Unsurprisingly, most female-oriented works star a female. The shoujo manga that do center around a male lead tend to be those with sincere, idyllic romantic dreams, young men like Takeo from My Love Story!! or Natsuki from Rainbow Days.
Well, unlike those two, Kai is a self-admitted playboy. It’s all about having fun with cute, feminine girls. He doesn’t go for love, and he’s even less interested in violent tomboys like his classmate and long-time acquaintance Riko. But after discovering she has a secret crush on their teacher, this skirt-chaser finds out he’s more of a pure-hearted young man than he ever thought.
Which is very surprising, since when we first meet Kai, he’s setting up yet another date. Then, after getting pounded to the ground by Riko for breaking her friend’s heart, he decides to get some compensation — namely, a panty shot. (She has come prepared though, as she is wearing shorts underneath.)
So much of this volume of Hatsu*Haru is Kai being shaken by his sudden interest in a girl who is not his type. It really is an abrupt change. Who knew that seeing someone blush in regards to someone else could cause such a shift? But I also blame the story. We learn that the two have known each other since elementary school, but the manga doesn’t really explain how close they are. Riko at least knows Kai enough to know his habits (well, other habits besides girls), but have they been fighting like cats and dogs for years? Or have they only had an on-again, off-again acquaintance as classmates? Hopefully, the author can explain their relationship soon, as maybe this will help explain that Kai’s newfound interest actually runs deeper and that Riko’s assaults are more of a way to straighten him out.
Not that I doubt that Kai is suddenly crushing on her hard. He keeps watching her, and even his friends can’t believe the change in him. However, the story might be better off if we could see some more natural progression in their relationship. The biggest development — outside of establishing the love triangle — happens while Riko is ill. This takes up an entire chapter (and a little in the previous), so that’s a good 1/4th of the volume here. Plus, she is completely out of it when Kai changes her clothes. Changing an sick person’s clothes is a common scene in romance stories, but there are better uses of pagetime this early in the story.
Also in that same scene, Kai describes Riko’s expression as “erotic” as she’s taking medicine. It’s not the first reference to Kai’s past proclivities, but the manga looks and feels like it is starring middle schoolers. Everyone has baby faces (and often sharp bug-eyes), and expect a lot of shoujo flowers. Two of Kai’s friends are blondes, and it can be hard to tell them apart in some scenes even though one has wide eyes and the other slanted. But I do love some of the layouts, like Kai wordlessly reacting to the news of Riko’s crush or the two of them both holding their apples in a way that represents their budding emotions. The manga lets the art tell much of the story.
The other great part is the humor. If (and it’s almost a certainty) Kai and Riko get together, she’ll be able to tell their kids how she made their father wet their pants in fear when they first met. Kai asks his friends for advice for “another friend”, and they text right in front of him without him noticing. I have a feeling his three friends are going to play a large part in the story, maybe giving Hatsu*Haru shades of Rainbow Days. Since that series isn’t going to be released in English anytime soon, Hatsu*Haru will have to do to fill the void for innocent male shoujo leads for now, and it has promise.