History Manga / KazeHikaru

* CommonalityConnection: Sei and Hijikata grate on each other, but Hijikata does comfort "Kamiya" after accidentally calling "him" womanly because he was also judged for his good looks and high-pitched voice as a younger man.

** Hijikata isn't actively attracted to Kamiya, but he notes he's not as uncomfortable touching "him" as he is with other men because Kamiya's figure is "so womanly." This leads Hijikata to question the nature of Kamiya's "feminintitis," which in turn also makes him feel guilty since he knows what it's like to be [[CommonalityConnection judged for looking 'feminine']].
* TakingTheVeil: Sei considers becoming a Buddhist nun twice (first when she achieves her revenge against her family's killer, and later when she believes Soji has discovered her feelings for him and incorrectly assumes that he's too disgusted to serve with her anymore). Her family friend Yui took vows after she was widowed (as "Suigetsuni").

** Sei's situation requires this of her. To Sei's chagrin, she earns a reputation as a lady-killer because she spends three days of each month with Akesato (at first in the RedLightDistrict, later in their private home) when she gets her period.

** Soji just goes to sleep whenever he spends the night with Kohana, hiring her as an excuse to hang out with the other men in Shimabara and to hide the fact that he's celibate.

* RagingStiffie: Nothing is actually shown, but there are at least two occasions where different male characters get visibly aroused and it's played for laughs at their expense.

** Hijikata isn't actively attracted to Kamiya, but he notes he's not as uncomfortable touching "him" as he is with other men because Kamiya's figure is "so womanly." This leads Hijikata to question the nature of Kamiya's "feminintitis," which makes him feel guilty since he knows what it's like to be [[CommonalityConnection judged for having ''pretty boy'' looks]].
* TakingTheVeil: Sei considers becoming a Buddhist nun twice (first when she achieves her revenge against her family's killer, and later when she believes Soji has discovered her feelings for him and is too disgusted to serve with her anymore). Her family friend Yui took vows after she was widowed (as "Suigetsuni").

* UnsettlingGenderReveal: Yukiya, whom Saito at first thinks is a girl who highly resembles "Kamiya", only to find out he's actually a male prostitute.

** An unusual variation comes in the form of [[spoiler: Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu]], who is ''not'' celibate and even has several concubines, but has avoided having any offspring after the death of his first child in infancy. It is implied this has been a deliberate effort on his part. This is TruthInTelevision, as his real-life counterpart had no recorded offspring after his ill-fated firstborn until well after the end of the shogunate - a period of 16 years.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Girls start to get marriage propositions as soon as they get their period (and they have virtually no say in their marriage, as it is ultimately their parents who make the final decision), and boys are expected to be soldiers and killers just as young.
** A ''kosho'' has no right to reject their master's advances if their master wants to enter into a sexual relationship with them.

** A clerk at the store Hijikata was undergoing an apprenticeship at when he was eleven (which in modern terms would really be nine or ten) tried to make sexual passes at him, which he only escaped by kicking the man in the balls. Afterward, Hijikata decided his only safe course of action was to walk home overnight (a distance of roughly ''24 miles''). Despite this, his family is more upset that he lost a good job, and Kondo tells the story to Soji despite Hijikata's wish for privacy. Ito's sexual harassment of him is also treated as a joke, and even after Sei realizes he is genuinely disturbed, the concern is solely that he will kill Ito in retaliation rather than that he was, and continues to be, a victim of harassment and unwanted advances.

** A clerk at the store Hijikata was undergoing an apprenticeship at came onto him when he was eleven (which in modern terms would really be nine or ten), which he only escaped by kicking the man in the balls. Afterward, HIjikata decided his only safe course of action was to walk home overnight (a distance of roughly ''24 miles''). Despite this, his family is more upset that he lost a good job, and Kondo tells the story to Soji despite Hijikata's wish for privacy. Ito's sexual harassment of him is also treated as a joke, and even after Sei realizes he is genuinely disturbed, the concern is solely that he will kill Ito in retaliation rather than that he was, and continues to be, a victim of harassment and unwanted advances.

** A clerk came onto Hijikata when he was eleven (in modern terms, nine or ten), which he only escaped by kicking the man in the balls, after which he decided his only safe course of action was to walk home overnight (a distance of roughly ''24 miles''). Despite this, his family is more upset that he lost a good job, and Kondo tells the story to Soji despite Hijikata's wish for privacy. Ito's sexual harassment of him is also treated as a joke, and even after Sei realizes he is genuinely disturbed, the concern is solely that he will kill Ito in retaliation rather than that he was, and continues to be, a victim of harassment and unwanted advances.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Girls are married almost as soon as they get their period (and they have no say in their marriage), and boys are expected to be soldiers and killers just as young.

* AttemptedRape: Sei has been threatened with rape many, many times, whether it's as herself or as "Seizaburo." Additionally, both Hijikata Toshizo and Nakamura Goro have had to fend off attempted rapists in their backstories. Hijikata's act of kicking the rapist in the balls and walking home to Hino overnight (a distance of roughly ''39 kilometers'' (24 miles), is considered a "heroic story" by both Kondo and Soji.

** A clerk came onto Hijikata when he was eleven (in modern terms, nine or ten), which he only escaped by kicking the man in the balls and then walking home overnight (nearly ''24 miles''), and his family is more upset that he lost a good job while Kondo tells the story to Soji despite Hijikata's wish for privacy. Ito's sexual harassment of him is also treated as a joke, and even after Sei realizes he is genuinely disturbed, the concern is solely that he will kill Ito in retaliation than that he is the victim of harassment.

* AttemptedRape: Sei has been threatened with rape many, many times, whether it's as herself or as "Seizaburo." Additionally, both Hijikata Toshizo and Nakamura Goro have had to fend off attempted rapists in their backstories. Hijikata's act of kicking the rapist in the balls and walking home to Hino overnight is considered a "heroic story" by both Kondo and Soji.

** A clerk came onto Hijikata when he was eleven (in modern terms, nine or ten), which he only escaped by kicking the man in the balls and walking home overnight, and his family is more upset that he lost a good job while Kondo tells the story to Soji despite Hijikata's wish for privacy. Ito's sexual harassment of him is also treated as a joke, and even after Sei realizes he is genuinely disturbed, the concern is solely that he will kill Ito in retaliation than that he is the victim of harassment.

** Hijikata isn't actively attracted to Kamiya, but he notes he's not as uncomfortable touching "him" as he is with other men because Kamiya's figure is "so womanly." This leads Hijikata to question the nature of Kamiya's "feminintitis," which makes him feel guilty since he too is [[CommonalityConnection judged by his looks]].

* NotSoDifferent: It takes Sei awhile to admit the similarities between herself and Hijikata, Okita and [[spoiler:her father]], and that her enemies [[spoiler: including the man who killed her family]] may have their own codes of honor.

* CommonalityConnection: Sei and Hijikata grate on each other, but Hijikata does comfort "Kamiya" after accidentally calling "him" womanly because he was judged for his good looks and high-pitched voice as a younger man.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Girls are married almost as soon as they get their period, and boys are expected to be soldiers and killers just as young.

** When Sei runs into Yamashiro Kanji again after he tried to rape her (and was only stopped by Soji), Soji advises her to laugh it off because that's what a man would do. Later, when she is serving as Hijikata's ''kosho,'' it is mentioned that if Hijikata wanted to have sex with "him," "he" would have no choice but to go along with it.
** A clerk came onto Hijikata when he was a pubescent (historically, he was maybe ''ten''), which he only escaped by kicking the man in the balls and walking thirty miles home overnight, and Kondo told Soji that story in spite of Hijikata's wish for privacy. Ito's sexual harassment of him is also laughed off, and even after Sei realizes he is genuinely disturbed, the concern is solely that he will kill Ito in retaliation than that he is the victim of harassment.

** On the flipside, many civilian characters only have a given name, as it is explained that during the time period you had to be of a certain class to be granted the use of a family name.

** trying to use a loophole in the inter-cass marriage system to allow Harada and his eventual wife to get married.

* RecursiveCrossdressing: Sei gets to do this at one point, when she's asked to do an infiltration job dressed as a girl.

** Harada repeatedly jokes about forcing himself on Kamiya (whom he believes to be a man) and Todo, and everyone laughs it off. Even Sei, who was initially disturbed, [[DeliberateValuesDissonance comes to accept it as background noise]].

* TheMedic: Sei, due to being the daughter of a doctor and having helped him out at his clinic, is sometimes called upon to care her fellow troop members since she has basic knowledge on how to treat illness and injury. Later though the manga brings in Doctor Matsumoto, who is an actual trained physician, to look after the Shinsengumi.
* MoodWhiplash: the series varies between hilarious RomanticComedy and rather blood-soaked [[JidaiGeki Serious]] HistoricalFiction.

* PlayingSick: A variation of this trope happens when Sei and Doctor Matsumoto collaborate to fake her having a medical condition so she can avoid unwanted attention and continue to be part of the Shinsengumi. Particularly important for when she finally hits an age where it would become mightily suspicious for a boy's voice to not have changed yet or for their physique to remain so lithe.
* RagingStiffie: nothing is actually shown, but there are at least two occasions where different male characters are pointed out as getting visibly aroused and its played for laughs at his expense.

* {{Seppuku}}: [[spoiler:Yamanami Keisuke]]; another character is [[spoiler:executed after refusing to commit seppuku]].

** In order to explain why Okita [[spoiler: collapsed during the Ikedaya Affair without having the reason be Tuberculosis, which is the commonly thought but unlikely historically accurate reason for it]], the mangaka had him fall victim to heat stroke which Sei had to treat him for. Okita also became bedridden a few times during his backstory after having a number of scuffles with Hijikata, one of which resulted in him breaking his arm.

** A more WhamEpisode and serious example is [[spoiler: Tokugawa Iemochi]]'s tragic and eventually fatal battle with beriberi, which is not only painful to watch as the doctors fail to give him the proper treatment, but also has dire consequences for Japan in the years following.
* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Both Sei and Hijikata are often being propositioned by other men, and some of their admirers take it too far.

** Hijikata also is shown to experience this as well, to a lesser extent at first. He isn't actively attracted to Kamiya, but Hijikata notes he's not as uncomfortable being touchy-feely with "him" compared to other men because Kamiya's figure is "so womanly". Although, as the series progresses, Hijikata grows increasingly uncomfortable with his 'comfort' in being in close quarters with Kamiya, beginning to frequently question the nature of Kamiya's 'condition' (and subsequently feeling guilt for it).

* ArrangedMarriage: TruthInTelevision for the era, in which almost every marriage was arranged. Harada and Masa are a notable {{Aversion}}. Kondo and both of Okita's older sisters are in arranged marriages while Hijikata breaks off his own planned engagement over the course of the story and Kondo and Hijikata attempt to arrange one for Soji, only for Soji to screw it up spectacularly.

** Sei's situation requires this of her. To Sei's chagrin, she has earned herself the reputation of being a lady-killer due to her spending 3 days of each month at the brothels when she gets her period, which of course causes her fellow soldiers to jump to the one possible conclusion...
** Okita swore off forming romantic or sexual relationships at a young age, at first only because he felt they would distract him from his sword training, but then later because a girl who liked him (and who he was personally fond of) attempted suicide after he rejected her and the incident horribly traumatized him from interacting with women. His falling for Sei manages to break him out of this mindset, although he remains sexually celibate.

** While Sei's definitely and steadfastly in love with Okita, living around men long enough has caused Sei to become more appreciative of women's beauty, even being visibly caught off guard by it at times. She specifically appeared to develop a crush on the courtesan, Miyuki-dayu.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Kondo and Hijikata big time, to the point they've on several occasions referred to themselves as "husband" and "wife", and "father" and "mother" of the Shinsengumi respectively. Hijitaka has all but admitted that the reason he's decided to remain a bachelor for life is because of the Shinsengumi, which only happened because Hijitaka followed Kondo in the dream to become Bushi. The narrative states outright that the feelings they have towards each other are 'greater than that of husband and wife', but a barrier lies in the fact that both of them are physically attracted to women and Hijikata is so strongly repulsed at the idea of men being sexual with other men that the mere suggestion of such a relationship makes him break out in hives.
** Also, Soda and Yamaguchi can be interpreted as this. The "heterosexual" part is debatable since they both are attracted to Sei who they genuinely believe to be male, but they don't appear to be interested in ''each other'' in that sense, yet are almost never seen without one another.

* NoPeriodsPeriod: Deliberately averted by the mangaka, who makes it clear she wanted Sei's situation to be portrayed as realistically as possible, which means Sei has to think of creative ways to deal with her period without it becoming noticed, ''and'' regularly gets it in-story.

** genuinely and graciously accepting a sword made for him by a sword smith who fell in love with him, despite Hijikata's outrageous homophobia.

* ShipperOnDeck: ''Everyone'' in the first troop is secretly rooting for Sei's relationship with Okita. There are many other characters who also support it.

** Hijikata historically came down with a case of Tuberculosis in his early 20's, and the manga depicts his time battling with the illness.

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: For Sei and Hijikata, to an extent. Both are often being hit on by other men and some of their admirers take it too far.

* TitleDrop: The term "Kaze-Hikaru" comes from a Haiku that was written by the real-life Hijikata. We get to see him write it in the story.

** And then there's Hijikata, who tries his darnedest to hide the fact that under his merciless personality is a man who's favorite hobby is to write Haiku.

* EveryoneHasLotsOfSex: well, not everyone, but a ''lot'' of the men are depicted as frequenting brothels or wanting to have sex, and a fair number of characters actually ''are'' prostitutes and therefore this is part of their job description.

** Ukinosuke, the prodigal son of a wealthy merchant [[spoiler: who is actually Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu, one of the heirs to the Shogunate]] whittles away his time at brothels and paying for high ranking courtesans. When Kamiya is sent to make a deal with Ukinosuke to 'borrow' a courtesan he has booked, Ukinosuke immediately turns his attentions to 'Seizaburo' without batting an eye. Ukinosuke repeatedly makes lewd, flirtatious passes at Kamiya at every meeting of theirs thereafter, including attempting to proposition Kamiya into spending the night with him ''twice''.

** Ukinosuke, the prodigal son of a wealthy merchant [[spoiler: who is actually Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu, one of the heirs to the Shogunate]] whittles away his time at brothels, paying for extravagant parties and high ranking courtesans. When Kamiya is sent to make a deal with Ukinosuke to 'borrow' a courtesan he has booked, Ukinosuke immediately turns his attentions to 'Seizaburo' without batting an eye. Ukinosuke repeatedly makes lewd, flirtatious passes at Kamiya at every meeting of theirs thereafter, including attempting to manipulate Kamiya to spend the night with him ''twice''.

* DepravedBisexual: Ito is married, but he outrageously chases after pretty men AND women (in his own words, he's a lover of beautiful things) and the later volumes show him [[spoiler:more than willing to use his sexuality to manipulate others for his plans]].

** While Sei's definitely and steadfastly in love with Okita, living around men long enough has caused Sei to become more appreciative of women's beauty.

* SickEpisode: In order to explain why Okita [[spoiler: collapsed during the Ikedaya Affair without having the reason be Tuberculosis, which is the commonly thought but unlikely historically accurate reason for it]], the mangaka had him fall victim to heat stroke which Sei had to treat him for. Okita also became bedridden a few times during his backstory after having a number of scuffles with Hijikata, one of which resulted in him breaking his arm.

** Hijikata also is shown to experience this as well, to a lesser extent. He isn't actively attracted to Kamiya, but Hijikata notes he's not as uncomfortable being touchy-feely with "him" compared to other men because Kamiya's figure is "so womanly".

''Kaze Hikaru'' (風光る) is a historical shoujo manga by Taeko Watanabe, set during the time of the Meiji Revolution in the 1860s. Tominaga Sei is the story’s crossdressing heroine. She shaves the top of her head in a boy's hairstyle, takes on the name "Kamiya Seizaburo," and joins UsefulNotes/TheShinsengumi (a shogunate police force) in order to avenge her family’s death at the hands of anti-shogunate rebels. After her family’s murderer is killed, she stays with the Shinsengumi out of a sense of loyalty and duty, and because of her budding feelings for Shinsengumi Captain Okita Souji.

The series has seen publication in Shokugan's ''Flowers'' magazine since 1997, and enjoyed a 22 year publication with 45 volumes by the end of its run in 2020.

''Kaze Hikaru'' is being published in English by Viz (Shojo Beat).

* ArrangedMarriage: A common occurrence in the era this story is set in.
** Both of Okita's older sisters,
** Said to have been the situation with Kondo with his wife
** Hijikata breaks off his own planned engagement over the course of the story.
** And then there's the time that Kondo and Hijikata attempt at one point to arrange one for Okita but he manages to unwittingly screw up their plans spectacularly.
* AttemptedRape: Many, many times on Sei, whether it's as herself or as "Seizaburo". It's happened to other women in the series as well, and has been implied or mentioned to have happened to Hijikata Toshizo and Nakamura Goro in the past.

** While Sei's definitely and steadfastly in love with Okita, living around men long enough has actually caused Sei to at least be more open to noticing the attractiveness of women.
* TheFirstCutIsTheDeepest: [[spoiler:The BungledSuicide of a girl after Souji turned her down in favor of concentrating on his swordsmanship is a major contributor to Souji's [[ObliviousToLove almost ridiculous obliviousness to love]].]]

* IfItsYouItsOkay: Saitou isn't all that interested in a relationship with anyone, but he develops a crush on Sei thinking she's a boy, and quickly starts rationalizing this kind of argument with himself over said crush. Then [[spoiler: he finds out she's actually a girl, and it ends up amplifying his feelings more and he ends up considering marrying her, but he drops it realizing that she's happiest with Souji.]]

** Historically, Japanese males during the time period would shave their bangs upon undergoing the coming-of-age ceremony known as "Genpuku". Okita notably refused to have his head shaved after his genpuku, however.
** Sei actually runs into a bit of trouble when Kondo and Hijikata ask if she would like to go through the ceremony, because if she were actually male she'd have no reason to refuse, but having the bangs allows her to dress up and connect back to her identity as a girl.

* TheKnightsWhoSaySquee: The Shinsengumi, basically. Kondou's dream is to guard the Shogun by his side, and everyone in the organization is dedicated to supporting that dream.

* GoodIsNotNice: Several characters, but ''especially'' Hijikata whose JerkassFacade can reach NobleDemon levels.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Kondo and Hijikata big time, to the point they've on several occasions referred to themselves as "husband" and "wife", and "father" and "mother" of the Shinsengumi respectively. Hijitaka has all but admitted that the reason he's decided to remain a bachelor for life is because of the Shinsengumi, which only happened because Hijitaka followed Kondo in the dream to become Bushi. It's stated outright that the feelings they have towards each other are 'greater than that of husband and wife', but a barrier lies in the fact that both of them are physically attracted to women and Hijikata is so repulsed at the idea of being sexual with another man it makes him break out in hives.

** Sannosuke Harada, who is proud of the scar he bears from a failed attempt at seppuku that he performed completely on a whim.

* BungledSuicide: Sanosuke Harada, who is proud of the scar he bears from a failed attempt at seppuku, as well as [[spoiler:Okita's first love]].

* CastOfSnowflakes: The mangaka does a rather admirable job at giving just about everyone unique and recognizable features, even bit-part characters. Quite a feat for a story where everyone has black hair in similar hairstyles.
** Of course, this can at least be partially attributed to the fact this is a historical piece, and the mangaka based many character's designs on existing photos and/or descriptions of their real-life counterparts.

* RagingStiffie: nothing is shown, but there are at least two occasions where different male characters gets visibly aroused and its played for laughs at his expense.

** Okita swore off forming romantic or sexual relationships at a young age, at first only because he felt they would distract him from his sword training but then later because a girl who liked him (and who he was personally fond of) attempted suicide after he rejected her and the incident horribly traumatized him from interacting with women. His falling for Sei manages to break him out of this mindset, although he remains sexually celibate.

* RagingStiffie: nothing is shown, but there are at least two occasions where one of the characters gets visibly aroused and its played for laughs at his expense.