First Loves

Built around one episode dedicated to each girl in high school guy Kakeru Nanahoshi's life, this 1995 OVA earns your time precisely because of that structure. Each of the four episodes zooms in on a different relationship, so instead of juggling a crowd of characters at once, you get real space to watch something develop. The first two episodes alone — one following the warm, cheerful Urara, the next centered on Rie, a tennis player dealing with something heavier beneath the surface — show that the writing has more patience than you'd expect from something in this genre. It's a harem setup on paper, but the execution leans into drama and emotional honesty rather than just using the girls as set dressing. The pacing is slow and deliberate, which fits the visual novel roots — this came from a game where you follow one path at a time, and the OVA keeps that feeling intact. If you've seen Doukyuusei 2 or End of Summer and liked how those handle quiet, grounded romance with some edge to it, this sits in that same space. It's also worth knowing this has no connection to the 1997 Elf-ban Kakyuusei or the later TV series, so don't let the shared name confuse you. For something made in 1995, it holds up better than expected as a character-focused drama.