Review: Hana-Kimi by Hisaya Nakajo

Hana-Kimi
(Vol. #1)
By: Hisaya Nakajo
Publisher: Viz Media
Published: Sept. 7, 2004
Genre: Shōjo Manga
Rating:

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Japanese-American track-and-field star Mizuki has gotten herself a transfer to a high school in Japan…but not just any school! To be close to her idol, high jumper Izumi Sano, she’s going to an all-boys’ high school…and disguising herself as a boy! But as fate would have it, they’re 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 school nurse – must cope with a new transfer student who may make them question their own orientation.

Mizuki has always wanted to see her favorite high jumper jump in person and that is exactly what she is going to do. She devised a plan to convince her parents to allow her to go to school in Japan. However, she leaves out the part about it being an all boys school. She chops off all of her long hair and pretends to be a boy so that she can get close to Sano. Turns out that they will get even closer than she expected when she finds out that they not only have classes together but they are roommates as well!

I thought that this was a very cute manga. There is no crazy bad guys or any plot twists. Just a funny story about a girl pretending to be a guy to get close to her idol. Sano of course finds out that his roommate is a girl but plays along for her sake, pretending that he is clueless. Meanwhile, Mizuki thinks that she has everyone fooled and in some cases she does. There is a boy named Nakatsu in her school who is fighting his attraction to Mizuki and he is freaking out over it. He’s not gay and tries to justify some of his actions with Mizuki. Poor guy has no idea that he really isn’t gay, Mizuki is actually a girl.
 
 

The moment when Sano realizes that Mikuki is a girl while he is carrying her unconscious body to the doctors office.