Hiyokoi

Hiyokoi
ひよ恋
Genre Comedy
Manga
Written by Moe Yukimaru
Published by Shueisha
English publisher Tokyopop
Demographic Shōjo
Magazine Ribon
Original run November 2009 – ongoing
Anime film
Studio Production I.G.
Released July 30, 2010
Runtime 22 minutes
Anime and Manga Portal

Hiyokoi (ひよ恋 Hiyokoi?) is a shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Moe Yukimaru. Hiyokoi premiered in the December 2009 issue of Ribon and is still running. The name of the series is a pun between 'Hiyoko' (ひよこ, which means chick) and 'Koi' (恋, which means love).

A twenty-two-minute-long movie based on the manga and produced by Production I.G. was released in the Ribon Summer festival in July 30, 2010. The movie was later released on a DVD along with the Yumeiro Patissiere OVA.

Contents

Plot

Hiyori Nishiyama is a 15-years-old girl who is extremely shy and short. After being hospitalized for a year, due to a car accident, she starts going to high school as a freshman, along with her best friend Ritsuka. In her class there is a boy who is very tall and seems to have a lot of friends. His name is Yuushin Hirose and becomes Hiyori's friend (even if at the beginning Hiyori is not very happy with his habits). After an accident where her panties were shown to the class, she starts making friends and falls in love with Yuushin, but due to her shyness, she does not know how to confess to him.

Characters

Hiyori Nishiyama (西山ひより Nishiyama Hiyori?) Voiced by: Ayana Taketatsu (Japanese)
A 15-year-old girl on first year of high school. She has a height of 140 centimeters and is very shy, because she doesn't want people to trick on her. She is referred as cute by her classmates, specially by Natsuki and Yuushin. Her best friend is Ritsuka, who she has met since kindergarten. Her nicknames are Hiyo (used by Ritsuka) and Hiyorin (used by Yuushin and other classmates). Hiyori admires Yuushin because he can make friends easily, while she can't. Later, she falls in love with him. Hiyori also has a cat named Pui-pui, which was found by Yuushin in the school grounds.
Yuushin Hirose (広瀬結心 Hirose Yūshin?) Voiced by: Ken'ichi Suzumura (Japanese)
A 15-year-old boy on first year on high school and on the same class as Hiyori. He has a height of 190 centimeters, thus his relationship with Hiyori is referred as a "reverse Lovely Complex". He is very popular and has a lot of friends, and is normally seen smiling. Though he is very popular, Yuushin does not have a girlfriend. He does not accept any honmei chocolate and rejects confessions as politely as possible. Yuushin spends most of the classes sleeping or eating, annoying Hiyori. He seems to have feelings for Hiyori.
Ritsuka Nakano (中野律花 Nakano Ritsuka?) Voiced by: Saki Fujita (Japanese)
A 15-years-old girl and Hiyori's best friend. She is the first person who encouraged Hiyori to become more sociable and start going again to school. Hiyori calls her Ri-chan. Her most notable feature are her red twintails. She is also a part of the archery club, and prefers a guy who "will not die even if an arrow pierces his heart."
Natsuki Aizawa (相沢夏輝 Aizawa Natsuki?) Voiced by: Yuuko Sanpei (Japanese)
A 15-year-old girl who is Hiyori and Yuushin's classmate. She loves cute things and is one of the classmates that thinks Hiyori is cute. She has been classmates with Yuushin in all of her middle school years. It is revealed that Natsuki had a crush on her homerooom teacher back in her last year in middle school, but when she learned that he was married, she felt heart broken, and so cut her hair. Natuski decided that she will only grow her hair when she has found someone that she loves. It is revealed that her birthday is on July 18.
Kisaki Tominaga (富永きさき|Tominaga Kisaki?)
Kisaki is a former classmate of Yuushin's. She confessed to Yuushin when they were young, but it is unknown what he said to her. She asked Hiyori to deliver some Valentine's chocolate to Yuushin, but Hiyori broke down and couldn't do it. Kisaki attends a prestigious school. She is very beautiful, and has a 'short person' complex (she envies short people like Hiyori.)
Kou Nitobe (新渡戸工 Nitobe Kou?)
Kou is one of Hiyori's classmates in her second year, and sits beside her in class. He has a similar personality and height with her, causing him to be constantly teased with Hiyori during his first year. When he first met Hiyori, he disliked her because he thought that she had a calculating personality, and believed that Hiyori was an attention-seeking girl. He eventually becomes one of Hiyori's good friends. He also does not enjoy school trips.
Reina Matsushima (松島れいな|Matsushima Reina?)
Reina is Hiyori's second year classmate, but is a year older because she is a returnee from the United States. She is a happy go lucky girl, and isn't afraid to speak her mind. She sits beside Yuushin in class, and has also confessed to him. She considers Hiyori as her rival and comrade, because they were both 'rejected' by Yuushin, although Hiyori has not yet given Yuushin a direct confession. She also told Yuushin that Hiyori and Kou looked good together, but that would be impossible because Hiyori has feelings for Yuushin.
Miyoko Mitani (見たにみよこ|Mitani Miyoko?)
is Yuushin and Hiyori's first and second year homeroom teacher. She is 28 years old when the manga starts, and has a hard time finding a boyfriend, although she frequently goes to "kouko"s. She is affectionately called Mi-tan by Yuushin and her first year class. She has about three cats, all from which have been saved by Yuushin.

Anime

An anime adaptation of the manga was announced on April 23, 2010. It aired on three events of Ribon magazine: one in Tokyo (July 30, 2010), another in Osaka (August 6, 2010) and the last one in Nagoya (August 19, 2010). On October 2, 2010 a DVD containing the Hiyokoi OVA and a Yumeiro Patissiere special was released along with the November issue of Ribon.[1] The anime was directed by Naganuma Norihiko, using character designs of Shibata Yuka and produced by Production I.G. The OVA adapts the first two chapters of the manga.

References