Fumi and Akira were close childhood friends until Fumi had to move away. Ten years after losing touch with each other, the two girls meet again as high school freshmen. The two struggle to reconnect after so much has changed, and both deal with the trials and tribulations of high school — sometimes independently and sometimes with each other’s help.
(Source: Anime News Network)
Shoujo-ai has seldom been as nuanced, charming, and sincere.
There’s no shortage of anime with apparently gay characters and pairings, or "yuri/yaoi bait" as it’s sometimes called. In many—perhaps most—cases, these characters exist as comic relief (Yuru Yuri), fanservice (Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid), or their romance is “implied” (Hibike! Euphonium), meaning the…
Aoi Hana is a sweet, nuanced LGBT story that prefers subtlety over forced melodrama and sensationalism.
I've mentioned before that romance isn't really a genre I find myself drawn to. Granted, that's not to say every piece of romance media is bad. I've 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…