Damn I wanna see this animated.
They kissed so normally, so that means this isn't their first one. Since they have been dating since school festival its natural to kiss a few times already. I'm happy with their stable relationship progress, but also really wanted to see their first kiss >_<
Does a grade schooler have the conviction to stand up to bullies where a supposed 'adult' does not? Both her sister and her old homeroom teacher didn't have what it took, but she stood firm, despite everything.
She also frequently thinks closer to her grandpa when it comes to the sweet shop, contemplating profitable ventures and creations.
I disagree. If you've been following this manga enough, you should know that despite her outer personality of being childish, she's very strong and mature. (Also I think she's legal)
Exactly- she's just very genki. You can be genki and still have mature aspects. As for legal... Japan, at least at the time, recognized adulthood at 20, and Rei should be about 19 at this time, while Hina about 16. That's a 3-year gap, which isn't too bad for teenagers and legality, in most places, I feel. And the fact that they've started a relationship means that when he turns 20 next year, they should be in the clear, so long as there's Romeo and Juliet laws or something like that.
Actually, I just did a quick internet search for Japan consent law and saw something saying men need to be 18 to marry (check) and women need to be 16 (double-check), at least so long as there's parental permission (well, if grandpa and/or Akari are Hina's legal guardians, they've certainly made their approval of Rei very clear). Of course, this was just some random search result, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's accurate. That same page also mentions the age of consent is 13 there, but there's other stipulations and local laws overriding (Tokyo is very much a modern city and has it at 18), which seem to cover the idea of parental approval once again (though 'consent' does change the context a bit, I do reiterate how much Akari and grandpa trust the boy, and accept him as family, already, anyway).
@Vrizu I think you are forgetting about chapter 152. The screen you posted shows what Sensei & co. think about her after hearing her shipping Akari and Kiriyama, which was a reasonable thought, but It's not an absolute truth, just what they thought.
In ch 152, Hina's friend tell her that it's pretty obvious she likes Kiriyama and we get to see her inner monologue which shows that she is just scared. People kept leaving her since she was a kid (her father, baseball guy etc.) so she fears she may not be able to keep Kiriyama around, while her sister (which is basically her role model) may be able to do so. The fact that she cries while saying this imo means she really doesn't like the idea of them being togheter and she's probably aware of her feelings to some extent but she'd rather see Rei togheter with Akari than seeing him leave.
It's a pretty silly thought, but understandable given her past and her age. I don't think she was ever oblivious about love, that was just Sensei's and the others thought.
Exactly- that chapter with the 'grade schooler' line had to be read with the idea of a potentially unreliable narrator. You always have to consider who is saying a thing when it is read, and don't always take it at face value.
It was always real. From pretty much the beginning. That flashback to the first chapter for Hina, when she watched him crying there, sleeping in their house, and she suddenly blushed... I didn't even realize that happened first time I saw it, and I saw it animated, then read it later in this manga. That's excruciatingly subtle. I knew they had these sorts of small, subtle moments throughout the story, but god damn...
As others have said, probably not first. It seems a bit too natural, and you can't tell me they haven't done it at least once since the school festival. Umino-sensei just didn't deign to show us their real first, most likely.
16 and 19 is my estimate. (Edit: Also, just looked up their birthdays, and Hinata was born on March 21st, and Rei was born April 26th, according to the series wiki, though the wiki also has inaccurate age ranges for them, in my opinion, especially since Rei's are listed as 18-19, and I know for a fact the story's lasted nearly three years, now, and he's going to be 19 until upcoming April... considering Hina was born before him in the year, she should be further forward in terms of school year progression such that she should be older than her classmates at 16, now, but the wiki says her age range is 13-15, which confuses me greatly, as that's middle school ages in Japan- she should have been 14 at the start of the story in year two of middle, and 16 now, first year of high school)
@2h their age gaps is 4 years, cause rei 19 years old and hina 15 years old. I read chapter when he confess to hina, friend of he told that kiriyama is implicate underage cause he is lover hina on her age. cmiiw
THAT KISS WAS SO CASUAL IT'S NOT THEIR FIRST KISS I LOVE YOU UMINO-SENSEI the moment I saw it I immediately went to this chapter comments and hoooo boiii, glad not to be the only one stoked by how casual it is. I love how we never get the explicit "okay" and how Sensei "gatekeep" all their private, first moments from us the viewers.
@apstorm regarding Rei and Hina's age gap, it's because the cutoff for Japan's age school year is on April 1st. So Rei's gonna be one of the first of his school-year mates to get his birthday while Hina's gonna be one of the last.
@apstorm regarding Rei and Hina's age gap, it's because the cutoff for Japan's age school year is on April 1st. So Rei's gonna be one of the first of his school-year mates to get his birthday while Hina's gonna be one of the last.
Ah, fair. I think I was suspecting that. Their birthdays were placed so close together, but I was also concerned about when Japan might have the school year break, since I knew it was sometime during Spring. So, yeah, I guess they are four years apart.
Still, he’s accepted by the family, and she certainly has a lot of maturity when and where she needs it. I can definitely overlook their age gap, especially since they’re still the closest in age, and they’ve had such touching moments together all through the story.
Haha, this is funny. Previously 3 pages of comments was exceptional, just one or two lonely comments wouldn't be out of the ordinary, but then, bam, we got a chapter with a kiss, and the page count exploded all the way up to 8.