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YMMV / Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi

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  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • Some people have wondered whether or not Chiaki is deliberately playing the heartstrings of both Hatori and Yanase. Is he truly Oblivious to Love and never meant to hurt their feelings or is that a front and he secretly yearns to make things difficult for both of them sending them mixed messages and then trampling on their hearts?
    • Hatori. Does he truly love Chiaki for who he is, or does he want Chiaki just to rub into Yanase's face? Chiaki certainly thought this in episode 5. Also, given the other episodes including episode 16, Hatori does come off as an extremely possessive boyfriend especially episode 10.
  • Ass Pull: The ending of Ritsu’s Chapter 31. Ritsu is finally about to confess his love to Takano, but Takano stops him from confessing and demands a more “romantic confession” befitting a shoujo manga editor. As a result Ritsu once again holds off on confessing his feelings to Takano. Considering that up to this point Takano had been practically begging Ritsu to confess his feelings, this demand comes completely out of nowhere and seems to only serve the purpose of prolonging the timeframe of when Ritsu will finally confess.
  • Base-Breaking Character: Hatori gets a lot of flak. He's either the perfect candidate for Chiaki because of how he takes care of him and knew him for twenty years, or hated because he's a possessive seme that will use force to hurt Chiaki and Yanase. Episode 16 doesn't help the case. Same thing applies to Chiaki though. He's either the cutest uke ever or the dumbest uke that needs to see that's he's hurting both of his friends because of his idiotic nature.
  • Broken Base: The Hatori/Chiaki pairing in general is this. You either consider them the sweetest couple ever or you see a rather depressing relationship forming that is not sweet but rather disturbing especially if you read the novel.
  • Die for Our Ship: You can guarantee that if you're a Yuu/Chiaki fan, Hatori will almost always get bashed and written as pure evil, kill him off so Yuu can have Chiaki for himself or be written out completely to give Yuu a chance at love.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: While definitely not a villain, the fans that defend Hatori for his actions (in the novel concerning him raping Chiaki) being justified in the since that he needed to do this in order to get Chiaki to realize that he had feelings for him.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Yuu Yanase is generally more liked than Hatori or Chiaki in terms of the love triangle. Despite being the character on the short end of the stick, he stands out a lot due to how his personality is different from what Nakamura usually writes. His voice actor and personality is very similar to a certain troll from another anime helps his case.
    • Yokozawa went from being one the least liked character when first introduced to one of the most beloved characters after getting his own case even more than Onodera. (He even got his own movie).
      • The first Yokozawa novel was published in Nov 2011 and there's already going to be a sixth novel released on Oct 2014.
    • It's better to understand why after reading about him getting over his heartbreak with Takano and his new budding relationship with the Kirishimas, Zen Kirishima especially.
  • Epileptic Trees: Many fans who have read Hybrid Child, another of Nakamura's works adapted into an anime, widely speculated that Takano and Ritsu are the reincarnations of Kuroda and Tsukishima, who are one of the three pairings featured in the aforementioned manga, due to their physical resemblances and their similar relationship dynamic.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple: A more minor example in that some people would prefer Chiaki with Yanase than Hatori. This has to do with Hatori brutally raping Chiaki and episode 16 that pulled everyone's heartstrings.
  • Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: Unlike Junjou Romantica, the pairings aren't named by the author. The fandom makes up names for them nonetheless.
  • Jerkass Woobie:
    • Takano because he had a crappy family life and when he found out that Ritsu (the only person that cared for him during his high school years) had a fiance and left him shortly afterwards, he had a breakdown and Yokozawa had to pull him out of it. Naturally, he ends up being a huge jerk when he finally recovers but once the audience (and Ritsu) finds out about his past, you will feel sorry for him.
    • Yokozawa too would be in this category especially after Takano rejects him one last time telling him not to interfere with his life. Takano is talking to the person who pulled him out of his despair and had been waiting for years to end up with him only to be shot down cruelly.
    • Ritsu too would be in this category as the misfortunes he has is caused by him being in denial. Also Takano's breakdown in high school is hinted to be Ritsu's fault and not the other way around, though he MIGHT be forgiven, if one would assume that Takanos "The Reason You Suck"-speech might have left him even more insecure then ever. However, we know that Ritsu also has moments like being looked down by his workers at his father's company because he's the son of the cooperation, and being talked behind his back as a result. He also doesn't get any respect from his worker and Yokozawa constantly harasses him to stay away from Takano when all he wants to do is get his life back together. Not to forget how his mother constantly harrasses him by how he isn't all over "An-chan" which only gets worse when An-chan actually breaks the engagement, ending with his mother pretty much announcing that he is fully to blame, that she will find a new fiance despite his wishes and also hinting on Ritsus father not even showing any interest in his life, sending him into a minor BSOD.
    • And of course Kisa. It's easy to feel sorry for him however, he causes most of the problems in the relationship with Yukina because of his pessimistic personality. However given his age and how he's given up on life (in terms of finding happiness because he feels like he's behind in everything), you can't help but pity him. Luckily, someone like Yukina can pull him out of his depression.
  • Mind Game Ship: Takano and Onodera in high school. In the last episode of the anime, Takano notes that he started to go out with Onodera...to crush his illusions.
  • Moral Event Horizon: To a lot of people, Hatori crosses the line when he brutally raped Chiaki in the novel. The anime was nice enough to tone it down but said fans aren't going to let what happened in the novel slide and it implies it in the anime as well. Being a Karma Houdini and beating up on Yanase does not help his case in trying to redeem himself.
  • Never Live It Down:
    • Hatori gets a lot of flak from people because he raped his childhood friend after Chiaki begged him to stop and he didn't even listen. This doubles as Rape as Drama. The fact that the scene is never mentioned again pisses a lot of people off.
    • Chiaki may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but he's not dumb as you see people peg him to be. He's Oblivious to Love and has many dumb moments but people only talk about the dumb moments and not the moments where he actually stands up for himself and makes smart comments.
      • His insensitive nature is also another thing that people mention. Then again being the cause of Yanase's breakdown will leave a negative impression on his character despite Chiaki wanting the best for his friend (at least at the beginning before the drama happened).
  • The Scrappy: Chiaki is not well liked in the fandom at all for his stupidity and his insensitive nature that contributed to Ensemble Dark Horse Yuu's breakdown.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat: Hatori/Chiaki vs. Yanase/Chiaki. Take your pick and prepare for battle.
  • Tear Jerker: Episode 16. That is all.
  • Unintentionally Sympathetic: A common theme in this series is that the love rivals are not supposed to be cheered on and are used as a justification for the canon pairing. However, there have been instances where the love rival ends up coming off as more sympathetic than the main love interest.
    • Nao is the most recent rival pining for Ritsu's affection. Like Yokozawa, he pulled Ritsu out of his state of depression and helped him back on his feet. Nao is reasonably upset that his friend is in a relationship with his ex after the trauma Nao personally witnessed. While we're not supposed to sympathize with Nao because he's rather forceful of his opinion and he insults Takano whenever the two are alone, Nao ends up bringing a lot of good points that would make him more ideal than Takano. The main reasons include how Ritsu wouldn't be hurt again and how there are too many strings attached (Takano is his boss, Ritsu's parents are rich and would not react well to him being gay and in a relationship with his boss, etc.) Takano's reaction to Ritsu constantly speaking with Nao only puts Nao in a positive light especially since chapter 28 ends with Takano raping Ritsu and leaving bruises on his body.
    • Yuu to a lesser extent. He's already the Ensemble Dark Horse in the Domestica story but he's already sympathetic by comparison to Hatori as he didn't brutally rape Chiaki and started a relationship with him and he got lead on by Chiaki due to his stupidity. Add to the fact that Chiaki hasn't been the greatest of friends to him, its easier to feel sorry for him over Chiaki or Hatori simply because he's the third wheel.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
    • As stated in a review, while Takano does sincerely love Ritsu and doesn't intend to hurt him, Takano clearly has consent issues and the way he pursues Ritsu can often be too aggressive and insensitive. Even if Ritsu can often give mixed messages, it doesn't change the fact that almost every time they interact and their feelings for the other are the topic of conversation, Takano always tends to back Ritsu into a corner (both literally and metaphorically) without even giving him a chance to speak his part. It even gets worse when in Chapter 28, his reaction when he finds out that Ritsu allowed Nao to stay over at his apartment for a few days is to outright rape him.
    • Even though he meant well and only didn't want Takano to get hurt a second time, the way Yokozawa treats Ritsu because of it crosses into Kick the Dog/Kick Them While They Are Down territory more often than not. He does eventually move on and becomes a bit more civil towards Ritsu, but it doesn't justify the way he acted.
    • While Nao has sympathetic traits regarding his longtime love for Ritsu, he does exhibit Manipulative Bastard traits that do not help Ritsu. When Ritsu falls ill and Takano takes care of him, Nao lies to Ritsu and tells him that he took care of him. And when Ritsu confronts Nao in Chapter 30 over his lies, Nao responded by trying to rape him. These factors make Nao’s love for Ritsu less sincere and a lot more self-serving.
  • Wangst: Kisa seems to do this a lot especially in episode 20 where the entire episode is him debating whether or not Yukina really loves him or not, but given his personality, it's natural that he would be depressed.
  • Why Would Anyone Take Him Back?: Half the fanbase wonder why Chiaki took Hatori back when he brutally raped him but it's mainly due to Status Quo Is God.
  • The Woobie:
    • One cannot help but feel sorry for Yanase especially given these situations. He's on the short end of the stick of he love triangle of Hatori/Chiaki, he lost to Hatori because he didn't spill out his feelings sooner and when he tries to confess his feelings to Chiaki, he gets rejected twice. By the end of episode 16 he's on the verge of breaking down and you can't help but pity him.
    • Chiaki would also be one if only because he's so oblivious and innocent compared to the other characters. And Hatori raping him in the novel gives him some more sympathy points if he didn't feel sorry for Hatori instead of blaming him.

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