Before we start, I want to make it very clear that Takane & Hana is a romance where a large part of the “hook” is that it’s a fairly significant age-gap romance with one character who is under 18 (although nothing more than mostly-consensual kissing has occurred so far).
While Hana Nonomura is a spunky, 16-year-old high school student, Takane Saibara is not only 10 years her senior but also in a position of power where he could terminate her father’s job at a moment’s notice. This is generally not a good foundation to build relationships on! Of course, the story tries to handwave this set-up a bit by saying that ACTUALLY, Hana was only at this arranged marriage meeting in the first place because her (older) sister refused to come and that Takane immediately realized that he was dealing with a high schooler instead.
And yet, Takane is still so taken with Hana’s bluntness that he starts to woo her anyway with clearly obvious intentions.
It’s a shame that Hana isn’t just a few years older (she could be 18 and still be in high school! It would make for an interesting conflict if she was suddenly re-thinking college plans in light of this new development! You could still have that unhealthy power dynamic, I swear! You could also still have those weird skits with their imaginary children!) since it’s easy to see why it’s attracted enough readers to keep going for ten volumes and counting in Japan. Hana and Takane have an obvious chemistry together and the pair’s more comedic moments land more than they miss. Imagine a “rich boy, commoner girl” pairing like the one found in Ouran High School Host Club, except that “Tamaki” is less eager and naive and more of an jerk and “Haruhi” is much more easily won over with material goods.
If you, unlike me, don’t find the age gap to be a deal-breaker then you might find this to be a rather funny, if glacially paced, manga. Glacially paced since practically nothing has happened in the first volume. Takane & Hana clearly like each other but they haven’t officially started dating, had any real fights, or any “real” conflicts so far! This series feels like it’s meant to be more of an escapist fantasy for its teenaged girl audience rather than a more balanced and realistic look at romance which is all well and fine, it’s just not to my tastes.
Truthfully, after an entire volume of Takane & Hana settling into their new relationship, I still can’t really understand why they are even attracted to each other. Logically I understand it — it’s necessary for the story to move forward, they fulfill two (“compatible”) stereotypes with each other, etc — but emotionally I don’t see it. I just can’t see any actual affection between the two of them based on their actions towards each other alone. And, if I have issues with the basic premise of the romance and I can’t even buy into the relationship, why continue reading any farther?