Hanamaru Kindergarten

Episodes:  12

How:  CrunchyRoll

Grade:   B+

Summary:  {From MAL}Anzu goes to a kindergarten with her friends, the shy Koume and the eccentric Hiiragi. Together they try to attract attention from their caretaker Tsuchida. However, he is clearly more interested in the pretty Yamamoto who supervises the class next door.

Opening Song:  -  Aozora Triangle - I wanted to like this song, it's cute, perky... just.. I couldn't get into it.
Ending Song{s} -  There's lots of them, Some were okay...some not so much.  Too many to list though. The ending animations were fun to watch though.

Thoughts:  This is one of the cutest shows I've come across in a while,  I just watched one episode after another and when episode 12 was over I really wished there were more. Of course some of the ideas in the Anime were a little...strange.
   The story itself is simple, Timid man  is attracted to a rather clueless woman and isn't quite sure how to let her know. Throw in some funny little kindergarten children and you get some amusing stories.


Who we have...

Tsuchida Naozume- The main character, he's the only male teacher at Hanamaru Kindergarten and at first it had some of the parents a little nervous {male K-Teachers aren't all that common}.  Of course being the only male has him surrounded by females all day, other then his students.
    Sort of being a big kid himself he and the little boys of his class have one huge thing in common, video games.  They talk about them quite often and Tsuchida is always staying up too late playing and dragging himself to work in the morning.
    The students have given him the nickname "Breast Man" because he's always looking at Yamamoto's chest and he likes to look at dirty magazines. {Which Anzu found out while stalking him one day}.  Although he looks at her breasts he is really quite fond of Yamamoto and just can't seem to get that through to her.
   He's confessed to her a couple times and she still hasn't figured it out.

Nanako Yamamoto-  An extremely naive teacher that works with Tsuchida, she has giant breasts which I guess makes her his "type" right off the bat.  She seems to have trouble believing that a man could like her like that and is always completely oblivious to Tsuchida's feelings.
    She has a younger sister who is actually just like her when it comes to males, but can see that Tsuchida likes Nanako.
   The children absolutely adore her, even Anzu who sort of sees her as a rival for most the show.

Sakura -  Anzu's mother, She was a senior in high school when she married Anzu's father who just happened to be one of her teachers.  She and Tsuchida were friends and he was the one that told her to go for it when talking about how she loved Anzu's dad.

Anzu-   The crazy one, she's in love with Tsuchida even though she's like...five.  At first people really took it the wrong way, but throughout the series it just seems to be a running joke for everyone.  Anzu will marry Tsuchida one day!  In a way, I think this is why this show was never released on DVD in the US.
       She does pretty amazing things for a kindergartner... follows Tsuchida around and even cooks for him when he's sick. I don't remember being able to cook when I was in kindergarten.
       By the end of the series she actually attempts to help Tsuchida get with Yamamoto or at least tells him to go for it.  Oh and... She's the daughter of a woman that Tsuchida use to go to school with.

Hiiragi-  Hii-Chan to her friends, Hiiragi is an exceptionally bright child in the Cherry Blossom Group of the Kindergarten. She tends to be the one that gives Anzu ideas of how to become closer to Tsuchida, which really doesn't work too well. She frequently wears costumes and will act out that which she is wearing when people comment on it.
     Her father is an astronomer and there's really no mention of her mother,  She seems to have a bit of a crush on another student at the school named Kenji.

Koume-  The quiet one, sensitive and timid to and extreme. Much more childlike then Hiiragi and Anzu and really not so sure of herself.  In episode 10 it's revealed that her much older brother that is a little obsessed with her.. well.. in the concerned parent way.  You could almost think he was her father...






Kenji -  A second year student in the Sunflower Class, he challenges Hiiragi to see who is smarter and.. she comes out on top.  He ends up having a crush on her and calls her "Master".

Hinagiku -  She transferred to Hanamru Kindergarten{2nd Year Sunflower} because she too fell in love with Tsuchida, she considers Anzu her rival but they still get along nicely.   Her father is the head of the Yakuza and she is quite mature for her age.


The End:  "Nothing's stronger then the power of love!"   Tsuchida said this to Sakura and Anzu says this to Tsuchida.  With a sudden turn around Anzu finds it in herself to support and even encourage Tsuchida's love for Yamamoto.    Of course, Yamamoto is so dense that she has no idea that Tsuchida is confessing his love for her so... Denied.
      Poor Guy.
   While Anzu is dreaming of being an adult it's a little creepy, grown up Anzu would certainly be Tsuchida's "type" though.  Giant Tracks of Land.
    Anyways, Nothing really seems to get done in the show. Even at the end Yamamoto is still just clueless about Tsuchida but.. at least he's going to keep trying.


TidBit-  Panda,Panda,Panda Neko! Panda, Panda, Panda Neko!   I may have that song stuck in my head forever. I find myself singing it to myself while out and maybe even doing the little dance.