If you’ve fallen for Fumi and her friends; if you’re a collector; if you’re a completist – you want the Aoi Hana Official Tokubon. If you love the series for the art, are interested in the points of view of the writers, the artists, or the voice actresses – you should get this book.
Photos of Kamakura lined up against their animated counterparts and staff picks for their favorite moments of animation give you a warm fuzzy feeling. The interview with Ikuhara Kunihiko about the opening sequence provided was more information than I expected. He’s either gotten way better at expressing himself in words or they guessed. lol
For me, the very best thing were the discussions between mangaka Shimura Takako and Ono Natsume (Ristorante Paradiso) and Umino Chika (Honey and Clover) and Matsunae Akemi (Junjou Crazy Fruits).
And for dessert, there’s a short manga about Pon-chan, which was very cute.
However, if you are looking for any discussion of the Yuri, aside from a few platitudes, you won’t be finding any of that here. In fact, the only one of the cast even asked about the onna-doushi storyline is Horie Yui, the voice of Kyoko. Presumably because she’s the most established and has the least to lose if she says something scandalous.
Ratings:
Art – 9
Content – 9
Yuri – 2
Overall – 9
Haha, maybe Hocchan is a Yuri fan? I mean, she’s been in everything, pretty much, and played a small but ever-there handful of Yuri characters.
@The Denominator – Voice actresses live by their voices and jobs pay money. It’s delusional to connect the two in any way but the most obvious. Repeat after me – it’s a job, it’s a job, it’s a job. :-)
I was joking :P I’m more than aware that it’s just a job for them and not so much a matter of artistic integrity for most. If it was, I think more of them would have thrown their scripts away for some of the more questionable series out there.