The "after school love comedy" story follows Hana, a small, quiet girl who attends a discipline training all-girls school because she was attracted to the cute uniform. She secretly works at a fancy shop as a part-timer, and one day Hina, the school's super-slender beauty, joins as a new employee.
If I haven’t made it clear yet, Milk Morinaga is an auto-buy author for me. I was utterly charmed by her new series. It’s gonna be another short one, but it’s being released in tankoubon as it was in Japan, after the usual syndication.
Basically two girls, Hana and Hina, are forced to keep a secret together, working while attending a school that doesn’t allow after school jobs. They can’t even let anyone know that they know each other. Their mutual appreciation was really refreshing.
Seven Seas is on a roll with translating yuri manga, of course, it's almost all set in high school, and some are exploitive, entertaining at the cost of some very important storytelling elements (as far as I know, citrus and Netuzou Trap -NTR- fall here, but here’s a positive review from yurireveiws.com which says what the problem for me is, they’re very dramatic and angsty, and frankly, NTR sounds creepy, but they're both immensely popular) but with the publication of stories like After Hours (which I will be reading and reviewing soon) I have hope that we will be seeing more mature stories. It might still be a while…
Anyway, I’m really looking forward to the continuation of short series. Once again, this book takes the full length of the volume before the girls confess feelings to one another. But it feels like a real relationship.
I really enjoyed the age reveal. I’m sure it won’t surprise some of you. Milk Morinaga feels like she’s bringing in some of the usual shojo elements, which is nice. There’s the usual tropes in play here, but I don’t know how to be mad about any of it when it’s this charming.
The synopsis of this book doesn't prepare you for what it's really about. Yes, i's about Hana and Hina, two girls who meet each other at work and develop secret crushes on each other. But there's so much more going on. I thought the setting in particular was adorable. Hana works at a "character merch" toy store. If you know anything about Japanese culture, you probably know they are obsessed with that type of thing, and even in the west our comic and toy conventions are flooded with Japanese plushes and other things featuring popular characters. (Think Hello Kitty. It's basically like they work in a Sanrio store.) It is the most adorable thing ever. And the funny thing is, even though Hana has been working there for a while, and Hina is the new girl, Hina actually collects character goods and she is an expert. I loved when Hina told Hana her displays were totally wrong; Hana was trying to make a zoo display by putting all different types of stuffed animals together, but Hina had to explain they should be organized by collection. There are even limited edition plushes, overstock, and costumes. It is a fangirl's dream.
Really, that's my favorite thing so far. lol But there are lots of surprises that you don't read about on the back cover. Hina is a leggy model, but she is a lot younger than she looks! And while she loves character merch, when she was a kid everyone made fun of her. Now that she's in high school, it's the "in" thing and everyone thinks she's adorable and wants to be her friend. She comes across as very modern and cool, but she's really just shy, especially about her feelings for Hana.
I'm excited to see where the rest of the series goes. Milk Morinaga never disappoints!
Hana has a part-time job at a store that sells character merchandise even though her school has banned students from working. One day a tall, pretty girl who had been a customer asks about working there and Hana gets a younger coworker, Hina, that seems to be better at the job than she is and look better in the uniform. After working together a while, they learn they go to the same school. Hana tells Hina they can't talk at school because people would get suspicious about a first year and second year who aren't in any clubs together being friends.
Hina is clearly upset by this, but Hana doesn't catch on to why. Whenever the two are about to talk, they get interrupted by customers or something at school. The misunderstandings that come up cause them both doubts but they clear up most of them. The volume ends right before they've planned to hang out at Hina's house and Hina is angsting over Hana thinking her weird.
The story is sweet and it's a nice change to have a protagonist that isn't a klutz, idiot, or cute only because of those two things. I hope Hana gets fleshed out a bit more and Hina's attraction to her is more than just her cuteness.
So... I’m finally logging this in after I think my fifth or sixth time through. I’ve enjoyed this book that much (and it is very short)!
I really like the aspect that it’s slightly different from all the other Yuri titles I have read so far.
Yes, the two main characters are high schoolers...but the majority of their time together take place at their place of employment, an adorable stuffed animal shop.
I also really like that a friendship forms first and there actually isn’t any romantic situations at all! One of the characters seems to have developed a crush/infatuation on the other character but that’s it.
I am hooked and am very excited to see how this story progresses in the next volume!
A great start to what seems to be a very cute story.
Seeing as I love Morinaga's work, I naturally had to check out this story. I generally prefer physical manga to e-books, but due to adult content, I'm suspecting, people are selling volume 3 for close to $800! I hate scalpers. Anyhow, this volume starts out smooth, & after a few misunderstandings, the girls start to become friends, and then it shows that one already has a crush on the other (Who? Well you will just have to read it to find out). Or are they both starting to fall for each other? Read it & find out.I am already hooked & will start volume 2 as soon as I finish this review.
I enjoyed reading this book A LOT. This book had a lot of twists and turns here and there that were not expected. The book's plot was very nice and interesting. The more books I read from Milk Morinaga the more I'm liking them. This book has a lot of emotion which makes the book even more interesting. I liked how the author used words that a high school girl would say. It was a very CUTE book and I can't wait to read more by the author.
This story is told over a three volume collection. This style of art is different than other Milk Morinaga’s works and definitely not my favorite. For some reason, the lips on Hina (blonde) bothered me. A fun thing she did with this series is make the taller mature looking one younger than the smaller younger one. Volume 3 does get a little steamy so you may want to take a peek towards the end if you are going to read this in public to see if you’re comfortable with it. Overall, a sweet story that doesn’t end “and they got together” and we get a chance to see them together. Though it does feel like she could have explored their issues a little more, it didn’t keep me from enjoying this a lot.
This book series seems to be partially out of physical print but is pretty easy to find used. You can buy it as an ebook if you have an issue finding them. Book 3 I had a tough time finding.
4.5 stars. This made my heart so happy. I love this so much. So wholesome. The only reason I’m not giving this a full 5 tho is because the first chapter or 2 were kinda slow but after that it picks up. You learn more about Hina and her crush on Hana is so cute. Can’t wait to read the rest of this. This is my first Milk Morinaga and if this is any indication of how her other stories are, I’m happy to read them.
turns out, Morinaga does get better over time! I read some of her older works and was frustrated with the repeated use of tropes that ruined otherwise interesting and compelling storylines. Thankfully this time around, we're much more focused on Hana and Hina as characters rather than omggaywhatdowedo. Also, gotta love that we have a tall 'cool' girl who loves cute things and encourages her cute tiny gf to dress the way she wants.
SO FUCKING CUTEE BRO JESUS CHRIST … i love fruits … no but fr it gave me butterflies and had me screaming because of how precious these girls are !! they’re adorable together and the whole plot of the series is so wholesome and cute and romantic and I JUST WANT THEM TO GET TOGETHER ALREADY !!! i wish more animes were made of adorable series like this one and not just of oversexualized and fetishized series like citrus :(
Milk Morinaga does it again! So far, the first volume tells a cute story of a high school girl who has a crush on an employee of a cutesy characters good store. However, unlike some of her other works such as Girlfriends, the woman with the crush is aware almost immediately that she has feelings for the employee. It is definitely an improvement from Girlfriends in that regards, that's for sure :)
i trust milk morinaga with my (literary) life, saw this browsing the shelves at chapters and immediately picked it up. so far hina's crush is adorable as heck and i can tell this slowburn is gonna play out with MAXIMUM CUTENESS
A sweet and gentle little romance is hurt only by the use of some jarring but realistic homophobia near the end of the first volume to kick up a bit of drama and stall the development of the relationship.
Closer to 3.5. This is a Japanese yuri romance in 3 manga volumes. At times it is charming; at times the problems seem borrowed from the world of rom-com; occasionally it is dull. The drawing is excellent (brings up the rating).
A cute little slow burn of girls just starting to realize their feelings. I can definitely identify with the characters and the struggle of wondering what these new found feelings for other girls mean about you. It makes me root for them even more! Definitely excited to see what comes next.
3.5 stars. I was genuinely charmed by "Hana & Hina After School." The adorable portrayal of young love was crafted with Milk Morinaga's expert touch. This story is perfectly suited for middle school readers, engaging them with its simple and heartfelt plot.
SO CUTE. The cover is much saucier than the story is, but I really enjoyed these characters and watching their relationship develop. I've got the next two volumes all checked out and ready to go.
Cute! It could've gotten kinky, but went my preferred route of Clueless Gays. Both girls like cutesy things, one more ashamed than the other. I love Hina's hair!
This is a very cute manga story. And it is extremely well-written and illustrated. I am invested in both characters wholeheartedly, so I cannot wait to see what they’ll be up to in Book #2!
All of the volumes were so sweet and the author knows how to build a build-up and umderstands how things between people work... So... One of the best projects I v ever read and also the cutest!