Ritsu Onodera

Onodera Ritsu (小野寺律, Onodera Ritsu) is one of the main characters in Sekaiichi Hatsukoi. He is voiced by Kondo Takashi.

Appearance

Ritsu has light brown hair and long bangs that frame the sides of his face. He has wide, green eyes and fair skin. When he was 15, his hair was styled differently with his bangs parting in the middle.His hair is said to be a silky in texture. He is described by Yoshino as being very attractive, having a "vogue body type" with high hips and a small face with perfect features. Ritsu doesn't really like smiling for a long time, and states that it makes his jaws hurt. Like most male characters in the series, Ritsu is relatively tall being slightly taller than average height, but like most of the ukes of the series, he is significantly shorter than his lover.

History

The first meeting between Takano and Ritsu was when Ritsu was attempting to grab a book far above his head height, which of course turned out to be difficult. Saga Masamune reached out and pulled the book out for him. Ritsu thanked him and walked away but then turned back to look at him. Their first meeting was the reason that Ritsu fell in love with the older boy. Like most people, before this meeting Ritsu didn't believe in love at first sight, but after he met Saga his feelings changed. Even so, the name of the unknown senpai remains a mystery to Ritsu, thus leading him to search through the books that Saga had borrowed so he could see the book record cards and learn the name of his first love.

Ritsu back in high school:

After that, as Ritsu mentioned himself throughout the OVA, he realizes his actions are close to being a stalker, as he borrowed almost all the books Saga had borrowed.

Three years later, they meet again in a similar situation. This time, Ritsu is reaching for a book that happens to be the same one that Saga wants. Their hands touch, causing Ritsu to blush and call out Saga's name in surprise. Saga then asks why Ritsu knows his name. In the midst of the sudden confrontation, Ritsu spontaneously confesses his love for Saga. To Ritsu's surprise, Saga doesn't mind the boy confessing to him and even says that he wouldn't mind going out with him. Ritsu instantly thinks this is a joke, but Saga says that it wasn't and adds that Ritsu could come over to his house. Days later, after school (an extremely nervous) Ritsu and Saga walk to Saga's home. Ritsu enters the house to see a cat that Saga saved on a rainy day, and he walks upwards to Saga's room. While Ritsu is waiting for Saga, he sees Saga's bed and as it's his dear wish from the day he had met Saga, he had wants to be on the bed of his first love. On the sudden whim, he throws himself on the bed, but then scrambles back to the floor, thoroughly embarrassed. A few seconds later, Saga walks in with tea and offers that they watch TV. While they watch, Ritsu mentions the cat at the doorstep, Saga remembers the day when he rescued the cat and chuckles. He jokingly tells Ritsu that he had been stalked, Ritsu instantly gives Saga a very formal apology, but Saga tells him he didn't mind and then leans forward in an attempt to kiss Ritsu. Shocked, Ritsu pushes him away, but later allows Saga to kiss him. After the second kiss, Saga hugs him and asks to sleep with him. Ritsu, stunned, replies with a yes. While the two are having sex for the first time, Saga whispers that he loves Ritsu, using Ritsu's first name. After a break up due to a misunderstanding, Ritsu leaves Japan to study abroad in England, he then comes back to Japan to work at his father's publishing company.

Marukawa Publishing

After a few concerns with his old job (mostly due to his colleagues rumors about him 'riding his parents coattails' in the company), Ritsu decides to leave his father's company and work at the literature department at Marukawa Publishing. Because of a mistake, he is assigned to work on Shoujo Manga (girls comics) which disappoints him since he was set on literature and knows very little about editing manga. He pleads with General Affairs to assign him to the literature department, and meeting his boss Takano Masamune, he wants to tell him that he wants to quit but decides to give manga a try. Ritsu later finds out that he was placed in working with shoujo manga on purpose by his father. The reason is unknown but Ritsu later decides to stay and work with Shoujo manga so he can gain success as a great manga editor. Ritsu usually tells himself that he will quit working at Marukawa since many of the workers like to pick on him for being their newest member.

As Ritsu becomes more successful, he begins to neglect his health. Ritsu comes to work extremely pale and worries Takano. Takano confronts Ritsu in the restroom asking him if he is alright then checks to see if he has a fever. Ritsu steps back and tells him that he is alright, but a couple days later, Ritsu's health doesn't improve and he ends up collapsing while talking to Isaka. Takano arrives to the hospital and learns that Ritsu has been neglecting his health, Takano then tells Ritsu that he will now be in charge of meals for him.

Relationships

SH 01 — Sekaiichi Hatsukoi DVD cover - Takano and Ritsu

Takano Masamune

Takano is Ritsu's current boss, neighbor and first love in high school. In the manga, Takano and Ritsu have been neighbors for quite a while but they never met or even introduced themselves due to irregular times arriving home while Ritsu was still working at his father's company. In the anime, Ritsu moves in after wanting to get a fresh start with work, only to find out Takano is his neighbor.

Ten years ago, after Ritsu went off to study aboard, Takano tried to find him but was never able to do so. Ten years passed and Ritsu ends up working at Marukawa Shoten's Emerald department where Takano is his boss. Ritsu doesn't initially realize Takano is Saga because, due to his parent's divorce, Takano's last name was changed. He also says that he (Takano) changed his hairstyle. After finding out that his new boss is his former lover, he tells Takano that he will never fall in love with him again.

While Takano still has feelings for Ritsu, Ritsu is wondering if he really does love Takano. After a few words with Takano while waiting for the rain to lighten up. While waiting,Takano says that he had been trying to find him when they were in high school. Ritsu was touched (and scared after telling him he shortened his name from 'Onodera' to 'Oda' to hide his real name) and had his emotion exploded for him. As sweet as it is this is definitely a perfect couple moment when Ritsu finally confessed 'I love you' to Takano who was unable

Sekaiepisode119 — Ritsu tells Takano that he loves him but fail due to the downpour drown out his voice

to hear him due to a sudden down pour outside. Feeling he is missing something important, Takano later realizes that Ritsu has strong feelings for him, but he just doesn't show it. Though Ritsu acts like he hates Takano's advances, he deeply cares for him, and makes it apparent when he becomes worried after Takano catches a cold, buying him medicine and cooking a dish for him which was apparently, unappetizing.

Ritsu's Mother

Ritsu and his mom have a somewhat cold relationship. As his mother is trying to make Ritsu spend more time with An, since the two are engaged. Ritsu refuses and claims the reason is that he has work, but doesn't tell his mother that the real reason is that he doesn't want to hurt Takano. After Ritsu refuses to accept the marriage, she asks Ritsu if he already has someone he loves, and Ritsu answers "I guess I do".

An Kohinata

An is Ritsu's ex-fiancé and friend since childhood. She comes to Ritsu's apartment late at night to greet him after coming back from Paris and gives him souvenirs. While taking the gifts, he brings her to a taxi. Takano confronts him and Ritsu tells him that An confessed her feelings to him, but he turned her down telling her that he loves someone else, and that he only held her hand but nothing else. Later on, she appears at the Teito Hotel for a party, while Ritsu is working their as well for the Marukawa New Years Party. She confesses once again but Ritsu turns her down again telling An that he still might be in love with the person from high school. A couple months later, Ritsu gets a call from An, explaining that his mother was sent to the hospital. Meeting An, he takes her home. An later learns that Ritsu has feelings for "Mr. Next-door Neighbor". She confronts Takano and tells him that he better not hurt him (Ritsu) and runs away. Ritsu tries to calm An, but their only conversations consist of An asking if Ritsu still loves her. Ritsu receives a call from his mother, telling him that An canceled their arrangement because she loves Ritsu as a friend and cannot see him as her husband.

Takafumi Yokozawa

Ritsu doesn't have a good relationship with Takafumi since Takafumi believes that Ritsu was the source of Takano's pain in high school and college. When Takafumi and Ritsu would see each other (often unexpectedly), Takafumi would get angry with Ritsu and tell him to stay away from Takano because he felt that Ritsu was causing him even more pain, and also because he himself is in love with Takano. After Takano tells Takafumi that he is in love with Ritsu and not him, Takafumi stops acting as aggressively towards Ritsu. However, he is still very protective of Takano and says that if Ritsu ever hurts Takano again, he would not hesitate to take Takano back.

Kisa Shouta

Kisa and Ritsu are very good friends. When Ritsu first arrived to Marukawa, Kisa was the first to greet him and they sit next to each other when they work. Ritsu is often teased by Kisa but they help each other out when it comes to deadlines.

Hatori Yoshiyuki

Hatori and Ritsu are very good friends and companions at work.

Trivia

He only does dishes and laundry when the one he uses gets dirty.
It is also mentioned that he was one of Usami Akihiko's editors at his previous job and edited the following books:

The Box that Houses the Moon
Nostalgia for the 25th Century
All of Japan's Inverted Pandas in Pictures
Scare Crow

Ritsu's shoe size is 26.5.
It is later revealed that Ritsu owns an iPhone 4. It is currently installed to be used and typed in hiragana and katakana. It has been used when Ritsu was texting An Kohinata an apology via text; telling her that he is coming home from the station.
His favorite food is dorayaki .
He is a terrible cook.
His current hairstyle resembles the one Takano used to have during high school.
His pairing with Takano is referred to as "Nostalgia," referring to their past relationship and their rekindled feelings.
His and Takano's relationship counterpart from the mangaka's other manga "Junjou Romantica" is the Junjou Romantica pairing of Usami and Misaki; mainly due to them being the first pairing introduced, the pairing that takes the longest to confirm they are lovers, and the pairings with the most overall exposure in both the anime and manga.
Until he dated Takono in high school, Ritsu never ate fast food or any kind of instate food.