Before I begin, let me just acknowledge Hisaya Nakajo, the author of the manga. She passed away in October 2023 due to a heart condition… I was travelling at the time, so I’ve completely missed the news about this, so seeing this message at the end of the first episode from the Anime Production Committee was quite a shock to me. My heart sunk and I had to take a minute to take that in, especially when it’s already been two years since… It’s really heartbreaking to hear because I really loved this series when I was younger… so I’m really thankful and appreciate that they even put that in the first place. It was a lovely thing to do.
For that reason, I really hope this adaption is done justice, and so far the first two episodes has really shown us the team producing this show has put a lot of love into it.
Rest in peace Hisaya Nakajo.
Eva’s First Impression
It’s been around twenty years since I’ve last read the this manga… (so around 2006 when I fell down the rabbit hole of anime and manga and never looked back since). For perspective, 2026 actually marks the 30th anniversary of Hana Kimi that launched in 1996! So it’s an understatement to say I really don’t remember much of it except for most of the key plot points. So it is exciting to be revisiting this series I loved so much back in the day on a mostly blank slate again.
And man, it was a really good decision to launch this premiere with two episodes, because Mizuki’s reasons for her extreme actions wasn’t explained until the second episode. It definitely wouldn’t have been a good thing to make viewers wait a week to find out, and it would’ve been even worse if they tried to somehow cram it in the first!
So what’s Mitsuki’s reason for going this far, and how did she even come to learn about him in the first place?
It was when she was visiting her grandmother in Japan when she first saw Sano Izumi on television performing the high-jump. His jump was so beautiful, it had captivated her and prompted her to try out track and field. And before she realized it, she fell in love with the sport and has greatly admired Izumi as a athlete ever since. As result, she’s been working hard to try and catch up to him and hopes to one day jump with him. That’s when she got this crazy idea to pull this stunt of posing at a boy at an all-boys school to do just that, only to arrive and learn he had quit the sport.
What an insane plan! The lengths she’d go just to do that would certainly strike anyone who were to hear such as a thing an obsessive fixation on him. Certainly doesn’t help that she hasn’t quite respected his boundaries (like itching closer to him when he’s asleep, or choosing to eavesdrop on conversations he has with others), and from an outsider point of view, she’s absolutely crossing the line and it’s not very cute. This is one example of something that didn’t age that well, because now that I’m grown up, I recognize this kind of behaviour isn’t healthy by any standards, but I digress.
Needless to say, the plan to keep the fact she’s a girl under wraps in an all boy’s school and dormitory for that matter without anyone in the know wasn’t going to be easy to begin with. She had hoped to pass off as a boy with a pretty face just wasn’t going work well when everyone thinks she looks like a girl (because she is). It also doesn’t help that it actually draws more attention to her because of it, and we’re already seeing the consequences of that when Nihonbashi publishes ‘school idol’ materials by taking paparazzi shots and then selling those photos for his own profit or stirring up unfounded rumours. Even worse when they publish scandalous materials like the instance where the dog had knocked Izumi over on top of Mizuki. I’m glad that Izumi gave them a word of warning about it, but it was even better to see Mizuki actually clock the guy when she saw he wasn’t just about to let it go.
But that’s definitely among some of the things I appreciate that sort of grounds the surrealism of this set-up. It goes to show how naive she was in banking that she could just pull this stunt off without running into problems.
So naturally it only made sense that given how unbelievably naive she was to think she could do this without being found out— she proceeded to get found out within a few days of her admission. The first was actually the school doctor Umeda, because DUH, a doctor should be able to catch on to this sort of thing quickly. He made it clear that he know the truth, but he isn’t going to get in her way. It’s none of his business as he says. But in hindsight, he could get into serious trouble for being in the know about the secret, and not reporting to the administrators about it.
The second person confirmed to have caught onto the fact was of course Izumi. He realized it when he picked her up to take to the school’s infirmary after she got a mild concussion when Shuichi accidentally elbowed her in the freaking face (OUCH)! And this is really where Izumi deserves some credit. Despite having discovered she’s a girl, he has simply kept his mouth shut and is minding his own business about it. He’s been handling this better than most people, because most cases most would have confronted Mizuki already, or would have reported it. There’s been times when he had shown he wanted to ask her about it, and audibly murmured under his breath about her being a girl and all (but she didn’t catch it). We’ve also seen him quietly watching out for her, stepping to help exit a conversation, or when he tore down the scandalous photograph, and gave Nihonbashi the warning.
However he did have one moment where he absolutely messed up by not thinking things through when he wanted to retrieve his watch from the bathroom while she was in the shower. Problem was he made the assumption that SURELY she’d have the shower curtain drawn to conceal herself, so it’d be fine just to quickly get his watch and get out— except SHE DIDN’T. LIKE GIRL, IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR GENDER A SECRET, EXERCISE MORE CAUTION! LIKE EVEN THE BATHROOM DOOR WASN’T LOCKED! Seriously, Izumi deserves all the credit for being so mature about this, and still feigning ignorance about knowing the truth.
Apart from these two, there are some other students that have shown suspicion of such, but that’ll be addressed at a later date. But then there’s Shuichi Nakatsu, who’s too oblivious for his own good, and has found himself completely confused over the fact he finds Mizuki attractive, all while thinking she’s a guy. It’s completely throwing him off his game. Poor guy going to be so confused for the longest time until the truth comes out. For the mean time, he already likes her a lot as a friend, even called her his ‘bestie’!
As for the reasons for Izumi quitting the sport, we haven’t gotten all the details on that just yet, but we did get a clue this week. He was caught up in an accident and injured his leg in the process. We don’t know the extent of the injury, but also he claims that’s not the real reason why he quit. Whether that’s true or not is left to be seen.
However it does seem like there’s more to it with how his childhood friend Mika been trying to persuade him to return to the sport. She had served as the manager of the team during middle school, and is the one he had reportedly saved from the accident that resulted a leg injury. Although she says one thing to Mizuki, it seems like she’s being a bit overly persistent herself with the way she’s been following him around too (that is if that was her when she saw him looking out at the track and field as Mizuki did). Notably she did admit to having feelings for him, but it’s unclear whether she’s trying to pursue that or not. Frankly I can’t remember this part, so I don’t know what she’s up to either hahaha! Needless to say, her actions are a bit sus, especially since Izumi has indicated he wasn’t particularly interested in speaking with her either, but did so anyways after Mizuki urged him to.
Overall I enjoyed the premiere a lot, it was well paced and done. While it primarily focused on Mizuki’s attraction and admiration to Izumi, it was quickly established that she’s actually a very talented sprinter. She already broke the 100 meter record, which as result drew even more attention to her from various clubs that want that talent on their teams. So her goal to catch up to Izumi doesn’t seem as far-fetched as one may think. The main obstacle at the moment is being able to compete together for obvious reasons…. But before that, Izumi needs to return to the sport if there to be any hopes of doing so.
With that said, I’m definitely looking to cover this show this season. Heads up this may be one I’ll frequently do double-posts, but as usual I’ll put a notice up that I’m doing so whenever I do! I’m very excited to be watching this, and I have high hopes with how things are looking so far.
Possibility of Blogging: Guaranteed
Possibility of Watching: Absolutely
