First Impressions / Hatsukoi Limited

Summary:

While with her friends, Kei tries to avoid talking about what happened between her and Kusuda and changes the subject to the guy who was with Dobashi. She surprises Kei by confirming that this guy is her boyfriend, and Kei thinks that it must be hard on the guy since Dobashi isn’t someone who depends on others. This has in fact been the case since the guy, Terai, finds himself unable to even try to get Dobashi to hold hands when they walk home together. Their relationship started in the tennis club earlier in the year when Dobashi had helped him practice, and after she realized that he had feelings for her, she had suggested going out. Since Dobashi was so good at tennis, Terai had wanted to get better at it as well so that he could have the courage to move their relationship forward. He tried to prove his strength during the athletic festival, but he was disappointed with a third place finish in a race. Dobashi, however, knew that this was a marked improvement over the previous year and had hugged him to reward him for his effort. Back in the present though, Terai questions his relationship with her, and after having a nightmare, he decides to ask out for the first shrine visit of the new year.

Also at the shrine are Koyoi and her brother, and they run into Misaki on the way home. Koyoi once again feels like she can’t match up to Misaki, and she can’t bear to watch her brother lovestruck. Misaki, however, is very friendly and wants to play with Koyoi, and Koyoi can’t help but notice the softness of Misaki’s breasts when Misaki hugs her. Misaki has to go, but before she does, she mentions wanting to talk with Yoshihiko about Yuuji again. Terai meanwhile tries to get Dobashi to do something with him after their shrine visit, but she’s not interested and goes home. What ultimately gets Dobashi thinking is seeing Kei wearing the pink gloves and Kusuda wearing the scarf to school, and that evening, she takes the initiative to ask Terai to get a drink with her out of the vending machine. Terai finally works up the courage to ask her directly to hold her hand, and she responds by trying to give him a kiss. She fails the first time because his glasses get in the way, but after taking them off and thanking Terai for trying so hard, she kisses him.

Preview

As much as I hate to say it, this episode wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun without the Koyoi parts that they added in (this shot even reminded me of Queen’s Blade). At first I thought that it was odd that they were switching gears suddenly to Koyoi, Yoshihiko, and Misaki, but that ended up being the most enjoyable part of the episode. The rest of it focusing on Dobashi and Terai was merely alright – the two are not as interesting to watch as some of the others (I suspect that I’ll be saying something similar when Chikura Nao’s story comes up). Terai just needs some more confidence and Dobashi needs, like she said, to work a little harder to keep the relationship going. The highlight of their part of the episode was definitely the final scene, but that’s mainly because I really liked the piano piece that went with it. Anyway, I’m hoping next week’s Chocolate Bomber episode turns out to be better.

24 Comments

  3. Seems like a nice change of pace, compared to the the previous two weeks, even with the Koyoi parts mixed in. They did get a nice little kiss in the end, so huzzah.

    Meery
    Reply

  4. I can’t wait till this episode gets subbed, but what I really can’t wait for is the next episode since the chocolate bomber was my favorite arc in the manga.

    Crazy Dave
    Reply

  11. @TJ

    The manga is the same – it appears to take it from Terai’s point of view. I guess it’s because Rika (Dobashi) is too “ordinary”/”normal” to really have anything shown of her like the others. But at least she makes up for that by being the first of all the girls to actually snag (and even snog :D) her guy.

    @napen

    Looks like you took the words right out of my mouth. Misaki actually looks scary there, and almsot reminds me of this hot girl (as in really pretty and with a nice body) I met in the office, but she’s really tall (as tall me in fact, and I’m 6’0″) that she actually scared the hell out of me with her size alone (every time I stood next to her I somehow got a nasty feeling I’m gonna get a real beating out of her – no joke!).

    Sailor Enlil
    Reply

  18. I thought this episode was the best thus far. See, I just LOVE guys with glasses, so, to see a cute, pure boy like that get his girl made me so happy!

    When she took the glasses off him and they kissed, I couldn’t stop smiling!

    Ah, I wanna find a man with glasses too….

    Draqua
    Reply

  22. This was a good episode since it was mellow and sweet while having some over the top and hilarious comedy parts. I was surprised by how mellow it was considering I was expecting this to be an overly fanservicey show, but they have made it a nice mix of over the top comedy and laid back romance.

    Kickflip
    Reply

  24. I found the end really good because it reminds me of the guys I have dated in the past. They are always so timid/shy that I always have to make the move, like how Dobashi stepped in to kiss the guy. I remember trying to kiss a guy and my glasses got out of the way and I was like oh man…FAIL, then just proceeded to kiss cheek instead of lips =.=”

    Terai gets on my nerves…haha.

    moochi
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *