Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi Volume 18 (2024)

Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi ~Onodera Ritsu no Baai 18~ (世界一初恋 ～小野寺律の場合18～), or The World's Greatest First Love: The Case of Ritsu Onodera 18, is the eighteenth volume of the Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi manga series.

Chapters[]

• The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.34
• The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.35
• The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.35.5
• The Case of Shouta Kisa No.11

Plot[]

"The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.34" opens with Ritsu Onodera waking up in the middle of his morning commute, missing his train station. His exhaustion is reflecting in his work, and Masamune Takano approaches him about it, deciding that they need to meet up after work wraps up to discuss it. The two of them go to a restaurant and it comes to light that Aoi Fujishiro, Ritsu's new rookie author, has been sending Ritsu a huge amount of e-mails. Takano points out this kind of guidance is unsustainable for the two of them, and that Ritsu can guide her but can't be involved to such a high degree. The two of them head home together, and talk about their relationship. Takano makes it known that he figured out what Ritsu had done during the phone call in No.33, and he's mortified. When they get home, they hop in the shower together, but still stick to the boundaries that Ritsu established in No.32. The next morning, Yoshiyuki Hatori calls Ritsu to tell him that one of his author's manuscripts needs to be completely redrawn due to a chapter-wide mistake. Ritsu panics, asking Takano what he should do, but he just says it's impossible.

"The Case of Ritsu Onodera No.35" opens with Ritsu Onodera in a video call with Aoi Fujishiro. Ritsu is having trouble conveying to Fujishiro the reason why he wants to change the way that they work together. Masamune Takano comes in and helps to smooth things over, his words calling back to what he told Fujishiro in No.32, to trust Ritsu. Things wrap up smoothly, and the two of them leave to return to the Emerald department, discussing how they each want Fujishiro to grow into a proper manga author, and that Ritsu needs to be more confident in his guidance of her. Before they can continue to talk, Ritsu's phone rings. It's a call from his mother. She's insisting that Ritsu should come home for his father's birthday that's coming up, and additionally let's it slip that Ritsu contractually only has two years left at Marukawa. This is the first that Ritsu is hearing of such a thing, and it turns out that it was something that his father talked about with Ryuichiro Isaka during Ritsu's hiring process. This causes Ritsu a lot of anxiety, and he worries that his co-workers and Takano had known about this all along. After work, Takano's air conditioning unit breaks down, and he asks if he can stay the night at Ritsu's. While he's over, he confronts Ritsu about why he's been acting awkwardly since his phone call with his mother, and he tells Takano about what he had heard. Takano is absolutely furious about it, having had no idea about the contract, and hating the idea that he had spent as much time as he had cultivating Ritsu's skills as a manga editor only to have him leave. He says that Ritsu is an invaluable member of the Emerald team, and that it would be troublesome if he left. Soon, they get intimate, even breaking one of the "rules" that were put into place in No.32. In the morning, Ritsu wakes up to Takano making breakfast for him. He's about to head out for a morning meeting, but Ritsu asks where he plans to stay for the remainder of his time waiting for his air conditioning to get fixed. Takano says he'll probably stay at a hotel, but Ritsu offers to let him stay at his apartment.

"The Case of Ritsu Onodera 35.5" opens with Ritsu Onodera reflecting on how in No.35, Masamune Takano and him broke one of the "rules" he had established in No.32, but admits his own fault in the situation as well. There is a brief flashback to the night before, during which Takano describes that Ritsu had performed fellatio on him back in high school, and how happy he'd been about it back then. The chapter closes in a scene during the morning with Ritsu thinking about how much he'd loved Saga back as a teenager, and how that's still true today due to how in love he is with Takano as an adult.

"The Case of Shouta Kisa No.11" follows Shouta Kisa and Kou Yukina as Yukina graduates from his bachelor's degree program. Kisa believes that Yukina has been acting strange lately, but doesn't call him out on it at first. Kisa can't physically attend Yukina's graduation due to it overlapping with the final stage of proofreading at Emerald, so he catches a livestream of it. Pictures of Yukina at the graduation are posted to social media by one of his classmates, and they take off, getting 1000s of likes due to his good looks. When the two of them can meet up later on, Yukina is drunk. Kisa confronts him, asking why he's been acting odd lately, and Yukina admits it's due to jealously he's had recently regarding the work of another artist who captured the exact mood that he wanted to but couldn't replicate. He ran into the artist of the piece, and they complimented Yukina's artwork. He felt frustration over the entire thing, but Kisa reassured him, telling him that whenever he can finally create the painting that he wants to, to show him first, and gives him a graduation gift.

Video gallery[]

The following are four variations of a promotional video celebrating the 20th and 15th serialization anniversaries of the Junjou Romantica and Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi manga series. There are 15 and 30 second variations, two of each per voice actor. Katsuyuki Konishi and Tomoaki Maeno reprise their roles as Masamune Takano and Kou Yukina respectively.

Each video advertises how Shungiku Nakamura will be releasing seven manga volumes in 2023 over the months of May through September, including Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi Volume 18, Junjou Romantica Volume 28, and re-releases of all five volumes of Umi ni Nemuru Hana, another series of hers that is completely disconnected from the two other series.

Image gallery[]

Japanese edition[]

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