Aoi Hana Review

Alright, this week’s anime review will be on an anime called Aoi Hana (that's blue flowers in Japanese).

Aoi Hana, unbeknownst to my friend and I when we started watching it, is actually a soft yuri anime. But if that doesn’t turn you off completely then this anime deserves to be given a chance.

The topics in this anime revolve around the romance and psychological growth of the main characters. It all starts off with introducing Fumi Manjome, the main character. She’s the typical shy girl type found in anime, stuttering problem, bangs, blushing, throw in some glasses and she has it all. In the very first episode it’s obvious to tell she’s undergone some emotional trauma, which her cousin points out and subtly rubs in her face, it gives some background to her timid behavior. She is currently a high school student, attending Fujigaya Girls Academy. As you can probably figure out by the name it’s an all girl’s school (and you know what that means…).

On her way to school Fumi meets Akira Okudaira, who was a friend of Fumi’s when they were children, though she doesn’t realize it at the time.

Akira is basically a fire-cracker in human form with her bright orange hair, constant excitement, and energetic personality. Though Fumi and Akira are exact opposites they even each other out pretty well. Their relationship could be compared to a yin-yang.

Akira is who Fumi goes to for advice, which becomes very helpful when Fumi develops a crush on a popular upperclassman named Yasuko Sugimoto. Yasuko is portrayed in the beginning as almost a faultless being. She’s beautiful, great at sports, and intelligent, which aids her in being the most popular girl enrolled the academy. It goes without saying that Fumi is not the only one with a crush on her.

Still, Yasuko notices the attention of Fumi and decides to ask her out. The two start dating and you slowly start to realize that Yasuko is not without fault also. Yasuko had a crush on a boy she knew she could never have. That’s right, a boy enters the story, or a man.

The anime is filled with its fair share of plot twists ranging from arranged marriages to unrequited love. It definitely won’t leave you bored, unless you’re only entertained by swords and gunfights (which is fine, but this totally isn’t for you). The animation is great, the drawing is pleasing to the eye, and the movements are smooth as glass.

The only failure I see is a lack of movement between the character’s locations, it seems the whole anime you’re either at school, Fumi’s house, or the train station. The places vary a little more than that but not much. All in all though, I feel this anime deserves an 8/10 and I don’t regret watching it.