Love is not about what you deserve. It's about what you feel for another person and what they feel for you. You don't need to "earn" the right to be in love and express that love. It's sort of a central theme of the entire manga lol. And god what an incredibly good manga it is.

wrt the trans theories, I think it's intentionally written as ambiguous on the part of the author, and personally the trans explanation for Maya's motivations and changes makes the most sense. She was very butch presenting in high school, and over time as we see her in different points of her life in the various short little flashback snippets we see, she gets more and more feminine. If she was a cis woman, this change in appearance would perfectly align with her boxing herself up and molding herself for social expectations to avoid being hurt, rather than her personal desires for how she wants to be. However, if that were the case, she'd be back to being butch in the epilogue, where she's decided to be who she wants to be rather than what society expects she should be. Instead she's more femme than ever. Maya being trans just fits so well with the things she experiences, the things she feels, and the framing of a bunch of things in her life that are left far more vague than Michiru's past is.
Also a bunch of smaller details rather than overarching character analysis: 1) She's flat chested in high school and in the story's present has the biggest bust out of any character in the manga 2) That extremely important high school memory with the Prez is about playing Viola from 12th Night, a girl who has to pretend to be a boy but gets to transform into her true self as a girl at the end. That's a super clear metaphor lol. 3) In between when we last see her as flat chested and a few years later when she's not, she was "overseas" for some time, during which time her parents disowned her by removing her name (the one those parents gave her) from the family registry.
All of this is potentially deniable. But I don't know why anyone would be particularly motivated to bother when it's a better story when all these pieces fit together rather than just being random haphazard details. :P

Jumping in a year late to note the additional circumstantial evidence that the author Shino Torino is trans (or at least a very, very supportive ally)—having included a trans pride flag in their Twitter display name for several years. https://x.com/sino_torino

Rather than Maya's past being left ambiguous, I posit that the way in which the subject is explored in the series is best read as a deep sign of respect from the author to their character. If Maya is a trans woman, she is living completely stealth and the light touch used by the author can be easily interpreted as a quite powerful way to affirm and support both Maya overcoming her past struggles and living her current lifestyle.

This theory does raise a complex issue for continued discussion, however; of how best to tag the series. On one hand there is no direct confirmation of a transgender character in the text of the work and not tagging the series as such could be viewed as a continuation of the author's own philosophy in regards to Maya's character. On the other hand though, including the tag would increase the visibility of the series for those seeking manga with transgender themes and characters and would help cement Ohana Holoholo as one of the only (if not the only) manga with a fully stealth trans character—increasing it's importance in the overall body of LGBT literature.

A possible "transgender subtext" tag could be used as a compromise, but that would still limit the series' overall visibility.

Of course their friends knew!! Loved how silly the big moment turned out to be.
Hana ni Arashi ending almost doesn’t feel real. Going to miss these two dorks so, so much after following the series for something like a quarter of my life.

last edited at Oct 20, 2024 3:36PM

Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if when Hinata finally confesses her feelings, Naori’s response is a confused, “Wait, we’re not dating already?” I know Naori is almost certainly still just working out her feelings like Hinata, but it would be pretty funny if she believed they were together romantically from the very start when Hinata kissed her and they began living together. After all, Naori’s personality is chill and a bit awkward, and she never once denies any of the comments her friends and classmates make about them being a couple. Either way, I live for the slow-burn!

last edited at Sep 23, 2024 3:08PM

Another thing to keep in mind for why Koto has struggled to move on from Aya in the past 7 years is that their previous relationship did not end naturally. Aya disappeared completely, without any warning, and there were absolutely no leads as to what could have possibly happened to her. It's understandable how a sudden tragedy of this manner would both be deeply shocking and continue to gnaw at someone into the future, forming Koto's current maladaptive behaviors.

Further, while Koto and Aya's romantic relationship did only begin officially shortly before Aya disappeared, they were still best friends for a considerable amount of time prior.

last edited at Jun 9, 2024 2:03PM

Very compelling start. Hoping they lean pretty heavily into the interpersonal and situational drama (moreso than would be indicated by the volume cover art), but a more lighthearted story of personal healing w/ a bit of spice from the murder's consequences could be great too.

Especially loved the odd, but powerful chemistry between our two leads. Atsuko also totally has community icon potential.

OMG! Suito-to is actually back!?! It's been one of my all-time favorites for years! Guess it's time for another re-read!! Thank you so much for the scanlation!!!

last edited at Apr 24, 2024 3:24PM

reminds me of kiss and a white lily kinda

Definitely!

The core of their relationship is so deeply reminiscent of Shiromine and Kurosawa's, especially in regards to the dynamic of a (love denying) hardworking smart character trying to "bring down" a natural genius character so they can be on equal ground in their relationship to the other and to those around them. The most significant difference as of now is that Komaki doesn't seem to currently be anywhere near as honest about her feelings towards Wakaba as Kurosawa was to Shiromine, which should add a bit of fun spice to it all.

Excited to see how it develops from here!

last edited at May 21, 2024 5:13PM