As you can see: I got my prints in! You can find them all up on my etsy and big cartel now at the links below- or check out my carrd on my page to find your way on over there if you’re interested :D I’m so happy with how they turned out!
One of my pieces for the @jshkflowerszine! This piece is centered around red carnations to symbolize both deep love and loss Kou experiences with Mitsuba.
I really can’t wait to finally see Kou and Mitsuba’s reunion
I’m very curious about the last conversation between these two and about how things are currently in their relationship because Kou is acting really weird…
And he seems to be very sure that Mitsuba doesn’t believe or need him.
Happy pride everyone!! Here’s some gay moments in jshk.
Disclaimer: I’m not here to start ship wars and it’s fine if you don’t interpret these scenes the same as me. Also, I’m gay.
Hanako-kun
He flirted with Kou because he wanted to do things that only girls could.
…and then he hurt over being rejected. Thing is, in the same chapter, he suggested peeping on girls, so it’s not like the gender change moved his sexual preferences.
Nene
Clearly Nene is boy crazy but she’s also gotten flustered by girls.
Nene gets flustered over Aoi. Even Akane is touched.
A Kabedon is romantic trope in Japanese media where one person “traps” the other, for context. I usually see it in shoujo manga.
Nene blushed over how beautiful Sakura is and admitted to letting her guard down because she was a babe.
Kou and Mitsuba
There’s plenty of posts on how and why Mitsuba and Kou are an implied romance and not queer baiting. I’m just focusing on a few points I rarely see brought up.
They’re associated with rainbows. Yes, rainbows are a symbol of pride in Japan too.
In case you don’t recognize it, this one is from the end of the Valentine’s event this year, which was MitsuKou centric.
Every main couple in the series shares the first letter of their surname
Akane x Aoi
Yashiro x Yugi
Sumire x Shinigami
Mitsuba x Minamoto
Hanako and Nene sat next to one another in PP, as did Mitsuba and Kou so it probably means something ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Even lil Tsukasa thinks Kou has a crush. I really like this twitter thread on Hananene and Mitsukou parallels.
Now for gender
Sakura
Sakura doesn’t care about her gender presentation or identity. In fact, Natsuhiko is the only one in the group that does care.
Hanako
Hanako identifies as a boy but he’s fine with feminine presentation. I don’t think this implies Hanako is queer as much as it show AidaIro normalising different gender expressions :)
He didn’t mind at all that he was turned into a girl and happily changed his clothes/hair for the day.
He’s worn feminine clothing in a few official arts and doesn’t seem distressed about it, whereas Kou definitely is.
He wanted Nene to paint his nails along with the hands.
Lastly, Hanako is ok with being called “Hanako.” The name “Hanako” in Japan means “flower” and is pretty exclusively a girls name.
That’s all I have. I’m sure there’s more, so feel free to add!
In Japan the school year starts in April which coincides with the peak cherry blossom season, this is when Mitsuba and Kou meet for the first time.
I think that Mitsuba in a lot of ways is basically the embodiment of cherry blossoms and there’s official art where he literally is a bunch of cherry blossom petals.
The life span of cherry blossoms is very short, only about two weeks because of this they symbolize the fleeting nature of life and a reminder to appreciate what we have because you never know what might happen. Maybe Mitsuba and Kou could have become friends while Mitsuba was alive if only they had more time, if only Mitsuba’s life wasn’t cut so short but things just didn’t happen that way.
I’d also like to mention that cherry blossoms are also associated with a legend where a samurai sacrificed his life to save a dying cherry blossom tree. I just think it seems kind of similar to Kou trying to sacrifice himself for Mitsuba.
Morning glories bloom each morning and when the sun sets the flower curls up and takes its rest, similarly in the Mitsuba Arc Mitsuba meets his end on the same day that he befreinds Kou.
Morning glories can symbolize “brief love” or “bond of love” in Japan and its leaves even resemble hearts. I think both these meanings can both fit with Mitsuba and Kou’s relationship. “Brief love” fits well with the Mitsuba Arc and their short amount of time that they got to spend together. While I think that “bond of love” fits their relationship as a whole because no matter how many times they are separated they always seem to find each other again and the bond is still there even if one doesn’t remember the other.
The presence of morning glories also tells us that it’s summer, meaning that the second time Mitsuba and Kou meet is during the summer. I point this out because I feel like Mitsuba and Kou have been associated with seasons a lot. Their first meeting was in the spring, Mitsuba died in the winter, and then they met again in the summer and became friends so now I have to wonder if something will happen in the fall.
The flowers that appear here in Kou’s dream appear to be kalmia flowers. The most common meaning of this flower is perseverance/persistence so my best guess is that these flowers are meant to represent that this is a recurring dream that won’t go away?
I think that it’s interesting that flowers are even surrounding this panel in the first place considering that this is supposed to be a bad dream.
When Kou first meets Mitsuba in the fake world Mitsuba is holding roses. Roses are known for being the universal flower for love. Out of context from the rest of the chapter this scene seems very romantic with the roses, Kou dropping his books at the sight of Mitsuba and saying that he “felt like time has stopped”.
In Japan it’s common to give red carnations to your family or specifically give them to your mother on Mother’s Day so we can assume that the flower is for his mother.
In Kou’s HOTO AU art we see him holding a red rose. As most people know, red roses are used to mean romantic love and can also mean passion, desire and longing. The rose doesn’t have any purpose in the actual plot of the AU but I do think the meaning of flowers fits well with his character and his relationship with Mitsuba. Most things regarding Kou and Mitsuba’s relationship in the HOTO AU is left up to interpretation so you can draw your own conclusions if you want.
In this AU Kou is shown holding what seems to be a branch off of a cherry blossom tree. There’s another drawing for this AU that shows Kou attempting to give the flowers to Nene and when that fails he ends up giving them to Mitsuba. We already know that Mitsuba is pretty heavily associated with cherry blossoms and his colour scheme in this AU is even very similar to the colour scheme of the cherry blossoms so maybe they were meant for him all along.
Preview of my piece for @jshkppzine! Have some MitsuKou angst in a timeline where they decided to stay in the picture-perfect world (and it’s not so picture-perfect)!
Preorders are open now! Help us reach that gorgeous enamel pin stretch goal!
Kou and Mitsuba!! Two of my favorite charas in Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun ^.^ Actually this is a pretty old drawing I’ve made since December, and it was originally a drawing with both of them together. However, I think the drawing ended up kinda badly and decided to separate the drawing into two instead XD
I really like their dynamic! I like how Mitsuba’s kinda sly and often make fun of Kou, but Kou still cares about him and is deeply concerned about Mitsuba whenever he’s in terrible situations ; v ; I love them so much like Hananene,,
