FakirGirl

Story: On the surface, Hanasakeru Seishounen might seem like it is just a romance, but there is much more to it than that.

The first big plot introduced is that involving Kajika and her father, Harry Burnsworth, a rich businessman. In the very first episode, Harry presents the idea of a "marriage game" to his then-14-year-old daughter. He has selected three men. They do not know that they have been selected, and Kajika will not be told who they are. Harry tells her that she will "just know" when she meets them that they are the ones selected by her father. When Kajika chooses the man who will eventually become her husband, her father will then reveal a major secret about her destiny to her. If she chooses someone else, or if she chooses not to pick anyone at all, then he loses the game. Her father assigns her childhood friend, Li Ren (who is about 19), to be her guardian. She also has another loyal bodyguard, Toranosuke.

The marriage game is not the only major plot, though. There is also quite a bit of political intrigue involving the fictional Middle Eastern country of Raginei. Betrayal, secrets, conspiracies, and complicated allegiances are all involved. Personally, I found this story to be even more interesting than the marriage game plot. Incidentally, the political struggles in Raginei are at the forefront of the anime for many episodes.

I only have a few minor issues with the story. The first is the inclusion of Yui. Her storyline was the only superfluous part of the story. While watching, I had expected her to have some sort of tie-in to one of the two main stories, but she did not have any sort of connection to them. Other than her story, which really could have been dropped, I felt that the plot was very intricate: almost every other part of the story interconnected with the other plot points. As for the marriage game, Kajika makes her choice fairly early, and I personally would have liked to have seen her decision come a little later. The last little thing is that there is one scene (can't elaborate, as I don't want to spoil anything) that completely lacks credibility. The anime seems to acknowledge this and does offer an explanation, but the excuse given is not very believable.

Overall, though, these flaws are minor. The story is nonetheless interesting, well-done, and entertaining.

One of the things that I liked the most about the story is that if you think about it, every single character finds love in one way or another. I'd love to go into more detail and explain that better, but I can't elaborate on that without spoiling it. Suffice to say that even though not every character finds romantic love, the main characters (Rumaty, Kajika, Eugene, Li Ren, and Carl) all find some form of love.

Animation: I loved the character designs. There are a lot of foreign characters and I feel that the character designs are true to the native countries of these characters.

Sound: I LOVE the opening and closing themes and listen to them both frequently. The background music always fits the scenes well.

Characters: Kajika irritated me a bit at times, but at other times she showed amazing courage and loyalty to her friends. Li Ren and Rumaty were by far my favorites and both of them underwent a good deal of development, as did Eugene. I found Eugene to be fascinating: I hated him at first, but as time went on, I came to understand him and appreciate him, even admire him in some ways.

Overall: I loved this anime. I could not stop watching. I definitely recommend it to those who enjoy politics with a little romance thrown in.