"Aoi Hana" ("Sweet Blue Flowers") Episode 1

Super cute. I like the setup, even though it took me a little bit to realize who was who in the flashback.

Can't wait for the second episode!

I love the background art and how the characters blend in more than usual.

Fried Tofu

Ooooooooooh... glasses... *watches*

It looks very interesting, and I have to say that it's one of the first examples of Japanese anime I've seen that deals with coming to terms with one's sexuality (I haven't had much experience in the genre, haha). I think it would make a nice transition to explore more anime, very nice. 

For the first ep. I like what I see so far. I will definitely keep my eyes open for the second up next week. I haven't watched anime for a while now, so it's a nice way to re-introduce myself to it again. I like how they're actually dealing with the coming out part. I'm curious about the soundtrack, opening and ending themes now...

Thanks again for making the ep available.

"Come fly away with me, right in the land of eternity"

but the girl in the glasses reminds me of Yumi from "Azumanga Daioh." XD Where's Tomo? ^_^ So glad crunchyroll is allowing this to be played on AE!

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"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."

Well, that was intriguing and I can't wait to see more :)

Many, many thanks for Crunchyroll and AfterEllen for doing this: I think it's inspired.

There's certainly a lot packed into that first episode: I count at least three moments of deep personal humiliation ^^ ' Anyhow, I like the setup; this sort of story is not especially common in anime, and it references/incorporates elements from the Yuri anime of the past few years.

The visual style has elements of a series called Simoun and it seems determined to more firmly root the series in the real world than the (still excellent) Maria Sama ga Miteru: like a lot of young girls in Japan, the shorter of the main pair seems to have read the popular books it is based on. Since one is going to a private girls school and the other to a more conventional one, I'm interested to see how this series will play with genre conventions; which it is clearly very aware of. Fumi (the tall girl) herself is a subversion of a convention of tall, long dark haired, cool and collected stereotypes that the other girls in her class lampshade. There is also the blonde "princess type" at the private other school.

This may not be apparent to everyone coming to the series, of course, but there's a precedent in Japan that characterises same sex attraction/intense friendships between girls in the accepted context of "youthful romance"; essentially a practice for when you grow up and have "proper" relationships with men, get married and become a member of society. Although this is arguably an old fashioned view these days, it is still something that colours attitudes.

I mention this because of the moment in this episode where Fumi suddenly and devastatingly discovers her slightly older cousin is getting married; because it is the context for their relationship. In the eyes of her cousin it's a normal phase that girls go through, that she has probably been through before. So from her perspective it's not quite as callous a moment as it seems, nor is she necessarily bisexual or repressed about her own sexuality. At the same time she and others would expect Fumi to go through the same process of growing up and would not necessarily read any attachment as homosexual, though it might be.

Anime series depicting same sex attraction (usually subtextually) is rarely set in a "realistic" context and, if it is, usually focuses on schoolgirl relationships (in the context of youthful romance). It's a slightly different story for manga, where there's more diversity. I'm very interested to see whether this will try to bridge the gap between youthful romance and lesbian identity for Fumi (and possibly, but maybe not for her friend).

*edit: Erica answers all, in her review! :D * 

OMG yay!

=D

*is happy*

sorry, this excites me...

I've been following the story from the manga (on the lililicious website), but this anime adaptation is just too cute!  I love the voices (in the manga, they describe Fumi's voice as soft, and it's nice to actually hear it that way) and the art is lovely.

Hurray for afterellen.com!!

I really,really enjoyed this anime. "Flower Tale"  was nice.  Very,very nice and touching. I really like soft colors in the anime.  I'm looking forward to  the next Aoi Hana installment. Again,,thank you Afterellen!

that was great!

Anyone else have a flashback to Spider Lilliesand the fashion of Jade and especially Takeko (with the tall slender with glasses look)? 

That was adorable... <3 I can't wait for the next episode. There are so few anime that have same-sex themes... I never even finished Strawberry Panic. But this series seems way more... hmm. I don't know. Mature, and realistic? Either way, Aoi Hana looks great so far!! Love the characters and plot. Hopefully it won't disappoint!

I'm really excited about this one.  The manga is great and so far the animated adaptation is only better than the original.  :-D

Now if only Hayate X Blade would be animated I could die happy as the saying goes.  :-)

new anime to watch out for! i remember the last anime i watched was kannazuki no miko. lol. 

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www.twitter.com/your_tourniquet

People that aren't from USA, you can watch the video using youhide.com

Just enter at the site (www.youhide.biz/), close the advertisement, put the website (www.crunchyroll.com/library/Aoihana), browse and select the first epi

I want to live and die there, I used to go there almost every weekend! I'm already loving this anime, I haven't been on crunchyroll since they took out most K-movies but I guess it's time for me to get back to it! thx Sarah 

*partir en premier ne veut pas toujours dire arriver en premier*

This show filled me with lethal amounts of warm and fuzzy feelings! I love it. ^^

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And that, my friend, is the bottom line.

For anyone who didnt have the patience to wait for more translated episodes (like me), here's a link for the translated manga: http://www.mangafox.com/manga/aoi_hana/?no_warning=1

I'm guessing the english manga won't be licensed for your local barnes & nobles anytime soon, so I deffinateley suggest this. It's well translated and the art style of the manga is more preferable against the anime style in my opinion.

Yes I know. Your welcome girls ;-)

Hey that was really good! I don't really watch anime - I mean, pokemon and yu-gi-oh are as far as I've gone (sailor moon from back in the day doesn't really count) so I'm just getting used to the weird sounds and stuff the characters make. 

I really like it though!! Fumi-chan is cool as. I'm not familiar with Japanese terms of address so I don't really know what her proper name would be but yes - chan, san whatever, the tall slightly awkward one is my favourite.

Is it just me or is the slightly-in-love-with-her-cousin a little weird? Or maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick? 

It’s pretty clear now thatwhat looked like it might have been some kind of counterculture is, in reality,just the plain old chaos of undifferentiated weirdness – Jerry Garcia 

You can read the Manga version at www.mangafox.com :D

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Hmm. I totally forgot this ws being released this summer. so much for the mental note I left myself a few months back. I'm glad you reminded me. :)

It turned out pretty good. I've now seen the first two epiodes. It's cute.

It was fine before (like, two days ago) but I only got halfway through and now when I play it, there's no english subtitles? any idea how to fix this? :(

cause I was enjoying it muchly.. 

...and therefore is wingéd cupid painted blind

Such a cute show so far. I can't wait for more episodes. ^-^ It brought a tear to my eye. xD Haha, I'm too quick to cry, also, it seems.

After ignoring the manga for so long, I was shocked but more excited that this was made into an actual anime. XD The art is so pretty, it's been far in between that I've seen such scrutiny put into animation. I can't wait to see how this unfolds!

Thanks for sharing. :)

I loved the first episode and am completely stoked for this amazing collaboration! This will also be the first time I watch anime episodes only weeks after each episode is aired in Japan so that's pretty nice! Thanks for uploading!

This was my nerdy self during the opening by the way: "Like the art style. Like the character designs. No sci-fi. No random mechas. no obligatory fan service. This could be the great yuri series I've been looking for!

lol. I've many (and failed to complete many) yuri shows over the past few years hoping a realistic one would finally come along. I may be too expectant of Aoi Hana but so far it seems like this could be the great one...!

man I'm a nerd....