English Dub Review: Hana-Kimi “Do They Hate Me?”

Overview:

Sano doesn’t seem to remember the last night, but Mizuki also has other troubles: someone has it out for her.

Our Take(Spoliers):

Mizuki punched Sano right in the face, and as I thought, he has no memory of what happened. Mizuki later found out that what he was drinking was alcohol and felt better about what happened. I feel like I’ve seen this anime before, and that’s one of the problems when it comes to adapting a manga from thirty years ago. Back then, what this story had up its sleeve was new for the time, but at this point, it’s been played out multiple times and in seemingly better ways.

In other news, Mizuki has someone upset with them and starts to get bullied. Nakao, the person who was previously the school’s pretty boy, is upset that it seems like Nanba is focusing on Mizuki now. Nakao is voiced by Justin Briner, and it was interesting to hear him play a bully for once. But I’m pretty sure they worked things out and are friends now. I thought it was funny that Mizuki got advice from Hokuto that you don’t have to be a “girl” to have feelings for a guy. That’s the thing that throws me for a loop in romance shows like this. If someone falls in love with Mizuki but finds out she’s not actually a guy, what does that mean?