The World's Best BL Lovin

Finding out that the mangaka behind Junjou Romantica had developed a new BL series centered on first love in the publishing industry was a magical moment. I've always been intrigued by the publishing business, and have planned on being a part of it ever since I was a precocious, book loving little kid. Like protagonist Ritsu Onodera, my interest is in literature, but I was excited at the prospect of learning more about the crazy world of manga in Sekaiichi Hatsukoi while also watching bishies making face with each other. What can I say? In my world, the more bishies, the better!

Like Junjou Romantica, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi follows three (or technically four, since the manga recently added a pairing featuring volatile sales manager Yokozawa) different pairings that are in some ways interconnected. In this case, at least one part of each pairing works at Marukawa Publishing. At the moment, the uploaded scanlation is a bit scattered in regards to the Yokozawa/Kirishima and Yoshino/Hatori sections, so I will for the most part be focusing on the anime, which is fairly true to the original manga (minus the explicit sex).

Our main lovey-lovey couple, Takano and Onodera

The main pairing features dogged nice guy in denial Ritsu Onodera (uke) and dry, sarcastic shoujo manga editor Masamune Takano (seme). Onodera and Takano were first loves in high school, but a misunderstanding led Onodera to think Takano didn't take their relationship seriously, and instead of clarifying Takano's feelings for himself, poor Onodera runs off and goes to study abroad while nursing a broken heart. Takano, who was going through a major family crisis at this time, spiraled out of control for awhile, but eventually got his act together and became a top manga editor at Marukawa Publishing.

As fate would have it, Onodera's father is a big-wig in the editing world, and Onodera starts working at Marukawa Publishing after being accused of nepotism at his father's company. A mistake (or hitsuzen) places Onodera in the shoujo manga department rather than in literature, and he and Takano are reunited. When they finally recognize one another, chaos and attempted seductions naturally ensue. Takano wants to get back with the lover he's never forgotten, but the jaded Onodera questions the logic of falling in love with someone who has already broken his heart in the past, even though he soon discovers that it was all a misunderstanding. Add that to the fact that he's gained a lot more pride and stubbornness since his high school days, and you've got yourself one very resistant uke.

Case in point

Manga writer Chiaki Yoshino (uke) and fellow editor Yoshiyuki Hatori (seme) make up the next pairing. Each couple in the series follows the idea of 'first love,' and for Hatori, Yoshino's been his number one since their high school days. However, the story is told from Yoshino's side, and Yoshino is a bit of a male ingenue when it comes to love, even though he is a writer of romance manga. Hatori is clearly in love with him, and so is his best friend Yuu Yanase (an artist's assistant), but Yoshino gets terribly confused and thinks they are in love with each other because he thinks he saw the two of them kissing (they were arguing, but he was looking at it from a bad angle). Hatori quickly clears this up and shows Yoshino with his body who he really loves, but Yoshino continues to stumble through love like a space case, constantly injuring both Hatori and Yanase in the process. Although if we're going to bring the manga into this, Hatori does his own share of injuring, and most likely deserves having such a doof for a life partner.

A relatively calm moment in the lives of Hatori and Yoshino

The last pairing follows thirty-year old insecure manga editor Shouta Kisa (uke) and stunning pretty-boy bookseller/artist Kou Yukina (seme). Kisa is not shy about being homosexual, but he tends to be shallow and sleeps around with people based on how attractive he finds them. Because of this, he's never been in love, at least up until he falls for Yukina's undeniably gorgeous face. At first he thinks he's sunk into another case of shallow love, but as he gets to know the buoyant and affectionate Yukina, he realizes he's genuinely falling in love for the very first time. However, Kisa's lack of self-confidence frequently gets in the way, even though Yukina is pretty over the moon about him. There is also a nine year age gap between them, and the fact that Yukina was originally straight (and very popular with the ladies) causes Kisa no small amount of concern.

I like elements of each of the pairings, and of course in the BL genre there are tropes that are inescapable, including ones we've already seen in Junjou Romantica. The publishing industry setting is what makes it all work for me, but there are few things worth discussing about our group of bishies. A few mild spoilers are ahead (but really, there's nothing all that shocking that happens. This a girly BL romantic comedy, not a quest to save the world).

It truly is tough being so smexy

1. Onodera and Takano: Like Misaki Takahashi before him, Onodera is the uke who is resistant to love, even though he secretly wants it just as much as his seme. However, unlike Misaki, Onodera has a better reason to be this way. Even though it was ended due to a misunderstanding, Onodera was seriously hurt by his failed relationship with Takano, and had already decided to focus whole-heartedly on his career before reuniting with his former lover. In his drunken celebration scene with Takano (the first occasion where they get it on after they reunite, although Onodera attempts to deny it in spite of his hickeys and hurting hips), our hero finally tells the complete and honest truth under the influence of alcohol, revealing that he doesn't know how to balance his work life with his reluctant relationship with Takano, and that his resistance is deeply rooted in his fear of putting his stable life and happiness on the line again rather than that he is uninterested in Takano romantically. The fact that his parents are trying to force him into an arranged marriage is the smaller issue; he's actually quite up front about not wanting to marry An, although An may very well team up with Onodera's mom to continue the engagement, especially if she lets slip that Onodera is getting a little too cozy with his male boss.

As for Takano, he is a more difficult fish to fry since only one chapter so far has been told from his POV, and that was only a flashback to their relationship in high school. He is clearly still in love with Onodera-- the present Onodera, rather than just the one in the past-- but in order to get to know the boy in front of him (who he didn't even know all that well to begin with, since their relationship was more about an intense emotional connection rather than an evolved friendship) he needs to break down Onordera's careful defenses, as well as put the more physical part of their relationship to the side in order to focus on communication (a difficult task for a seme in a BL manga). However, Takano also suffers from an inability to balance work and love. He is constantly aware of his feelings for Onodera, even at work, and since Onodera doesn't want him flirting in front of the editors, Takano tends to compensate by picking on Onodera's position as the rookie editor (of course, he also does this because Onodera's reactions are quite adorable when he's teased). This act breaks down whenever he feels Onodera's hard work is being insulted (Yokozawa, I'm talking about you), and the discrepancies in his behavior tend to confuse Onodera even more, because he can never quite tell when Takano is teasing or being serious.

Takano's gruff attitude to Onodera at work is a major roadblock to Onodera admitting his love.

I don't know that there will be a season 3 of the anime, but there are a few things I would like to be addressed in the manga. For one, will An continue to pursue the engagement, or will she give up? Will Onodera's parents interfere with his love life if they ever find out that he's not going to be popping out heirs anytime soon? What steps will Takano and Onodera take to better reacquaint themselves after all this time? And most of all, what will happen on that fateful day Onodera finally falls completely in love with Takano for the second time? Of course, we were already teased with a confession scene, but since it was still fairly early in the plotline, Takano failed to hear Onodera's words, which is probably a good thing since Onodera still lacks confidence in their relationship. Their romance moves at a slower pace than Misaki and Usagai's (M/U had sex in the second episode of Junjou Romantica, while it took Onodera and Takano until the first episode of the second season to seal the deal, although they were technically sexually active back in their high school days) which suits their situation well, and makes the series more tantalizing.

2. Yoshino and Hatori: These two are the troublesome pairing, even though they have their share of romantic moments. As I said earlier, Yoshino is an ingenue; he understands love well enough to be a bestselling shoujo manga author, but when it comes to his own love life, he's as dumb as they come. After his confusion over Hatori and Yanase's non-relationship is cleared up, he's pretty upfront with himself about the fact that he has feelings for Hatori. However, he completely fails to realize that his BFF Yanase is in love with him. And let me add that Yanase is not at all subtle with his feelings. He flirts, he asks Yoshino to pose for him naked, he tries to steer Yoshino away from Hatori, and during their spa trip he is only like two seconds away from kissing Yoshino while asking “Do you want to know who it is I love?” But Yoshino doesn't get it, even after Yanase comes out and confesses, up until he is physically pushed down and almost raped by Yanase, who is at this point extremely frustrated over not being properly rejected by Yoshino over and over again. To make matters worse, Yoshino is constantly and unknowingly rubbing his friendship with Yanase in Hatori's face, which gives Hatori the false impression that Yoshino would be happier with Yanase rather than him.

The inevitable love triangle

It's not a pretty thing to watch. Hatori spends half his time acting cold towards Yoshino, mostly because he's half convinced that Yoshino doesn't want to be in the relationship to begin with, and Yoshino spends half his time being stupid and alienating both his best friend and lover. Whenever they are able to communicate properly with one another, they get pretty cute, but these instances are few and far between. Also, like Takano and Onodera, they spend so much time talking about work that they forget to have a friendship side of their relationship, even though they've been buds since they were little kids.

What I would like to see from them is pretty obvious. Yoshino needs some brains and sensitivity, and Hatori needs to wrap his head around the fact that if he wants to be together with Yoshino, he's going to have to put up with his lover acting like a clueless idiot. And both of them need to stop picking on Yanase and do what normal people do and treat unrequited lovers without stupidity or fist fights. As for Yanase, he should just get the heck out of their friendship-triangle. Clearly it isn't working out for him, and Yoshino doesn't seem to be any closer to treating his feelings with tact. If he's looking for some lovin, there are plenty of jilted men leftover from both Junjou Romantica and Sekaiichi Hatsukoi including Haruhiko, Sumi, potentially Ijuuin, Shinobu's Australian friend with the lispy accent, and all of Kisa's ex-lovers. Not to mention that there's still one single man left on the Marukawa manga editing team!

3. Kisa and Yukina: Kisa and Yukina are the Miyagi and Shinobu of Sekaiichi Hatsukoi in the sense that they have the fewest episodes, so their relationship is on a faster track. Kisa has many concerns about his relationship with Yukina including the age separation, their differences in appearance (Yukina is a hottie, Kisa looks young for his age and is more of a cute type), Kisa's busy work schedule, the fact that Yukina used to be fairly straight, their lack of overall personal knowledge of each other, and Kisa's past history of sleeping around and being shallow. Yukina is pretty much willing to work through anything, but Kisa has very little faith in himself, both personally and professionally, which makes him all too willing to give up when things get rough, even though he knows he is love with Yukina for more than just his face.

Yukina is also a bit too obliging for his own good. Kisa works ridiculous hours, comes home from work dead and half asleep, and more often than not cancels their dates due to scheduling conflicts. Because he is the younger man, Yukina doesn't want to be a burden to Kisa, and never complains unless Kisa does something stupid like try to break up with him. However, since Kisa already lacks self-worth, Yukina would be better off getting mad, especially since his cheerful indifference tends to make Kisa feel unloved.

Both Kisa and Yukina could use some further development in upcoming chapters. Kisa, for one, could use a personal success or achievement to give him confidence in his work, aside from the fact that his manga projects sell well in Yukina's store. It also wouldn't hurt for the two of them to move in together, especially since Kisa's job gets in the way of their together time (the manga makes it clear that they are moving in this direction, since Yukina has sleepover weeks to stay bonded with Kisa). I would also love, love, love to see Yukina become a part of Kisa's work life. Since everyone involved with Marukawa is already for the most part gay/bi (Onodera, Takano, Hatori, Yoshino, Kisa, Isaka, Asahina, Misaki, Usagi, and Ijuuin), I think it would be cute if Kisa had the opportunity to bring a date along to a company event. Especially since Onodera and Takano are dating each other, and Onodera would rather die than have everyone else know about it.

While they have their issues, this couple can't help but be cute together.

For BL fans, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi is a definite must. The characters are enjoyable, the romantic moments are swoon worthy, and the information about what goes into being a manga editor/writer is intriguing. And if you're into the manga, the romance scenes are nosebleed material (my favorite was Takano and Onodera's after the non-confession moment. “Why are you talking about stupid shit when you should be stripping?”), although it does take a bit of time for the main couple to go all the way, due to the nature of their relationship. I'm looking forward to reading/watching more, and for anyone reading this who is not interested in hearing about bishies making out with other bishies (which begs the question, “Why not?”), I am finally shutting up now.

Next up will be Magic Knight Rayearth!