Hana-Kimi

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (花ざかりの君たちへ), abbreviated as Hana-Kimi, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hisaya Nakajo. The series was serialized in Hakusensha's semi-monthly manga magazine Hana to Yume from September 1996 to August 2004. The series is also published in English by Viz Media, with the final volume released in April 2008. It was also adapted into several live-action television dramas. An anime television series adaptation produced by Signal.MD aired from January to March 2026. A second season has been announced.

The series centers on Mizuki Ashiya, a Japanese girl who lives in the United States. One day, she sees a track and field competition on TV, and becomes attracted to one of the high jump competitors, Izumi Sano. She begins to idolize the young athlete and eventually transfers to Japan to attend the same school that Sano attends. Sano attends an all-boys high school named Osaka Gakuen and Mizuki attempts to disguise herself as a boy to enter.

Setting

Osaka Gakuen (桜咲学園; Ohsaka Academy) is an all-boys school and the setting of the series. Its sister school is St. Blossoms, an all-girls high school.

The three grade levels are divided into three classes. These nine classes are divided into three dormitories, as most of the students do not stay around the school area. The cultures within the individual dormitories are immensely different.

Most students residing in the first dormitory are athletes who were accepted into Osaka High on a sports scholarship. The students in the second dorm are a mix of athletes and scholars who have sports or academic scholarships. The third dormitory consists mainly of artistic and intelligent people. Inter-dorm rivalries are common and become particularly intense during the school's cultural festival.

Plot

Mizuki Ashiya, a Japanese girl living in the United States, watches a program on TV featuring a high jumper named Izumi Sano. She was amazed by his performance and begins following his athletic career. Years later, she does research on him and discovers that he is currently attending Osaka High School. The school is unfortunately an all-boys school and Mizuki convinces her parents to send her to Japan by herself.

Oblivious to the fact that their daughter is going to attend a boys' school, her parents let her go. Wanting to enter the school, Mizuki cuts off her long hair, disguises herself as a man, and tries her best to give hope to Sano after hearing that he no longer does the high jump. As she settles in, an accident reveals her identity to Hokuto Umeda, the school doctor, and Izumi Sano. Izumi hides his knowledge of Mizuki's gender and tries to help her keep her secret, which may not be easy because many situations land Mizuki in compromising positions that will reveal her true gender.

Characters

• Mizuki Ashiya (芦屋 瑞稀)
• Mizuki Ashiya is the cheerful and fun-loving female protagonist of the series, who admired Izumi Sano the moment she saw him participating in a high jump tournament on TV. Mizuki disguises herself as a boy to enroll herself into the all-boys Osaka Academy.
• Izumi Sano (佐野 泉)
• Izumi Sano is the male protagonist of the series. A former professional high jumper, Sano stopped for personal reasons when he entered high school. Sano found out Mizuki's true gender due to an accident early in the series.[3]
• Shūichi Nakatsu (中津 秀一)
• Shūichi Nakatsu is one of the students in living in the second dormitory. He likes Mizuki but does not know her true gender, causing some of his classmates to believe that he is homosexual.
• Minami Nanba (難波 南)
• Minami Nanba is the head of the second dormitory.
• Hokuto Umeda (梅田北斗)
• Senri Nakao (中央 千里)
• Daiki Kayashima (萱島 大樹)
• Kyogo Sekime (関目 京悟)
• Shinji Noe (野江 伸二)
• Wataru Nihonbashi (日本 橋渉)
• Julia Maxwell (ジュリア・マックスウェル)
• Makoto Kagurazaka (神楽坂 真言)
• Megumi Tennoji (天王寺 恵)
• Itsuki Kujo (九条 威月)
• Masao Himejima (姫島 正夫)

Media

Reception

The series sold over 17 million copies in Japan.[28] The English release of Volume 6 was ranked ninth in the Bookscan chart, while Volume 9 came in fifth as one of the top-selling graphic novels in North America 6 months later.[29][30] The English release of the series' first two volumes were nominated under the Graphic Novel category of The Quills Awards in 2005.[31] The series came in third place for Top Shōjo Manga in Singapore in February 2007.[32] According to Tohan, volumes 11 and 12 ranked sixth place for the week of September 12, 2007.[33]

The English release of Volume 17 was ranked eighth in the Publishers Weekly Comics Bestseller list.[34] The 23rd volume of Hana-Kimi was released by Viz Media on April 1, 2008, and was ranked fifth in the monthly Top 20 Graphic Novels rankings for the period between March 31 to April 27, 2008.[35]

The total sales for the series' Japanese volumes came in fifth after Death Note in the ranking of the most read series throughout 2007.[36] The series ranked 37th place in Matt Blind's Top 300 series in 2008,[37] and was later chosen as one of the series for School Library Journal's Good Comics for Kids Summer Reading Challenge in 2009.[38][39]

Maria Lin noted that although she normally disliked female protagonists in manga, she praised Mizuki as an exception, crediting her with lifting the manga above other "pretty boy manga", enjoying her "never-give-up attitude". Moreover, Lin enjoyed the art style but she found the male characters' designs sometimes generic.[40] By Volume 4 and 5, even with the increase in cast characters, Lin felt that the storyline was still coherent despite this.[41]

Sheena McNeil felt that the premise was "shallow", but upon reading, found herself "caught up in the story". McNeil praised the art, citing its importance in a story of deception, enjoying the "gorgeous" character designs, but appreciating the departure from strict aesthetics for humor.[42]

Liann Cooper felt that Hana-Kimi was one of Viz's most important properties due to its combination of humor, angst and the artwork, but criticized their cover design.[43]

Kat Avila found she enjoyed Hana-Kimi better than Girl Got Game, due to Volume 4's humor and attractive male characters.[44]

Further reading

External links