Rivals and relationships.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Yuki Shiwasu
Translation: JN Productions
Adaptation: Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane
What They Say
Hana’s usual Christmas family celebration gets canceled, so she can’t help but feel disappointed at the prospect of spending Christmas Eve alone. Takane decides to ask Hana out to dinner for that night, but then a beautiful medical school student named Rino shows up declaring her love for Takane! Does this mean Hana has a love rival?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
It’s the end of the cultural festival and there is a particular air between Nicola and Mizuki. In addition to Hana barely being able take Takane’s haughty attitude and nitpicking everything, Takane can’t handle a crowd. They go to Hana’s classroom where Takane goes through her desk and oddly apologizes for the situation with Kirigasaki.
Takane shows up with his cousin, Hiromi, and it turns out fourth grader Hiromi idolizes Takane. Takane is suddenly called away to work and Hana is left figuring out what to do with the bratty cousin. Hana brings Hiromi over to Okamoto’s, so Hiromi can play with Okamoto’s little brother. Things look good at first, but the boys end up in a little spat and Hana has to find a way to smooth it all over.
Christmas is coming up and Hana’s usual family plans have all fallen through. She goes out without her friends and ends up winning a Christmas tree in a lottery and they all decide to bring it to Takane’s place since he has the room. When Hana is left alone with Takane, the topic of Christmas Eve comes up. He suggests she keep the day open.
Just as things are looking rosy for the holiday, a beautiful woman name Rino shows up at Takane’s door. She’s working on becoming a doctor and is rather touchy-feely with Takane. Rino is a kohai of Takane’s from high school. Hana is trying to figure out what is going one when Takane makes it clear Hana is his partner from the marriage interview. Rino instantly spats out that Takane and her also had some sort of promise. She refuses to leave unless Takane promises to have a date with her for Christmas. He compromises and promises to see her on the 23rd and makes sure she’s aware it’s not a date.
Takane adamantly states Rino is not her girlfriend and insists that Hana go with him on the 23rd when he meets up with Rino. Before that even happens, Hana runs into Rino. Rino challenges Hana’s feelings for Takane including telling her it’s some kind of a phase. When the 23rd arrives, Rino is angry she is not alone with Takane, but is instead of Okamoto’s family restaurant for a large party. The party is lively and stressful for all present. But the biggest surprise is that Rino isn’t a girl.
In Summary:
This is story is seriously growing on me. I think the best parts of the story is the supportive cast. Don’t get me wrong, the main story of Takane and Hana is good, but Nicola and Hana’s friends are simply awesome characters. The newest edition of Rino is the icing on the cake. And what is the best is the way the author beautifully treated Rino as a transgender character. In Japan’s general media, it’s often seen that men that dress up like women are objects of comedy and are not taken seriously. This is also often depicted in manga too. Transgender characters are not exactly unusual across all genres in manga, but rarely is the character depicted as well as this author did. Not a lot of time was even spent on Rino and her background, but what was said was exceptionally respectfully. That earned a big thumbs up for me.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: C+
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Shojo Beat (Viz)
Release Date: October 2, 2018
MSRP: $9.99
