Hana-Kimi:
For You In Full Blossom volume 3
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(quoted from the back of Hana-Kimi volume 3)
MEN AT WORK
Izumi, his friend Nakatsu and our crossdressing heroine Mizuki are hired to work at a beach chalet run by the family of weird school nurse Dr. Umeda! But when Kagurazaka--Izumi's high-jump rival--shows up with his two younger sisters in tow, the job gets personal!
Kagurazaka's attractive sister Tamami has a crush on Izumi too, and she sees Izumi's classmate Mizuki as a way to find out about the object of her affections. And then someone realizes that Mizuki's actually a girl...
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Hana-Kimi volume 3 contains:
Hana-Kimi Chapter 11
Hana-Kimi Chapter 12
Hana-Kimi Chapter 13
Hana-Kimi Chapter 14
Hana-Kimi Chapter 15
Hana-Kimi Chapter 16
Bonus: Everyday Life
About the Author
Storyline:
This is the strongest story in the series to date. With situations dealing all the way from rape to crossdressing problems this is the volume to get! Sano is finally showing how much he cares about Mizuki and not only is it heartwarming but it is a bold move by the author. Sano's motherlike instintics towards Mizuki really helps put the series on a personal level. Just the way that the author manages to push the volume to new heights is simply stunning.
Artwork:
This volume manages to keep the same art as the last two volumes. With most of the drawings focusing more on the characters then anything else, the background suffers a bit. Although, the character designs more then make up for this with there excellent facial expressions, well drawn out figures, and artwork that fits the situation. Furthormore, there seemed to be more background in this volume then the previous and that really manages to bring the storyline to life.
Characters/Character Development:
This volume has some major character development! Sano knows that Mizuki is a girl and he is slowly starting to show that he has fallen in love with her. He shows how much he cares for Mizuki not only by saving her life but by protecting her from the dangers of being a young girl. Mizuki and Nakatsu also get a lot of air time in this volume which helps give them more depth as characters. But... The biggest change in this volume would have to be the addition of Dr. Umeda's family members. They are great additions to the series and this volume probably wouldn't have been as great as it was without them adding there own twists to each scene.
Summary (Warning: May Contain Spoilers)
Volume three starts off with Mizuki and friends finishing off there finals. As Mizuki returns to her dorm she finds out that there was an emergancy and in a few days everyone was going to have to find a place to stay during their vacation time so that the dorms could be fixed. Of course, Mizuki had just told her brother, last volume, that she wouldn't be returning home anytime soon so she starts freaking out. Nakatsu immediately offers Mizuki a place to stay (maybe for some night time fun?) but Mizuki declines and then even Sano offers her a place to stay. That night Mizuki is still trying to think of a place to stay and while sleepwalking she ends up in Sano's bed! The next morning, she freaks out and Sano pretends nothing really happened, and then she ends up finding a place to stay! The place only happens to be at Dr. Umeda's sister's summertime hotel by the beach. Sano and Nakatsu also offer to accompany Mizuki and then they meet Io, Umeda's sister. After they arrive at the hotel Mizuki and friends meet Makita, a fellow employee, and learn that he's a player. He immediately starts hitting on Mizuki but she tells him she's a guy but he won't believe her. At the end of the chapter Makita sets his eyes on Mizuki as his next victim.
In chapter 12, Makita is hanging all over Mizuki. Everywhere she goes he offers to help her and it is obvious he is hitting on her (even though she doesn't realize it). Nakatsu gets pissed because he has a crush on Mizuki and he wants to protect her, but it is Sano who ends up getting her away from Makita. During her break, Mizuki finds that her vest that hides her breasts was very tight but after squeezing into it some new guests at the hotel show up, Kagurazaka's family! Tamami, Kagurazaka's sister, spots Sano and freaks out because she's a huge fan of his. After Tamami asks Mizuki is Sano is single she shows off her amazingly developed junior high body and then Mizuki's heartbeats almost stop. Mizuki falls on the floor and Sano is the first to the rescue and he takes Mizuki to a bed and stays with her. After waking up, Mizuki realized that her vest almost killed her because of how tight it was, but she was feeling better so she went to take a bath. At the end of the chapter Nakatsu walks in on Mizuki while taking a bath!
In chapter 13, Mizuki narrowly escapes Nakatsu as he faints while thinking Mizuki looks like a girl. After that, Makita picks up where he lefts off and Sano gives him dirty looks, but when Sano tries to tell Mizuki to watch out for Makita she gets mad and they get in a fight. While Mizuki is running off she bumps into none other then Kagurazaka. Surprisingly he gives her a pep talk and tells her he doesn't mind her he just doesn't like Sano and Makita. When Mizuki asks why he doesn't like Makita he responds by saying he is fake and that he's hiding something, which is pretty much a forshadowing of the future chapters. The next day, the workers at the hotel have the day off so Mizuki and friends go play at the beach. At the end of the chapter Makita saves Mizuki from some boys flirting with her.
In chapter 14, Sano is trying to get rid of the flirting Tamami and spots Mizuki getting picked on. He quickly throws Tamami to the curb in order to save Mizuki but then Makita rescues her. When Sano sees this he runs off in disgust. Later on, Mizuki tries to make peace between Sano and her with watermelon. He agrees and they laugh. After Mizuki leaves Sano thinks about what he really wants from Mizuki and what his true feelings are. While still recollecting, Makita walks in and tells Sano that he's going to take Mizuki. After an argument Makita leaves and then Sano goes off in thought. The next day, Sano spots Makita with a group of friends talking about how big of a pimp Makita is and how he'll break Mizuki. Sano goes off to find Mizuki and when he finds her she is playing with Nakatsu and Kagurazaka's youngest sister, Kyomi. Sano realizes that her bra is starting to show threw her shirt (because she's wet) and throws a towel on her telling her to dry off. At the end of the chapter, Io walks in on Mizuki getting dressed and realizes that Mizuki is a girl.
In chapter 15, Mizuki persuades Io not to tell anyone and after that she tells Io her story. At first, Io talked to Mizuki as a parent but once she saw Mizuki's will/desire to stay at the school she rooted her on. After that, Io only made two more comments: you have to be very careful because you are a girl and can you really stay like this forever (going back to chapter 12 where she passed out by her vest). After the talk Mizuki went off in her own little world wondering what she would do next and wondering how long could she pretend to be a boy when her breasts were still growing and her love for Sano was increasing by the minute. The next night, Mizuki and Makita are returning home from a trip to the grocery store when Makita stops the car and tells Mizuki that he loves her. Back at the hotel, Kagurazaka tells Sano that Makita and Mizuki are all alone in a car and then Io reports that Makita had just called to let them know his car had died. Sano immediately bolts out the door and then the scene goes back to Mizuki and Makita. Mizuki tries to get out of the car but Makita locked all the doors and then he threw himself on her. Makita slowly started taking off Mizuki's shirt and then realizes she has a vest on, as he is unzipping her vest Sano breaks threw the door and kicks the shit out of Makita. When Sano tries to help Mizuki up she has a quick vision of the near rape and bolts out of the car. At the end of the chapter, Sano manages to catch up to Mizuki and calm her down, and then she faints and they make there way back to the hotel.
In chapter 16, Mizuki and Sano fall down a cliff on the way back to the hotel. When Mizuki wakes up she remembers what happened in the car and how Sano had saved her. Sano walks in sometime around then and after they talk for a while, Sano realizes that Mizuki has a fever. When Sano tries to go find help by himself Mizuki freaks out and begs him not to leave her. At that moment Sano realizes how scared Mizuki was and agrees. Mizuki quickly falls asleep and then Nakatsu and Io show up to the rescue. The next day Mizuki's fever had gone down and Io tells her that Makita had left and that Sano had stayed by her side the whole night. After Mizuki thanks Sano, the three of them get ready to leave the hotel because vacations over. At the end of volume 3 Mizuki finds out that Sano refused to go out with Tamami and then the trio from Osaka High get a farewell from Kagurazaka, IO, and Kyomi.
Extras:
The only extras would have to be the basic author commentary in between chapters and a short comic about the author's everyday life. Not much to talk about here.
Content Warnings:
-Language: No
-Violence: Yes
-Nudity: Yes
-Sexual Situations: Yes
Overall:
An outstanding volume! To say that this is a good volume is not giving it enough credit. It is full of memorable scenes and situations which makes this volume one of the best in manga production. The artwork is excellent, the storyline is top notch, and the characters have never seemed better. Hana-Kimi volume 3 raises the bar of what shoujo mangas should strive to be.
+ Many memoral scenes that will stay with you for a lifetime.
- Volume 4's release date is almost a full year after 3.
Score: 10/10
