Final(?) spring pickup: Hatsukoi Limited
Not sure what made me think Hatsukoi Limited would be a good idea to watch. Maybe it was the constant nagging mental failure upon seeing its name that made me think of Futakoi Alternative.
Yep.
Anyway, seeing as how we’re not getting another Futakoi Alternative, I grabbed a couple episodes of Hatsukoi (”First Love”) Limited. I guess I kinda thought it was a shoujo, but the sort of pervy vibe that permeates the whole thing tells me otherwise. Now, I’ve never read the manga, and I suppose the writer, along with JC Staff’s director, might be going the Girls’ High route — i.e., kids are pretty fucked up balls of hormones so let’s reflect on their lives with low-ass camera angles and tight pink shorts. Fortunately, the first two episodes were far more entertaining than Girls’ High’s entire retarded run. Granted, that’s not saying much, but still.
Not what you think.
That said, what you have is a cute story of interconnecting first loves — so far, middle schooler Ayumi has a crush on charming Mamoru, who carried her fireman-style to the nurse after she fainted from the fear of being courted/stalked by Mamoru’s own high school-age beast of a brother Misao. Further exascerbating the convolution is Mamoru’s own crush: he and Misao’s childhood friend Misaki, who’s two years older, sees him as a little brother, and isn’t interested in gettng mixed up with boys right now. But wears tight pink shorts and crawls through his window. Good God, poor kid.
why, exactly?
Misao is a funny character (if not that original), a giant stubbly Ikki Tousen extra who can pound any kid in Japan but folds his laundry neatly, feeds the birds, and has an inescapable crush on a middle schooler. Yeah, it’s a tiny touch creepy but is painted as just pathetic enough to work. And when he nobly comes to her rescue, well, it’s a little touching.
touching.
Ayumi-chan is a little heap of moe who’s not so defenseless as to be annoying or even too typical, but her shimapan (which are usually symbolic of immaturity) give away her underlying personality. Misaki is the typical mature-girl archetype who of course will find out she’s not as adult as she thought, etc. I’m not sure how much any of the rest of the large cast will fit into this; are their stories going to be involved in the web of panties and love as well?
and I'll love her and hug her and squeeze her and call her George
At any rate, this was a bit dumb but a decent watch. I was sufficiently entertained by the light humor, cute story of poor Misao, and of course the tight pink shorts. The age of some characters is a little scandalous for my taste, but the show has some real production values so the pantyshots seem a little less gratuitous than if they were just thrown into a cheap-ass show to keep people watching (Gonzo, I love you still, but I’m looking right at you). Also, the thugs’ argument about taking a poop was gold. I’ll keep watching for now.
Misao was great. Mamoru? Screw him.
Can we call this a camel toe anime yet?
Was the last caption a Looney Toons reference?
I wonder how much work it would be to film live action stuff with that many low angle shots. You’d probably blow your knees out by the second or third film.
My, cameltoe shots. Back in the day anime girls neither had boobs nor flat chests… everything is fetishized now. Not a bad thing necessarily, but remarkable.
@lelangir
he’s pretty short on personality. of course the girl goes for him OH SNAP, ladies!
@kimagure
Were you waiting to call it that? How many more camel toes do you need before you feel safe in this?
@The Sojourner
YES.
@Kabitzin
Yes but what price art ?? After Haruhi I occasionally think about the “camera work” in anime and what it would be like if it were real. Pretty sure most anime camera men would have to be on the registered sex offender list.
@ghostlightning
Next time I see you on IRC, you name a year after 1980 and I bet I can find pendulous knockers in that year. I know you’re an A-Ko fan and those guys didn’t skimp on pantyshots either.
The first two episodes didn’t entirely impress me, but I don’t think they disappointed me, either. It falls comfortably in the category of “stuff that might turn out well, or fail miserably.”
LOL one vote for “undecided” I guess. But yeah, it can still go either way at this point. I have DLed #3, but haven’t had the chance to watch it yet.