Himawari-san

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I loved Himawari-san.

It's not your typical GL. In fact, very little happens on the surface when it comes to GL. The story is told through slight movements, subtle hints, metaphors, flashbacks, and meaningful stares. It's like everybody understands everything, but they never say it.

You have probably heard that, in Japan, the phrase meaning "The moon is beautiful tonight" is a subtle way of confessing your love. Well, this double-layered, simply phrased, and profoundly meaningful narrative is what you should expect from this wonderful manga. It is absolutely brilliant. Poignantly beautiful. With its aching exuberance of veiled innuendos and barely concealed vulnerability, this whole story is ... a masterpiece where you get almost no action. It's not a CGDCT; it barely counts as a slice of life, although it bears traces of both. Moreover, arguably as a reward for being so invested, you even get the actual phrase about the moon at a certain point.

In the end, it is a very poetic and deliberately understated love story in which you hardly see any literal, obvious love. It is very gentle, kind, and slightly sad. There is an abundance of love under the surface, though. It is truly beautiful. But it's like a haiku stretched across 13 volumes. Minimalistic and painfully profound. Unless you are ready to read this mass of meanings between the lines, it would hardly impress you. Of course, it's alright if you aren't. I write this just to let you know what to expect from this manga, after all.

I can't recommend it enough. But, I understand it, not everyone is after things like that. If you're looking for a more "traditional" yuri with emotional struggle and self-doubt, this isn't what you're looking for. But if you are looking for an extended ode to love that retains the minimalistic essence of concise Japanese poetry, that's your best shot.

"Himawari-san" is a pure love story between a young bookstore owner and a terribly smitten girl who comes to visit her every day from the high school nearby.

The story takes its time to develop the relationship between the two girls as it focuses on illustrating how books can profoundly shape our lives and relationships. It explores what's fundamentally human about wanting to tell stories and wanting to read them.

Each character in this story is made of love. They exist because of love. Through tough times, they keep going because of love. They smile, they laugh, and they cry all because of love. They write because ... of love. They read because of love. We see this time and time again as we're taken through their lives, from difficult pasts to the present day-to-day. Through ends and beginnings across generations in an old bookstore that soon feels like home, to us as much as the characters.

If you'd like to smile, laugh, and cry, please try picking this story up. Just as Miss Sunflower says herself, the random chance of coming across a particular gem of a story in an ocean filled with them is one of the many things that makes falling in love so fun.


~~
"The blissful warmth from having her by my side reminded me of the days from back then, because just as Miss Sunflower had offered words of forgiveness, Matsuri has always given me words of love."
~~

Himawari-san is something you read after reading a hardcore plot manga.My reason is because the story flow slowly.

The character development is slow.As example,Matsuri.I still felt that I dunno this girl properly.There is also only one male character,Himawari brother.I'm not a shoujo-ai fan so I think there is not enough male character in this manga.There also new character for each episode that I thought is the reason for the slow character development.

On the other hand,I admire the art.It was drawn beautifully.I also use the art to make reference when I'm drawing my own.

Overall,it is a nice story.The reason I attracted to read this because of the ...
'book' themed in this manga since Himawari-san work in a bookstore.It quite normal for this kind of theme to have a slow plot,so I seriously don't mind.

I recommend this manga to shoujo-ai fans and to those who want to take a break after reading a hardcore manga.

























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