Sengoku Danshi Hana no Ran

STORY: Sengoku no Danshi Hana no Ran was pretty mundane with no antagonist until vol 4, and the only looming threat was the samurai boys living out their ill-fated histories if they returned to their era. In the beginning, I thought Hana's family idol agency and time traveling made the story over-packed, but I like how it developed. I was surprised this manga touched briefly on child molestation and date-rape drugs in the entertainment business. The light slice-of-life tone is nearly nonexistent in the final volume because everything had turned very dark. The ending was a bit rushed, to the point the readers could tell, but stillmanaged to tie up a few loose ends in a fairy-tale way. CHARACTERS: Hana is a pretty plain main character but likable. She doesn't cry excessive shoujo tears and is not whiny, so she's okay in my book. I liked the samurai brothers the most, collectively. I happened to like Riki, the quiet brother, almost instantly and Ran as well. I don't think anything really stood out from Ran beyond the norm of the cool-headed, about-his-business character type. He didn't break the character mold but I liked him all the same. Aniue the middle brother was... the middle child. I felt bad for Momo and I usually dislike the female love rivals, but there was really nothing hate-worthy about her. On that same vein, there was nothing noteworthy about her either. ART: Art is A+ all around for me. Ran is an undeniably handsome man, so it's no wonder why he's the shoujo lead. Overall, the story was very over the top but not bad, and the art and characters made the story easy to read. Not to mention, this manga has some of the best shoujo scenes ever, the type to make you smile at your phone/device deliriously.