Hanasakeru Seishounen

It's definitely one of the underrated animes out there. Not your average reverse harem. Kajika, the main character is a strong heroine and you can't help but love her. Also, the characteristics of the guys surrounding her are very intimidating but you will come to love their uniqueness. Although it does not have the comedic ingredient that i usually go for, it's very heartwarming. It's a 9/10 for me!

-STORY- 10/10 "I love the happiness and the suffering. Because the only emotions I feel... are the ones you grant me." At first, Hanasakeru Seishounen appears to be a rather typical reverse harem story. Young girl surrounded by several beautiful men, nothing new for the given genre. But don't let this throw you off. Soon enough, our protagonists, along with the three marriage candidates, get involved in a complicated political conspiracy of a small Middle Eastern country. They face great dangers as they travel across the world, learn to trust and support each other, discover new emotions within themselves, and mature in order to survive and reachtheir goals. The story was nicely paced and very intriguing, with numerous plot twists -- I could not bring myself to stop watching it or to let any other anime interrupt it. I loved that although the story set off with romance in mind, it was not the main focus. I will even say that if the whole husband-choosing piece was not present, this anime would still be just as good. At the end of the series, there was a certain sense of completeness, all questions were answered, all characters found their place in the world; it was a perfect spot to drop the curtain. I did feel a little sad, however, that such a great series came to a finale. -CHARACTERS- 10/10 Kajika is not your typical damsel in distress constantly being saved by her male harem. She is strong and confident, is able to stand up for herself and to speak her mind when she has to. She is, however, rather slow when it comes to love and realizing her own feelings; but that is also understandable, considering that she grew up away from society and did not get a chance to experience romance until the husband game began. But even despite that, she treats each man with equal respect and consideration, which is very admirable. To me, however, the most interesting characters are the men surrounding Kajika. Needless to say that they are also not your typical male stereotypes found in a reverse harem. What grabbed me the most is how each one of potential candidates represented a different kind of love. Li Ren's love is strong and deep, to the point of becoming possessive of Kajika, yet his pride as a head of his clan stops him from being honest. Eugene's love is noble and selfless; he is willing to spend an eternity just watching over Kajika, whether she chooses him or not. Lumati, a young heir of Raginei, is blunt and straightforward about his love, but is also ready to admit defeat if his rival is worthy. And lastly, Carl is rather reserved and indecisive, but is equally sincere with his love and respectful toward his rivals. I really loved that these characters are not at each other's throats all the time, despite "fighting" against each other and feeling jealous, and instead act like mature adults and take both Kajika and each other seriously. Li Ren and Eugene may be an exception to that, but I don't believe they were ever serious during their quarrels. One character whose purpose I am still not sure about is Yui, Kajika's first female friend. She does not seem to do anything aside from exchanging letters with Kajika and fangirling over the male cast. She definitely belongs in a more typical shoujo setting, but thankfully her occurance was not frequent enough to cause a distraction. -ART/ANIMATION- 8/10 Somewhere around episode 10 I found out that starting from episode 24 the series will have a different director. I was not worried about that. In fact, I was sure the series would become even better, considering that the second director is more experienced with shoujo anime and is famous for series like Fushigi Yuugi and Ayashi no Ceres. But unfortunately, as I later discovered, that change was not the best idea. It was obvious how the series became more "shoujo", with more diverse and less realistic facial expressions, and a couple super-deformed scenes here and there. However, Hanasakeru Seishounen is a dramatic story that had no need for comedy elements; if anything, they were a distraction. Kajika, who was now blushing and showing her "girly" side more often, almost started to look like a typical shoujo heroine. Semi-chibi elements seemed completely out of place in such a serious setting. The character designs also went through a slight change, and although it was not major, some general inaccuracies emerged; for example, Kajika described Eugene's eye color as "topaz" in the beginning, but with the direction change, his eyes became a mix of light green and yellow instead of a golden brown from the first twenty-three episodes. The animation quality itself seemed to have improved in the second half and toward the end, and the opening animation also became more appealing, but I would still prefer that it did not undergo such a drastic change in the middle. Also, all the CG vehicles stood out too much and were a pain to look at; especially considering that cars, planes, and helicopters appeared on the screen very often because the characters moved around a lot between cities and countries. -SOUND- 6/10 The background music was pretty good; it did not really grab my attention though, so there isn't much to discuss. I was not too impressed by the opening and ending songs either -- they were too "pop" for my tastes.

This is my 1st anime review, so sorry if it's not that well-stated. Also, sorry if it's too long (it's hard to NOT type more when there are so much in this series). Feel free to just skim through it, and maybe skip to the "OVERALL" part if you don't want much details. STORY- 8 The story is rather interesting + unique to me. The thought of a "marriage game" may seem kinda cheezy, but the story goes WAY more deeper than that. For a reverse harem, it actually satisfies me somewhat. It has romance, drama, mysteries, political strategies, action (Oh. NOT hardcore stuff,like fighting ghosts and whatnot, but just fighting + guns, basically), and hey.... eventually, you might even find the tiniest bit of comedy towards the end (they are more like "inside"-kind of jokes, though, because you literally have to watch through the series, and know the characters to be able to understand the very little humor in this). ART- 7 The art is standard to me, and sometimes, I have noticed that the characters appear kinda "stiff." Not the typical sparkly-pretty. The artwork looks rather old-fashioned, and frankly, I didn't like it very must at first. Of course, I can't blame it because the manga was actually published somewhere in the late 1980's (which I just recently looked it up online). Why would they have an anime broadcast all of a sudden? Beats me. ----The thing that stands out to me are the EYES. It's like the moods are pretty much portrayed in them. The backgrounds are also very nice with a "classic"- feel to it. And.... Oh. Yes. THERE ARE BISHOUNENS. :D SOUND- 7 I think the voice actors/actresses have done their jobs well. I could feel the strength in their voice during those serious, dramatic moments. (NOTE: There are only 1 op + ed songs through-out the ENTIRE series) The opening is.... well~ nice, and I think what has won me over is the ending theme. Although, maybe it's just because I'm easily taken by those kind of sappy songs. CHARACTER- 9 This is the high-point of the series for me. The characters are absolutely BEAUTIFULLY portrayed, especially the main ones. Their backgrounds, and how they interact with each other really bring out the GOOD-NESS in their personalities. They have.... ONE WORD: depth. Kajika is strong-willed, brave, reckless, and inexperience, but what I find weird is how.... understanding she could be at times. She's unique in that way. (I will not be going over all of the boys' personalities, but I do suggest of you to find that out yourself ) At first, some characters are rather dull, but I think it just takes time for them to come through. ~I'm sure you'll love all of them (or most). They are likable. ENJOYMENT- 9 I really enjoyed watching this 39 episodes- series. It have put me like at the edge of my seat more times than I can remember!! They sure do know how to build-up suspense. I, literally, looked forward to watching this every week (maybe above all of the other on-going anime). The length of it was not too short where it made you crave for more, nor was it too long and dragged out everything. I may be just a sucker for reverse harems and shoujo with romance.. and bishounens and whatnot, but everything put together in this anime was what made it memorable for me. OVERALL- 9 I'll say it flat-out: HANASAKERU SEISHOUNEN is a wonderful series. It's original in pretty much every aspects, and inspirational/sweet. It may even be one of my favorite. However, I do (regretingly) not recommend it if you don't like mysteries, romance, serious drama, etc.. Well~ Even for someone like me, who knows like nothing about political stuff, I find it to be extremely entertaining. Just give it some time, and I'm sure you'll like it. ----NOTE: I may have overrated this just the tiniest bit because it's still fresh in my memories. Thank you for reading. ^^ I hope this helps, even if a little.

I haven't seen a Shoujo for such a long time now because repeating the same loop of cliches can become boring the more you encounter it. Hanasakeru Seishounen is a Shoujo that has the same aspects every Shoujo has and you probably know what I'm talking about. However, it does give you the sense of uniquity to it like Akatsuki No Yona though not as great. I'm always a fan of romance. I don't know why I love romance, probably because I'm still heartbroken? I don't really know. Anyways. I find romance to be one intriguing genre that will never get me bored. To behonest, it's everywhere. 99.9% of the anime I watched probably have romance. Alright, I'm just gonna cut the chase now because I don't really know what to write in this review. Eto.. Ano.. Ah.. Hanasakeru Seishounen is one of those hidden Shoujo series that is actually very good. It took the meaning of Shoujo to another level, exploiting all the factors and providing the utmost of entertainment. This show seems underrated because it's such a masterpiece. Although I've postponed this anime for such a long time, it's great to get the feeling of Shoujo from an anime again.

I'm not usually bothered about writing reviews, but I have never been so moved by an anime before, that I felt compelled to encourage other people to watch it. Story: There were always lots of twists and turns in the story line, which I wouldn't have expected. It was a really interesting plot which I really enjoyed. The romance was great and I couldn't stop watching! The atmosphere of each episode was very mature, and usually beautiful (apart from the action scenes). I didn't like the heavy politics, which is my only complaint. Art: I think that type of art in anime is for the 'beautiful boys'. It makesthe women look less cute, but more beautiful and mature. I wasn't used to it at first and didn't like it, but I found myself growing to like it more and more with each episode. It certainly suited the male characters, they all looked so mature and handsome, which is never really a bad thing when you're a teenage girl. Sound: I loved the music, which is surprising as I'm not usually one for the music in anime. With each mood there was a perfect song to match the atmosphere, which made the overall enjoyment of the romance/action scenes even better. The music was mature and beautiful, and it fitted perfectly with the story line. Characters: I loved the fact that each of the characters grew older and developed new personality traits towards the end of the anime, even small things like the length of their hair, and their height. It made the anime seem more realistic. Each character has their own story and unique personality, and each one of them interested and fascinated me (especially Eugene/Mustafa). At times the men could seem a little bit dramatic, but I think that made them seem more realistic and relatable. Kajika was a female lead unlike any other, she was mature and passionate, and she never once annoyed me like most female anime leads do. They're the most interesting characters I have ever seen in an anime, each of them very admirable and beautiful in their own way. Enjoyment: I really enjoyed most episodes, but there were the odd episode or two were I was desperate to fast forward through to ignore all the political talks. I'm not really interested in politics, but I did at times enjoy the talks. That's really the only bad thing I can think of which would mark my rating down from a 10 to a 9. It's quite hard for me to cram all that information about the different places, people and conspiracies, but when you do understand and take it all in, it becomes very interesting. I think Hanasakeru Seishounen is probably one of those animes which you need to watch twice to fully appreciate. The romance was great for me, especially the romantic gestures and the beautiful words exchanged between the four men and Kajika. It really moved me when they would talk about finding love, it inspired me too. The whole series is really mature and enjoyable, I've never watched an anime like it before. The best part for me was the fact that it had a good amount of action, which would always leave my heart racing. Don't be put off if you think it sounds too mature, I'm usually into the cute, happy anime which isn't hard to follow, so this was a different direction for me. Everyone should watch this, it's so beautiful. I think boys would appreciate this anime too, despite the heavy romance. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did :)