Hanazono-san Chi no Futago-chan

I am deeply surprised with Hanazono-san Twins. Based on the cover, tags, and premise, I had a relatively solid idea of what I was getting into. Everything this manga is is built on well-worn clichés that have plagued romance manga for decades. It is, after all, a classic love triangle with two girls with different personalities and looks perusing a mutual childhood friend. There are random hijinks with each girl being given various advantages over the other chapter-to-chapter. The breasts are in fact large. However, it manages to present these classic ideas in a fun enough way to leave me both engaged and interested to read more.

Starting out, the artwork is really solid. The author and artist Kitajima manages to nail some strong expressions with really decent character designs. It also gets points for being a love story about a big breasted gyaru and having little to no ecchi aside from a couple bathing scenes. In general the artwork sells the experience, especially in the recent chapters 24 and 25 which have a few great visual gags.

Hanazono Twins does something I never thought possible, making a wimpy virgin high schooler actually entertaining as a love interest. I’m not going to argue that he is all that fantastically written, after all I still don’t remember his name, but I think he has legitimate chemistry with both of the girls. Some of the bits where he interacts with the gyaru are especially charming, specifically when the adorkable bits die down and they can freely interact. In addition, I think this guy strikes a decent balance of wimpy and charismatic. A lot of series in this genre tend to make the main guy too unpopular and scummy. This makes the moments where the protagonist is suddenly super thoughtful and charismatic feel completely out of nowhere. Our protagonist in this manga manages to maintain a good enough balance that I find it relatively believable that the twins would like him, even if the gyaru’s reasoning is as cliché as it comes. Thankfully, a decent bit of the other characters are also likeable. The twins are kind of generic, but they work decently enough. The gyaru’s friends are all pretty entertaining, especially the one with short dark hair.

I think another thing that makes the love triangle work is the starting position the characters are all in. It is relatively by the books with one of the sisters being in a better position to grow than the other, while the other sister is the specific love interest that the protagonist initially wants. However, it is executed in a very specific way that makes the scales feel much more interesting. This is partially because our protagonist does not feel nearly as wishy-washy as other characters from other manga do in his position.

My only major complaint about this manga is in its side plots. I can feel my engagement drop the moment the story focuses on some random new side character for a few chapters. These stories aren’t necessarily bad, but they don’t feel entirely relevant and detract from the momentum of the manga. This isn’t a major complaint, but it is something worth voicing.

I deeply hope this manga is not axed. If it is given enough time I can see it being a really good complete package once it is done. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys standard romance manga and would like to read another. This manga has a lot of potential and is a surprisingly entertaining read.

To preface the manga this is really nothing new at all.It uses a multitude of cliches without really making too many attempts at being original and I will be the first to admit that.While I do say that the manga does not take many risks it works for me.

Story-7/10
The story is baseline common.There's this guy who was two childhood friends.One being an Idol while the other is a Gal.He likes the younger Idol sister but has grown apart from the two.The girls like him back but hide this fact.It's a very common premise that has been used a multitude of times sure but it takes a unique take on the aforementioned premise.The writer utilizes the false relationship trope in a way very reminiscent of Nisekoi which is partially why I enjoy this manga so much.The story goes on with our self-insert mc going on a "date" with the younger sister that disguises her self as the older twin so that she doesn't cause a scandal.The two get found out by some of their classmates and their pictures get leaked among the class.This forces the older sister and the mc into a false relationship so that the younger sisters Idol career that she has built up for so long does not fall apart.We go through the common tropes of study sessions,peer pressure and so on so forth.Nothing spectacular but in my opinion the pacing is incredible.The mangaka has somehow jam packed so much content into single chapters that don't take too long to read but feel like an entire episode or two of an anime in its content.Often when a writer puts in that much content the pacing can feel a bit rushed but that wasn't the case here.We are led through these events in a unique pace that keeps you enthralled constantly waiting for what comes next.

Art-8/10
The art is not really something we have never seen before either but it is done well.The lines are clean and clear and the characters well drawn.The designs don't lean on prerequisites much,giving each character their own flair.The facial expressions are beautifully drawn and get their point across well enough.This is true for especially the sisters and can be seen in the many faces of the older sister who has for the first few chapters been given the spotlight.The backgrounds are not in most panels but are there when they need to be.

Characters-7/10
As the story has not progressed much it only having been a few chapters in there is not too much to go off of.The two sisters are very unique and set apart from the crowd.The older sister has had feelings for the mc since he was a child due to reasons that I shall not highlight as they may be considered major spoilers in a sense.We know that the younger Idol also likes the brother but the reason for doing so has not been revealed.The reason behind the mc's crush still hasn;t been revealed but I have high hopes so far.The characters are like able and work well together.While the fake couple carries a bundle of awkwardness around with them it feels very natural in terms of execution.

Enjoyment-9/10
The manga up to this point has been very enjoyable.The jokes funny and the awkward chemistry between the characters very endearing.The story was average but extremely well paced keeping hooked from the beginning.There has not been a moment so far that has felt dull to me.

Overall-8/10
This manga may be a bit of a guilty pleasure read due to its.....well stark similarity to series such as Nisekoi and 5toubun.While I can understand remarks calling it unoriginal i do still believe this warrants itself a read as a feel-good read at the very least.In the absolute minimum the character interactions,art and pacing will not disappoint.

Hanazono-san Chi no Futago-chan is a run-of-the-mill harem manga that has essentailly no original or groundbreaking ideas what so ever. The story follows our main protagonist, who has little to no personality, and his two childhood friends who want his babies. Hanazono-san Chi no Futago-chan copies many ideas presented in degenerate shows such as kiss x sis and hajimete no gal. The cast consists of your mediocre harem cast that you will easily forget because they exist in every other harem manga. The younger sister is a popular idol who wants the guy's babies, and the older sister is a deliquent student, who wants the guy's babies. Outside of being an idol and a gal, these characters have no other personality that makes them stick out. The gal acts like a gal, and the shy idol acts like an idol. The art was solid, as it was never amazing nor jawdroppingly bad. Hanazono-san Chi no Futago-chan is just one of those guily pleasure shows that you will read once, and forget about a day later.