Hanazakari no Kimitachi e 2007 JDrama Review

Hanazakari no Kimitachi e or simply known as Hana Kimi is the 2007 drama adaptation based on a popular manga series by Hisaya Nakajo. The drama stars Maki Horikata as Mizuki Ashiya, Shun Oguri as Izumi Sano and Toma Ikuta as Shuichi Nakatsu.

Hana Kimi is about Mizuki Ashiya, a student from America who just transferred to Osaka Academy, a school that only accepts handsome men. The reason why he entered this school is to encourage Izumi Sano, a man who saved his life back in America and he wants to repay his kindness by encouraging him to do what he loves, to do a professional high jump. The only problem is that Mizuki is a girl and once the school discovers that he is actually a she, she will be expelled! Can she encourage Sano to jump again, also, will the school find out her true gender before she can convince Sano to jump?

If there is one drama series that I regretted watching when it was available in free TV, it would be the 2007 Hana Kimi drama. If you read my rant in my review of the 2011 drama, I think you have the idea. Anyway, as for the series itself, if there is one thing I learned from drama titles that are adapted from a single source, it would be the make some changes to make it different from the original source material or the previous drama adaptations the source material had. In the case of the 2007 Hana Kimi drama, the Taiwanese version aired before it and based on the episodes I watched, it has the proper balance between comedy and drama.

In the case of the 2007 drama, comedy dominated over the drama. There are some instances that I forgot the plot for this episode and just have fun watching the comedic scenes! What made the comedy fun is all thanks to the secondary characters of the series that there are times that they are more interesting that the main cast. I mean seriously, the three dorm heads, Hibari Four and the other Osaka Academy students always steal the spotlight of the main cast if there is the opportunity to steal it. 

The comedy is made more memorable thanks to the running gags this series has. Running gags such as the Hibari Four shutting Komari out, people forgetting about Sekime's name, Nakatsu's internal monologue, the useless inventions of one student and other gags that I will not talk about. The side characters also have their own set of shenanigans that often times overpowers the main drama plot of the episode. Granted, these shenanigans are fun to watch but they are times that these shenanigans didn't complement well with the drama. There are times that I wish that the drama didn't exist and just focus more on the comedy, but nope, this is a drama series and this show must have drama in it. ​

The show's drama aspect is sometimes weak thanks to the comedy and sometimes strong when the plot demands it to be strong. To be honest, remove the drama in some episodes and nothing of value is lost, because at the end of the episode, it is about handsome men doing fun and random things. Anyway, the strongest point of the show's drama aspect has something to do with the camaraderie of the entire school. You can feel like everybody knows everyone inside Osaka Academy, like they are one big community. This aspect is something that I feel missing in the 2011 drama as it focused more on the students from Dorm 2. 

The Ashiya, Sano and Nakatsu love triangle plot is fun to watch. Nakatsu's internal monologue and him wondering if he is gay or not because of Ashiya. His interactions with Ashiya feel like I am watching two guys having fun with each other's company. So yeah, at the end, Ashiya only thinks of Nakatsu as a friend even after he confessed his love for Ashiya during the time she is still pretending to be a boy. The way Nakatsu took it is admirable, he just acted that he is joking around when he did the confession.

The Sano and Ashiya love story is the main material in this series. The way it started is something that I like, from Ashiya admiring Sano's skills as an athlete until the day he lost his will to jump because Sano saved Ashiya one time. Thinking that it is her fault that he injured Sano, Ashiya decides to repay the debt by encouraging Sano to jump again by entering his school. The fact that he entered an all-boys school just to encourage the man who saved his life is quite admirable. I mean, only a few people have the guts to do such thing, especially with Sano's case. Everyone tried to encourage him to jump but it was Ashiya who made him want to jump. This then leads us to more drama involving Kagurazaka and his family. 

Kagurazaka is Sano's main rival and he is one good rival character. But what added the drama in this series is Sano's determination to jump again thanks to Ashiya. After the introduction of Sano's younger brother, the series becomes more complicated because bits of Sano’s past are being revealed one by one. It gets more complicated after the introduction of Sano's father. I will not spoil much with the details but this is one of those times that it feels like Hana Kimi is a drama series not a sitcom set in a high school. ​

Ashiya has been there during the times Sano is struggling with his high jump and during the times Sano is in his weakest. It is no surprise that from admiration, Ashiya's emotions for Sano evolved into love. This progression feels natural and I really like it. Speaking of Sano, after he learned that Ashiya is a she after overhearing her conversion with her brother, their interactions felt a bit more awkward in some times, and I love this kind of awkwardness. Though Sano is not honest with it, it is obvious that he likes Ashiya, he just don't want to admit it. That is why I like how the series ended, it is basically Sano admitting his feelings for Ashiya in matter I least expect to see.

Since this show has something to do with a girl entering an all-boy's school as a boy, I'll first talk about her looks. Comparing it to the Taiwanese Hana Kimi drama, Ashiya in the 2007 drama looks like a boy in when she is wearing boy's uniform. Granted his voice sounds a bit high for a boy in that age, it doesn't sound chirpy like the 2011 drama. Now comes the fun part, when Ashiya starts wearing women's clothes. She looks so beautiful in it that the ones around him thought that he is actually a she even if he is actually a she... or something like that. ​

Because this kind of thing is get to be discovered soon, there are some people who discovered it first before the entire school discovers it. One of those characters is the school doctor, Umeda who happens to be gay. He served as his secret keeper and sometimes, adviser in several occasions. One thing that I like about Umeda is that he is there every step in Ashiya's journey in Osaka Academy, which makes him a pseudo father figure for Ashiya. During the show's last episode, the school learned about it and the way Ashiya's classmates accepted it kinda expected but after learning the reason why she is in an all-boy's school, they accepted it and remembered that Ashiya is still Ashiya. 

This is probably the biggest lesson this show can offer. Even if you cross dress just to repay someone for what he or she did, overall, you are still you and nothing will change it, and that includes the view of others about you. That is why I love the final episode of the series; it basically sums up what this show is all about. It is more than just a love story between Ashiya and Sano, it about the camaraderie of the students of Osaka Academy. 

Overall, Hana Kimi is one entertaining drama series. Just like the 2011 drama, the only reason I watched this drama is because of the tokusatsu actors that this drama has but at the end, I love the drama not because of the actors, but because of the story and the camaraderie between the characters. Another thing that I like about the drama is the soundtrack, it gives you this fun peppy feeling while listening to it that I often end up humming to it for days! Lastly, if you ask me which is better, the 2007 or the 2011 drama, I can easily say that the 2007 drama is probably, the best Hana Kimi drama in my opinion.