Takane & Hana Graphic Novel Volume 10 cover image

Her 23-year-old sister, Yukari, refuses to go to an arranged marriage meeting.  So 16-year-old Hana Nonomura takes the meeting with 26-year-old Takane Saibara.  He is heir to a vast business fortune, and Hana and Yukari's father works for the company owned by Takane's family.  Their father fears that Yukari's refusal would cost him his job.  After they meet, Takane, the heir, and Hana, the high school girl, start to fall in love.

As Takane & Hana, Vol. 10 (Chapters 52 to 57) opens, Hana is still shocked by the admission her longtime friend, Okamon, made to her.  “I've been in love with you a long time,” he said.  Now, Hana has to tell him that she is in love with Takane, but Hana does not want to hurt Okamon's feelings.  Besides, she has not been entirely honest even with herself about her feelings for Takane.  And what will happen when Takane finds out what Okamon said to her?!  Plus, a night of hard-partying for someone's birthday ends with the biggest surprise of the night.

[This volume has a bonus story.]

THE LOWDOWN:  The Takane & Hana manga is a shojo romance manga that focuses on a high school girl and a man a decade older than her.  Thus, it is a familiar kind of shojo romance, but with a twist that causes problems for the lead characters.

Takane & Hana Graphic Novel Volume 10 is the usual – romance, an attempt at a break-up, an emerging love triangle, etc.  Creator, Yuki Shiwasu, however, decides to throw readers for a loop with the last six pages of the main story.  This is the kind of moment, plus Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane's delightful English adaptation, that keeps readers coming back.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of teen shojo manga will want to read the Shojo Beat title, Takane & Hana.

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7.5 out of 10