Changes made to content
by Carl Kimlinger,... room, making for a unique conversation piece. ⏎Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi ⏎ Rating: 3 ½ ⏎ Review: Don't let the sappy title (translated as World's Greatest First Love) or the sparkly, embarrassing first minutes turn you away; Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi is a nice, straightforward, grown-up romance. That happens to take place between two guys. One of them is Ritsu Onodera. At one time (specifically during those sparkly, embarrassing first minutes) he believed strongly in true love, overflowing feelings and all the other stuff that young people in love are wont to believe. Now... well, now he's a twenty-five-year-old cynic without a drop of romance in his jaded, venomous heart. That may not have been a problem in his previous life as literature editor, but now that he's about to become a shojo manga editor—albeit very reluctantly—it's proving to be quite the hindrance. He's a hard worker, and he's got a good head on his shoulders, but what use is that when he's fundamentally unable to understand shojo manga? Perhaps his hunky, strangely familiar boss Takano can help him with that... ⏎ Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi's main weapon is the age of its cast. Its characters aren't angsty teens or fumbling adolescents; they're grown men who know their minds and have better things to worry about than whether so-and-so likes them and how to hook up. Things like work. The series has a refreshing focus on the pressures and problems of starting a new job in general, and on the peculiar challenges of the manga business in particular. Don't take that to mean that it's dull. Takano's editorial department is, shall we say, unconventional, and it's a gas to watch Ritsu trying to cope with its quirks. Nor should you take it to mean that there's no romance. The chemistry between Ritsu and Takano is immediate, antagonistic, and far from platonic. It's also the chemistry of equals—which is nice. Boys-love isn't everyone's cup of tea, but even coffee drinkers, so to speak, should give this one a try. It won't rock anyone's world, but adult (as in not juvenile) romances are to be treasured, whatever the genre. ⏎ Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi is streaming at Crunchyroll. ⏎ We, Without Wings - Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa...