Anime Hajime Review: Aoi Hana

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Aoi Hana. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

When they were kids, Fumi Manjome (voiced by Ai Takabe) and Akira Okudaira (voiced by Yuko Gibu) were inseparable. When Fumi’s family moved away, the two lost touch. Years later in high school, they are reunited. And some things haven’t changed.

Fumi is still shy and prone to tears. And Akira will jump to support her beloved friend. While that’s all well and good, not all things have stayed the same.

Over the past few months, Fumi has been going through a difficult period. Unsure of what to do, she is at a loss. It is at this time she meets Yasuko Sugimoto (voiced by Chiemi Ishimatsu). The two grow close and soon begin dating.

With Sugimoto at her side and Akira as her support, Fumi starts to enjoy her high school life. Unfortunately, things are shaping up to be even more uncertain.

Sugimoto must face her own demons. Putting her relationship with Fumi at risk. At the same time, Fumi fears what all this could mean. Fortunately for Fumi, she still has Akira who has always been there for her.

Series Positives

Aoi Hana was a slow burn. Though it was a drama, it wasn’t filled with dramatic plot points. It took its time. Making each step deliberate and purposeful. The question becomes, did this help or hurt the show?

The answer is, yes.

Fumi

I enjoyed Aoi Hana. I’m glad I watched it. For what it did, it did well. Yet, as we’ll get into, it still may not have achieved what it wanted to do. There was the story we got. Then there was the actual point. The former was done better than the latter.

That aside, it was a nice series at the end of the day. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Akira

To start, the artwork of Aoi Hana was beautiful. Storybook-esc even. I’ve been to Kamakura, where the story takes place. The animation was quite fitting for the area. It is a breathtaking place. Pairing that with the soundtrack, the show created a calming atmosphere. Perhaps ‘calming’ isn’t the right word. The feel was more somber.

Aoi Hana did an amazing job of not over explaining. Instead of saying what was happening or what has happened, it showed it. You’re always aware. You could tell what characters were going through. You could see it on their faces and in their actions. No one said they liked something because of this and that. There was a clear understanding of everyone’s relationships. There wasn’t much exposition.

Sugimoto

And I can tell you, I was never bored. I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. Although it was a slower paced anime, Aoi Hana’s end did sneak up on me. It was over before I knew it. Okay, only part of that was due to my engagement to the plot. I was also waiting for something that never came to be.

If you think I’m referring to something based on the nature of what this show is, that’s not true. In fact, that’s another positive to Aoi Hana.

Now I’m only going to use this word once in this review. And I’m going to use it so I can make it clear that this wasn’t what this series was. Aoi Hana is not a yuri. Or at least it doesn’t carry the connotations one might think of when they hear that word.

If you’re interested in this show only for the possibility of girls kissing at every twist and turn tough luck.  That’s not Aoi Hana. This is a romance. And it’s a pretty good one too.

Fumi’s Story

Fumi had a hell of a time in this series. She had to run through a gauntlet of emotional extremes. From highs to lows and there and back again. It would take its toll on anyone. Let alone a high schooler. But what made it a good watch was how natural it all came across.

Fumi’s bliss, depression, anxiety, and jealousy were never over exaggerated. She had reasons for all them. You could never blame her for feeling the way she did at any given point. You wanted her and Sugimoto to work out. They both did care for each other. Their feelings towards one another were genuine.

And that’s a good way to describe it. Genuine.

How everyone felt, was genuine. No one was ever mean for the sake of being mean. Yes, Sugimoto, at one point, was rather harsh. One could even argue cruel. But it was coming from something. She was going through her own issues.

Poor Fumi just happened to be at the center of it all. She had the misfortune of coming into a person’s life at a big crossroads. Under different circumstances, things could’ve worked out. And, to be honest, if this showed continued, they still could.

While the term got thrown around, I don’t think anyone ever felt it. No one hated anyone. Sure, they got angry, but that’s different. This goes back into that genuineness I was referring to. Emotions were high and feelings were deep. You can’t make those go away. You need time, and often a lot of it, for that to happen.

This was why I liked Aoi Hana. It didn’t need to be over dramatic. It didn’t have to have to shout or make a scene. There was a good amount of communication. Characters could tell each other, “I’m mad at you. I don’t want to talk to you.” Or my favorite, which may come as a shock. “Thank you.”

And I believed it.

An Important Scene  

There was a moment between Akira and Fumi I have to talk about. It took me so off guard. I almost thought it was a negative at first. I’ve not seen this type of scene in anime. And I’m very glad it exists.

Fumi told Akira everything. How she was in love with and dating Sugimoto. As she said this, she was visibly having a hard time. And for the life of me, I couldn’t understand why.

In my head, I was thinking in storytelling terms. This appeared to be a confession scene. Not a confession of love, but of betrayal. Somehow, in her mind, Fumi being in love with someone other than Akira was that betrayal. That was strange to me.

Up to this point, there was nothing which indicated Fumi and Akira had feelings for each other. Other than friends, that is. There was no reason, under these terms, why this should be the case. But what threw me for the biggest loop was when Fumi thought Akira would now look at her with disgust.

What? What an odd thing to say.

This was baffling to me. I had to take a moment to wrap my head around what had occurred. Nothing was adding up.

It wasn’t until later I realized I was operating under a gross misunderstanding. I made an assumption and that assumption was my mistake. What happened between Fumi and Akira wasn’t a confession scene. It was Fumi’s coming-out scene.

The moment that clicked, it made sense why I didn’t understand. I’ve never experienced this. So even when it happened right before my eyes, I didn’t recognize it as such. What Fumi did, I can only imagine, was hard to do.

This may have been a love story. But there was more to it than that. There was a lot more to it than that. For this reason alone, regardless of what I’m about to say, Aoi Hana is worth checking out.

Series Negatives

Let’s go back to what we were talking about earlier. How everything was deliberate. Everything had a purpose. And what Aoi Hana managed to do was great. But it didn’t succeed in doing what it wanted to do.

To reiterate, this was a good show. It was a good love story. Between Fumi and Sugimoto. Everything else came off as secondary. But it was all connected to this one point. The issue is, this single point was secondary in itself.

The focus was, or at least I thought, Fumi and Akira. Their relationship was the center. Except for a long time the series didn’t do anything with it. This was put on the back burner. As if it was being saved. This told me something would break. That the show would take a shift.

And in this action, Aoi Hana put itself between a rock and a hard place.

If the series focused on Fumi and Akira too late, it would come off as forced. If it did it too soon, it needed to make the beginning have a point. If it didn’t happen at all, why was Akira here? Take a wild guess which road Aoi Hana went down.

Akira’s Purpose

I keep talking about the point of this show. I’m not going to say what it is. I’d rather you figure it out and see it for yourself. I will mention two things though.

One, the actual point could've been one of the several thought-provoking ideas brought up in this series. There really wasn't any distinction until the end.

Two, Akira was key in making this point work. Too bad you could remove her from the story. You can do this because Aoi Hana already has one. That’s the relationship between Fumi and Sugimoto.

Akira’s actions did little to move the show along. Yes, she was a support for Fumi. But that could’ve been anyone. Or anything for that matter. There was nothing in this series which qualified Akira as a main character.

Now if you’re going to tell me Fumi and Akira didn’t have to end up together, you’re right. I agree with you. And based on what I saw in this show, I don’t think they were ever going to. But I do believe that was the direction the show wanted to take.

I don’t usually pull this card, but it does prove my point. All you need to do is watch the opening credits. How could you not think Akira would play an important role in this series? Then when that doesn’t happen, the whole reason for everything gets thrown up in the air.

Final Thoughts

To sum it up, Aoi Hana had two ideas going at once. And one got more attention than the other. They were similar, but they didn’t complement each other. They could’ve been their own separate thing, which is a shame. Had these ideas been mixed better, this show would’ve been much stronger.

But what is here is still pretty good.

For you romance fans out there, this is a different style than you may be used to. That’s why I recommend it. This series didn’t get over dramatic and it didn’t need to either. The feelings, the emotions, everything you’d expect in a love story does come out. And it comes out in an effective and worthwhile way.

Aoi Hana won’t be a regret.

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