Himawari!

Infobox animanga/Header
name = Himawari!


caption =
ja_name = ひまわりっ!
ja_name_trans =
genre = Adventure, Comedy, Slice of lifeInfobox animanga/Manga
title = Himawari Tsute!
author = GoDo
illustrator = Tagro
publisher = flagicon|Japan Hakusensha
demographic = Seinen
magazine = Young Animal Arashi
first = March 7 2006
last = December 7 2006
volumes = 1Infobox animanga/Anime
director = Shigenori Kageyama
studio = Genco
network = flagicon|Japan Chiba TV
first = April 8 2006
last = July 1 2006
episodes = 13Infobox animanga/Anime
title = Himawari!!
director = Shigenori Kageyama
studio = Genco
network = flagicon|Japan Chiba TV
first = January 6 2007
last = March 31 2007
episodes = 13

Nihongo|"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, Nihongo|"Himawari!!"|ひまわりっ!!, and a short manga to connect the two, nihongo|"Himawari Tsute!"|ひまわり伝っ!.

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.

Characters

; nihongo|Himawari Hinata|日向 ひまわり|Hinata Himawari: anime voice|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 to respect their honor). Her one and only dream is to become a great kunoichi despite her classmates finding her annoying and unskilled.

; nihongo|Hayato Marikoji|万里小路 ハヤト|Marikoji Hayato: anime voice|Kōichi Tōchika: A single, 24 year old man who took the job as a teacher in order to settle a two million yen debt. Hayato wanted to quit his job when he found that the whole village is not normal and that the students he was teaching were ninja, but Himawari's rescue from being run over by a train had changed his mind.: Hayato is one of several anime male leads (e.g. 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 he is, 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 very keen eyesight.

; nihongo|Azami|あざみ: anime voice|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 due to his talkativeness. He masquerades as a girl in order to attend the girls' school in which he acts as a spy for the students of a nearby boys' ninja school.

; nihongo|Shikimi|しきみ: anime voice|Aya Hirano: A grey-haired kunoichi-in-training who wears glasses. She is very knowledgeable about medicinal herbs, secretly maintains contact with Nanafushi, a young male ninja, and is among one of the more serious students in the ninja academy. Her ninja teleportation is slow, warping the scene, unlike the other ninja. She sometimes lets her hair down.

; nihongo|Yusura|ゆすら: anime voice|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.

; nihongo|Momota|もも太: anime voice|Yui Kano: Yusura's pet animal whose attacks consist of farting. Yusura nursed it to health when it was injured, starting their friendship. So it gets jealous when it sees her with anyone else, especially Yonesawa.

; nihongo|Himeji|ヒメジ: anime voice|Mayumi Yoshida: This dark-skinned, strangely-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 and dislikes cold temperatures.

; nihongo|Tsukiyohime|つきよ姫: anime voice|Yūko Ōtake: This traditionally-clad young woman with a mysterious 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 either gives advice, shows the major characters what's concurrent events through her miso soup, give someone the miso soup to eat, or all of the above.

; nihongo|Nanafushi|ナナフシ: anime voice|Takashi Kondo: He and Shikimi meet when she finds him in bottom of a pit in the mountains, immobilized by a leg injury. Though the two have good rapport, which others take to suggest romance, they maintain a casual friendship with limited contact. Nanafushi makes occasional appearances in times of need.

; nihongo|The Boss|お頭|, nihongo|Wabisuke|わび助, and nihongo|Sabisuke|さび助: anime voice|Hiromi Hirata (The Boss), Yui Kano (Wabisuke), Miho Miyagawa (Sabisuke): "The Boss" is a green-haired woman who rescued two kids, Wabisuke and Sabisuke, who have since been her subordinates. She believes that Hayato is a descendant of someone who killed her ancestors. After many bungled assassination attempts and suffering from being at the wrong place at the wrong time, she learns that Hayato is not her enemy.

; nihongo|Yonesawa|米澤: anime voice|Takashi Kondo: A surprisingly friendly kappa. He is Yusura's boyfriend. He likes to eat cucumbers.

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)

External links

* [http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/himawari/ Official website] jp icon
*ann anime|6160