Hana-Kimi

Template:Nihongo, is a shōjo manga series written by Hisaya Nakajo. The manga was serialized in Japan in Hakusensha's semi-monthly shōjo manga magazine, Hana to Yume. The series was concluded with the Japanese release of volume 23 in November 2004. It was also adapted into several live-action television dramas. An anime adaptation has been announced.

Hana-Kimi was published in English by Viz Media with the final volume released in the United States in April 2008.

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.

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. To enter the school, she cuts off her long hair, disguises herself as a male, and tries her best to give hope to Sano after hearing that he no longer does the high jump anymore. 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, though it sure is not easy as many situations land Mizuki in compromising positions that will reveal her true gender.

Setting

Template:Nihongo or Ohsaka Gakuen as written in the entrance gate of the school in the Japanese drama adaptation, 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 culture 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 head of dormitory is Tennouji. The head of the second dormitory is Minami Nanba. The students in the second dorm are a mix of athletes and scholars who have a sports or academic scholarship. The third dormitory consists mainly of artistic and intelligent people and is headed by Masao Himejima. Inter-dorm rivalries are common and become particularly intense during the school's cultural festival.

Characters

• Template:Nihongo (Template:Anime voices (drama CD)) 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.
• Template:Nihongo (Template:Anime voices (drama CD)) 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.
• Template:Nihongo (Template:Anime voices (drama CD)) 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.

Media

Manga

The manga series was first serialized in the 20th issue of Hakusensha's semi-monthly shōjo manga magazine, Hana to Yume in 1996. Its serialization continued where the series ended with 23 collected volumes with 144 chapters without including 5 special chapters that were published during the series' serialization and another 5 special chapters that were published after the series ended.

The series' 23 volumes were first published under the Hana to Yume Comics. It was then later re-published into 12 volumes of aizōban under the Hana to Yume Comics Special imprint. Each volume featured a new cover illustration and design as well as coloured pages.

Hana-Kimi was also published in English by Viz Media. The English release was previously only limited to Waldenbooks from February to May 2004. It was then made available to other retail stores after May that year. The English title originated from a fan abbreviation of the original Japanese title as the official U.S. translation ends the title with a he instead of e.

In March 2012, Viz Media released a 3-in-1 edition of all the previously published Hana-Kimi manga books in North America. Instead of 23 manga books, the series spans a total of eight 3-in-1 large manga books. The last volume of the 3-in-1 special edition was published in April, 2014.

Books

An illustration collection titled Template:Nihongo was released on May 19, 2004. 11 days later on May 30, 2004, a character book titled as Template:Nihongo. The illustration collection was also licensed in English by Viz Media under the title, The Art of Hana-Kimi. It was released on November 21, 2006.

On August 20, 2009, a manga anthology was published as a tribute to the series was released under the Hana to Yume Comics Special imprint. It was titled, Template:Nihongo and was drawn by various manga artist including Satoshi Morie, affiliated with the magazine where Hana-Kimi was serialized. The cover was illustrated by the original author herself.

Drama CDs

There were a number of drama CDs released for the series. Only 2 were released commercially by Hakusensha and Marine Entertainment. The first drama CD was released on April 26, 2000. The second drama CD, titled Template:Nihongo was released on August 23, 2002.

Live-action drama

Hana-Kimi has been adapted into several live-action television dramas:

• 2006 – Hanazakarino Kimitachihe. It starred Ella Chen of S.H.E, Wu Chun and Jiro Wang of Fahrenheit and Danson Tang. The adaption was aired on Chinese Television System (CTS) and Gala Television (GTV) Variety Show/CH 28 from November 2006 for 15 episodes.
• 2007 – Hanazakari no Kimitachi e. It starred Maki Horikita, Shun Oguri and Toma Ikuta. The adaption was aired on Fuji Television from July to September 2007 for 12 episodes.
• 2011 – Hanazakari no Kimitachi e 2011. It starred Atsuko Maeda of Japan's popular girl group AKB48, Aoi Nakamura and Shohei Miura. The adaption was aired on Fuji Television from July to September 2011 for 11 episodes.
• 2012 – To the Beautiful You, starring Sulli of f(x), Choi Min-ho of SHINee and Lee Hyun-woo. The adaption aired on SBS on August 15, 2012 for 16 episodes.

Anime

On May 15, 2024, an anime adaptation of Hana-Kimi was announced. Crunchyroll licensed the series.

Reception

The 23 Japanese volumes of the series has sold over 17 million copies in Japan. The English release of volume 6 was ranked 9th in the Bookscan chart while six months after, volume 9 came in 5th as one of the top-selling graphic novels in North America. The English release of volume 1 and 2 of the series were nominated under the Graphic Novel category of The Quills Awards in 2005. The series came in 3rd place for Top Shōjo Manga in Singapore in February 2007. According to Tohan, aizōban volumes 11 and 12 ranked 6th place for the week of September 12, 2007.

The English release of volume 17 was ranked 8th in the Publishers Weekly Comics Bestseller list. The 23rd volume of Hana-Kimi was released by Viz Media on April 1, 2008 and it was ranked 5th in the monthly Top 20 Graphic Novels rankings for the March 31, 2008 to April 27, 2008 period.

The total sales for the series' Japanese volumes came in 5th after Death Note in the ranking of the most read series throughout year 2007. The series ranked 37th place in Matt Blind's Top 300 series in 2008. It was later chosen as one of the series for School Library Journal's Good Comics for Kids Summer Reading Challenge in 2009.

Maria Lin noted that while 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". While Lin enjoyed the art style, she found the male characters' designs at times generic. 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 humour.

Liann Cooper felt that Hana-Kimi was one of Viz's most important shōjo properties due to its combination of humour, angst and the artwork, but criticised their cover design.

Kat Avila, due to the fourth volume's humour and attractive male characters, found she enjoyed Hana-Kimi better than Girl Got Game.

By the fourth and fifth volume, the author had increased the cast, but Maria Lin felt that the storyline was still coherent despite this.

Further reading

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External links

• Template:Official website Template:In lang
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