Hana Hasegawa is a small, cute, adorable teenaged girl who loves frilly, childlike dresses. Hinako Emori is a tall, willowy blonde who is beautiful enough to do amateur modeling for teen fashion magazines. And they have a secret: They both work a part-time job after school. They have to keep it a secret because students at their school aren't allowed to have jobs. If anyone found out, they could both be expelled.
Hina has another secret: She loves character mascots. You know, those things like Hello Kitty where it's just a cute little chibi character, often but not always an animal? And they can show up on notebooks, plush animals, erasers, phone cases, and all kinds of other products? Yeah, Hina is all about those, because she loves all things that are small and cute and adorable.
Did we mention that Hana is small and cute and adorable? Because it turns out that Hina has yet another secret...
Hana & Hina After School was serialized in Comic High! in April and May of 2015, and in Monthly Action from June 2015 to November 2016. Thus making it a Seinen manga. Due to low sales, the manga was cancelled much earlier than originally planned, requiring Morinaga-sensei to wrap things up quickly. While this impacted certain plotlines, it also forced the two lovebirds to Just Get On With It Already, which can come as quite a relief.
The manga has been published in the US in three tankobon volumes by Seven Seas Entertainment.
After-school Tropes:
- Almost Kiss: An Indirect Kiss/Almost Kiss combo occurs when the two girls are eating creme-filled buns and Hana manages to get some on her cheek because apparently Japanese girls don't know how to eat creme-filled pastries. Hina leans in, wipes the creme off with her finger and immediately eats it — and then lingers well inside of the kiss radius until everybody snaps out of it and starts feeling awkward.
- Cannot Spit It Out: After the Almost Kiss mentioned above, Hina tries hesitantly to confess her love to Hana. Unfortunately, she is interrupted by Hana's mom coming home from work before she can get the words out.
- Coming Of Age Queer Romance: It's a story about two teenaged girls falling in love with one another.
- Costume Porn: Hana loves frilly, cutsey, childlike dresses.
- The Fashionista: Hina is an amateur model who poses for various teen fashion magazines.
- Gayngst: Unlike many yuri protagonists, Hina knows she's attracted to girls and not boys. But she also thinks that being attracted to girls makes her "weird" and "strange".
- Gyaru Girl: Hana describes Hina as a gyaru in the first chapter.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Hana is very feminine in a cutesy way. Hina is very feminine in an elegant way. They both like girly clothes and cute, girly things.
- Love Epiphany: Both girls have a moment where they realize that they really are in love with the other girl. It takes a few more chapters before they properly sync, though.
- Luminescent Blush: Damn near every other page.
- Moment Killer: Hina is on the verge of confessing her love to Hana when Hana's mom comes home from work and ruins the moment.
- One-Gender School: Like most of Morinaga-sensei's yuri works, this one takes place at an all-girls school. Probably because Morinaga-sensei went to an all-girls school herself.
- Shower of Angst: A bath of angst in this case. Hana takes a tear-soaked bath as she tries to figure out why her heart hurts so much after hearing Hina proclaim that she'd never date another girl.
- Will They or Won't They?: Hana and Hina, naturally. However, thanks to the early cancellation of the manga, it doesn't drag out very long.
