a point I am finding curious about Hatsukoi Limited – the huge difference in representation between the male and female cast of characters. All the girls are…walking boner fodder. Misaki…is the worst offender in this regard. The sex-bomb girl next door who crawls around in hot pants but “isn’t interested in falling in love” is such a chauvinist fantasy. She’s designed to reconcile the virgin/whore dichotomy by presenting a ridiculously hot body that boys can fantasize about being the “first” to get all up ons (my emphasis). Not really a big deal, sexism in anime is de rigeur after all and I still love the show. I’m also certainly not saying there’s no depth in Hatsukoi’s female characters, because they’re still streaks ahead of a lot of current anime on that front. What interests me is how differently the cast of male characters are represented in juxtaposition to their moe/sexpot female counterparts.
One thought: all the publicity images are of a cast of girls. This show is about GIRLS, and as such, will have a girl-only “cast”. All the males presented here aren’t necessarily part of the “cast”, they’re just peripheral objects attached to the stories of girls. This isn’t the Brady Bunch. But that’s strange because, already, the Zaitsu brothers have received two episodes of screentime and story development: ironically, is the show really about BOYS? Not that it really matters.
