Absolutely nothing seems out of the ordinary in the quaint town Hana lives in. She has her parents, a teacher who cares for her, and friends she can hang out with. But determined to explore and embrace new things, Hana ventures into parts known and unknown. What she happens to run into ranges from what seems to be ordinary to a true out-of-body experience…
It’s admittedly hard to describe Hana-chan and the Shape of the World. There are six different stories that center around Hana’s endless curiosity about what’s going on in the town. If there’s an overarching storyline, it’s not really present. And I guess it makes sense; these chapters were in different issues from 2018 to 2019 in Comic Beam. So about the only thing to tie things together would be Hana.
That’s why the best way I’ll go with describing this manga is its fascination with unusual occurrences. Hana ventures into the teeth of a major storm while trying to get her emergency rations; a type of weed gets burned by people in robot suits called “Field burn-kun” and causes heads to swell and look butt ugly; Hana and her friend Uta get caught up in a dam discharging water, and find themselves eventually staring at a dark, foreboding sun. There are many strange events happening, and Hana unknowingly finds herself at the center of it.
…Even when she does the most ordinary things. Like getting tangled up in a hammock.
Hana-chan feels more anthology than anything that connects, although I suspect readers will have different interpretations of the manga. That said, the chapters were fun and unique in their own way, which is one reason to this check out. Can’t really deny that it was fun to see Hana and Uta get entirely into their game of ping-pong or the amount of cats Hana and friends run into in a seemingly abandoned home.
The other — and for me, main — reason to check this out is the art. Maybe at first glance it seems interesting but still typical. But open the pages and you’ll enjoy some straight-up gorgeousness. From one page showing absolute chaos within a storm, to two pages of Hana and a long-haired girl crying, and to a two-page spread of an abnormal being huffing fire at a bunch of kids and Hana in the fields, Ryotaro Ueda’s art is superb to look at. From how the panels are shown, the detailed lines and atmosphere in key moments and action sequences, and even to every character’s expressions, starting of course with Hana’s many faces to the goofy shape of her cat, there’s major impact on each page you turn.
While the lack of a main plot does deter it, Hana-chan and the Shape of the World‘s fascination with a kid’s curiosity and the fantastic artwork is worth reading. If you’re in need of something new, you’ll want to check this out.