It’s always the short ones…

Story: 9

I’m a sucker for fantasy, so it’s no surprise that this manga attracted me like a moth to flame. Add in adventure, a contract with a devil, and romance and I’m a total goner. I instantly fell in love with this manga’s storyline even if the trope’s not original. Sure it’s cliché, but what do you really have to lose when it’s only 2 volumes/8 chapters long?

It’s explained in the first chapter why devils offer their hearts to humans in the form of a contract: devils do not feel emotions by themselves, but when their hearts are in a human, they feel the human’s emotions as well. In other words, it’s a way to pass time since devils live long lives. However, there are time limits set in those contracts (Lys’s is sixteen years and she’s currently 15) in which the devils must claim their hearts back and if that condition isn’t met by the time limit, there are dire consequences that must be faced.

Art: 10

Beautiful. There’s no other word to describe the artwork. It’s drawn in shoujo fashion (of course) and some people may not enjoy that, but I happen to. The people are attractive, the scenery is attractive, and the clothes are attractive! The “desert fashion” is drawn really well and only adds to the beauty of Lys when she dances and the environment in general.

Characters: 8

The main character, Lys, is a strong individual who knows what she wants—which is to find the devil who gave her his heart so that she can somehow convince him to extend her life for a little longer. Honestly, her actions are understandable. She just wants to live like any normal person. Though she’s shunned by other humans because she accepted the heart of a devil, Lys doesn’t hate the owner of her heart since it was him who allowed her to live in the first place. Yes, she may sound like a typical overly-nice and forgiving shoujo heroine, but I was never bored of her character.

Siva is Lys’s companion and it’s no surprise, the devil who’s the owner of her heart. He’s been traveling with her ever since she was very young (like toddler age). He claims that he protects Lys because she’s the holder of his heart and he cannot allow anyone to harm her, whether human or devil. Siva is typically detached from everyone else but Lys and she’s the only person he shows emotion in front of. He’s very protective of Lys and we as readers know it’s because she has his heart—in more ways than one.

(In replacement of Enjoyment…) Romance: 9

This isn’t a slow romance and I wouldn’t call it fast either. It just happens. The bond between Lys and Siva developed over the years they traveled together and though Lys states that Siva is like a brother or father-figure to her at the beginning, she eventually realizes that her feelings for him go beyond that. After all, Siva was the reason why Lys wanted to live longer in the first place.

However, romance between a devil and human is only doomed to end in tragedy. In fact, there’s a couple who reflect Lys and Siva’s relationship in the story and they show us, the readers, and the protagonists what is bound to happen to them if they fall in love.

Yes, even the romance is cliché, but I believe it’s done well. You can see how much Lys and Siva truly care for each other and how much it pains them to be separated from the other.

Overall: 9

Yes, the approach to this story is clichéd, but in all honesty, I’ve never really read any other stories like this. The only one I can think of at the top of my head is Hana to Akuma (which I also enjoyed). Hanatsukihime has all the right combinations to make me love this manga to death. The only negative is that it’s so short! Two freaking volumes? Really? It’s always the short ones. *sigh* Well, at least everything’s cleared for in the eight measly chapters.

The majority of shoujos consist of teenagers’ experiencing their high school lives so it’s always a breath of fresh air to read a fantasy like Hanatsukihime. Still, there aren’t enough stories like this.