Hatsukoi Limited - Episode 5

Hatsukoi Limited continues at its constant pace of introducing us to a new girl or guy and their dilemma each episode (although we do get a little bit of catch up on Misao and Yamamoto's love problems into the bargain), and this time around it's class president Meguru Watase to have all eyes on her, which may be a bit of an issue given her particular predicament.

While she may seem like your typical "girl with glasses", studious class president type, Watase actually holds quite a surprising secret - She is in fact a hugely accomplished swimmer, who was even touted as a possible Olympic star before giving up the sport at the end of middle school, vowing never to don a swimsuit again. The reason for Meguru's start change of heart is a simple, physical one at its core, brought about by the fact that... well, let's not beat about the bush here... she has massive breasts. However, Watase's problem isn't so much aerodynamic as psychological, leaving her avoiding swimming because she hates the feeling of being stared at.


This issue really comes to a head as she suddenly finds herself pursued by a former swimming club mate from middle school named Takei, a guy with what can only be described as a swimsuit fetish who hilariously follows her around everywhere dressed in only Speedos in an attempt to persuade her to join his high school swimming club - A plea that becomes even more important when this club drops below its required membership of five people. If only they'd joined the light music club, which only requires four members. Oops, sorry, wrong show...

I have to admit that this has been by far the funniest episode of Hatsukoi Limited thus far, if only because Takei's swimming trunk wearing antics never ceased to amuse me throughout its duration, although there were a few other good one-liners thrown in there too to make for a better episode in pure comedic terms. While the entriely breast-centric stroyline of this episode made for an obvious fan service frenzy, it did also present a surprisingly different side to the bra size debate compared to most anime - While show after show trots out "bigger is better" as its mantra, this episode goes completely against the grain by depicting the negatives of having a heaving bosom. I'm really not qualified to discuss the intricacies of this argument from a feminine perspective(missing as I am the required... err... "components"), but it certainly seems like a refreshing change from where I've sitting. All in all then, this makes for perhaps the best episode of Hatsukoi Limited to date, from the subject matter right the way down to an ever-so-slightly more definitive ending to its particular story arc - Simply put, it's done enough for me to regain some enthuiasm for this series after it's ebbed away over the past couple of weeks.