The World's Greatest First Love
The World's Greatest First Love: The Case of Ritsu Onodera is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shungiku Nakamura. In 2011, the manga was adapted into an anime television series. Produced by Studio Deen under the direction of Chiaki Kon, the anime series began its broadcast run on April 9, 2011. An original animation DVD was bundled with the fifth and sixth volumes of the manga series, released in March and September 2011. A film adaptation was released on March 15, 2014.
On December 13, 2016, Funimation announced they had licensed the series, including the OVA. It was released on home-video on March 7, 2017.
In January 2018, the manga launched a game app version, which was released for the Smartphone/iOS.
A new anime adaptation focused on the Proposal Arc was announced to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the new Emerald magazine. It premiered on February 21, 2020. In June 2021, the anime was revisited by Funimation's Aedan Juvet where it was praised for its expansion of LGBTQ+ representation in anime.
Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi is a spin-off of Junjo Romantica, another series by the same author.
Plot
Ritsu Onodera, a literary editor, resigns from his father's publishing company, due to his coworkers' jealousy toward his success, claiming that he is simply riding his father's coattails. He applies for a position at Marukawa Publishing in order to move away from his father's shadow, but instead of his preferred department of literature, he is placed in the infamous manga department, Emerald. He initially considers resigning, especially because he finds his new boss, Masamune Takano, intolerable and unnerving from the very beginning; however, Takano inadvertently convinces Onodera to stick with the job by calling him "useless", his pride forcing him to stay in order to prove his worth. Later, Onodera learns that Takano's old family name was Saga, and that he was an older schoolmate from high school that Onodera fell in love with and confessed to. It turns out Takano still has feelings for Onodera, and he tells him he will make him fall in love with him again. The series shows how Takano slowly achieves this goal, and the obstacles the two face.There are also two other couples in this show; their stories are shown in later episodes. The characters follow Onodera's fellow editors: Hatori and his longtime friend Yoshino, as well as Kisa and the attractive bookstore employee he has his eye on, Yukina.
An extra novel follows salesman and longtime friend of Takano's, Yokozawa, as he's swept off his feet following a harsh breakup by attractive widower and single father Kirishima.
Characters
;Ritsu Onodera;Masamune Takano
;An Kohinata
;Arata Haitani
;Chiaki Yoshino
;Yoshiyuki Hatori
;Yuu Yanase
;Shouta Kisa
;Kou Yukina
;Takafumi Yokozawa
;Zen Kirishima
;Hiyori Kirishima
;Kanade Mino
;Ryūichirō Isaka
;Kaoru Asahina
;Saiki
;Erika Ichinose
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by Shungiku Nakamura, Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi began serialization in the November 2006 issue of The Ruby magazine, which went on sale October 13, 2006. It moved to Asuka Ciel magazine in July 2009 where it continued through May 2014. Publisher Kadokawa announced in May 2014 that it would launch a real-life version of the Emerald manga magazine from Shungiku Nakamura's Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi manga. As of August 2014, Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi and Nakamura's other manga Junjo Romantica have switched publications to Emerald magazine. The individual chapters have been released as twenty tankōbon volumes by Kadokawa Shoten's Asuka Comic CL-DX branch. The first volume was published on July 1, 2008, and the nineteenth on May 1, 2024.The first eight volumes of Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi have been licensed for an English release in February 2015 by SuBlime, a subsidiary of North American manga publisher Viz Media. The English title is The World's Greatest First Love: The Case of Ritsu Onodera, and volume one was printed in February 2015. Subsequent releases were every other month thereafter. The series was originally licensed for English-language release in North America by Tokyopop's Blu Manga, with volume one due for release on July 12, 2011, but went unused due to the May 31, 2011, closure of Tokyopop's publishing efforts.
Novels
As of April 2011, there have been four novels published telling the story of Hatori and Yoshino, titled Yoshino Chiaki no Baai, authored by Fujisaki Miyako. There are also mini-comics drawn by Shungiku Nakamura included at the end of each novel.As of December 2012, three novels about Yokozawa and his new lover have been published, titled "Yokozawa Takafumi no Baai". These novels also include mini-comics. In 2013's January issue of Asuka Ciel magazine, it was confirmed that an anime adaptation film of this story is currently in development. The series director, Chiaki Kon, also directed the film. In addition, a special Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi anime short called "''Valentine-hen" was screened alongside the film on March 15, 2014.
The Case of Chiaki Yoshino
The Case of Chiaki Yoshino
Reprints of volume 1-4 of The Case of Chiaki Yoshino.
The Case of Takafumi Yokozawa
The Case of Takafumi Yokozawa
Reprints of Volumes 1-6 of The Case of Takafumi Yokozawa.
The Case of Yoshiyuki Hatori
The Case of Animate'''
Anime
The first season opening for the anime is 「世界で一番恋してる」 by Shuhei Kita and the ending is 「明日、僕は君に会いに行く。」 by Wakaba. The second season opening is 「世界の果てに君がいても」 by Shuhei Kita and the ending is 「アイコトバ」 "Aikotoba" by Sakura Merry-Men. The second season featured Junjo Mistake in episode six. An OVA, bundled with the limited edition of the manga's sixth volume, was released in September. A new anime adaptation, focusing on the Proposal Arc, premiered on February 21, 2020.Season 2
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