Aoi Hana

Aoi Hana ( Japanese 青い花 , Blue Flower ' ), also known as Sweet Blue Flowers , is a Japanese Yuri - manga series, which by Takako Shimura was written and illustrated. The series, published from November 2004 to July 2013, was adapted in 2009 by an anime television series of the same name .

action

The normal student Akira Okudaira moves back to the city of her childhood after almost 10 years of absence to attend the prestigious Fujigaya girls' school. Before she can settle in there, Fumi Manjôme, who is attending the nearby Matsuoka girls' school, makes a terrible discovery for her. Her friend and older cousin Chizu Hanashiro has now found a man whom she now wants to marry. This breaks the dreams of the tall but easy to cry Fumi, who has been attending school since then.

One day she accompanies her mother to a former friend and meets her former childhood friend Akira. During this time, when Fumi still suffers from her love pains, Akira often keeps her company and they eventually meet in a theater club organized by Matsuoka.

Akira gets additional support from her schoolmate Kyōko Ikumi, who is in love with Yasuko Sugimoto, but is rejected by her. Meanwhile, Yasuko and Fumi meet in the library and begin a love affair. This is where Fumi against Akira her the moment out coming- has. Not really knowing how to react, Akira finally offers her support for the new relationship.

Characters

Fumi Manjōme ( 万 城 目 ふ み , Manjōme Fumi )

She is a tall student attending Matsuoka Girls School. Contrary to her tall stature, however, she is very close to tears, which has continued from childhood into old age. She is not very open and largely hides her lesbian nature.

Akira Okudaira ( 奥 平 あ き ら , Okudaira Akira )

Akira is an innocent and bright girl in the first year of the Fujigaya girls' school . Friends of Fumi since childhood, she moved away 10 years before the main plot began and eventually started high school in the place where she grew up.

Emergence

When illustrator Takako Shimura was writing her manga Dōnika Naru Hibi , this sparked her interest in writing a story between girls. This ultimately led to her idea for Aoi Hana . Though Takako felt that the plot should focus on girls for Yuri works, she also incorporated several male characters as these could add an interesting aspect to the series. She herself judged that it was difficult to find a good balance for the male characters as she did not want to add too many. In the case of the characters themselves, she refrained from depicting the pubertal phase and, according to her own statements, had a feeling of sexual perversion because she wrote about Yuri relationships.

Before Takako started working on Aoi Hana , she and her editor visited the city of Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture to visit the local literature museum. She took a lot of pictures and got the idea that Kamakura was a good place for her new story. With a guide in hand, she visited many different places in the city, some of which were also found in the manga. For example, the exterior of the Fujigaya School was designed based on the museum. The interior of the school, however, was designed after an estate in Komaba Park in Meguro , Tokyo , as shown in Chapter 11.

Manga

The manga , written and drawn by Takako Shimura , was published in November 2004 as part of the 30th issue of Manga Erotics F magazine, published by Ohta Publishing . In May 2013, the 81st issue of the magazine announced that the manga would end in the 82nd issue, due on July 6, 2013. On the occasion of the end of the manga, a longer interview with the author was published in this issue.

A first bound edition ( Tankōbon ) of Aoi Hana appeared on December 15, 2005. On September 12, 2013, Volume 8 was the last volume published in Japan.

Outside Japan, the series was licensed in France by Kazé , who published the first six volumes under the title Fleurs Bleues between June 11, 2009 and May 15, 2013 under the sub-label Éditions Asuka. A Chinese translation is published in Taiwan by Ching Win and a Korean by JoongAng Books. An Italian edition will be published by Renbooks from March 2014.

Anime

Television series
Original title	Aoi Hana 青 い 花
Country of production	Japan
original language	Japanese
year	2009
length	24 minutes
Episodes	11 in 1 season
idea	Takako Shimura
music	Takefumi Haketa
First broadcast	July 2, 2009 on Fuji TV
synchronization

The animation studio JCStaff adapted the plot of the manga as an anime television series. The series, also called Aoi Hana , was directed by Kenichi Kasai and was shown on Fuji TV for the first time since July 2, 2009 . There it ran as the third series within the Noise program block .

Parallel to the television broadcasts in Japan, the series was also offered on the Crunchyroll streaming service with English subtitles.

In the opening credits of the series, the title Aoi Hana ( 青 い 花 ) by Kukikodan was used in a short version. The end credits were accompanied by a short version of Sentiforia ( セ ン テ ィ フ ォ リ ア ) by Ceui . Both tracks were released as a single on July 22, 2009 and August 5, 2009, respectively. The soundtrack , composed by Takefumi Haketa , was released on CD on August 26, 2010.

The series was released in Japan between October 23, 2009 and February 25, 2010 on five DVDs. Kōji Yamamoto , producer of anime series at Fuji TV, stated in an interview that no second season of the series would be produced due to poor sales.

synchronization

role	Japanese speaker ( seiyū )
Fumi Manjome	Ai Takabe
Akira Okudaira	Yūko Gibu
Yasuko Sugimoto	Chiemi Ishimatsu
Kyōko Ikumi	Yui Horie

Web links

• Official Website (Japanese)
• Anime News Network about the manga and anime (English)
• Aoi Hana in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ こ の 人 に 訊 く! 志 村 貴子 イ ン タ ビ ュ ー [Ask This Person! Takako Shimura Interview]. Rockin'On Japan, June 2009. (Japanese)
2. ↑ Takako Shimura: Aoi Hana 1 . Ohta Publishing, ISBN 978-4-7783-2005-8 , pp. 190-193 .
3. ↑ Takako Shimura: Aoi Hana 2 . Ohta Publishing, ISBN 978-4-7783-2032-4 , pp. 182 .
4. ↑ Aoi Hana / Sweet Blue Flowers Yuri Manga to End in July. Anime News Network, May 8, 2013, accessed May 8, 2013 . 
5. ↑ 「青 い 花」 完結 、 エ フ に 志 村 貴子 1 万 6000 字 イ ン タ ビ ュ ー . natalie.mu, July 6, 2013, accessed July 6, 2013 (Japanese). 
6. ↑ 青 い 花 8. Ohta Books, accessed December 11, 2013 (Japanese). 
7. ↑ Fleurs Bleues. Éditions Asuka / Kazé, accessed December 11, 2013 (French). 
8. ↑ 青 之 花. (No longer available online.) Ching Win, archived from the original on March 6, 2016 ; Retrieved July 16, 2012 (Chinese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ Arriva “Aoi Hana - The sweet blue flowers”. (No longer available online.) Renbooks, archived from the original on December 23, 2013 ; Retrieved December 11, 2013 (Italian). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ Fuji Producer: No 2nd Aoi Hana Season Due to DVD Sales. Anime News Network, October 31, 2010, accessed May 8, 2011 .