Ayumi Arihara and her friends are curious about love, with Ayumi to be the first one to find out the trials love can bring. Misao Zaitsu, a student one year older than her with a terrifying visage, gives her a love letter. She is frightened out of her wits. This is but the start of a
Love Dodecahedron that encompasses Ayumi, her friends and classmates.
By Mizuki Kawashita, the creator of
Ichigo 100%, the manga was cut short in its run, but it got an anime adaptation in Spring 2009 by J.C. Staff.
Tropes in
Hatsukoi Limited include:
- All Love Is Unrequited
- All Men Are Perverts — A good amount of the male cast, and the main cause of distress for the (well-endowed) Meguru.
- Always Someone Better — Meguru, to Takei.
- Brother Sister Incest — Runs in both directions. Ayumi's brother is a little too into her, while Koyoi is pretty much defined by her brother complex.
- Cannot Spit It Out — Goes for a lot of the couples, but Kei and Kusuda are the ones that display it the most.
- Class Representative — Meguru.
- Cool Big Sis — Misaki plays this role to Mamoru.
- Cosplay — The ending credits are a slideshow of the many girls of the cast in various cosplay outfits.
- Crash Into Hello — Combined with Dropped Glasses for Sogabe and Nao's Meet Cute.
- Crossdresser — Kusuda has few qualms about donning a female cheerleader outfit for the sake of class spirit.
- Date Peepers — Koyoi.
- Dojikko — Soako
- Dude Shes Like In A Coma — Done deliberately on the part of Kusuda and his sleep-inducing pun storm. Subverted when, whether she was toying with them or really in some form of sleepwalking, Misaki begins performing wrestling moves on Mamoru when he gets close.
- Fanservice
- Face Of A Thug — Misao Zaitsu, though he's really just a shy guy who's fallen in love with Ayumi.
- Freud Was Right — Apparently you can make a girl fall in love with you by shoving your lollipop in her mouth and making her suck it.
- Gag Boobs — A major source of distress for Meguru (she quit swimming because her boobs got big quite early, and would draw a lot of stares especially if she was in a swimsuit; she goes as far as to wear bras a few cup sizes smaller to hide them)
- The Glomp — Koyoi to her brother, whenever she can.
- Hurricane Of Puns — To the point it puts Misaki to sleep. That's talent.
- Lolicon — the twentysomething man seen proposing to Kei Enomoto in a Flashback.
- Love Chart — Keeping track so you don't have to
.
- Love Dodecahedron
- Love Letter Lunacy — What starts the story.
- Master of the Mixed Message — Rika Dobashi gives canonical love interest Haruto Terai the impression that she's leading him on, until she gives him their First Kiss.
- Meet Cute — Lollipop in the mouth means love as far as Misaki is concerned.
- Meganekko — Meguru.
- Name That Tune — Ayumi and Koyoi's not-very-good duet of the opening theme with karaoke.
- Oral Fixation Fixation — Misaki Yamamoto and her lollipops.
- Pantyshot — no shortage of them.
- Shirtless Scene — Takei, Meguru's admirer, is a member of the swim club, and goes around in swim trunks and not much else...all the time.
- Ted Baxter — Sogabe.
- Tear Jerker — Yukito's sudden departure sends Nao running in tears.
- Tsundere — Kei Enomoto.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend — Mamoru in relation to Misaki. She's been his next door neighbor for years, he loves her, but she loves Ayumi's brother.
- Vapor Wear — The side story features Soako and her adventures running around the school without panties. Hilarity ensues, of course.
- Waif Fu — Ayumi has the body of a middle school student and some impressive kicking power. She even manages to double-team with Misao in the Valentine's Day episode and intercept Misaki's chocolate with gusto.
- Wrestler In All Of Us — Beware of a sleeping Misaki. She's a wrestling fan, and knows the moves.
