In Volume 7 of Hana ni Arashi, (はなにあらし) something finally happens. Well…two things. Remembering that, in this series, “happen” is very broadly applied word. ^_^

The first thing is that, on the class trip, Nanoha and Chidori have, finally, gotten past their disagreement and are happily doing class trip things with their friends. Which, inevitably, because manga, includes bathing together.

Nanoha and Chidori battle their base desires and, ultimately manage to bathe together and it basically paralyzes them both so much that everyone else thinks they are fighting again.

During the (extended, my goodness, it felt like it went on forever….) bath scene, Nanoha’s elbow touches Chidori’s breast slightly and, while the scene itself is an eye-roll of service, the galaxy brain Nanoha keeps experiencing for the next several chapters cracked me up every  single time.

Like so.

The second things that happens is that the Mai issue finally resolves. Mai is explicitly asked to return to basketball be the team manager but, since she was mostly motivated by Nanoha being there, she isn’t sure. Mai tells Chidori that she knows she’s dating Nanoha…and how she, Mai feels. Chidori is kind and supportive, and, thankfully, neither jealous nor manipulative.

Mai goes to tell Nanoha that she saw Chidori and her kiss, that she, Mai has feelings for Nanoha, and likewise, Nanoha is kind and gentle, but explains that she’s taken. And, so, Mai returns to the basketball team, at which the manager burts into tears of joy and the team welcomes her back.

Mai and Nanoha discuss the whole story, realize that they have to be more careful at school and , as the book comes to a close with a kiss, decide that tomorrow they’ll be more careful. ^_^

This story is sweet, with a wopping dollop of prurience, which never fails to pull me out of the story. But, for all that, Nanoha and Chidori are still the very personable stars of the show and their relationship is cute.

Ratings:

Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 6
Service – Yes, the payoff is funny but, come on. Aren’t we tired of staring at girls in baths yet? I know I am.

Overall – 7

Volume 8 and Volume 9 are both available in Japanese and I’m still kind of surprised that no one has picked this up here yet.

Hokuryuu Aya, who is a tall, cool woman, meets Kuromizu Suzuka who is also a tall, cool woman and both are surprised that the other is as tall as they are, too. Somehow, this inspires them to take a road trip to Hokkaido, during which other women are equally surprised at them being tall. The goal of this road trip is to hook up with Northern women but instead, a bunch of other wacky stuff stuff happens in Volume 1 of Kita no Onna ni Tamesaretai (北の女に試されたい) by Minoda Kaido, who is also the artist for Mochi Au Lait’s vampire manga Byougetsu (病月).

As they head north Hokuryuu and Kuromizu do sort of pick up some women, because they are so tall, but as they sit in a bar and they all talk, it turns out that the other women kind of have a relationship that’s gone sour because they haven’t discussed something important. So, bwah~wah~waah.

They end up going to the zoo, where Kuromizu is wowed by the exotic animals, like penguins, and buys her (tall) self a cute penguin plushy. But (also tall) Hokuryuu runs into a kouhai from school who had a crush on her, which brings up her past. This unearths a very fraught relationship with her younger sister, with whom Hokuryuu has not spoken in years. They decide to visit Hokuryuu’s home, which turns out to be horse stables.

At which point, this book takes off on another track. Because I genuinely think it’s not super likely to be licensed, I’m gonna spoil, but trust me, I have a reason for my prediction and I will get to it. ^_^

So Aya tells Suzuka why she doesn’t speak to her sister. Their mother is a queen of an all-woman harem and, when it became kind of obvious that Aya was also interested in women, the sister told Aya that she wasn’t like that, but loved and respected her sister. In response to which intimacy, Aya kissed her in a not-sisterly way. Appalled at herself, Aya ran away. Now that’s she’s back, she finds her sister has also gone, That leaves mom, who is taller than both of them. Hokuryuu Jun has not forgiven Aya for driving her favorite daughter off. Jun, who still has a harem of employee/lovers, and Aya get into a huge fight. Jun wins and Aya grabs her favorite horse, running off into the snow. Jun follows, they have a screaming match out in the snowy fields. Jun admits that her sister has left Aya a letter for her that, ultimately, expressed forgiveness, admiration and absolution. 

Aya returns to the stables, watches races with Kuromizu and as the volume ends, they get back in the car to head north once more.

The reason I am skeptical that this one-shot will be licensed is simply that the art is neither cute, nor explicit, nor good enough to be a strong seller. The art is heavily hatched in black and is not sophisticated. It’s very much the kind of art I’d expect from a young artist. (And it reminds me of comments from a recent Mangasplaining podcast about Tsutomu Nihei‘s art, that the artist said he’d advise younger him not to use so much black, because it was a pain. ^_^) To be clear, I don’t think the art is terrible, but it lacks the prurience that audiences require to overlook hard-to-follow art. The audience who favors bouncing boobs and panty shots seems to forgive issues of perspective and lighting in order to see an exciting new view of underwear. Of course, I may be wrong and I would not in any way object to someone licensing this. ^_^

For a road trip story with a surprisingly emotional undertone, I find myself thinking about this series periodically, and wondering if Aya and Suzuka ever get to hook up with northern beauties.

One last thing of note – it may seem that I am being snarky about the characters being tall. I assure, I am not. This is a thing that is mentioned in every chapter. And Jun, upon meeting Suzuka, doesn’t fail to point out that she is taller than Aya. This is a *thing* in this book.

Ratings:

Art – 5 Way better than I can do, but
Story – 7 For a story about hooking up with chicks, it lacks hooking up, but is instead, kind of strange and fun and has horses, so that’s okay.
Characters – 8 Likable
Service – 4 Some non-detailed nudity
Yuri – Well, yes, as background radiation of the story’s universe. It’s everywhere, but this isn’t a romance.

Overall – 7

I’m pretty sure I like it, and wouldn’t have minded a second volume. I’ll be interested to see what Minoda-sensei does next.

2023 Update: A sequel exists! Check out the first chapter on Yuri Navi.