Ayumi Arihara and her friends are curious about love, with Ayumi to be the first one to find out the trials love can bring. Misao Zaitsu, a student one year older than her with a terrifying visage, gives her a love letter. She is frightened out of her wits. This is but the start of a Love Dodecahedron that encompasses Ayumi, her friends and classmates.
By Mizuki Kawashita, the creator of Strawberry 100%. The manga only had a short run in Weekly Shonen Jump from October 2007 to May 2008, but it got an anime adaptation in Spring 2009 by J.C. Staff.
Tropes in Hatsukoi Limited include:
- All Men Are Perverts: A good amount of the male cast, and the main cause of distress for the (well-endowed) Meguru.
- Big Brother Worship: Koyoi does this so much that her friends can almost predict when it will happen.
- Brother–Sister Incest: Runs in both directions. Ayumi's brother is a little too into her, while Koyoi is pretty much defined by her brother complex.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Seems to be the opinion held by everyone except Meguru. She tries to embrace the notion for a short while after losing to Kyonko at swimming (in what might consist an athletic version of The B Grade), convinced that "if she doesn't have her swimming" than she's really only good for her boobs. She spends a few days wearing laughably revealing outfits, flaunting her rack and shopping for lingerie, before Kyonko herself snaps her out of it by telling her how obviously unhappy it makes her.
- Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: Kusuda inverts this on Christmas when everyone decides to have a party with the presents in a grab-bag fashion. Kei suspects he'll get something perverted, but he says that while he'd be okay getting a perverse gift for her, he wouldn't be comfortable if one of the other girls got it. Kei mistakenly takes this to mean he doesn't see her as a girl, not that he doesn't want to think of other girls that way or that he feels comfortable being himself around her.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Mamoru's been Misaki's next door neighbor for years, he loves her, but she loves Ayumi's brother.
- Cosplay: The ending credits are a slideshow of the many girls of the cast in various cosplay outfits.
- Crossdresser: Kusuda has few qualms about donning a female cheerleader outfit for the sake of class spirit.
- Damsel in Distress: Subverted in the beginning with Ayumi. She's caught by a group of thugs and held hostage until Misao comes to her rescue, but it ultimately turns out that she could've gotten out of the ropes and annihilated the entire gang without breaking a sweat.
- D-Cup Distress: Meguru, afraid that her boobs, which got big quite early, would draw a lot of stares. She also quit swimming because of this and goes as far as to wear bras a few cup sizes smaller to hide how big her breasts are.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Ayumi and Koyoi's not-very-good duet of the opening theme with karaoke.
- Dude, She's Like in a Coma: Done deliberately on the part of Kusuda and his sleep-inducing pun storm. Subverted when, whether she was toying with them or really in some form of sleepwalking, Misaki begins performing wrestling moves on Mamoru when he gets close.
- Dynamic Entry: (particularly in the Anime) Ayumi barges into Mamoru's class to deliver a bento to him, bowling over Kusuda and Sogabe humorously (with her outstretched hands) in the process with little warning (well, she did give a warning, but she was moving too fast for anyone to respond).
- Gamer Girl: Koyoi once played 60 hours of a JRPG straight to finish it, and occasionally talks about real-life situations in gaming terms (such as referring to her perceived romantic rival Saki as "Final Boss Girl").
- Master of the Mixed Message: Rika Dobashi gives canonical love interest Haruto Terai the impression that she's leading him on, until she gives him their First Kiss.
- Vapor Wear: The side story features Soako and her adventures running around the school without panties. Hilarity ensues, of course.
- Waif-Fu: Ayumi has the body of a middle school student and some impressive kicking power. She even manages to double-team with Misao in the Valentine's Day episode and intercept Misaki's chocolate with gusto.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Takei, whom Meguru admires, is a member of the swim club, and goes around in swim trunks and not much else...all the time.
- Wrestler in All of Us: Beware of a sleeping Misaki. She's a wrestling fan, and knows the moves.
