Quick Stats: Title: Aoi HanaStudio: J.C. StaffGenre: Shoujo/ YuriAvailability: Simulcast on CrunchyrollRatings (of 5):Story: ♥♥♥Animation: ♥♥♥Characters: ♥♥½OP/ED Themes: ♥♥Overall: ♥♥½ONE-LINER: Girl meets girl, girl rescues girl from train molester, girls realize they were childhood friends...the usual.   Thoughts:Aoi Hana is the tale of two girls who were friends in elementary school until they had to separate because one was moving to another town. She-- Fumi –moves back to the town right before her first day of high school. She's a litle bit emo because the cousin who was staying with them (and on whom she had a crush) is leaving.Cue Akira, also starting her first day of high school, at a different all-girls academy in town (how many ARE there, anyway?).  She's worried about whether she'll be able to make friends at her new school, in spite of the fact that she's a cute and outgoing young woman.The two run into each other literally on the train platform. Then, once on the train, Akira saves Fumi from a train molester, and the two talk briefly on their way to their separate schools. Later, when their moms get together for a reunion, they realize that they're old pals.If you want to know more about what happens after that, you'll have to watch the show. That said, it's a very pretty show-- think of it as a less glam-y Maria-sama ga Miteru (in fact, Akira's brother makes fun of her for talking about an elegant young woman, asking if she says “gokigenyo”-- a common greeting in the Maria-sama world).So far, though, there's nothing about either the characters or their story that really intrigues me. Fumi is a shy girl who cries easily, and Akira is a perky tomboy-- neither is breaking any molds, at least this early on (though there's assuredly potential). But neither made me like them very quickly.In fact, I found myself mildly annoyed by one of them. When she's being cute, Akira doesn't sound that much older at 14 than she did at 6 (or however old they were as kids). And if I hear her tell Fumi that she's cries fast again, I'm going to want to smack myself.But as many of you know, I'm rarely a fan of the slow, quiet slice-of-life show, and yuri isn't enough to get me interested-- I'm not especially into Maria-sama ga Miteru, either. If you're interested in a less formal, more “normal Japanese girls” version of MariMite, then this could be the show of your dreams. If you were hoping for a lot of yuri fanservice-- look elsewhere.
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