Monday, June 11, 2012

Review: 'Hana Kimi, Volume 1' by Hisaya Nakajo

Mizuki is a Japanese-American track-and-field star who transfers to a high school in Japan. To be close to her idol, high jumper Izumi Sano, she's going to an all-guys' high school disguised as a boy... As fate would have it, Sano and Mizuki are more than classmates, they're roommates! Now, Mizuki must keep her secret in the classroom, the locker room, and her own bedroom. And her classmates, and the weird school nurse, must react to the new transfer student who looks like a very pretty boy.

The Hana-Kimi series is one of the more entertaining and well drawn mangas I’ve read. There is plenty of humorous tension as Mizuki tries to maintain her male façade.  Mizuki is a fun character to follow, even if she has let her obsession with Sano go a bit too far.  (Of course, what works in manga would be downright creepy in real life.)  Nakatsu, one of Mizuki's fellow students, feels drawn to Mizuki and, not realizing she is a girl, begins to wonder about his sexual orientation.  This leads to more hilarity, gender bending and farse.  While this is a shojo manga and will have mass appeal for teenage girls, there is plenty of guy humor and male characters to draw in your boys as well.  Over all a fun manga that any public or high school library should carry.

Book Source: Public Library
Reviewed by: Rebecca

Recommended Ages: 16+ Some sensuality, adult situations

Recommended for Readers of:
Vampire Knight
by Matsuri Hino
Kamisama Kiss
by Julietta Suzuki
Soulless
by Gail Carriger
Art by Rem
The Statistical
Probability of Love
at First Sight
by Jennifer E. Smith