King Records is handling the home video release plans for the summer 2016 anime series Hatsukoi Monster, aka First Love Monster, and have a pretty standard plan for it. With about a couple of weeks to go until the fifth volume is released on January 25th, 2017, they’ve now revealed the cover artwork for it which continues the great look for the run. The series is getting a six-volume DVD and Blu-ray release with both listed as limited edition releases. They’re priced at 6,800 yen regardless of format.
Animated by Studio Deen, the series is directed by Takayuki Inagaki based on the series composition from Hiroko Kanasugi with character designs by Mariko Oka.
The original manga series was created by Akira Hiyoshimaru in ARIA and it began its run back in the summer of 2013 with five volumes released so far. The property received a drama CD in February 2015 where it used some well-known actors in the main roles which could have been a test run to see how well it had done.
The announced cast includes Yui Horie as Kaho Nikaidō, Takahiro Sakurai as Kanade Takahashi, Showtaro Morikubo as Tomu Kaneko, Tomokazu Sugita as Ginjirō Sannomiya, Ayumu Murase as Kazuo Noguchi, Kenichi Suzumura as Jōji Takahashi, Nobuhiko Okamoto as Kōta Shinohara, Kaito Ishikawa as Atsushi Taga, Kenjiro Tsuda as Arashi Nagasawa, Shouta Aoi as Renren, Takuya Eguchi as Munemitsu Makurazaki, Hikaru Midorikawa as Daikoku Nikaidō, Mizuki Wai as Chiaki Yokouchi, Ai Kayano as Mafuyu Hayashi, Shunsuke Takeuchi as Shūgo Takahashi, Iori Nomizu as Yuki Fukaya and Akio Ohtsuka as Narrator.
Plot concept: Nikaido Kaho is a daughter of a rich family and her whole life everyone’s been nice to her. When moving to her new high school dormitory, she almost gets hit by a truck but is saved by a boy. It’s love at first sight for Kaho but when asking him his name, he tells her she’s weird. Kaho is shocked since it’s the first time anyone’s ever said mean things to her. Soon enough, she finds out that the boy who saved her lives in the same dormitory and so she bravely confesses her love. The boy says his name is Kanade and agrees to go out with her. Unfortunately, the following day Kaho finds out that her first boyfriend is a 5th grader.
| Volume | Date | Extras |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 09/21/16 | Clean Opening, Drama CD 1 |
| 2 | 10/26/16 | Clean Closing, Original Soundtrack 1 |
| 3 | 11/23/16 | Drama CD 2 |
| 4 | 12/21/16 | Drama CD 3 |
| 5 | 01/25/17 | Original Soundtrack 2 |
| 6 | 02/22/17 | Drama CD 3 |
[Source: Hatsukoi Monster]
