While I was initially supposed to be putting up my post about the Otaku roadtrip that took place 2 weeks ago, Kitti’s review of the the Hana Kimi manga made me think that this would be the perfect follow up.

The story follows young Ashiya Mizuki, a young Japanese American who transfers to Osaka High in order to get her idol, Sano Izumi, to take part in high jumping again, since she blames herself for his quitting the sport. This is not so much of an issue itself, but there is one big problem – Osaka High is a boys-only boarding school.

Mizuki therefore disguises herself as a boy, transfers into the school, and ends up, of all things, being Izumi’s roommate. Now, Mizuki needs to persuade Izumi to start jumping again, while somehow keeping her actual gender a secret.

The series itself is a definite winner. The cast itself did a pretty good job of imitating a lot of the reactions you’ll typically see in anime, and throughout the series, I really couldn’t fault the acting at all. While at one or two points there seemed to be a little bit of stiffness, it seemed like it was more deliberate rather than actual discomfort on the part of the actors. They actually did – in my opinion – a sterling job of taking a story on paper and converting it to the screen.

Hana Kimi managed to fill quite a bundle of genres in one single package – managing to fit comedy, drama, romance and even a bit of silliness – as you progress through the series, you’ll see a lot of little effects typically found in comedy anime (including blushing).

Mizuki has quite a job to do to hide her feminine side, and the actress, Horikita Maki, managed to do a very credible impression of a rather feminine boy. Her secret does get discovered quite early on by the school doctor, but her sincerity manages to convince him to let her stay in the school and he helps her to keep her secret.

Hana Kimi (or rather Hanazakari no Kimitachi e) didn’t have a huge variation where music was concerned – the music was primarily a variation of one central theme that managed to be quite catchy and perky. The story itself was engaging, and it was actually quite difficult to stop watching after one episode and get on with other (relatively) more important things :)

Did I have any gripes with the show? Only one really. The manga consisted of 23 volumes, which I haven’t read yet, but I do know that only 12 episodes – even if they are 45 – 50 minutes each – are going to miss out on a lot of the story.

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e aired in Japan from July 2007, and has managed to garner itself a couple of rewards at the 54th Television Drama Awards – Best Drama Series, while Horikita Maki won the Best Actress Award, and Ikuta Toma (who played the part of Shuuichi Nakatsu) won the award for Best Supporting Actor. The part of Sano Izumi was portrayed by Oguri Shun.

As you can see, definitely a show you shouldn’t be missing out on.

I will be adding some screenshots to this post very soon, so keep an eye out for that ;)