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).
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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).
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| 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.
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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.
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| 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!
