B Gata H Kei Yamada’s First Time

B Gata H Kei
Cover of B Gata H Kei Volume 1 featuring the main character Yamada.
B型H系
Genre	Romantic comedy
Manga
Written by	Yōko Sanri
Published by	Shueisha
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Weekly Young Jump
Original run	2004 – 2011
Volumes	9
TV anime
B Gata H Kei: Yamada's First Time
Directed by	Yusuke Yamamoto
Studio	Hal Film Maker
Licensed by	Funimation Entertainment
Original run	April 1, 2010 – June 17, 2010
Episodes	12

B Gata H Kei (B型H系, Bī Gata Etchi Kei, lit. Type: B; Style: H) is a four-panel manga series published by Shueisha which was adapted into an anime series. The story focuses on the salacious wishes of a high school girl, whose perceived drawback of being a virgin leads her to lusting and pursuing a rather average and unremarkable boy in her class.

Outside of Japan, the series is licensed in Traditional Chinese by Sharp Point Press.

A drama CD has also been released.

Story

B Gata H Kei revolves around 15 year old high school student Yamada whose lascivious nature causes her to aspire to one day achieve sexual relations with 100 different partners. However, her insecurities as a virgin leads her to reject every guy that attempts to make a move on her. In order to hurdle this mental barrier Yamada goes on a search for her "golden cherry", an inexperienced boy whom she will bestow the right to be her first. One day while perusing a bookstore for the replacement of a dictionary she had defiled by highlighting all the sexual terms, Yamada has a fateful encounter with classmate Kosuda Takashi. Believing that Kosuda is the boy she is looking for Yamada goes to great lengths to try to seduce him. All the while, she discovers the difficulties in making that first important step towards reaching her goals, not to mention, finding out her true feelings for Kosuda Takashi.

Characters

Main Characters

Yamada (山田, Yamada)

Voiced by: Yukari Tamura (Japanese), Brittney Karbowski (English)

Yamada is a high school girl who is best described as oversexed, flirtatious and lustful. She is particularly vain and is unabashed in flaunting her looks in public. Upon entering high school, her goal was to have intimate relations with 100 different men; however, her insecurities as a virgin caused her to turn down any advances. Yamada believes the first step towards realizing her dreams is to lose her virginity to an inexperienced boy. This leads her to pursue Takashi Kosuda when she accidentally falls on him at the bookstore.^ch. 1 While initially seeing him as a tool for her lust, over time she starts to develop genuine feelings for him which includes jealousy when she finds him in the presence of another female companion, however is in complete denial to this. Despite living at home with her younger sister, Yamada is unashamed in her licentious habits, which involve highlighting sexual terms in the dictionary,^ch. 1 collecting women's sex magazines,^ch. 13,60 taking pictures of animals having sex,^ch. 2 and after freaking out over Kosuda's bodily reaction, downloaded pictures of a hundred uncensored penises.^ch. 15 Yamada is an excellent student^ch. 11 although that can partly be attributed to reading the dictionary and her ability to quickly read and memorize articles about sex.^ch. 253

Yamada's first name is considered a secret in the anime, but has never been revealed in either the anime or manga series.

Aiding her towards her goals is Yamada's Eros Deity (山田のエロ神様, Yamada ero-gami) Voiced by: Rumi Shishido (Japanese), Alexis Tipton (English) who takes on the appearance of a super deformed version of Yamada, save the mustache, and floats around on a pink cloud.^ch. 36 This character also acts as a narrator at times, recapping past events as well as occasionally breaking the fourth wall to address the audience.

Miharu Takeshita (竹下 美春, Takeshita Miharu)

Voiced by: Yui Horie (Japanese), Cherami Leigh (English)

Miharu Takeshita is the best friend and classmate of Yamada. Despite her friend's prurient interests, Miharu tries her best to be of help, even going so far as to invite Takashi on a double date at the water park.^ch. 15 At times, she is the subject of Yamada's envy due to her being busty, of which earned her the moniker "F-shita" as a reference to her cup size.^ch. 10 She also has a boyfriend who is a college student, but whom she rarely talks about because of Yamada and her lewd prying.^ch. 15 It is hinted that she lost her virginity to her boyfriend right after her junior high school graduation.^ch. 79 She later becomes friends with Mayu, having a great respect for her innocence, and she even practices cooking with her.^ch. 37

Unlike the other characters, she actually has two Eros Deities, one in a sexy dress (Ero Plus), and the other dressed in a business attire(Ero Minus).^{vol. 3:extra chapter} She believes the sexy dress side came about because she spends too much time with Yamada.^{vol. 3:extra chapter}

Takashi Kosuda (小須田 崇, Kosuda Takashi)

Voiced by: Atsushi Abe (Japanese), Scott Freeman (English)

Takashi Kosuda is one of Yamada's classmates, and is the main subject of her lust throughout the series. He is often perceived by Yamada and their classmates as being nothing special, even "plain and ordinary".^ch. 3 Takashi is initially taken by Yamada's advances, but that later turns into confusion and anxiety, due to her mixed signals, as well as his insecurities as a virgin. He lives at home with his older sister, who is a college student.^ch. 13 One of his hobbies is photography although it's mainly landscape photos.^ch. 8 He is afraid of heights.^ch. 17 Takashi has feelings for Yamada while being totally oblivious that she only wants him to lose her virginity.

Kosuda's Eros Deity (小須田崇のエロ神様, Kosuda ero-gami) Voiced by: Atsushi Abe (Japanese), Greg Ayres (English) also looks like Kosuda. He wears a bathrobe and has a laid back attitude. His advice is also fairly ineffective, such as telling Kosuda to give up and go to bed.^ch. 96 In the anime series, he doesn't give much advice but he sometimes appears in place of the Ogre Brand censor labels or participates when Kosuda has bodily reactions.

Mayu Miyano (宮野 まゆ, Miyano Mayu)

Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese), Jad Saxton (English)

Mayu Miyano is the childhood friend of Takashi who lives directly across the street from their house. She is depicted as a shy, clumsy, yet busty girl with glasses.^ch. 20,22 Mayu has feelings for Takashi but doesn't have the courage to confess to him.^ch. 37 Because of her close history with Takashi and her relatively large bust size, she is perceived by Yamada as a rival,^ch. 21,22 although Takeshita considers her totally sexually innocent and a virgin.^ch. 73 One of her favorite hobbies is cooking.^ch. 37 Her first love was actually Takashi's sister Kazuki, who she thought was a boy, because of her strong nature.^ch. 26

Miyano's Eros Deity (宮野まゆのエロ神様, Miyano Mayu ero-gami) Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese), Caitlin Glass (English) is as dressed as a cute small fairy that is as innocent as she is. For example, she suggested Mayu kiss the cookies she was going to give to Takashi for an indirect kiss and even that was embarrassing.^ch. 96

Kyoka Kanejo (金城 京香, Kanejō Kyōka)

Voiced by: Yū Kobayashi (Japanese), Kristi Kang (English)

Kyoka Kanejo is a transfer student who ends up going to the same school as Yamada and Takeshi. She is extremely wealthy,^ch. 52 and classifies herself as a perfectionist who can do everything, including modeling,^ch. 51 cooking,^ch. 74 and sports.^ch. 46 When she transferred to Yamada's school, she was quickly deemed a finalist in the school's beauty pageant, but lost in the voting to Yamada because not many students knew who she was.^ch. 29,45 She then becomes obsessed with becoming queen and gaining revenge on Yamada.^ch. 75,76 She has an excessive brother complex^ch. 72 to where she has a secret room filled with pictures and products sporting his image,^ch. 72,75 to a point where she wants her own brother, Keiichi Kanejō, to take her virginity away from her.^ch. 73 She will do absolutely anything at all costs to win his affection but unfortunately for her, he is currently studying in Harvard where she can not follow.^ch. 72 As part of her revenge strategy, she confronts Yamada and declares she will try to steal her boyfriend,^ch. 76 easily eliminating Kosuda as a possibility.^ch. 101 Since she and Yamada share the same combative personality with a superiority complex, they often don't get along very well.

Kanejo's Eros Deity wears a noblewoman's attire, complete with a fan,^{vol. 3:extra chapter} although she only briefly appears in the anime in episode 10.

Supporting Characters

Chika Yamada (山田 チカ, Yamada Chika)

Voiced by: Asami Shimoda (Japanese), Emerick Jade (English)

Chika Yamada is Yamada's little sister, who is unaffected by Yamada's perverted nature. She is very popular, often using her cuteness to get boys to give her whatever she wants,^ch. 9,43 a trait she inherited from her mother. This experience allows her to clearly see what is going on in Yamada's love life. Although she already has many boyfriends who come and visit, when asked by Yamada for actual sexual advice, she replies she cannot give any as she's still a virgin herself.^ch. 176

She too has an Eros Deity, but it takes the form of an exact copy of her and overlaps with her real self, making her and her Eros Deity completely synchronized.^{vol. 3:extra chapter}

Kazuki Kosuda (小須田 香月, Kosuda Kazuki)

Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (Japanese), Martha Harms (English)

Kazuki Kosuda is Takashi's older sister; she is a college student living at home.^ch. 13 Though often teasing her brother, she deeply cares for him. She is also not shy, and often walks around the house barely dressed despite her brother being there, much to his objection.^{ch. 16,26,130} She recognizes Yamada has interest in Takeshi early on when she visits.^ch. 13

When asked whether she has an Eros Deity, Kazuki replies that it's a secret.^{vol. 3:extra chapter}

Keiichi Kanejo (金城 圭一, Kanejō Keiichi)

Voiced by: Tomoaki Maeno (Japanese), Eric Vale (English)

Keiichi Kanejo is Kyoka's brother who has been studying at Harvard for his MBA.^ch. 116 He is the object of every woman's infatuation, even a noblewoman could not withstand his "charm".^ch. 114 When he visits Japan, he becomes interested in Yamada, much to Kyoka's chagrin, because Yamada is the only woman that has not instantly fawned over him, and he considers the "hard to get" attitude an interesting challenge.^ch. 132 Yamada asks if he's a virgin with the hopes that it would stave off his advances, but he responds by revealing that he is indeed one, although he is unaware that his sister had been secretly eliminating his potential girlfriends.^ch. 139 He later on even becomes a guest English teacher at Yamada's school,^ch. 258 and continues to pursue Yamada relentlessly, until Yamada affirms that she finally likes Kosuda.^ch. 280 At the end of the series, Keiichi decides to stay in the teaching profession, becoming a "legendary teacher" and the Minister of Science and Education.^ch. 289

Mrs. Yamada

Yamada's mom is also extremely popular in the neighborhood as she seems to receive many gifts from visitors.^ch. 60

Daisuke Matsuo (松尾 大祐, Matsuo Daisuke)

Voiced by: Yutaka Koizumi (Japanese), Ian Sinclair (English)

Takeshita's boyfriend who occasionally gives advice to Kosuda concerning his relationship with Yamada, usually because he has already heard all the details from Takeshita. He is a student two years older who originally met Takeshita at the bookstore.^ch. 17 Takeshita gets worried that he is so busy in college that he might not be faithful to her.

Miss Akai (赤井先生, Akai-sensei)

Voiced by: Yuko Gibu (Japanese), Cynthia Cranz (English)

Yamada's homeroom and P.E. teacher.^ch. 118 She initially pairs Kosuda and Yamada as representatives for their school's sports festival^ch. 118 after hearing that Kosuda announced that he likes Yamada during an informal beauty poll by the guys.^ch. 109 She starts getting worried Yamada and Kosuda might be fooling around after finding them alone in the storeroom.^ch. 121 During Christmas while out jogging she finds a distressed Yamada^ch. 184 and listens to her problems, internally shocked about her talk about sex.^ch. 186 This is compounded by overhearing Kosuda propositioning Yamada at the school stairs,^ch. 198 and Yamada writing that she wants to lose her virginity on her career counseling form.^ch. 230,231

Akai-sensei herself is single^ch. 97 and in her mid-20s.^ch. 122 Her Eros Deity is portrayed as herself in high school as she never matured.^ch. 175

Mami Misato (三郷 まみ, Misato Mami)

Voiced by: Megumi Iwasaki (Japanese), Lara Woodhull (English)

Yamada's classmate with the petite figure and hair buns. She is as boy obsessed as Yamada. She's the first one to fall for Keiichi Kanejo when he returns to Japan, even snapping a picture of him at the airport,^ch. 115 picking him as a "hot guy" at the sports day scavenger hunt,^ch. 131 making moves on him during the Christmas party,^ch. 165 and even goes as far as break into his estate sometime afterwards.^ch. 219 Later on she becomes interested in an effeminate looking guy named Kawai Mizuki,^ch. 245 and even gets a brief makeover to look mature.^ch. 248,249

Aoi Katase (片瀬 葵, Katase Aoi)

Voiced by: Izumi Kitta (Japanese), Trina Nishimura (English)

Misato's friend and classmate. She has been looking after her since elementary school.^ch. 71 She has a sour attitude towards boys^ch. 175,183 after being in a relationship where her boyfriend cheated on her.^ch. 174,248

Classmates

Yamada and Kosuda's other classmates had originally been referred to only by family name in the manga; they were given first names for the anime.

Kouta Akimoto

Voiced by: Kouta Oshita (Japanese), Ricco Rajardo (English)

Kosuda's classmate with the light tuft of hair in front like Yamada. He gets a crush on a rich girl at the Christmas party.^ch. 172

Shunichi Kudou

Voiced by: Yutaka Koizumi (Japanese), Josh Grelle (English)

Kosuda's classmate with narrow eyes. He develops a liking for Katase.^ch. 193

Futoshi Kurokawa

Voiced by: Fumihiro Matsui (Japanese), Anthony Bowling (English)

Kosuda's classmate who is a bit overweight.^ch. 189,191

Kaori Sakai

Voiced by: Miki Hase (Japanese), Laura Wetsel (English)

Yamada's classmate who also has light hair like Yamada. She hosts a party at her place with the guys and girls following the Kanejo Christmas Party.^ch. 190

Ishibashi: Yamada's classmate with the short dark hair.^ch. 127,191

Maki Kobayashi

Voiced by: Hiroko Kusunoki (Japanese), Hilary Couch (English)

Yamada's classmate who seemed determined to pursue a rich boyfriend at the Kanejo Christmas party.^ch. 162

Mrs. Ishihara

Voiced by: Kumiko Nakane (Japanese), Melinda Wood Allen (English)

Kyoka's housemaid. She finds Kyoka's activities rather strange, but tries to support her.

Media

Manga

Main article: List of B Gata H Kei chapters

The series is written and illustrated by Yōko Sanri. A pilot appeared in Shueisha's Monthly Young Jump special Makaku and the Weekly Young Jump in 2003. The manga then appeared regularly in Weekly Young Jump from Issue 20 in 2004 to Issue 10 in 2011 (released February 3, 2011). The chapters were also collected into nine tankōbon with the first one released on February 18, 2005, and the eighth on July 16, 2010.

Outside Japan, the manga is licensed by Sharp Point Press in Taiwan.

Drama CD

A Drama CD was released on September 14, 2007.

Anime

See also: List of B Gata H Kei episodes

B Gata H Kei official premiered on the KBS and Tokyo MX television network on April 1, 2010. The opening theme song for the series was "Oshiete A to Z" (おしえて A to Z) and its ending theme was "Hadashi no Princess" (裸足のプリンセス). Both theme songs are performed by Yukari Tamura, and a maxi single containing the two themes was released on April 28, 2010. There is a total of 12 episodes. Funimation Entertainment has licensed the series with the subtitle Yamada's First Time, and will be released on January 31, 2012.

Internet radio

An internet radio show was produced.

Reception

Anime News Network reviewed the first episode of the series as a preview for the spring 2010 anime season. Carl Kimlinger initially assessed the series as having "real promise", and Theron Martin felt the comedy was on how Yamada focused on the sex side of a relationship rather than the emotional side, finding the first episode "fanboy-pandering", but somehow reticent about showing fanservice. Tim Maughan noted that although the premise could be interpreted as a "ballsy teen-sex comedy" about the pressures teens feel about becoming sexually active, but noted that due to the 1am screening time, the audience was "otaku men-children" rather than teens. Zac Bertschy regarded it as "yet another in a long line of crappy anime sex comedies".

The B Gata H Kei anime team announced that they had received "multiple threatening letters" about the content of the anime.

References

B Gata H Kei manga volumes by Yoko Sanri. Original Japanese version published by Shueisha.

1. (ch. 1–36)  B型H系　1. February 18, 2005. ISBN 4-08-876756-X. (in Japanese)
2. (ch. 37–71)  B型H系　2. January 19, 2006. ISBN 4-08-877021-8. (in Japanese)
3. (ch. 72–105)  B型H系　3. October 19, 2006. ISBN 4-08-877154-0. (in Japanese)
4. (ch. 106–141)  B型H系　4. June 19, 2007. ISBN 978-4-08-877278-3. (in Japanese)
5. (ch. 142–174)  B型H系　5. April 23, 2008. ISBN 978-4-08-877411-4. (in Japanese)
6. (ch. 175–202)  B型H系　6. April 22, 2009. ISBN 978-4-08-877613-2. (in Japanese)
7. (ch. 203–232)  B型H系　7. March 22, 2010. ISBN 978-4-08-877742-9. (in Japanese)
8. (ch. 233–265)  B型H系　8. July 16, 2010. ISBN 978-4-08-877899-0. (in Japanese)
9. (ch. 266–300)  B型H系　9. March 18, 2011. ISBN 978-4-08-879114-2. (in Japanese)

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• B Gata H Kei Yamada’s First Time - The Official Anime Website from FUNimation
• B Gata H Kei Yamada’s First Time (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia