fanservice is something up your alley, just train your brain to tune out those moments of idiocy, because underneath all that stupid crap that the show foists upon us is a genuinely moving coming-of-age show that can be surprisingly deep at times when it’s not caught up with trying to appeal to the drooling fanboy (as omo correctly points out).

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