Himawari!

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For other uses, see Himawari.
Himawari!
ひまわりっ!
(Himawari!)
Genre Adventure, Comedy, Slice of life
TV anime
Director Shigenori Kageyama
Studio Genco
Network Flag of Japan Chiba TV
Original run April 8, 2006 – July 1, 2006
Episodes 13
TV anime: Himawari!!
Director Shigenori Kageyama
Studio Genco
Network Flag of Japan Chiba TV
Original run January 6, 2007 – March 31, 2007
Episodes 13
Manga: Himawari Tsute!
Author GoDo
Illustrator Tagro
Publisher Flag of Japan Hakusensha
Serialized in Young Animal Arashi
Original run March 7, 2006 – December 7, 2006
Volumes 1

Himawari! (ひまわりっ!?) is a Japanese anime series created by GoDo, directed by Shigenori Kageyama, and produced by Genco. It was aired on Chiba TV from April 8, 2006 to July 1, 2006 and afterwards got a second season, Himawari!! (ひまわりっ!!?), and a short manga to connect the two, Himawari Tsute! (ひまわり伝っ!?).

Contents

[edit] Plot

Kasumi Kogen, which translates to "The Village of Mist", is a town somewhere in rural Japan. In this town there is a school, the Shinobi Gakuen, where competent female students gather from all over Japan and train to become kunoichi (female ninja). The people of Kasumi Kogen are alumni of the school, and they run and jump and disappear as if the whole town were a big ninja house.

The story begins as a girl, Himawari Hinata, arrives in Kasumi Kogen. She has transferred to Shinobi Gakuen to train under Ichikawa Raiso and fulfill a dream of becoming a kunoichi that she has fostered since she was saved by one in her childhood. On her first day, she meets Hayato Marikoji, a teacher who is himself just arriving at Shinobi Gakuen, and he saves her life. Hayato does not possess any ninja skills; he is teaching the students about normal Japanese society in order to pay a large debt. However, Himawari notices that Hayato bears the same mark on his neck as the ninja who saved her when she was young.

Himawari! is the story of Himawari and her journey to become a kunoichi, and the vow she makes to protect her sensei.

[edit] Characters

Himawari Hinata (日向 ひまわり Hinata Himawari?)
Voiced by: Kana Matsumoto
The female lead of the story. She was rescued by a ninja with an odd mark on his neck. Ever since then, she had sworn to become a ninja. As the story begins, she had been restrained and flown on a military jet before being rescued. She's also recognized as a girl who had been sent by her grandmother to the ninja training school.
She meets Marikoji Hayato, the male lead, after a foul-up of her training (hanggliding on a kite) caused her to crash and hang from the gate pole. From then on she calls him "Hayato-dono" (dono is a suffix used for samurai's to respect their honor). Her one and only dream is to become a great "Kunoichi" (female ninja) despite her classmates finding her annoying and unskilled.
Hayato Marikoji (万里小路 ハヤト Marikoji Hayato?)
Voiced by: Kōichi Tōchika
A single, 24 year old man who took the job as a teacher in order to settle the two million yen loan his troubled friend conned him out of. Hayato wanted to quit his job when he found that the whole village is not normal, and that the students he was teaching were ninjas, ( However Himawari's rescue from being run over by a train had changed his mind.)
Hayato is one of several anime male leads (i.e. Rock of Black Lagoon) who doesn't fit in with the surroundings but manages to find a way to survive. For Hayato; it's his luck, his ducking ability when confronted with someone more skilled than him, and some of his students taking a shine to him. On top of that, Hayato has a good aim (as shown when he was throwing darts in a bar) and ridiculously keen eyesight.
Azami (あざみ?)
Voiced by: Ryoko Shiraishi
Azami is a collector of (sometimes useless) information. He's strong-minded and high-spirited. But he wouldn't make a good spy since he likes to carry a conversation. In fact,Himawari thought that he was a girl who was a spy from the boys' ninja training school.
Shikimi (しきみ?)
Voiced by: Aya Hirano
Grey-haired kunoichi-in-training who wears glasses. She uses plants as medicine, is in the supposedly forbidden "relationship" with a young male ninja named Nanafushi, and is among one of the more serious kunoichi-in-training. Her ninja teleportation is slow, warping the scene as she does, which is different from the other ninja. And sometimes, she lets her hair down.
Yusura (ゆすら?)
Voiced by: Asumi Nakata
Yusura is a cute young kunoichi-in-training who can communicate with animals. She's also very informative; seeming to know all about romance and is the first one to state that it's forbidden for a ninja to fall in love.
Momota (もも太?)
Voiced by: Yui Kano
Yusura's pet animal whose attacks consist of farting. A long time ago, it had been rescued by Yusura when it was injured. So it gets jealous when it sees her with anyone else; mainly Yonesawa.
Himeji (ヒメジ?)
Voiced by: Mayumi Yoshida
This dark-skinned, weird-speaking kunoichi-in-training is an expert in weaponry; carrying and using guns without restraint. She also uses a large sword. Himeji is half-American/half-Japanese. And she does not like cold temperatures.
Tsukiyohime (つきよ姫?)
Voiced by: Yūko Ōtake
This stylishly clothed lass with the creepy demeanor and elf ears is another kunoichi-in-training who doesn't appear very often. When she does, she's always eating miso soup. She would either give advice, show them what's concurrently going on through her miso soup, give someone the miso soup to eat, or all of the above.
Nanafushi (ナナフシ?)
Voiced by: Takashi Kondo
Shikimi rescues him from the bottom of a hole. A small time had been spent between the two; but a relationship had never been formed since it's forbidden by ninja code. Nanafushi still helps her out from time to time...
The Boss (お頭?), Wabisuke (わび助?), and Sabisuke (さび助?)
Voiced by: Hiromi Hirata (The Boss), Yui Kano (Wabisuke), Miho Miyagawa (Sabisuke)
"The Boss" is a green-haired woman who rescued two kids; thereby becoming her assistant. The kids being Wabisuke and Sabisuke. She believes that Hayato is a descendant of someone who killed her ancestors. And after a while of bungled attempts at his life and suffering from being at the wrong place at the wrong time, they find out that Hayato's neither related or her enemy.
Yonesawa (米澤?)
Voiced by: Takashi Kondo
A surprisingly friendly kappa. He's a friend to Yusura, and he likes to eat cucumbers.

[edit] Theme music

Opening themes
  • First season: "Taiyō no Kakera" by Ryoko Shiraishi
  • Second season: "Sorairo no Tsubasa" by Ryoko Shiraishi
Ending themes
  • First season: "Guruguru ~Himawari ver.~" by Eufonius
  • Second season: "Kirakira" by Eufonius (episodes 1, 8, and 13), Aya Hirano (episodes 2, 9, and 12), Kana Matsumoto (episodes 3, 6, and 10), Mayumi Yoshida (episode 4), Ryoko Shiraishi (episodes 5 and 11), and Asumi Nakata (episode 7)

[edit] External links