New Flavors: Aoi Hana

Aoi Hana
(Sweet Blue Flowers)
by Shimura Takako
Fumi and Akira were best friends when they were little, with Akira always looking after the crybaby Fumi, but that all ended when Fumi's family moved away. Several years later, Fumi's family returned, and she and Akira happened to bump into each other on their way to school. They became friends again, quickly slipping back into old patterns. Shortly after, Fumi began dating a cool, attractive upperclassman who, coincidentally enough, had ties to Akira's current school, the prestigious Fujigatani Girls' Academy.

Uuumm . . . yuri/shoujo-ai is totally not my thing . . . much more if the genre is slice-of-life! That just bores the hell out of me. But the title really attracts me. I like BLUE flowers. Hehe. Shallow reason, isn't it?

But to my disappointment, I don't see the connection of blue flowers to this manga even after reading the entire first volume. Ehehe.

Anyway, since this wasn't my thing, I thought of just trying out the first chapter. But I feared that I might be missing something good, so I ended up reading the whole volume 1. Since this manga's anime adaptation is coming this coming season, reading more if it would at least help me decide whether I should watch the anime or not.

And it did help me decide. My decision? NOT.

No, it has nothing to do with my lack of interest in lesbian stories. Even if I put aside the lesbian thing, the love story here is just so emo and dull. There is one-sided relationship after another, it was like an endless chain or web. Characters go pretty angsty about it. Forming of "official" couples just happened like POOF as well. These types of romances don't appeal to me.

What made things worse is one of the leading girls: Fumi. She's so tall, yeah, got that, but I don't see why everyone's making SUCH A BIG DEAL about it! And then she's also shy . . . and of course she had the endless blushes . . . and of course she's also pretty weak (emotionally and physically) . . . and of course she's attached and dependent to a certain someone like a despicable parasite . . . and of course she doesn't have courage to say what she wants or deny what she doesn't (at least most of the time) . . . and of course she cries so damn easily!!!! *prepares chainsaw* And oh, she's also spoiled and selfish even with that kind of attitude. What's even more annoying is that she often goes emo about her forbidden romance but quickly forgets about it when she has found a new one. She's disgusting. *aims chainsaw at Fumi*

I can bash Fumi more but I don't want to give myself more headaches. Uuuugggghhh . . .

Though that leading girl made me frustrated with the manga so much, the other leading girl is her pure opposite. She's what making this manga bearable:

Akira, or Ah-chan, is the cheerful but pretty innocent type who is a childhood friend of Fumi. She's so cute and nice. She's also a very caring friend and isn't the type to go extremely emotional on very simple things. She has a strong character, and she's really adorable when she asks about pretty controversial stuff, when she cheers someone up, when she gets annoyed, . . . well yeah, in almost anything she does. Hehe. Her interactions with her brother had been most fun for me:

They provide the crack comedy in this manga! Haha! Her brother loves her so much that he huggles and teases her as much as he can. He himself says that he doesn't mind not getting hooked up with other girls as long as he has her. Sister complex indeed.

But even with a likable character like Akira and her family (I don't find the other characters that fun or interesting . . . and I DESPISE Fumi), I don't think this is the type of series that I will enjoy to read more of.

But if you are biased to yuri/shoujo-ai, then go ahead! There are already kissing scenes in chapter one. Hehe. Those who are suckers for tragic and one-sided romances may appreciate it too. Those who are fond of sweet and simple slice-of-life stories may like it too. But if you're the same as me who gets bored on this kind of stuff and despises characters like Fumi, please avoid it. Unless you're biased to nice characters like Akira or to stories with sister complexes.

Plot Source: Lilicious