Hana Bolo

It's sad no one has commented on this yet. Oh well, I guess I'll be the first.

I know nothing about manga artist Hisae Iwaoka, so I walked into this with only curiosity because I liked the art and I love these kind of slice-of-life random stories. What I got was something heartwarming and cute, two simple stories involving kids and teachers at a school (schools? possibly two different schools.)

The first story is about a teacher who stumbles on two kids hanging out at the train tracks looking at something. He walk over and finds out that they are staring at a bunny, shivering with fear. The kids are in his class and after a little coaxing, convince him to let the bunny be the class pet. Then strange things start to happen, the bunny is escaping from its box. The kids find him every morning after a long night of......reliving himself... The kids and teacher really become confused when the bunny is still getting out, even after they put books on top of the box to secure him from escaping.

The second story is about two middle school girls who are trying to find the perfect club to join after one of them hurts her back while playing volleyball. They deiced to give the choir club a shot and find the the only two members are stranger then they thought. This one is a little more deep then the first one, diving into the mind of the main girl as she wishes she can play volleyball, but most coup with having to settle with something less exciting.

Both these stories are done in a melancholy kind-of-feel which is what drew me to it. I love simple stories about simple people doing simple things in their lives. Some people might find this manga boring or slow, understandable but I can't but help feel like smiling when I read these stories, it reminds me to respect and live the little moments.

Take care everyone.