[Manga] Hatsu Koi Shimai Chapter 1

[Posted @ 3:08 PM]
Also known as 'First Love Sisters', licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment, LLC, the first volume will be released on December 2007 tentatively. So, if you like Hatsu Koi Shimai, please buy the series to show your support for the mangaka and Seven Seas so that they could licensed probably more shoujo-ai mangas for us =).

Disclaimer:

As this series is licensed, please buy your own copy to show your support for the mangaka and Seven Seas so that they could licensed probably more shoujo-ai mangas for us =).

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Cover of the first volume of Hatsu Koi Shimai, Japanese version. The name of the main character with the pigtail hairstyle's Matsuzato Chika while the name of the black-haired girl's Kizaki Haruna.



'That time, I didn't know love yet ... until I met my precious, precious first love ...' ~ Matsuzato Chika.



Matsuzato Chika's a Third Year Middle School student who's taking her High School entrance exams that year. At her mother's recommendation, Chika went for the Open Day of the famous Tsunokamizaka Girls' Academy near her house. Chika's having troubles getting to the notice board and got pushed away by random squealing girls lol. As Chika fuming away, a student of the school, Kizaki Haruna approached her if she's okay and told her that each vistor was assigned a student to show them around.

By coincidence, Haruna's the student assigned to Chika and when Haruna took Chika's hand, her thoughts were about how warm Haruna's hand was. Haruna brought Chika to the school's courtyard, unable to contain her excitement, Chika was wow-ing basically over everything there and later got a little embarrassed by her behaviour.



Chika then asked if Haruna ate her lunch in the beautiful place they were in, in return Haruna made a sorrow/hesitant looking expression which threw Chika off course. Chika's knee had a bleeding scrape and Haruna made a forceful statement that they had to take care of the bleeding wound. As Haruna was washing the wound with a wet handkerchief, Chika thought to herself that Haruna's really close ... and noticed that she had long eye lashes ... and smells pretty nice.

After the wound was treated and well-rested, Haruna brought Chika to another secret place of hers, probably a garden. Chika began rattling how beautiful the place was giving her a sense of peace, freedom and gentleness then stopped herself when she realized she's being too 'genki' again and Haruna might think of her as a child.



To her surprise, Haruna merely smiled and happy that Chika liked her secret place. Chika thought to herself that the gentle feeling of the secret place reminded her of Haruna. It was nearing dusk which marked the end of the tour, Chika thanked Haruna and apologized for the troubles caused. As for the dirtied handkerchief ... Haruna told Chika that it's fine and added that Chika could take the entrance exams for Tsunokamizaka Girls' Academy to return the handkertchief to her. Flustered, Chika honestly told Haruna that she hadn't decided to take the entrance exams for the school and continued in her mind that even so she can't pass because the level for the school's pretty high ... but ...

Haruna then felt bad and told Chika to forget about the handkerchief. At that, Chika exclaimed that she's going to attend Tsunokamizaka Girls' Academy, pass the entrance exams and to return the handkerchief. Haruna's a little confused ... and thought Chika said that merely because she wanted to return the handkerchief? [LOL!] Chika shook her head and replied that it was all thanks to the kindness of Haruna that she had came to like the school after being brought around ... Chika paused again, realizing she's been rattling about Haruna lol. Haruna just smiled, thanked Chika and answered that she looked forward to Chika's arrival =).



From that day on, Chika went on an all-study rampage, lol to fulfill the promise she made to Haruna. Chika managed to get into Tsunokamizaka Girls' Academy in the end and she wanted to thank Haruna for giving her the courage to try her best. As Chika made her way to school, a girl asked her if she's a new student and managed to correctly guessed the path Chika took to school lol because of the cherry blossoms stuck to her hair. The girl, Kizaki Akiho's in the same class as Chika, the girls were chatting happily when suddenly Chika was bumped by a girl, Teshigawara Chiori of the same class as the both of them.

Chika continued her conversation with Akiho about returning the handkerchief lent to her by a senpai [senior] of the school during the Open Day. Akiho was surprised that Chika went through the trouble of entering the school just to return the handkerchief? ... Chika was pleased with herself and replied yeah! happily lol. Akiho gave her blessings to Chika's promise.



Later, Chika went to Second-Year classrooms in search for Haruna, just then, she bumped onto someone and that someone is none other than Haruna! Chika was very happy to see Haruna and enthusiastically told Haruna that she fulfilled the promise to get in the school ... but as Chika was speaking, Haruna ignored her and walked past her, an action which shocked Chika speechless. - END of Chapter 1 -

What happened to the kind, friendly, gentle Haruna at the start of the chapter? Did she forgot about Chika? What will Chika do from now on?

First serialized in Yuri Shimai 4 magazine, I was like ohhh angst between the main characters right from the start ... best yet, a secret garden! LoL what's up with shoujo-ai and secret gardens and ... and strawberries!? Besides them all starting with the letter 'S' -.-|||.

The main characters were likeable, at first sight Haruna might come off with her long black hair, the Onee-sama feel as if she's the TDB [aka Tall, Dark, Bishoujo] kind but she's really not, I reckon that's what makes this such an interesting read because the main characters gave each other strength in this 'equally' way, there's no dominant person in the relationship =).

Random rants;

Last night I was surfing around the internet for sites to purchase Doropanda Tours doujinshi online, I found many Japanese sites selling, taking orders and auctioning the doujinshis ... problem is not about the shipping costs [I can always use vPOSTJapan], !! but rather the payment methods! LoL. It seemed like they don't like to ship internationally [which is actually okay to me because vPOSTJapan had a station in Tokyo] however the problem laid in the payment of the doujinshi itself.

With my very very limited knowledge of Japanese [Making up words here and there in Kanji], I more or less assumed that the payment methods were cash on delivery or local bank deposit transfers or collecting from the stores so ... even with my credit card, I was useless online lol. As for Japan Auction, well I don't know the steps to it O_o, I was merely clicking blindly and some of the sellers don't accept credit card payments too. Well it's tough purchasing doujinshis online if you're not in Japan. Sigh, operation fail. Guess I have to make do with earning money to make a trip to Japan for some massive shopping in the future ... *sob*.

[Signing off @ 5:00 PM]