Hana-Kimi Marks 30 Years With New TV Drama and First Stage Play

Hisaya Nakajo's classic shōjo manga Hana-Kimi (Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e) is getting a new live-action television adaptation and its first stage production. Both projects celebrate the manga's 30th anniversary this winter.

The eight-episode series premieres on NTV on December 5 at 2:30 p.m. (12:30 a.m. EST), with each episode running half an hour. TVer and Hulu will stream it in Japan, and Hulu will also offer a "director's cut."

The stage play opens in Osaka on February 13–15, one week after the television series ends, with most of the drama's cast returning. It then travels to Aichi on February 18–19 and Tokyo on March 13–22.

The television cast includes:

• Hana Kawamura as Mizuki Ashiya
• The Rampage member Makoto Hasegawa as Izumi Sano
• The Rampage member Itsuki Fujiwara as Shūichi Nakatsu
• Ryūgūjō member Keigo Itō as Shinji Noe
• Ryūgūjō member Yūki Tomita as Kyōgo Sekime
• Lienel member Miro Takaoka as Taiki Kayashima
• Lienel member Riku Morita as Senri Nakao
• Genosuke as Megumi Tennōji
• Tagright member Daigo Kobayashi as Minami Nanba
• Tagright member Tomoki Nishiyama as Masao Himejima
• Gekidan Exile member Yūki Sakurai as Itsuki Kujō
• Hiroto Takahashi as Makoto Kagurazaka

Keisuke Shibata and NTV's Shiori Ueno direct the series. Its writing team consists of:

• Fumie Koga, scripts
• Yuka Arai, scripts
• Kazumi Ōki, scripts
• Yōko Tamura, composition

Kōji Endō scores the music. His credits include:

• Nyaight of the Living Cat
• The live-action Blade of the Immortal
• Terraformars

Shintarō Sugano writes and directs the stage play.

In Viz Media's synopsis, Japanese-American track-and-field star Mizuki transfers to a high school in Japan to be near her idol, high jumper Izumi Sano. The catch: it's an all-boys school, so she disguises herself as a boy.

Mizuki and Sano become roommates, leaving her to protect her secret in the classroom, locker room, and bedroom. Her arrival also leads classmates and the school nurse to question their own orientation.

The manga previously inspired a Japanese live-action television series in 2007, starring:

• Maki Horikita
• Shun Oguri
• Toma Ikuta

A second Japanese live-action series followed in 2011, starring:

• AKB48 idol group member Atsuko Maeda
• Aoi Nakamura
• Shōhei Miura

The manga also received a South Korean live-action television adaptation and a Taiwanese television adaptation in 2006.

The anime adaptation held its first episode's world premiere at Anime NYC on August 23, 2025. It premiered on Tokyo MX on January 4, 2026, at 9:30 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EST).

The anime also aired on:

• BS11
• MBS
• CBC TV
• RKB Mainichi Broadcasting
• Other channels

Crunchyroll streamed the anime with English subtitles and a same-day dub across these regions:

• North America
• Central America
• South America
• Europe
• Africa
• Oceania
• The Middle East
• The CIS
• India

Hana-Kimi, Nakajo's defining work, ran in Hakusensha's Hana to Yume magazine from 1996 to 2004. She returned with a short continuation in 2011 and a special chapter in 2014.

Her latest addition, Himitsu - Hana Zakari no Kimi-tachi e After School, debuted in 2021. Viz Media published Hana-Kimi in North America and also released Nakajo's Sugar Princess manga.