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"Someone is in love with me...
...said, 'I love you' to me, even...
...and it's a girl"

*does contain spoilers*

Aoi Hana is a romantic yuri high school drama by Takako Shimura telling the story of Okudaira Akira and Manjoume Fumi - two childhood friends separated from each others ten years before, who now reunite by going to high school in the same town. Sounds like an average high school romance story? Don't be fooled. Although it may seem like a light-hearted romantic comedy with some drama at first, Aoi Hana evolves into a beautifully written growth story before one realizes.

Aoi Hana is a very strong manga in many ... points of view. I could talk about all these strongpoints for hours, but there is one aspect which can't be emphasized enough and which I will try to set my focus on - characters. Shimura masters character design on every level. The characters are likable, interesting and they feel real. While many of the side-characters are important and realistic, and each of them seems to be giving some sort of a lesson or life-advice to the main characters, I'll be focusing on Akira and Fumi for the sake of trying to keep this semi-short.
Like said, Akira and Fumi, like most of the characters in this manga, are very realistic. They don't really possess any clear attributes that would make them fill a certain role in the story, but they rather act differently towards different people and in different situations, just like real people do. It's easy to make a mistake and get a certain picture of these two by the first few chapters. Akira, for example, seems light-hearted, easy-going and childish person at first, but when she's with Fumi she acts quite the opposite: she's very protective towards her, mostly due to the nature of their childhood friendship. Fumi, however, sees this in a very different way. She has always been shy and unsocial, and this is how Akira still sees her after ten years have passed. But although Fumi seems all the same from the outside, she has really grown from the inside, being much more mature than Akira realizes. Fumi has experienced the hardships and joys of her first love, discovering her sexual identity and feelings, taking her first wavering steps towards adulthood.

And this is the aspect that makes Aoi Hana such a beautiful and well-written story - character development. It may take several chapters to understand how Akira and Fumi grow as the story goes on. It happens very silently, by having to find answers to their respective personal questions such as the difference between friendship and love, understanding ones sexuality and the very meaning of love itself. These are all problems that everyone has to face in one way or another in their youth, and the way these characters confront them is done in an undescribably beautiful way. Fumi has suffered a heartbreak right before the beginning of the actual story, and this greatly affects her life in high school. She is lucky to accompany with Akira again to get support when she needs it. She is having a very hard time trying to figure all the things - including her true self - out, and she really does get my sympathies. Akira on the other hand hasn't experienced her first love as we call it, and when finding out Fumi's feelings for her she naturally is thrown into a difficult situation which might even lead to the end of their friendship. This marks a turning point in the manga, where we no longer focus on Fumi - the seemingly weaker character out of the two - but Akira, who now finds herself pondering these questions she never had to deal with before. And while we see all this, all the different sides and habits of the characters, all the problems a growing teenager has to fight with, all the heartbreaks, pain and misery, all the realistic joy and bliss, we realize just how close we have grown to these characters, and how we can relate to everything they're going through. This is a very strong feeling, and as you feel these characters mature, you will soon learn that you have grown, too, with these characters in this long-lasting manga.

And the setting this all takes place in; the beautiful scenery and landscapes of Fujigaya drawn in marvelous detail by Takako Shimura. It all feels like a dream you get to see over and over again, making it a familiar, nostalgic place close to your heart, up to the point that it feels like you've lived there for years. Every street and every caféteria, every commuter train, classroom and school library gives off a pleasant or not-so-pleasant memory. There is tragedy in the air, there is great humor and laughter giving a pleasant feel of innocent high school times the girls have with their friends. And when the graduation is closing in, it really feels bad to know you soon have to say goodbye to this magic that feels so familiar to you.

It's undescribable and almost scary how addictive and emotional this manga can be. The sudden realization that you have walked a long journey with these characters, the empathy you feel for them, makes you want to encourage them in all situations. For some reason Aoi Hana had a really personal impact on me. At some point I found myself so emotionally attached to Akira's and Fumi's relationship that worrying about what would eventually happen with the two of them made it hard for me to focus on some basic things of my daily life. I came up with some very sad and depressive scenarios in my mind, and was truly scared and worried for the sake of these two. When reading through the last few chapters at night, I burst into tears several times. This is something extremely unusual for me, but Aoi Hana was able to do it, and nothing has really done it to me the same way since. This was the point where I realized what a masterpiece this manga truly is. This is also the final reason I treasure Aoi Hana more than any other manga I've ever read.

Even if you're not really in for the yuri genre all that much, I still highly recommend this piece if you are in any way interested in a cute and beautiful high-school love story. There are male characters and hetero-romances too, but personally I think their most important role is to create contrast to the fragrant and beautiful relationship Fumi and Akira share. While mainly concentrating on the concept of love and its true meaning, Aoi Hana also scratches the issue of difficulties and hardships between the love of two girls. Who knows, maybe it'll make you value the idea of same-sex relationships a bit more? I dare you to find out.
The Anime adaptation is also worth a watch, and although it only covers roughly one third of the manga, it's very faithful to it and the animation and music are simply amazing. Just don't expect to experience the character development -factor as greatly as you would with the manga. But I'm sure it'll still set your heart aflutter. If not then it's likely you don't own one. ^_*

From Shimura's other works I also have to recommend Hourou Musuko (aka Wandering Son), which focuses more on gender identity and the problems LGBT have to deal with, and has a bit less to do with romance. It also has very good characters and humor, and is also a great growth story such as Aoi Hana. I have only watched the anime adaptation yet, but the manga is a must-read as soon as I find some time, since it's 15 volumes and 123 chapters long.

Thank you very much for reading ^^