Hanayamata


Hanayamata is a Japanese manga series by Sō Hamayumiba, serialized in Houbunsha's seinen manga magazine Manga Time Kirara Forward since June 2011. It has been collected in nine tankōbon volumes as of June 2017. An anime television series adaptation by Madhouse aired in Japan between July and September 2014.

Plot

Naru Sekiya is an ordinary 14-year-old middle school girl who likes fairy tales, but is worried about her lack of other interests. She has a chance encounter with a "fairy", a foreign girl practicing dance at night. On a spur of the moment, Naru asks to join her and is introduced to the world of yosakoi dancing. The series' title is a portmanteau of the first two letters of the girls' first names: HAna, NAru, YAya, MAchi, and TAmi.

Characters

Main characters

Yosakoi Club

Need Cool Quality band

An anime original band, the Need Cool Quality was the band joined by Yaya, the drummer of the band, Sachiko, Arisa and Yuka before its disbandment due to personal issues of Sachiko, Arisa and Yuka and the failure of the band in a light music band audition.

Supporting characters

Media

Manga

The original series by Sō Hamayumiba began serialization in Houbunsha's Manga Time Kirara Forward magazine from June 2011. It was collected into ten tankōbon volumes from December 2011 to April 2018.

Anime

An anime television series adaptation produced by Madhouse aired in Japan between July 7, 2014 and September 22, 2014 and was simulcast by Crunchyroll. The opening theme is "Hana wa Odoreya Iroha ni Ho" by Team "Hanayamata", whilst the ending theme is "Hanayuki" by smileY inc.. The same ending theme is also performed by Team "Hanayamata" in episode 12. Furthermore, an insert song, "Kodoku Signal" by Need Cool Quality is used in the first episode.
In September 2015, Sentai Filmworks announced they had acquired the rights to the North American release of the show. Later that month, it was revealed that the DVD and BD of Hanayamata would be released on January 19, 2016, as well as getting an official English dub. The anime has also been licensed in both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland by Animatsu Entertainment and in Australasia by Madman Entertainment.

Episode list

Video game

An adventure/rhythm game based on the series, titled Hanayamata: Yosakoi Live!, is developed by Bandai Namco Games and was released for PlayStation Vita on November 13, 2014. The game was also available in a limited edition containing a bonus Blu-ray Disc and an original drama CD.