Hanazakari no Kimitachi e – Eps. 1

• Title: 花ざかりの君たちへ
  Title (romaji): Hanazakari no Kimitachi e
  Tagline: イケメン♂パラダイス / Ikemen Paradise
  Also known as: Hana Kimi
  Format: Renzoku
  Genre: High school romance comedy
  Episodes:
  Broadcast network: Fuji TV
  Broadcast period: 2007 July 03 to 2007 September
  Air time: Tuesday 21:00

Theme songs:
Opening theme: Ikenai Taiyo by Orange Range
Ending theme: PEACH by Otsuka Ai

Cast

Horikita Maki as Ashiya Mizuki :: I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing the role of Ashiya Mizuki. Like the manga character, Mizuki is not like most girls and is an all time favorite character. Not to mention, she’s short which is perfect for Mizuki’s growing relationshipi with Sano Izumi (Oguri Shun). Overall, I LOVE this character. However, I wish she’d be more cheerful like the manga.

Oguri Shun as Sano Izumi :: CERTiFiED HOTTiE!! His face is perfect for the leading role of Sano Izumi. Even though he doesn’t smile much here, he still looks GOOOOD! Acting wise, he’s perfect too. Sano Izumi’s character comes off as cold, but he slowly (and I mean very slowly) loosens up a bit. As one, or THE, tallest people starring in this drama, he towers over Mizuki. Of course, this is just like the manga version.

Ikuta Toma as Nakatsu Shuichi :: For some reason, I wish he were taller; preferably around Sano Izumi’s height. It’s almost as though Sano towers over Nakatsu as well. When I first saw Nakatsu Shuichi, I didn’t think he could sell the character and I thought, “THIS is Sano’s rival??” However, he grew on me in the middle of the episode and now, I can’t imagine anyone else to portray this character.

Episode

Starting from scene one, why the heck were there SO many chicks standing outside the boys’ dorm? But, then I remembered that this drama is based on Hana-Kimi the manga so the foolishness is necessary. As I was saying, the crowd of girls standing/waiting outside for all the boys to come out seems a bit .. stalkerish to me. Of course, who could blame them and selling pictures of the Osaka High students is GENIUS! Talk about making bank from just a bunch of photographs. The funniest fangirls I’ve seen so far, is Hibari and her “crew.” Hibari .. FOUR! What the hell is that?? Some kind of cheer? I couldn’t even understand them when they said four; I thought they were going to faint or something making that kind of .. err .. noise. I have to admit, though, that the pom poms added a nice touch to their .. formation.

Dr. Umeda, what a character. However, I pictured him different; perhaps .. better looking like his manga counterpart. Oh well! Upon entering her first class, the classmates cracked me up HAHA! First a soccer ball is thrown at her, then a volleyball, followed by a .. tennis ball? What damage can that do!? It’s all in good humor. All of a sudden a gold-painted metal pan drops from the ceiling?? HA~ now that’s what you call random. Next thing you know, hottie Sano makes his first appearance onto the scene in an incredibly awesome way. The first thing you see is Mizuki’s shoes and he lowers them to reveal his unfeeling facial expression. Cold? Yes. And in comes her story on why she’s in an all boys school; finally they show a flash back of Sano’s amazing high jumping skills. This gets annoying after the second time they show it. We already know what his jump looks like. No need to remind us 4 fuhreakin times!

Soon it is revealed, in the class, that Mizuki is an awesome short distance runner and the guys .. well pat her down? Nakatsu even places his hands on her chest and what does he find out? That she has no pekt. Most people could probably figure out that she’s a girl in disquise and most men would probably get a nosebleed (tissue anyone?) from touching a girl like that. Yet, for some reason, he cannot break it down that she’s not really a guy after having such close contact. Dense? Definitely! It’s not like Nakatsu’s character is known for being .. smart.

Dorm 1 leader: Tennouji – all muscle and no brains. Seriously.
Dorm 2 leader: Nanba – Supposed to be good looking. What happened??
Dorm 3 leader: Himejima “Oscar” – Oscar? Random name. Always wearing a cape cannot be healthy for a man.

Marathon time! Can a normal person run on an injured foot that’s bleeding like crazy? Heck, Mizuki bled so much .. she turned her right sneaker red. That’s what you call determination and in the end, her foot gave out on her. Darn .. just about half of the track more and she could’ve won. Some where in the middle of the race, Mizuki sped past all the guys and took the lead. It looked like the guys were running slow on purpose. But, it’s for the sake of the drama. When Sano kicked down that bathroom stall door, that was HOT; even when he was threatening that Dorm 1 guy. He ran to Mizuki’s rescue when she could not continue the race. Wow, didn’t know he cared so much. And Nakatsu, he just stood there dumbfounded across the track looking at her. Helloooo, your dormmate is in pain and you just stand there!? It looked like he needed glasses because he stood there as if he couldn’t see what was going on. But it’s okay, still love Nakatsu either way.

Gasp! Dr. Umeda knows she’s a girl!? And he says it so casually too -______-; What can she do to escape from his clutches? Find out on Episode 2!

Rating: 10 out of 10

This has been a Haejin review.