(L) Sweet Blue Flowers (Aoi Hana) manga

[Kaoru Chujo]

Aoi Hana 青い花, scanlated as Sweet Blue Flowers.

Yuri girls' school story from mangaka Shimura Takako 志村貴子. Animated series started July 2009.



Fumi returns to her old hometown and meets Akira, the childhood friend from whom she had been inseparable, but whom she has had no contact with for years. They go to different high schools, but their relationship with each continues to develop, as do relationships (romantic and otherwise) with other girls.

Published in the bi-monthly magazine Manga Erotics f マンガ・エロティクス・エフ, which specializes in adult stories, including boys' love, only some involving actual sex.

Four volumes have now been published, the fourth in April 2009:
volume one：ISBN 4778320050
volume two：ISBN 4778320328
volume three：ISBN 4778320530
volume four：ISBN 4778320843

[typhonsentra]

Thanks for making this thread, I was always wondering why this series didn't have one here.

[yukiren]

hey thanks for making one.. there is some things that i don't quite get in this manga but let's wait for more people coming in here first ^^

other than morinaga milk's yuri manga, aoi hana is my fav

[typhonsentra]

The latest chapter's up on MangaFox. Very uneventful, I hate ones like this as it's so long in between new releases.

[frubam]

Originally Posted by typhonsentra

Thanks for making this thread, I was always wondering why this series didn't have one here.

The translation had been on hiatus for a long time til now, like at least a year or so. I WOULD have made one after i had read it, but i was just too lazy (=_=)

[yukiren]

have a question

Spoiler:

in manga, fumi said few times at the beginning that she love A-chan . however i think she meant it like a love in the past. In recent chapter she suddenly meant it seriously. Just when exactly did she fall in love again with A-chan? As far as i understand it, i don't see any sweet moments with A-chan like when she's with her senpai after their breakup.

What i meant is, i don't see any serious plot that made her fall for her head over heels. or did i miss it somewhere?

[Rika-chama]

Originally Posted by yukiren

have a question

Spoiler:

in manga, fumi said few times at the beginning that she love A-chan . however i think she meant it like a love in the past. In recent chapter she suddenly meant it seriously. Just when exactly did she fall in love again with A-chan? As far as i understand it, i don't see any sweet moments with A-chan like when she's with her senpai after their breakup.

What i meant is, i don't see any serious plot that made her fall for her head over heels. or did i miss it somewhere?

This has been (and probably will be for some time) quite hotly debated over on 4chan's /u/ board.

Spoiler:

I'm pretty sure Fumi probably had really strong feelings for Akira when they were kids, but, being kids, she didn't quite know what she was feeling. The one thing that most people agree on is that Fumi is pretty much a die hard lesbian. Akira is probably either straight or bi.

I don't think that there's any 'one point in time' that Fumi fell in love w/ Akira. I think that it's just always been there right under the surface. I'm pretty sure that she just realised what her feelings were.

Now, what /u/ is all tied up in knots about is what Akira's opinion on the matter is. About 1/2 want them to get together, and about 1/2 don't, and w/ the mangaka's penchant for /not/ going the cliche route, nobody really knows what's gonna happen. It could go either way.

Anyhoo... I hope that helps. ^_^

BTW, Lililicious is currently scanning this and they are caught up to the current chapter, I believe.

[yukiren]

thanks Rika-Chama

Spoiler for manga latest:

however to my point of view.. it would have been more logical if they had more scenes on fumi thinking it straight deeply before suddenly out of the blue confessing to Akira. it just not making sense to me for the moment.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by yukiren

thanks Rika-Chama

Spoiler for manga latest:

however to my point of view.. it would have been more logical if they had more scenes on fumi thinking it straight deeply before suddenly out of the blue confessing to Akira. it just not making sense to me for the moment.

Fumi isn't like that. She a very pragmatic person who would not waste her time thinking about things if she can do something about it. Every time you see her absorbed in her thoughts, it's because she believes she can't do anything at the moment.

Regardless...

Spoiler:

I think that the obvious jealousy displayed by Fumi when she found out Akira went shopping with Kou was pretty telling about her feeling for Akira. It was enough foreshadowing imo.

Besides, you should remember Aoi Hana is not your typical manga. It wants to be more realistic than that, and things like Yasuko and Fumi starting going out just like that, without any kind of stereotypical manga confessions of love are meant to create this feeling of realism...

Spoiler:

Fumi suddenly blurting out her feeling for Akira is the same. As in real life, these things happen just like that. There is no grand moment of realization. When you like someone, you just like them. Aoi Hana is like that.

[yukiren]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Spoiler:

I think that the obvious jealousy displayed by Fumi when she found out Akira went shopping with Kou was pretty telling about her feeling for Akira. It was enough foreshadowing imo.

yeah i guess that was it but still too little to notice.

Spoiler:

Fumi suddenly blurting out her feeling for Akira is the same. As in real life, these things happen just like that. There is no grand moment of realization. When you like someone, you just like them. Aoi Hana is like that.

of course but we wouldn't just go out and spurt but i gt ur point there

[Kazu-kun]

Let's bump this thread a bit with my post about Fumi in Faster than Love (chapter 25):

Originally Posted by Sinestra

Spoiler for manga chapters.:

This sounds about right to me. The chapters i really want to see animated however we will not see unless there is a second season

The Deer Cry Pavilion Vol 4 Chap 21-24 I, II, III, IV, Vol 5 Chapt 26-27 V, VI (lots of interesting and important things happen in these chapters

Also Faster than Love Vol 4. Chap 25 is one of my personal favorites i really want to see it animated. Aoi Hana may make my top 100 Animes

Faster than Love is a favorite of mine too. Fumi really amazed me with her incredible courage. Her mixture of shyness and boldness, vulnerability and strength makes her such an amazing character.

[8zjvm]

I gotta agree about Chapter 25. It was nicely done.

On another note, I really like the little side stories that come out with each volume. While some focus on the other Sugimoto sisters, I like the ones about Orie-san and Hinako-san. I found them very interesting and their story is surprisingly optimistic (so far). I was pretty thrilled to see them in the actual chapters.

[typhonsentra]

New chapters are coming out now. I honestly can't tell if we're in the middle of a story or if it's beginning to wind down. I'm really curious about Kyoko, it's obvious she's trying to hide from family issues by spending more time with him but do you think the affection is just her trying to escape or is it genuinely more than just a friendship to her now?

[furu]

Heh, I found the thread. A lil late, though.

Finally, Aoi Hana manga turned out boring for me, but i'll keep reading it.

[Demon Roronoa Zoro]

Originally Posted by typhonsentra

New chapters are coming out now. I honestly can't tell if we're in the middle of a story or if it's beginning to wind down. I'm really curious about Kyoko, it's obvious she's trying to hide from family issues by spending more time with him but do you think the affection is just her trying to escape or is it genuinely more than just a friendship to her now?

I think she just trying to escape from her family name bye marrying him, he saw through it. Btw dose anybody now when the next chapter will be out?

[NaweG]

It's been quite a while. Does anyone know if releases in Japan actually stopped, or just the translators have been delayed?

[Saint-Just]

Originally Posted by NaweG

It's been quite a while. Does anyone know if releases in Japan actually stopped, or just the translators have been delayed?

Hallo,
for what I know the manga is still publishing ( about monthly) in Japan, (this is what I've read in lililicious.net project section ).
hope this helps
bye

[Rika-chama]

http://www.lililicious.net/projectDet.php?id=51

However, it doesn't look like Aoi Hana is in the latest issue of Manga Erotics F:
http://www.ohtabooks.com/publish/2010/01/06172315.html

[Sound of Azure]

I really hope Fumi and Ah-chan can resolve the current discomfort. I'm a little torn about it- I'd love for them to get together, since I've always been a sucker for the childhood friends thing. However, I'd also be happy if Ah-chan doesn't end up having those kinds of feelings for Fumi, but remains her best friend.

They have such a great and nuranced friendship, it's really one of the things I love about Shimura's mangas.

[Shiroth]

People still reading this? I hope so, because chapter 34 is seriously good.

Spoiler for Chapter 34:

The development between Fumi and Ah-chan has been pretty solid since the confession, and not once did i wish it would hurry up to a conclusion, so i can say i was pleasantly surprised at the last few pages of this chapter. Ah-chan suggesting that the two should go out (as in date) was truly out of the blue, and i can't even begin to explain the kind of reaction i had.

Evil cliffhanger is seriously evil though. I can't wait to see how this will carry on.