You know that the spring season offering is pretty poor for now, when I find a bishie-filled show more charming than all the other pathetic stuff out there. Hanasakeru Seishonen is the story of a half-Japanese heiress transplanted from her ordinary high school days in Japan to a life in America filled with intrigue involving international oil and wealth distribution. Well, they have mixed politics along with romance. It can’t really go wrong for me, can it?
Edit: After finishing the show, I cannot call this bishie. It’s more shoujo than bishie. In addition, most of the thoughts section belong to 13sugars. Her thoughts are in red.
Episode summary
Kajika is a transfer student from America. Her silver eyes and blond appearance was extremely interesting for her Japanese classmates. One of them, Yui, mustered the courage to talk to her, and became good friends with Kajika. The other classmates also asked for her love life. Kajika started to mention about a beautiful “man”, only to reveal that Mustafa is a white leopard. Yui warned Kajika that she was mean to tease those girls. With time, the closeness of Yui and Kajika was starting to annoy the other classmates. This all boils over when Kajika was taunted by her classmates by being lovey dovey with her friend. Yui asked why they were bullying Kajika, and wanted to protect Kajika. However, Kajika managed to dispel the tension through feeding a strawberry to one of the bullies. She then shared her strawberries to everyone in the class.
Yui was a little annoyed that her efforts were seen as “meddlesome.” Kajika did not understand Yui’s behavior, and she explained that she was surrounded by adults since she was young. Hence, she was glad to find a friend in Yui. Just then, a senior bumped into Yui, but Yui was the one to apologize. Kajika asked the woman to apologize, and her stare stumbled the senior a little as she backed off. Yui later told Kajika that senior’s boyfriend was a gangster, and she might have antagonized someone powerful. On their way home, Kajika decided to walk with Yui, and she was waylaid by the gangsters. Brought back to their base, the gangsters tried to intimidate her. The gang leader even wanted to take Kajika as his own, and he was scoffed at for his insolence. They were infuriated and was going to attack Kajika, when her aide Lin Ren came to her rescue.
It turned out that Lin Ren was asked to bring Kajika back to America. Kajika was annoyed that she was called back when she was promised six months for herself. Lin Ren explained that it was the orders of her father. When she returned home, she remembered to give her father a tight slap for bringing her so abruptly. It turned out that he had a game for her. It was a game for her to choose a husband out of three men. These three men would not know about this game, but her father would simply let her have a chance meeting with them. He explained that those men have to choose her, and she had to choose one of them. Kajika asked what would happen if she did not pick any of the guys. Her father said that it meant he lost the game. Later on, her father asked Lin Ren to look after Kajika, and see if the man she chooses is suited for her. Lin Ren accepted the mission, but it seems that there was some quiet resentment over the decision when he left the room.
Thoughts
13sugar’s thoughts
First episode just came out today, and I just watched the raw. So here’s my little first impression about it. Kajika, the main girl, is definitely a bishoujo. She’s like a mix of Jyuusan-hime’s personality, Kyoko’s coolness, Sunako’s straighforwardness and Haruhi’s (OHSHC) independence. Yes, she’s better than Shuurei and most of Koei’s heroines. OP and ED were quite good, not too great, but not too bad either. I actually adore the ED a lot. My only complaint about the OP is this: Why is Kajika naked for almost the whole OP while all of the bishies are fully clothed?! (lol)
Animation style is so-so, reminded me of Junjou’s and Wagaya’s animation but with a different sort of brushing. Yeah, it’s not really on the same level as Koei’s or OHSHC’s shoujo styles. There are good humor moments too. I laughed when I saw a typical new transfer bishoujo student scene in yuri anime shows, and I laughed so hard at the scene where Kajika slapped her dad.
The action parts, for the small amount of it, were somewhat similar to the action scenes in HakuSei, not too detailed in animation. But I guess that’s not a surprise since this anime is absolutely under the Romance genre, so says ANN. I haven’t seen any chibi/moe scenes though. I doubt there will be any with how the mood is. It would probably be like SaiMono.
As for the bishies, only Fan Li Ren came out here. He reminded me of Lin-sama’s looks and mixed Ryu(S.A.) and Ren (Skip Beat) personality. I only had two kya-kya moments here. Why, you might ask? Because Kajika is too independent that you, as the audience, know she might’ve/could’ve kicked some ass if male-”hero” hadn’t arrived.
All in all, this is a show for all shoujo-fans. The first episode is worth the watch. And I’m definitely going to follow this.
I actually stole her content from a forum post she made about the first episode of Hanasakeru Seishounen. To add on to her views, I think that it is really good to have female leads like Kajika. I do not know why shoujo series have the issue of having mousey, wussy or damsel in distress female leads that cannot decide what to do on their own.
Sure, I do not mind times of weaknesses when they weep and cry, but not a situation when they cry like a bloody river. They do not have to look like they will die if a wind just about blows at their face. That is why the spunky, straight forward Kajika attracts me to the show almost immediately. She faces up to anyone without any fear, and her ability to state exactly what she thinks makes me fall in love almost immediately. Still, I see her as a girl who has hardly discovered the love side. Let’s see if she’s the thick headed or the gooey type when faced with imminent love. I hope for something in between.
I actually laughed when 13sugars told me that she did not kyaa a lot over the bishie (Lin Ren is her type of bishie). I actually find that the characters are not really that bishie. In fact, it fits more into a shoujo style, even though there’s an obvious josei touch to the show. Nonetheless, the plot of “arranged marriage” is hardly revolutionary, but it is understandable that the source material was a 1980s manga. To be precise, it was released in 1987. Nonetheless, this manga’s story plot and character seemed to age pretty well, and Kajika is like a breeze of fresh air from the annoying little girls that plague our anime screens. All in all, I have to agree with 13sugars that this is extremely interesting, and I am keen to watch this. If you like shoujo, this might be a very good series to feed your addiction for love.
Impz’s recommendation: Great for shoujo lovers, others try at your own risk.
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8 Comments
Reading manga sparked my interest in this anime. The first episode was decent, and, probably, I’ll cover this show regularly. This anime also features one of the best cast this season
HURRAY O_O!!!! someone’s finally covering this, I thought no one would… also there is absolutely nothing wrong with a guy enjoying shoujo o_o… especially when the character isnt a big cry baby or typical damsel in distress :3…
“You know that the spring season offering is pretty poor for now, when I find a bishie-filled show more charming than all the other pathetic stuff out there.” That only goes for you, trappy Impz XD
I was enthralled throughout. The story is working for me, even the things that seem a bit cliched. And I like the leopard. But the main thing I like is Kajika. her personality, and especially how Endou Aya is playing her. Endou-san came up with a slightly different voice and she and the animation have created a character, at least for me.
Kajika look piss off most of the time. But can’t wait to meet all the Bishie fiances. I suppose the dad had plan this so Li Ren would make his move on her.
Just saw the first episode with english subs and I like it and the story intrigue
I agree with Impz on the description of damsel in distress characters, seriously a girl could not possibly be that weak.. I am gonna try this series, hopefully the male leads are nice enough (at least to look at)
cool li ren rocksss(=