Kinoshita Shinichirou is a normal 17-year-old teenage boy; he likes video games, doesn't have much of an idea of his future and really wants a girlfriend. His grandfather, meanwhile, is head of a multinational corporation that Shinichirou is set to inherit upon turning 18. Not liking the supposed lack of direction his grandson has shown, he moves him into a mansion, where he is greeted by eight extremely pretty, very friendly girls in maid dresses.
His mind is promptly blown when they inform him that they are all his potential fiancées, there at his grandfather's bidding. And he must pick one within the year, but! No sex before the wedding, or the deal's off. If he fails to pick any girl, the deal is also off.
Hachi Ichi is an Ecchi Seinen harem comedy that adds a refreshing amount of reality and intelligence to the standard plot by writing each girl as their own characters, each with unique motivations, and having the male react appropriately to the standard tropes.
Tropes;
- Accidental Pervert: Midori gets it out of the way with Ye Olde Walkeing Inn On His Bathe Scene. However, both are embarrassed, no-one gets megaton punched, and his frank and heartfelt apology means she has gotten over her nervousness around him as a result.
- A Day in the Limelight: A couple of chapters focus on Shinichirou's friends Shindou and Takumi being two-timed by Midori's friend Fuyu.
- All Just a Dream: Over two chapters, each of the girls have dreams about Shinichirou in various romantic (and sexual) scenarios. The only exceptions are Nana, who dreams about being trapped somewhever before encountering a mystery man, and Miyu, who dreams about her wedding to Shinichirou being interrupted by someone.
- Ambiguous Ending: The competition to be Shinichirou's bride seems to be called off, after Shinichirou and Nana break the rules and sleep together. Instead, they all decide to continue living together, and for Shinichirou to marry whomever stays single the longest. On the other hand, their year together isn't up yet, and most of the girls still have feelings for him, so it's unclear how exactly that will work out.
- Balanced Harem: At the start, he has never seen the girls before in his life, so he must court them equally. Things get less balanced as the series goes on, with Miyu and Kaede seemingly pulling ahead. However, while it looks like Shinichirou will choose Miyu during the last few chapters, he ultimately doesn't choose anyone.
- Big Brother Bully: Yuichirou, the second oldest Kinoshita brother, seems to take sadistic pleasure in picking on Shinichirou.
- Chick Magnet: Granted, the girls were all placed in the house with Shinichirou by his grandfather, but most of them end up genuinely falling for him. Usually after he gives them an orgasm...
- Chivalrous Pervert: On the one hand, he's surrounded with beautiful girls who can't help but excite him. On the other hand, he shows as much restraint as (or more than) the girls themselves.
- Cosplay: Nana thinks of her maid costume being "like cosplay". Normally she dresses down to avoid attention.
- Date Peepers
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Nana is initially cold and harsh with Shinichirou, but eventually shows her softer side.
- Dirty Old Man: Apparently, Shinichirou's grandfather encouraged the girls to wear maid outfits for him.
- Ecchi: Shinichirou is not allowed to have sex with the girls (a rule he eventually breaks with Nana), but this doesn't exclude everything else. Technically, he shouldn't even touch them, but the girls have other ideas.
- Engagement Challenge
- Erotic Dream: Most of the girls have one about Shinichirou during the "World of Dreams" chapters.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Midori is...extremely popular at her all-girls school.
- Gold Digger: Invoked. Shinichirou feels pressured by their declaration that they chose him, and quickly catches on to the possibility of the girls liking him solely for his money.
- Hypocrite: Whenever Shinichirou suspects that one of the girls may be attracted to someone else, he accuses them of cheating on him, in spite of the fact that he's pretty happy to fool around with all of them. In his defense, he does recognize how he doesn't have a leg to stand on.
- Idiot Ball: Generally avoids it. Shinichirou is a fairly savvy young man, but he still gets things wrong or allows his hormones to lead. He also decides to talk to them before anything, simply to get to know them.
- As he's a virgin who hasn't dated, though, he's still pretty clueless about sex and dating. And as the girls are virgins too, so are they.
- I Love You Because I Can't Control You: Shinichirou's brother Yuichirou develops feelings for Miyu, and explains that it's because she stands up to him and doesn't just meekly obey him.
- I Was Quite the Looker: Shinichirou's grandfather turns out to have been quite the Chick Magnet himself back in the day.
- Imagine Spot
- Jerkass: Yuichirou, who's very condescending to the girls and constantly picks on Shinichirou.
- Kissing Under the Influence: Kaede kisses Nana at one point while drunk and/or possessed by a ghost.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Ai is by far the most forward of the girls, and takes every chance she gets to try and get Shinichirou to sleep with her. Shinichirou even starts locking his bedroom door when she sneaks into his bed on their first night in the house.
- Marry Them All: Played with in the end. Shinichirou finds that he can't choose between the girls and wants to continue living with all of them. However, it's decided that they will date other people if they so choose, and Shinichirou will marry the last single girl.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: When Shinichirou and a few of the girls visit his grandfather's cabin, Kaede either gets possessed by the ghost of a courtesan or just gets really drunk. Either way, she drops her timid and reserved persona and becomes aggressive and condescending.
- Mood-Swinger: Yui cries over several different things in the space of a few pages.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Both Shinichirou and Nana are torn up with guilt after they break the cardinal rule and have sex.
- New Transfer Student: Kaede, who transferred to Shinichirou's class at the start of the series.
- Passionate Sports Girl: Hana.
- Polyamory: After meeting Shinichirou's friends Shindou and Takumi on a group date, Midori's friend Fuyu starts sleeping with both of them behind the other's back. When she's caught, she proposes that she continue dating both of them, which freaks them out.
- Psycho Lesbian: Midori's classmate Rui, who's in love with her. During the brief time she lives at the house, she kisses Midori and feels her up while she's sleeping, and nearly rapes Shinichirou for blackmail material to get him to agree not to choose Midori. She eventually backs off when she discovers that Shinichirou is a virgin, and isn't using his position to sleep with Midori.
- Raging Stiffie
- The Reliable One: While everybody is supposed share the housework, Miyu ends up taking on the bulk of the chores, to the point where things fall apart rather quickly during the rare instances where she's unable to take of them.
- On one occasion, she becomes depressed following an argument with Shinichirou's brother, and Shinichirou and the other girls find themselves almost completely helpless.
- Then there was the time when she returned after visiting her family, and Shinichirou and the girls who stayed behind glomp on to her and weep about how glad they are to have her back.
- Ship Tease: Obviously, Shinichirou gets truck-loads with each of the girls. There's also some between Miyu and his second older brother Yuichirou, and Nana and his oldest brother Genichirou.
- There's also a very brief moment between Kaede and Ai. After Ai thanks Kaede for helping her with her chores, they hold hands while staring into each other's eyes and blushing.
- Sex Equals Love: Many of the girls confess to Shinichirou after he...pleasures them.
- Shrinking Violet: Kaede and Midori are both quite shy and reserved.
- Sibling Rivalry: Between Shinichirou and his Jerkass older brother Yuichirou, while they both get on quite well with the eldest Kinoshita brother Genichirou.
- Sibling Triangle: Yuichirou eventually falls for Miyu. There's also some brief Ship Tease between Nana and Genichirou, but he disappears after the Yuichirou wedding arc and nothing ever comes of it.
- There Is Only One Bed: Shinichirou lets Rei sleep in his room when the roof of her room springs a leak. He offers to sleep on the floor, but she invites him to share the bed.
- Those Two Guys: Shinichirou's friends, Takumi and Shindou. The former is The Casanova (who has to be steered away from going after the candidate in his class), the latter is a gaming otaku.
- Trash of the Titans: Ai is so terrible at household chores that her room is an absolute nightmare. She eventually asks Kaede to help her learn how to clean up after herself.
- Unwanted Harem: Invoked in the most blatant way possible - his grandfather stocked the house with girls to fit a boatload of moe archetypes. There's the tomboyish athlete, the ojou, the up-and-coming cute and chubby girl, a (realistic) tsundere, the glasses-wearing bifauxnen, an insecure, shy and quiet girl, a very forward cutie and a scary genki girl. The girls were also briefed with the most intimate details of Shinichirou's life, and some aren't above forcing his consent.
- Wedding Episode: An entire volume focuses on the main cast attending Shinichirou's brother's wedding.
- World of Buxom: Yep...
