Now, before I even begin to say anything, I am not a YAOI fan and I swore that I would never ever watch Junjou Romantica. Now before people start sending me anonymous hate mail, I’m not particularly against YAOI, I just can’t develop any liking towards it. Plus as I have mentioned before, I have learnt to cope with the YAOI side of things in this anime by picking the most feminine guy out of the two and just imagining that he is of the female gender. Now THAT makes my heart pound uncontrollably.

 

Anyway, we’re getting off topic here people!

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Synopsis:

 

Sekaiichi Hatsukoi is an anime adaption of the manga: ‘Sekaiichi Hatsukoi’. It is based around the main protaganist, a 25 year old man (Onodera Ritsu) that quits his dad’s editing company to join another company because his colleagues were always teasing him, saying that he was only at his current position because his dad was the head of the company.

At his new company he is placed in the shoujo manga editing section instead of the literature section which was where he originally wanted to hold a position at. Surprise surprise! Turns out the boss of the shoujo manga section, Takano Masamune, was Ritsu’s ‘boyfriend’ back in high school. Once that huge secret is revealed Masamune claims that he will make Ritsu confess his love towards him once again.

One thing I forgot to add, there’s an awkward ‘thing’ that’s going on between them right now because for the last ten years that they’ve been away from each other, both of them thought that the other one played with their feelings and left them broken-hearted. Also, since Ritsu decided to move houses, he finds out that he’ll be next door neighbours with Masamune! I’m not even sure whether I think this is absolutely classic or just plain cliche..

 

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Now on to my personal thoughts about this anime. Honestly, I thought that this anime would be the less explicit version of Junjou Romantica but from what I’ve seen so far, I’m just going to say that the level of explicitness is pretty much on par. Just that I find the characters to be way hotter in Sekaiichi Hatsukoi. But I guess it’s not completely fair since I only know the two main characters of Junjou Romantica, only because they’re on the covers.

Also, another confession that I have to make, this is my first time seriously watching a YAOI series and I definitely think that this is really inappropriate for teens under the age of 15. I would say that this is really a MA15+ material. I’m not going to lie there are many overly sexual scenes but they don’t really go pass the heated make-out sessions. I could be wrong after all, I’m only up to episode 7.

By the way, Onodera and Takano are not the only YAOI couple in this series, there are 3 couples all together, if I’m not wrong. I’m not going to lie, I have mixed feelings about the character that Nakamura Yuuichi is playing. (Hatori Yoshiyuki)

 

Sure, his voice still makes me melt and I want to just hug him but those damn words that are coming out of his mouth, all those lovey dovey things that I want to hear… ARE BEING DIRECTED AT ANOTHER GUY!

 

Again, I am not a homophobe, but just imagine this, your boyfriend is ditching you and saying erotic things to another guy.

How would that make you feel?

That’s how I feel!

 

Now let me just insert a little rant about one of my favourite Seiyuus. Nakamura Yuuichi and I go way back, ever since my giant crush on him when he played Ikuto, my heart has been a slave to him. I can recognise his voice from any role, yes, even when he’s playing a man cross-dressing as a woman. Shout out! Tsukimiya Ringo!

 

 

Anyway, back onto the real topic here, aside from all the ‘new’ things that still continues to overwhelm me. I find the storyline moving way too fast. I’m the kind of person that usually watches Shounen and Shoujo series so I’m not very familiar with the structure of the Shounen Ai type animes. I’m only used to the innocent love in all those Shoujo series where I build up all those cute hug scenes or those sudden eye-contact scenes until the very last episode where I’m rewarded with that little simple kiss that just ends with a peck. But that’s all okay with me because I think it’s absolutely magical.

However, with Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, it is completely different. I’m just whacked in the face with a full-on make-out session in the very first episode, it just shocked me and I didn’t know how to react so I laughed. Hit ‘pause’. Before proceeding to scream into my pillow.

I’m still not used to it though, I’m already up to the 7th episode and my reaction is still the exact same. Call me immature but holy crap man, how can you get used to seeing a kiss scene in every single episode?!

Now aside from all the romance going on, I also really love the atmosphere that this anime creates. I am a big fan of watching the process of editing things, especially books and of course, mangas. (I’m also well-aware of the annoying process, seriously, you have no idea.) But the result is well worth it! So just being able to watch that, really just makes my day, I could watch people working like that for hours on end. It’s crazy.

So far, I have many positive things to say about this anime, it’s funny, the seiyuus just melt your hearts, I love the drawings, there’s hot guys, the storyline is good and I love it’s atmosphere. The only negative thing I have to say about it is that it is a little bit too explicit for me. But that’s just me.

However, my favourite thing about this anime is how hilarious it is. Seriously, how can you not love it when this happens?

 

 

Is this not just the best?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The anime on the other hand is not as bad, and if you’d enjoy a laugh and some romance then I suggest you look into it. It can get quite awkward though so, just be prepared.

I also really enjoyed that scene in the ending song, where both of the main characters are sitting down in their junior high days, reading books. As a book lover, that really hits the spot and I don’t know somehow, it inspires me.

 

That’s it for me, if you want to try something new then why not try watching this?