Takane & Hana

Plot A highschool girl (female MC 15 years) had to pretend to be her elder sister in an arranged marriage setting with the heir (male MC 26 years) of a conglomerate. our MC is arrogant and insults her (using too much makeup, only here for his money etc..), which leads her to get angry at him. MC loves her "fiesty" attitude and starts courting her to make her fall for him. she wants to do the opposite. and this is a journey to a scandalous relationship between an adult business man and a high school girl. Age Gap Romance lets get to the point.I am fine with any amount of age gaps when both of them are above 22 ish, because that's when most people get out of college and can start acting like adults and being responsible for their choices. OTOH, a highschool girl at 15 in a relationship with 26 year old mega rich guy? its disgusting. I first hated it, but then i realized that high school characters in manga never actually act like high school characters. and adults never act like adults either. I MEAN IT. These high school girls are way too mature and our male MC is way too immature. I accepted it as just a part of "setting", and just ignored that whole thing. Trying to compare 2D manga and 3D real life will make them both worse. Trigger WARNING There is a scene where a bunch of thugs kidnap and almost raping a high school girl. But the way it is handled feels silly. It is drawn like a pillow fight between the girl and the thugs. and the guy responsible for this whole mess faces is redeemed by the end of the chapter and faces *zero* consequences. Characters Well.. its a shoujo manga, almost all characters are super sweet. The author heavily leans on the "if you are fighting, it means you are in love" angle. 80% of our main character interactions are them fighting like brats, and finally making up with each other. It was okay to start with story with, but when it happens too often, you get the feeling that author is out of ideas, so is using made up fights/drama to pad/stretch the manga out. It just gets annoying at some point. I wanted more focus on the side characters, so that we could get a break from the main characters. Female MC family The family, especially the father and sister, interacting with male MC lead to a lot of comedy. The sister is absolutely gorgeous and smh seems to be quite a strong character. I was really hoping that the manga would focus a little bit on her and her antics. The mother is actually the only sensible/realistic (relatively speaking) character in the show. MC's assistant is also a great character. I really wished for yukari (female MC's sister) and this perfect butler guy to get into a relationship. Art The best part is all the weirdly designed costumes female MC is forced to wear on dates. I also loved when we had male MC be reduced to a chibi version for comedy. Overall I would say the manga is worth a read if you are bored. The love story and most of the plot feels very much contrived. But it is carried by the comedy and the sweetness. I mean, you don't read shoujo manga for realistic depictions of human nature :) If you need an actual age gap romance, i recommend "Behind the super market, smoking with you". Both characters are adults and is less annoying in general.

This is a simple story of a highschool girl and a rich guy heir to a fortune, rather it's not that simple. This managa is surprisingly good and is a treasure trove of true rom-com, because it has no chapter that is not wholesome and also makes you laugh. This simple story that starts with some arrangement marriage meeting, is both wholesome and comedic. The bonus stories and the 4-koma stories at the end of chapters are just cherry on top of this amazing reading experience this manga provides. The art is very appealing and at times it's only the art that makes one giggle. Boththe main characters and the side characters are very detrimental to how the manga plays out. All in all, it's well worth the time to be reading this manga that has all typical shoujo manga cliches, which are so excellently put in place that it seems super natural to the course of story. Nothing in the entire manga feels out of place. It's a shoujo manga that is not like others even when it has so many plot points that are similar. It's a uniques experience with how the manga draws attention and excites the urge to see what happens with the characters' life ahead. Takane to Hana is one such Rom-Com which doesn't screw up with the plot it's going with. It's straight up a blessing in disguise sort of managa that elevates ones heart to feel warm.