Hana-Kimi:
For You In Full Blossom volume 5
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(quoted from the back of Hana-Kimi volume 5)
DRAG RACE
It�s the final day of Osaka High School Festival, and two big competitions are still up in the air: the relay race and the cross-dressing pageant! You�d think Mizuki, an actual XX chromosome girl disguised as a boy at an all-guy high school, would be a better cross-dresser than her classmates, but things are never so easy�and what if winning the contest blows her cover? That might be a relief for her classmate Nakatsu, who doesn�t know that Mizuki�s a girl, just that he�s in love with her. But when a real girl falls in love with Nakatsu, his love life might get even more complicated....
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Hana-Kimi volume 5 contains:
Hana Kimi chapter 21
Hana Kimi chapter 22
Hana Kimi chapter 23
You and Me and the May Garden
Hana Kimi chapter 24
Hana Kimi chapter 25
Bonus: Hana Kimi Popularity Poll
About the Author
Previews
Storyline:
After having a whole volume with no progress in Mizuki and Sano�s relationship things start to heat up. Sano confesses his feelings to Mizuki (although Mizuki doesn�t hear it), and Nakatsu realizes that he has fallen in love with his classmate, Mizuki. All the relationships are rapidly developing, thus throwing obstacles in the way of Mizuki and Sano�s relationship. The only downfall might be the fact that the story seems almost a bit too quick at times. Events are progressing very fast (except Sano and Mizuki�s relationship!!!), but otherwise, Hana-Kimi�s storyline is not something any shoujo fan would want to miss.
Artwork:
Hana-Kimi has always had very detailed drawings. The characters fit the story perfect, although, most of the guys have very feminine details, although, this gives the series a very unique look. Unfortunately, there is an occasional empty space in the background, but the artwork works well enough with the story to make the few flaws, into memorable moments.
Characters/Character Development:
Mizuki and Sano are once again the stars of the series and the time has come for their relationship to start progressing! After the festival Sano has realized that he wants to be with Mizuki no matter what and he even confesses his feelings to her (although she wasn�t able to hear it). Nakatsu also gets a lot of air time in this volume as he is forced to choose between a cute girl and Mizuki, who he thinks is a guy. Overall, a lot of the older characters are getting plenty of time to shine in this volume.
Summary (Warning: May Contain Spoilers)
In chapter 21, Mizuki is still shaky from her surprise attacks from the last volume. She can�t fall asleep so when she is heading to bead, Sano asks her to sleep with him (not sexually), and then she falls asleep. The next morning, Nakatsu finds them and he freaks out. Once at school, the festival is still going on, and one of the final events, the Miss Beauty Pageant, is about to take place.
In chapter 22, the time for the top four cross-dressers has come, and Mizuki made it into the top 4! Seeing her as a threat for the win, Dorm 1 kidnaps Mizuki and then tries to undress her for blackmail. Of course, Mizuki isn�t going to let them find out that she�s a girl so she fights them the whole way only to be rescued by Sano and Nakatsu. At the end of the chapter, Sano puts his head on Mizuki and is just glad she�s alright.
In chapter 23, after Mizuki had been rescued by Sano and Nakatsu, the pageant ends up a loss for all the dorms to a mysterious person (the other three finalists were disqualified), so all the points were up to the final relay race. After winning the relay race, dorm 2 wins at the festival and at the end of the chapter Sano and Mizuki are walking to the dorm. When Mizuki asks Sano why he was acting strange towards the end of the festival, he replies because he was thinking about her, although the wind blows at that moment so Mizuki never hears what he said.
In between chapter 23 and 24 is a short side story, since it doesn�t really affect the plot it will be omitted from the summary.
In chapter 24, the festival is over and now everyone in Dorm 2 is depressed because of the crappy victory prize. Nakatsu can�t seem to get Mizuki out of his mind and it�s affecting his school and sports. After inviting Mizuki to go see one of his games, he ends up losing the game for the team because he spent the whole game thinking about how he is in love with a guy (who really isn�t). At the end of the game, a girl approaches Nakatsu and asks if he would go out with her.
In chapter 25, Nakatsu hasn�t given the girl an answer yet on whether or not he�d go out with her. Also, a new character is introduced in this chapter: the Sano-obsessed reporter, Kinu. Kinu is the reporter who wrote 99.99% of the articles about Sano. Mizuki gets kind of jealous, but when Kinu notices how much Mizuki hangs out with Sano she sets her eyes on Mizuki. At the end of the chapter, Nakatsu goes to Mizuki�s room and they end of drinking (he�s drinking away his sorrows!), when Mizuki passes out, Nakatsu finally kisses her.
Extras:
Other then the basic extras that have been included in every volume, this time we are given the extra story �You and Me and the May Garden,� which is actually a very interesting read. Not only that, but it gives more depth into Mizuki�s character which is always a plus. I hate to say this, but I�m glad that there aren�t a ton of extras in this series. Every chapter of Hana-Kimi is very engaging and it takes away from the experience when you realized that you might have gotten another chapter instead of some random story (although for this volume, I�ll make an exception). Still, this volume continues with the usual author commentaries and so on (check the other reviews if you haven�t figured out the pattern by now).
Content Warnings:
-Language: No
-Violence: Yes
-Nudity: No
-Sexual Situations: Yes
Overall:
With the festival arc ending and a new section beginning, Hana-Kimi 5 manages to give the audience an extremely entertaining read. The older characters are getting some more depth, the storyline is holding strong, and the art is just as beautiful as ever. If you�re a shoujo fan and you haven�t already started this series, then you don�t know what you�re missing. Cross dressing has never been this good�
+ Sano and Mizuki�s relationship is finally starting to pick up thanks to the festival, and the love triangles are getting complicated, in a good way.
- Some of the events seem a little to well placed at times, and fans outside shoujo may not enjoy Hana-Kimi as much.
Score: 8.5/10
