Hana-Kimi

Episode 7

It's no secret that Hana-Kimi is underperforming compared to better-animated shoujo and romance series that are more appealing to modern sensibilities, especially after so many of its plot beats have become cliches in the decades since it was first published.

This arc's contrivance is that the dorms are shutting down for break and Mizuki doesn't have anywhere to go. After politely declining Nakatsu and Sano's invitations for fear of getting found out, she goes to Dr. Umeda to ask for help. Umeda is now my favorite character, especially with the manga's “humorous” homophobia stripped away. As someone who works with teenagers, he accepts the task of being Mizuki's mentor and confidant, but he's not here to be her gay bestie who can offer her feminine accoutrements and bail her out whenever things start getting hairy. Rather, he's a queer adult who seems to have an active social life in Tokyo's gay scene. He has a boyfriend, goes to parties that may or may not involve outlandish outfits, and heads south for his vacations. We should all aspire to such work-life balance.

Fortunately for Mizuki, his terrifying older sister Io, Nanba-senpai's mother, shows up to yell at him for ditching out on his commitment to work at her beach guesthouse. Instead of giving up his vacation, which we've already established is non-negotiable in his book, he volunteers this cute youngster as tribute in his place. Nakatsu and Sano agree to go along as well to watch over her. Because this is a 90's shoujo manga, their paranoia is well-justified – beaches are always hives of sex pests.

The sex pestering is coming from inside the building in the form of Makita, a college student who is also spending his summer working at the guesthouse. Io scolds him for flirting with customers on the clock and warns the other female employee to watch out for him, because it's apparently such an issue that he poses a danger to his coworkers. He still gets to keep his job though! Because he's a “good worker,” he gets to keep his job despite aggressively hitting on his coworkers!

Makita's horndog powers cause him to immediately clock Mizuki. He flirts with her aggressively, and while Sano and Nakatsu can tell something is off, Io shrugs it off, since she thinks Mizuki is a boy, never mind that her little brother is gay and that bisexuality exists. He corners her, insisting that she's a girl, condescending to her use of "ore" as a personal pronoun to her, and just generally being a prick. And here we get to the biggest issue with setting Hana-Kimi in the 2020's instead of treating it like a period piece. While trans people have always existed, the general public's understanding of gender has shifted a lot in the decades since the manga was first published. Before, it came across as him refusing to believe her lies; now, he's a prick who insists on misgendering someone who is, by all appearances, a trans man. It doesn't matter that Mizuki is, in fact, lying; when someone tells you their gender, you believe them.

Unfortunately, this is load-bearing transphobia. The writers could easily remove characters being shocked and horrified that Umeda is gay, since he's a secondary character and these were mostly quick gags. However, this whole plot beat hinges on Makita preying on Mizuki because he believes she's a girl, despite her protestations. From where he stands, there's little meaningful difference between her and a trans man: she wears a binder, uses male pronouns, and above all else, says she's a boy. It's just one more way that the series hasn't aged well as the anime fails to capture the elements that gave the manga its charm.

Despite my issues, this is probably one of the best episodes of Hana-Kimi since the premiere. The animation is bad, but it's normal-bad instead of the disaster we've had for the past few installments. The change in setting shakes things up and gives Mizuki something to do. Nakatsu beefs with a three-year-old and even if he should rise above it as the almost-adult, sometimes it's hard not to beef with three-year-olds. Makita is a jerk, but he functions well as a minor antagonist; I much prefer him over Shizuki, who ostensibly loves Mizuki but tries to control her. Much like shounen action needs arc powerful enemies, long-running shoujo romcoms rely on jackasses who float in and out of the narrative as needed. Kagurazaka may have been that once, but he functions better as Sano's rival than as a villain. He's also here, by the way.

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Hana-Kimi is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.