Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi 06: For goodness’ sake just give me back Masamune already
And the award for Least On-screen Chemistry goes to...
I cannot stand Chiaki anymore.
The level of hatred I feel for him is unprecedented. Kyubey? Who’s that?
On a bad day, I might even prefer to watch an episode of Bleach/Naruto/One Piece over another episode of Chiaki wangst.
Look at those eyes.
Those are the eyes of a man who wonders why he persists in such a one-sided relationship.
Yoshiyuki deserves so much better. Here he is, buying groceries for Chiaki, cooking his meals, doing his laundry, and what does Chiaki do?
He’s still got the cheek to entertain fantasies about Yuu.
Okay so that’s still somewhat forgivable.
...what about going on a hot spring vacation with Yuu?
I’m sorry, but didn’t you two become official as of last episode? Didn’t you guys have hot sweaty makeup man sex?
And now you’re going on a vacation with someone else? A someone else whom your lover sees as his chief rival? And you boast about this to your lover?
Douchebag, thy name is Chiaki.
Yoshiyuki and Yuu should totally get together.
Don’t you think they’d make a much better couple? All this belligerent sexual tension is fascinating.
Hell, I d0n’t even care if it’s out of character, I want them to start grinding each other in front of Chiaki just to make the little arsewipe break down in tears.
If nothing else, at least watching Yoshiyuki and Yuu together is far preferable to watching paint dry. And we’ve already established that watching paint dry is far preferable to watching Chiaki/anybody.
What's that? You're experiencing a sudden urge to watch paint dry?
Don’t be afraid. Take a few deep breaths. It’s perfectly normal.
It’s not that I dislike Yoshiyuki. I do like him. He’s dependable, considerate.
And he has mad cooking skills.
It’s just that whatever respect for him is tarnished by his obsession with Chiaki.
And yes I know that by definition, an obsession is irrational. The problem is that it conflicts so much with the way he otherwise behaves.
-fangasm-
It’s Yokozawa. Omg. I have missed him so much.
Maybe it’s his blue hair. Never underestimate the power of hair colour in determining a character’s appeal.
(Although Chiaki could have blue hair and I’d still eagerly smash the side of his face into a brick wall.)
Oh shi-
MASAMUNE!1!!one!
Just look at that penetrating gaze. That barely-styled hair. The way his shoulders fill out that jacket. Oh my.
And the best part is that Masamune and Ritsu just look so cute together. Cute and adorable.
TAKE A HINT, STUDIO DEEN: GET SOME CHEMISTRY INTO THE BORING COUPLE JUST GIVE ME BACK MASAMUNE ALREADY.
Alternatively turn Yoshiyuki heterosexual.
Look at Yoshiyuki. He looks happy.
I once said that I hate harem anime. Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi has taught me that there are worse things than the worst harem anime.
Ritsu & Masamune > Yoshiyuki & harem > Yoshiyuki & Yuu > Watching paint dry > Worst harem anime > Chiaki & anybody
Next Episode:
YES.
We’re finally going back to Ritsu and Masamune. And Yokozawa. But it’s mostly for the Masamune.
And my goodness, high school sleeping Masamune is crazy cute. And sexy. And holy crap, cute. I would glomp him. I would glomp him hard, fast and strong.
I would so totally let Masamune scream in my face.
There be tears of joy streaming down my cheeks.
Rejoice! For our patience is about to be rewarded, and delicious Masamune awaits at the journey’s end.
All those cameo scenes surely lead up to a magnificent Masamune episode.
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Gokiburi-chan Ojou-sama Mode activated (*´Д`)
Mana Points
HOW I MET YOUR OTAKU 
I like the love triangle discussion though. Especially how the assistants were snappy to him.
Just found a rather funny Sekai AMV http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sykvT0HBJp4. Maybe it’ll cheer you up after this week’s episode.
I would have commented on the love triangle bit as more evidence of Chiaki’s selfishness, but as you said, the assistants did it already.
Woah. That AMV’s well done. Certainly doesn’t hurt that I loved Stranger Than Fiction.
That triangle discussion is one of the times where I wonder to what extent the author is aware that s/he is making a poor product. Among other things, the Sekai-ichi manga is well-known for having from time to time small apologetic notes in the margin stating things along the line of “this is what a good mangaka would do, but well…”. It’s a pity that those notes do not make it into the anime. They are funny.
I find it amusing and strangely appropriate that Ritsu is cast as Harold in the AMV (there is constraint of available footage but Ritsu kinds of have a lonely monotonous life like Harold, until he changes job of course). Wonder if Chiaki likes deaths in his stories.
I have the feeling that the author isn’t really being consulted much. Maybe I’ve been too influenced by OreImo 8, but now I’m of the impression that anime directors and writers generally butcher the original plot in an attempt to make the material fit within a 1 cour broadcast. Sadly, it’s probably true.
I would have liked Masamune being Harold. If only because it’d clash hilariously with his usual personality.
I have to side with you on this one, I predicted that this would be a boring childhood friend couple and I was right. GOD, I’m going to blame it on the fact that some other author wrote it *as according with musicalcroc’s info that kinda made me feel silly last ep*. As long as they stick to just making the manga into the anime it’ll be smooth and very satisfying to watch. But I gotta hand it to you, your rage toward this episode is pretty equivalent to my absolute hatred for standard yaoi. The sad thing is that more than half of the mangas I’ve read have these kinda plots and it makes me want to break down in despair.
Also unrelated to the topic, no my feet don’t hurt when I where high heels. In fact I kinda need to wear high heels so that my feet don’t hurt (some people say I have bad arches others say it’s flatfoot). I don’t care if I look silly I’m planning on getting a pair of high heel sneakers the beginning of the next school year.
But the thing is it didn’t have to be a boring childhood friend couple! Okay so I think the childhood friend thing never works anyway, but they could have tried. This pairing has by far the least chemistry I’ve ever seen between childhood friend characters.
It’s not that I hate Yaoi, really. Any heterosexual romance anime with this kind of hackneyed pairing would bear the full brunt of my disdain as well. It’s just that this happens to be the first terrible romance I’ve ever forced myself to watch. Please say you haven’t been buying those manga. I’d have a total stroke if all the money I lobbed into my Amagami Various Artists collection gave me story after story of crap plots.
…I wasn’t even aware that there was such a thing as high heel sneakers. I’d tell you to wear boots (since I think boots are hot and classy), but that probably isn’t what you’re going for and in all likelihood won’t fit the rest of your wardrobe. And it would definitely be out of place in high school
True, true, they could have tried, but it’s a rare case when in a yaoi manga specifically that a childhood friend pair doesn’t leave me just wandering off to do something more interesting like play a video game or something (it’s a commonality that they have to be written exactly the same as another manga’s and the next and the next and the ARGH!!!). I’ve read a lot of yaoi in my time and finding good material is like find a needle in a hay stack. More than half the time you’ve got to rummaging through endless crap manga with half ass plot that pretty much is like “I love you” “but we’re both guys” or alternatively “I’ve always loved you too” and then the author draws a sex scene, end of manga before you can find some of the gold that’s out there. I think it might be a yaoi only problem though cause there are plenty of manga than have good plots and couples.
No, I don’t buy my manga’s unfortunately, if fact I probably won’t till I’m actually out of my parents house. If my mom ever finds out about my interests she’ll probably never look at me the same way again. Hell it’s to the point I can’t even buy posters, figurines, or art books! My mom is really keen on black humor to boot which she once used to complete ridicule otaku rooms. I kinda hurt a little inside since I was being insulted to my face by my mom without her realizing it.. and then she wanted me to confirm that I’d never be that much of a crazed fan to own such a room *stab through heart*.
Actually I do own a few pairs of boots, it’s just that now that it’s spring I switch over to more spring-ish shoes. As for my wardrobe I been described as completely fashion illiterate (-w-;). People actually have offered to give me rides to the mall to help me pick out clothes. And yea, high heel sneakers exist I’m maybe planning on getting something like these
http://cgi.ebay.com/Womens-Black-Buckle-Sneakers-Wedge-Heel-Shoes-US-5-8-/320564373571?pt=US_Women_s_Shoes&var=&hash=item76bed3ddd0#ht_2169wt_905
http://cgi.ebay.com/Womens-White-Buckle-Sneakers-Wedge-Heel-Shoes-US-5-8-/320564376644?pt=US_Women_s_Shoes&var=&hash=item76bed3de93#ht_1924wt_905
There needs to be a Yaoi manga/anime that parodies standard Yaoi plots. It’d make a perfect 4koma.
Panel 1 – Guy A: I love you.
Panel 2 – Guy B: But we’re both guys.
Panel 3 – *beat*
Panel 4 – Sex scene!
Oh my. This has potential. It’d be the Lucky Star of Yaoi.
I’ve actually been buying scale figures, but not much. I’m currently collecting the K-On! girls (just missing Ritsu) and the OreImo nendoroids, but I hide them because I know my dad would kill me if he knew how much I spent on them. My friends actually mock me because I buy them but don’t take them out of their boxes, much less display them, but I get this weird happiness from just owning them. Although posters just aren’t my thing. Maybe someday when I get my own house I’d look into anime wallpaper.
Haha fashion illiterate? At least you try, right? I’m notorious for wearing the same outside everywhere. But then again I’m a guy so the social pressure isn’t as harsh. I’d say go for the black ones. Those would so go with a black meido outfit.
(those links… I was wondering why your comment tripped the spam detector.)
Well the zetsubou sensei manga and anime has already parodied yaoi with 4-koma manga with a twist , he also says that there is a special 5th panel in the comics in the subsequent pages….and in a small part of one panel of tht page he references the previous yaoi manga….ending with the 5th panel where he depicts hemorrhoids, this scene is much more obvious in the anime ver.
They squeezed 180 pages of the Yoshiyuki+Chiaki novel into 2, just TWO, episodes, with skipping/fast-forwarding done in ridiculous amount, so no wonder these two episodes are so meh compared to the Masamune+Ritsu episodes. I’m so angry that I’m gonna go back and finish that novel, (which I gave up in the middle because my Japanese reading skills were going downhill >.>)
Hopefully, the 3rd couple will not be done in such a rushed manner.
… although that still doesn’t quite account for Chiaki still being undecided after having sex TWICE with Yoshiyuki. Unless there was like some major event in between that the anime cut out.
I’m assuming the 3rd couple’s got the guy with the pierced ear? That guy looks cool. I liked the way he hugged his love interest in the OP, but then again OPs can be deceiving :3
Yes, that would be the third pairing and the one I thought would be introduced at first, till it turned out I failed badly at predicting. I’m eagerly waiting for it to air cause as I said before I can really relate to it for the fact it has a baby-faced [i won’t spoil the age] year old (I kinda have the problem now that although I’m 17 and almost 18 I look like I’m 12 cause I haven’t grown a centimeter for 5 years -_-; hell my mom think that sometimes I shrink). Frankly there so much more that I can relate to him (I re-read the chapters while writing this and he even sits the same weird way in chairs as me and has the same moments of absolute self-hatred as me) that it’s makes him alone rival the main pair *and just cause it’s best to imagine me saying this with a stupid fangirlish ear to ear smile on my face with a flowery background cause those are my feeling for the uke at the very least for the pairing*
Babyfaced character? Sounds a bit like Ritsu – he certainly doesn’t look 25.
Hmm. You’re 17 but look 12. I have the opposite problem. I’m 21 but I look… well, older. One of my managers was telling me the other day, “You know, has anyone ever told you you look old enough to be your father?” …since my father is 60 I’m not quite sure how to take that.
Self-hatred? I hope it’s done tastefully – but most self-hatred in anime tends to manifests as repeated episodes of moping over a single incident. I probably exaggerate. Oh God what I really need now is a super pure romance story thing. I should go rewatch Cardcaptor Sakura season 3. My feelings for Cardcaptor Sakura is probably on a par with that of your feelings for Uke… but I can’t smile
too widelyat all or people will think I’m a lolicon -__-“Frankly you can take as either two things either despair that you look like some old dude or make yourself give off that cool old guy vibe like the absolute moe being that is Kotetsu from tiger & bunny ¦D (there are some awesome shows I’m sad aren’t reviewed here at HIMYO). Btw I just felt like throwing it out there that you looking old enough to be your dad is kinda heart breaking (unless you actually can pull of the cool old guy look), I sorta of had in mind you were something of a black haired Ritsu or something (black hair cause of your icon, shallow I know) ah~ I needa stop imagining that everyone I talk to over the internet that’s like super nice and awesome has a face & body that’s equally as amazing to boot, minus kit cause I’ve seen her face it’s like omg Asian goodness!
Okay, maybe my Japanese hasn’t deteriorated that much yet, seeing how I already finished the 2nd half of the novel. =D
Anyway, from my understanding, Chiaki’s personality is a combination of cluelessness, self-UNawareness, and jealousy. From both the anime and the manga, it seems to me that the main reason why Chiaki was acting “undecided” is because Yoshiyuki never spelled out that he’d like to go out with him. The novel goes slightly, only slightly, more into details about their quarrel at the end. Chiaki complained about their lack of…intimate moments…after Yoshiyuki’s confession. So in response to Chiaki’s complaint…
Yoshiyuki: “I will say it as many times as needed. I like you. It has to be you. PLEASE BE MY LOVER.” [For some reason, in the anime they left out that I’m-asking-you-to-go-out-with-me sentence…>.>] “So your answer?”
Chiaki: “I’ll put up with it.”
Yoshiyuki: “Ahaha, I guess that’s good enough for the time being.”
And then they go on to have sex. The novel is so embarrassingly descriptive of their sex scene, that I almost couldn’t finish reading it. XD
I’d say as much as Chiaki can be aggravating, clueless characters just like him are everywhere. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this kind of scene many times before–Guy: “I thought we were going out?!” Girl: “You never explicitly said anything!” Guy: “Fine! I LOVE YOU! WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME?” (happy end). ;D The only difference is, this time it involves two guys, as opposed to a guy and a girl.
But that was in episode 5. And Yoshiyuki had already did the surprise wakeup rape sex bit on Chiaki prior to the nonsense confession bit.
Which is why I think it’s really inexcusable that Chiaki’s still clueless as of episode 6. I swear, I don’t even know if he’s clueless, because he obviously knows that Yoshiyuki likes him, but he wants to have both Yoshiyuki and Yuu with no thought for their feelings.
This is the kind of thing that only works in Yaoi manga though. Can you imagine the uproar over female protagonists getting surprise wakeup rape sex or lusting after two guys at once? Oh wait. Didn’t this happen in Twilight? (Don’t know, didn’t read/watch.)
Ahahaha, yes, Twilight sounds like a good example of the situation you described. (Although, I also have never seen it. No interest. lol)
I think I probably have watched too much anime (and therefore have seen too many times that kind of situation) to find Chiaki any more aggravating than any other “clueless” character. But just to be clear, I DID find the Chiaki arc rather…insipid. But that’s what you get when the novel is written by someone else (Miyako Fujimoto) instead of the original mangaka (Shungiku Nakamura). It’s severely lacking in the comedy/trolling department. =.=
Thank God the Chiaki arc is over…for now at least. There is a short manga chapter at the end of the Chiaki novel, but it’s probably too short for them to make into a separate episode, not to mention that chapter’s facepalming story line:
– Chiaki stays at Yoshiyuki’s place
– Chiaki is being unaware, and asks Yoshiyuki to sleep on the sofa while he himself stays on the bed
– Yoshiyuki complains about Chiaki’s unawareness
– Chiaki is shocked by the fact that Yoshiyuki wants to “do” him
– nevertheless, Chiaki apologizes, and says he will SHARE YOSHIYUKI’S BED WITH YOSHIYUKI >.>
– hanky-panky
(So basically, nothing we haven’t already seen.)
Btw I’ve been meaning to say this, but your reviews of Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi are equally fun to read as watching the actual episodes. I really like your style! I will definitely check back to read more of your reviews. =)
I’ve read the first book of twilight and frankly the lead heroine Bella and Chiaki, I would go on a limb to say, are pretty equally clueless to the point it’s irritating. For example at one point in the book Bella is fooled into leaving the safety of her beloved Edward (dear god just to remember that horrible excuse of a fanfic that tarnishes the name Edward makes me infuriated and disgusted at the same time) and goes to another vampire’s lair (who planned to kill her) after being fooled by a recorded message over the phone by a tape cassette from a old family video of her mother saying “Oh Bella I need you.” She was explicitly told not to since it was most likely a trap by Edward and his family, but left with the mindset that she had to do some cause a young female human can totally stand up to a god knows how old male vampire…. To boot, she not only left Edward’s safety, she snuck out and took a plane to another state with pretty much a “You can do whatever you want with me” sign on her to her would be murderer… -_- her stupidity baffled me.
And I gotta agree with you the HIMYO writers have excellent senses of humor and perceptiveness which make their reviews buckets of fun to read 🙂 . I wanna go on a limb to say that Johnney himself has pick up quite a fanbase from reviewing this series. I mean the average number of comments for one his Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi posts is around 8 – 14 ish. People definantly wanna talk to him. I myself would pay like $10 for his IM contact info since I check to see if he replied to one of my comments almost every 20 minutes >_>; … God I feel like or rather I am an obsessed fan. I still haven’t read as much from the other writers, much less talk to them as much to develop into a fan, but if you want to read some funny reviews Infinyx, archyver, definently defrayal if you like watching anime that focus on the female harem sorta thing (his freezing review was great), and although now he’s being meaning full to the max with Hanasaku Iroha he has a Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka review that’s really good.
… you flatter me waaay too much. Most of those 8 – 14 comments are usually by the same 3 or 4 people! Sorry I can’t reply more often though, I’d be sacked if I was caught surfing at work.
… I was actually happy in a perverse sort of way when you acknowledged that I probably don’t have an awesome face or body – it’s a nice contrast. That said, I actually wanted to look like FFX’s Auron back in the day. And put together an outfit with a large cloak and all the pockets I’d want and wear it everywhere. Someday, someday.
I’m sure sabershirou’s in tears though – he’s the one who’s been writing Hanasaku Iroha and Kore Wa Zombie, not defrayal. But he’s a big boy, he’ll understand (:
Thanks for the compliments, enix-chan.
Thou me and arc don’t have time to post due to work fow now, and defrayal is on hiatus but ouch. give sabershirou some credit ya 😉 hehehehehe.
… that manga arc. So much text and we still don’t know if Chiaki’s suffering from some sort of short-term memory loss or being the world’s greatest douchebag.
Oh dear. I certainly hope I can live up to your expectations. This would be a bad time to start developing some bizarre form of performance anxiety .__.
enixfire, the Kore Zombie and Hanasaku Iroha posts were mine 😥
sabershirou is in despair!
Wow, holy cow typing fail ∑(ﾟﾛﾟ；). Sorry, I have this thing that when I’m too deep in thought as I type I accidentally skip words and or use different words with the same pronunciations (￣～￣;). The sentence was meant to be “and although now he’s being
meaning fullmeanful to the max with Hanasaku Irohahesabershirou has a Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka review that’swas really good.” I always spell check my comments, but sometimes wrong words get through or words that are supposed to be there aren’t, sorry. ｍ(＿ ＿；)ｍHaha I like your emotes. And I do have the same problem as you, like skipping words altogether. It happens when your mind works faster than your hands (which is always true), but forgets to tell your hands to catch up. Another of these quirks of mine would be the case when I’m writing. If the first letter of my next word is the same as the last letter of the word that I’m currently writing, I end up writing something like “the nd”. This cryptic writing of mine has confounded many of my teachers, who simply are too befuddled to decode my writing.
I’m not quite sure, though, what “meanful to the max” meant, but I do thank you for reading my posts as well haha. We’re very happy that we have such an ardent follower of our blog (Johnny’s posts in particular :D) and we’re delighted to receive your thoughts and feedback on our posts. Do continue to support us!
@Johnny: There are already quite a lot of complaints about rape romance in BL. Then again the Japanese producers probably don’t care what the English-speaking blogosphere says. I heard that some LBGT groups in Japan protest against BL because it portrays homosexuals negatively, but it’s a bit double standard considering some Bara (man on man romance for actual gays) are just as wild.
Don’t glomp teen!Masamune so hard next week. Ritsu might bite you.
I wouldn’t actually call the Chiaki/Yoshiyuki pairing a rape romance. It’s more of a forced-to-adhere-to-the-illogical-plot romance. Yoshiyuki’s the one getting raped here. I don’t suppose those groups ever got around to determining whether girls can rape girls?
Anyway, it’s best I stop replying for now. This comment thread is getting a little overheated.
In that one moment was Masamune giving the finger?
Are you referring to the episode preview? I’m pretty sure he didn’t.
If you’re referring to him possibly readjusting his glasses (which I honestly don’t remember if he did so in this episode) it’s a Japanese thing. They ALL adjust their glasses by using their middle finger to push up the bridge.
But in any case the Japanese don’t flip the bird as a offensive gesture, so I doubt Masamune was.