Hana-Kimi 3

Hana-Kimi 3 by Hisaya Nakajo, 2004. 200 pages. Published by Viz Media. Source: Library.

Izumi, his friend Nakatsu and our crossdressing heroine Mizuki are hired to work at a beach chalet run by the family of weird school nurse Dr. Umeda! But when Kagurazaka - Izumi's high-jump rival - shows up with his two younger sisters in tow, the job gets personal! Kagurazaka's attractive sister Tamami has a crush on Izumi too, and she sees Izumi's classmate Mizuki as a way to find out about the object of her affections. And then someone realizes that Mizuki's actually a girl...

Story

I think that volume three of Hana-Kimi may just be my favorite one so far. I loved that it was both light and funny, yet still had an edge of dark seriousness added to the story line.

While all the volumes have had a bit of a light, fun air volume three definitely takes the cake because it had me in fits of giggles at times-mainly when Izumi would try to warn Mizuki that one of the other employees at the chalet had dark designs for her...without letting on that he knows her secret. At other times I could not help but wonder how much longer Mizuki's "secret" would remain a secret. Alas she still thinks she is in the clear even though another member of the Umeda family is in on things.
What made Hana-Kimi 3 different from the last two was that you got to see the characters in a setting, beach side chalet were they all ended up working over break. It was definitely interesting seeing how they interacted with each other outside of the school, plus things between Mizuki and Izumi seriously began to get a little awkward.

So my least favorite part of volume three is tied in with my thoughts on Mizuki, so y'all just look below and y'all will see why this series can be a bit frustrating at times for me.
Content (will contain spoilers; highlight to see):
The third volume of Hana-Kimi was actually pretty clean. The only thing that is really worthy of bringing up content-wise would have to be how one of the boys who works at the beach chalet believes that Mizuki is actually a girl and tries to rape her. Fear not fair reader, for Mizuki is saved by Izumi who never once trusted the other boy.

There's also some swearing, but nothing too terrible bad.

Character(s)

While I like Mizuki, I wish that she was a little brighter and not so naive. Even though I do like the fact that Mizuki is not so worldly, I think that her character could benefit with a little commonsense because she still does not realize that Izumi knows her secret, and has a tendency to not realize that she is in possible danger from certain boys that do not mean well.

Izumi, is just one of those characters that with each passing volume I come to like him more and more. What makes him such an interesting male protagonist is that he is a genuinely nice character is cares for Mizuki...even when the occasional slip-ups on his feelings start causing trouble for the both of them.

Artwork

The art in volume three was about the same as the previous two volumes. Although, I do feel like Hisaya Nakajo's characters are slowly coming into their own with the way they look.
One of my favorite things about her drawing style so far is the way that she captures the various emotions and expressions of the characters...especially when they are embarrassed.

Final Verdict: Hana-Kimi 3, light and funny.

Hana-Kimi 3 earns 4.5 of 5 pineapples.