Hana to Akuma

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EDIT: I just reread this manga for about the fourth time, and reading my original review made me realize I didn't give it the justice it deserves (and I never will be able to because I don't have that ultimate power). This series is one of the most beautiful and pure romance manga I have ever read.

You might say I'm crazy for giving this series a perfect score, a ten, but trust me when I say this series deservers even more. Could you imagine not wanting to touch the one you care about because you're scared you'll only do harm? Could you imagine knowing ... you will live while your loved one will eventually die? Could you imagine falling for someone you shouldn't have?

Hana to Akuma tells the tale of Vivi and Hana, a demon and a human. Vivi finds Hana alone in the snow as a baby and decides to take care of her "to pass the time". What Vivi didn't plan to do was become so attached to her. Throughout the entire manga you see their love for each other grow. They face obstacles in their journey, some trivial and simple, and other serious and life changing. One obstacle Vivi must face personally is a human boy fancying Hana, something I particularly enjoyed very much. A demon king also comes between the two, even going so far as to make Hana do something that results her experience pian in order to save Vivi's life.

The first couple chapters of Hana to Akuma are sweet and short one-shot like chapters that start to give you a taste of the relationship between Vivi and Hana. As the series moves on their relationship deepens and I know you will begin to understand why this series deserves a ten.

Hana to Akuma is full of sweet moments between the Viva and Hana, as well as very funny and witty comments exchanged from Vivi and his fellow demon friend Felton. True shoujo fans will not be disappointed by Hana to Akuma at all, and I believe those who just like a little bit of romance every now and then will find this to be worth their time.

And come on, have you seen Vivi? :D
~
ORIGINAL: Many people might see Hana to Akuma as your typical shoujo manga. However, I happen to enjoy this series very much. Granted the plot and story take a while to develop, but right now the manga is progressing fairly well. A big twist has just been revealed and I'm dying to know the ending.

The art of the manga isn't so bad either. I think the way the author draws Vivi at his different emotions really shows what kind of person he is. Hana is captured as a pure innocent happy-go-lucky girl. All the other character's appearances really do exemplify their nature.

The characters themselves are alright. Of course Hana and Vivi are my favorite because they are the lead roles. The other characters do have a chance to go through character development in the series, but sometimes I do get annoyed when they are dedicated a whole entire chapter. One of the hardest things to do in anime and manga is developing characters without over shadowing the main leads. Hana to Akuma is 'good' in developing characters, because I have seen worse.

Overall, this is one of my favorite manga series. I'm a shoujo fangirl period, and I feel like this manga shows a lot of shoujo characteristics. Vivi always ends up saving Hana. Hana yearns for Vivi, and later on he does too. Vivi tries do deny his feelings, as does Hana. They both get jealous when the other is with the opposite sex.. . and so on.

I recommend this manga to anyone who'd like to get a taste of shouja manga. It's a good way to start. Also, Vivi isn't half that bad XD

I honestly have no clue why this manga has such a high rating when there's so much wrong with it. Since all the reviews were basically "this manga is perfect, 10/10" I decided to write a review of my own.

Hana to Akuma is the story of a demon coming to the human world and adopting a young human girl and raising her. This is a love story between the two. My immediate reaction: gross. Apparently I'm the only one who seems to have a problem with a father figure developing romantic feelings for the girl he raised and vice versa. I find it disgusting. ... Forgive me for not having a thing for wife husbandry or Electra complexes.

If you're fine with father-daughter incest (I don't care if they're not related by blood; it's still basically incest), then go ahead. You should know, however, that the romance is reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally drawn out. One doesn't realize their feelings until the late 30s or early 40s chapters, and the other doesn't realize until chapter 47. Out of 58. While you see their relationship throughout all of those chapters, they already love each other, so you don't really see any development in that aspect. You just see them already having a close relationship. It basically reminds me of my fanfiction: I suck at writing romance development so I just say "here, timeline skip. During that time they fell in love." Even I know that's crap writing.

Then there's the characters. Pretty stereotypical. One's a really dark character who only shows his soft side to one person. A womanizer. A woman who tames the womanizer. Then of course there's Hana. Oh, Hana. She has to be one of the stupidest characters I have ever encountered. I read the manga "Naruto", and I have to say that this girl is dumber than Naruto Uzumaki. NARUTO UZUMAKI. That's a feat right there. You can't say it's because she's fourteen because when I was fourteen I wasn't anywhere NEAR that idiotic. I don't care if characters acknowledge that she's stupid; it's still annoying as heck.

Despite all this, I did enjoy the manga. For enjoyment, I'd probably give it a 7, though overall, considering the story, art, characters and wife husbandry/Electra complex, I'm going to have to give it a 6. Still, despite the low rating, I will say that I don't regret reading this. Except for the ending. I read the ending and was like, "WTF just happened?"

Most people who review or read reviews tend to be fans of whichever given piece of work, so I don't expect a lot of people to appreciate this. But regardless, these are my thoughts after fully reading Hana to Akuma.

The premise itself is simple. Demon comes to earth. Demon finds child. Demon raises child. Demon and child proceed to get together.

If one part of this doesn't seem fitting, then congratulations, you're a human being with a healthy outlook on what sort of relationship is moral or not, and have a decent idea of the age and conditions needed for a person to have a knowledgeable ... opinion on love and responsibility of making such a decision.

Unfortunately, the author of this work (as well as many fans) does not share these qualities.

Let me get something out of the way first, for whoever hasn't already stopped reading. I'm a hopeless sap. I'm a romantic at heart. I go out of my way to find and read romantic manga, feel-good stories, happy endings, etc. They're what I mostly like to read, because they represent the sort of ideal happy-ending that I know is impossible for real life to achieve.

Because of this, I could not truly hate Hana no Akuma. Despite it's many (and there are many) flaws, I could not stop myself from getting drawn in, at least to a decent degree. That is why my score is even as high as it is. Considering how deeply troubling the rest of my impression of this work is, a 3 is much higher than I want to give it.

Anyway, as I said, the author does not seem to understand how deeply unsettling and even outright creepy his work is.

It's an ode to pedophilia and incest, thinly disguised with terrible excuses and bad explanations. Hana is no older than 14 when Vivi begins making romantic overtures and eventually realizes his feelings for her. Vivi who, as it happens, is also 200 years old. That might sound like a fantastical number so I'll disregard that. For the purposes of understanding this story, Vivi is an adult. His exact age doesn't matter. He's a fully grown adult, already completely established as person before Hana was even born.


There is an argument to be made about relationships with a big age gap. After all, age is just a number after a certain point. That is true, of course, but 14 is NOT that number. Not even close. What the hell. To anyone reading, forget that this is a drama manga for just a second and bring to your mind the last 14 year old kid you happened to see. Does that seem like a person capable of making decisions and life-choices, never mind deciding commitments with 200 year old demons who find themselves attracted to their adopted daughter?

The series tries to fool itself and us with the whole '3 year time skip' thing, but it doesn't succeed. All the feelings already exist, all the characters know what's going on. Hell, by this point they've shared several actual kisses, most of them initiated by the older man between them. No one is fooled.


Which brings me to my second point. Incest. True, they are not related by blood. It's technically safe. That's not the point. Vivi raised Hana. He found her when she was a baby. Hana's earliest memories were of him. He taught her to speak, to walk, to run, to dress. He was there for all phases in her life. He was, for all intents and purposes, her father.


Even the romantic in me could not help but cringe at regular intervals at seeing this play out. When I stopped to consider it it made my stomach churn, if just by its implications.


It's a huge shame, too. The first several chapters, before even the tiniest hint of romantic interest, the manga is at its best. When Hana and Vivi are nothing more than father and daughter, the series hits a level of effortless quality that no amount of cheap drama gags will ever bring it. The entire storyline could have been based on the love a father shares with his daughter, biological or not, but no because this is manga and we need to have romance between the leads, damn it!

The manga could have been something truly inspiring if it didn't fight so hard to stick to conventions and appeal to the very niche crowd that seems to like softcore pedophilia (Oh, sorry. Is 'loli' the right term?) coupled with incest.

There is also the fact that Hana's deep obsession and almost physical dependence on Vivi, would, in real life, be considered actual cause for worry and require the help of professionals to solve. This sort of dependence and obsession (especially as displayed in the first 20 chapters or so) is not healthy in any stretch of the word, even ignoring the incest that will eventually occur.

Beyond the deeply unsettling and creepy backdrop of the entire series, there were several other issues that also helped reduce points. The art was passable, but barely so. It was not good, but not terrible either.

Then, we have the fact that series doesn't even try not to just abuse dramatic cliches to extend itself and create fake drama that everyone knows will be solved without too much trouble. The sort of facepalm-y unrealistic misunderstandings and retarded situations that only occur in fiction because real life doesn't work that way.

Then there was Hana's frankly annoying trend to alternate between referring herself on the third person and the first. Honestly, characters who refer to themselves on the third person are ridiculous and annoying in the first place, but those who aren't even consistent in doing so are even worse. Perhaps that was a translation problem, however, so I won't hold it against the story itself.

There were some decent things about it, however. The Demon King being the prime example. Perhaps the one actually enjoyable character to follow.
Also, there were hints of an interesting setup in the little we learned of the demon world and Vivi's place in it, but that was sadly cast aside for even more ridiculous tearjerker moments.

In the end, for all that the romantic sap in me wants to like this, there are too many things wrong with it. It could have gone for something original - the building blocks were certainly there. It could have done something different, something better than the usual senseless dramatic drivel. There was nothing unpredictable, nothing realistic, nothing that spoke of actual quality storytelling in this manga.

It could have been all those things and more but, unfortunately, it is not.