Ive mentioned before that romance isnt really a genre I find myself drawn to. Granted thats not to say every piece of romance media is bad. Ive never been in a relationship myself so I never find myself relating to any characters that partake in romantic relations. While a lot of romance media tends to rehash the same cliches over and over again I have found some genuinely good ones. Some of my favorites include the following: Ride Your Wave a movie about a girl moving on from the death of her boyfriend thats brought to life with Masaaki Yuasas sublime lively animation Snow White With The Red Hair a low key fantasy romance with a couple that has great chemistry with one another the Haikarasan ga Tooru movies a fairly polished reboot of the old 70s manga even if its second movie falls into heavy melodrama I still need to get around to watching that Insomniacs After School a downtoearth sliceoflife about two high schoolers who bond over their struggles with insomnia. Id add Skip and Loafer to this list too and dont get me wrong I do like it but I felt like it was missing something. I recently revisited one romance series that I had watched when it first aired Aoi Hana aka Sweet Blue Flowers and I liked it back then but then I put it on the back burner. Since I own the DVD and I ran out of stuff to watch I figured now would be a good time to revisit it especially since I did read the entirety of the manga. Honestly Aoi Hana the anime holds up a lot better than I expected it to...and would anyone kill me if I say I prefer it to the manga? The series story is as follows: Shy crybaby Fumi Manjoume and happygolucky Akira Okudaira were best friends who spent all their time together back in elementary school. But one day Fumi moved away and they lost contact. Years later Fumi and her family move back into town and through happenstance she and Akira reunite and rekindle their friendship so they have a lot to catch up on. But a lots happened since theyve been apart and they go to different schools so they dont spend as much time together as they used to. Things get complicated when Fumi gets asked out by a popular student Yasuko Sugimoto. After running to Akira for help so many times before Fumi must figure out who she is as a person instead of standing in someone elses shadow finding herself balancing her feelings towards Akira and her new desire for Sugimoto. Will the girls be able to conquer the high school stage of growing up before it pulls them apart? Aoi Hana was animated by JC Staff and their output tends to be pretty inconsistent. Some of their shows can look amazing while others look like they were strung together with pocket lint. Luckily Aoi Hana is one of their better animated projects and for a show that was made in 2009 it still looks stunning even today. The backgrounds are all lush pastel watercolors that really make the series feel lively though the actual animation is no slouch either. Aoi Hana as a series thrives on subtlety and body language and theres lots of attention paid to the way the characters interact with one another through body language whether it be playing with each others hair or holding hands. Even when the character models are messy when in motion that messiness gives them a sense of fluidity and liveliness conveying more than static still images could ever do. The music also holds up pretty well with elegant piano tunes and violins that really sell the subtle nature of the story. Both the opening and ending songs are subdued low key ballads that add onto Aoi Hanas themes and are beautifully sung. I have to admit Im kinda sad Ceui hasnt done any new anime theme songs since 2013 because she has an amazing voice thats very easy on the ears and Ive always liked every single song she sang. Its a shame she doesnt do anime songs anymore. The series penchant for subtlety and nuance also extends to its cast of characters. Aoi Hana manages to do a lot with the cast in eleven episodes that most longer series struggle with. None of the characters personalities can simply be summed up in just one sentence and all of them have believable downtoearth motivations for what they do even if you may not agree with them and the anime doesnt rely on overblown melodrama or forced angst to make you feel for them. Granted as good as the characters by themselves are the anime chose to only adapt the first 18 chapters so later developments that flesh them out further dont get to happen in the animes short run time which is reflected in the rather openended finale. To be honest Im kinda glad the anime didnt go further because having read the manga the manga makes some rather...questionable decisions in regards to how it resolves certain characters arcs. Hell there are two scenes in the manga that really grossed me out with one of them having no explanation behind it whatsoever. The anime doesnt adapt those thankfully and even leaves out a lot of the sordid details behind Fumis romance with her cousin. Other than leaving out some more sordid details Aoi Hana adapts the manga fairly faithfully even elevating the source material with the subtlety of its animation and the masterful craftsmanship behind it. Some people may not like the deliberately slow pacing or the series laidback nature but I didnt have an issue with those considering they fit the series ethos. Anyone who hates slow paced series or realistic depictions of romance arent gonna like this series but Aoi Hana is a must watch for any yuri/shoujoai fan who wants realistic portrayals of both romance and LGBT people that doesnt rely on fetishization and sensationalism. Plus with both the anime and manga readily available in the US its more accessible than ever so give it a shot if you want a sweet low key LGBT romance to chew on.