History Manga / KazeHikaru

* ForegoneConclusion: According to history, a vast majority of the cast is going to die within the next few years of the time period. And no, Taeko Watanabe will not spare anyone no matter how lovingly they are portrayed.

* LoveYouAndEverybody: Okita very openly declares that he loves Sei... usually in the same breath that he says he loves the likes of Kondo, Hijikata, and Saito. Okita's endearingly unshy about how much he loves the people around him, but this unfortunately gives the pining Sei a lot of confusion and grief.

[[quoteright:226:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kazehikaru_tvtropes_2778.jpg]]

The series was published for [[LongRunner twenty-two years]], beginning serialization in 1997 in the {{shoujo|Demographic}} magazine ''Bessatsu Shoujo Comic''; it later moved to the {{josei}} magazine ''Monthly Flowers'' in 2002, where it continued until the end of its run in 2020. The manga was collected into 45 volumes. ''Kaze Hikaru'' is being published in English by Viz under the Shojo Beat banner.

The series was published for [[LongRunner twenty-two years]], beginning serialization in 1997 in ''Bessatsu Shoujo Comic; it later moved to the {{josei}} magazine ''Monthly Flowers'' in 2002, where it continued until the end of its run in 2020. The manga was collected into 45 volumes. ''Kaze Hikaru'' is being published in English by Viz under the Shojo Beat banner.

The series was published for [[LongRunner twenty-two years]] in Shokugan's ''Flowers'' magazine and was collected into 45 volumes before the end of its run in 2020. ''Kaze Hikaru'' is being published in English by Viz under the Shojo Beat banner.

''Kaze Hikaru'' (風光る) is a historical {{shojo}} manga by Taeko Watanabe, set during the time of the Meiji Revolution in the 1860s.

''Kaze Hikaru'' (風光る) is a historical shojo manga by Taeko Watanabe, set during the time of the Meiji Revolution in the 1860s.

** Sei's situation requires this of her. To Sei's chagrin, she ironically 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. Eventually she learns to take this reputation in stride and even uses it to her advantage on occasion to ward away other romantic advances.

* CherryBlossoms: They come up from time to time in various ways.

* CommonalityConnection: Sei and Hijikata constantly butt heads, but Hijikata is surprisingly sensitive towards Kamiya's 'feminintitis' condition, and is quick to apologize anytime he implies Kamiya might be 'womanly'. Hijikata himself had feminine looks and a high-pitched voice well into his teens, which caused him a lot of torment. As a result, he's sympathetic to Kamiya's supposed plight and tries to be supportive in his own way.

** 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, comes to accept it as background noise.

* ForegoneConclusion: According to history, a vast majority of the cast is going to die within the next few years of the time period.

* BigDamnKiss: Between [[spoiler: Hijikata and Ito]] of all people. Although, because of that, it's both played for laughs and subverted, considering that while [[spoiler: Ito has been infatuated with Hijikata from the get-go, Hijikata hates Ito's guts. The reason why this even occurs is because Hijikata couldn't stand the idea of owing Ito after Ito does him a legitimate favor, and so Hijikata (angrily) planted a big one on his smacker in lieu of having it hang over his head]].

** Kondo and Hijikata, to the point they've referred to themselves as each other's "husband" and "wife" as well as the "father" and "mother" of the Shinsengumi. Hijikata even lightheartedly jokes that Kondo is 'cheating' on him on a few occasions where Kondo shows admiration for a new acquaintance. Additionally, the narrative describes their feelings for each other as "greater than that of husband and wife". When Hijikata came down with Tuberculosis in his early 20's, it was Kondo who gave Hijikata the will to keep living. And while Hijikata denies that his decision to be a bachelor for life in service to the Shinsengumi was ''for'' Kondo, Kondo is the one who made the Shinsengumi possible. However, they're both exclusively attracted to women (and Hijikata is repulsed by any thought of homosexuality).

* [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have To Be Gays?]]: Hijikata is a raging homophobe, and his extreme discomfort with the notion of same-sex relationships is often played for laughs. It's explained that a male storeclerk made a sexual advance on Hijikata, which left him permanently traumatized. It's later explained that this happened when Hijikata wasn't even a teenager. Unfortunately for Hijikata, [[{{Bishounen}} his looks]] have made him the object of affection of several men over the course of the story.

** Kondo and Hijikata, to the point they've referred to themselves as each other's "husband" and "wife" as well as the "father" and "mother" of the Shinsengumi. Hijikata even lightheartedly jokes that Kondo is 'cheating' on him on a few occasions where Kondo shows admiration for a new acquaintance. Additionally, the narrative describes their feelings for each other as "greater than that of husband and wife". And while Hijikata denies that his decision to be a bachelor for life in service to the Shinsengumi was because of Kondo, Kondo is the one who made the Shinsengumi possible. Despite all of this, they're both exclusively attracted to women (and Hijikata is repulsed by any thought of homosexuality).

** Saito eventually follows the path of the first troop regarding his feelings for Sei, albeit considerably less gracefully.

** Hijikata is, due to a traumatic experience, deeply uncomfortable with homosexual attentions directed at himself. Nonetheless, he graciously accepts a sword made for him by a swordsmith who falls in love with him when he sees and acknowledges the swordsmith's honesty

** He also goes out of his way to utilize a loophole in the inter-class marriage system to help Harada and his eventual wife to get married.

* PetTheDog: Many times coming from Hijikata, who enforces a reputation of being a hard-nosed jerk, but in reality is a decent and idealistic guy. Examples include:
** genuinely and graciously accepting a sword made for him by the swordsmith who fell in love with him, despite Hijikata's outrageous homophobia.
** suggesting a way for Kamiya to deter some of her romantic followers
** trying to use a loophole in the inter-class marriage system to allow Harada and his eventual wife to get married.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Yamashiro Kanji]] makes a reprehensible impression when he attempts to rape Sei, and Okita chases him into the night with a warning. When they see him again, he is genuinely apologetic over what he did, and ends up dying later that night trying to protect her.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: Yamashiro Kanji]] makes a reprehensible impression when he attempts to rape Sei, and Okita chases him into the night with a warning. When they see him again, he is genuinely apologetic over what he did, and ends up dying later that night in Sei's arms trying to protect her.

** Whenever Okita spends the night with Kohana, he literally just goes to sleep in her company, merely hiring her as an excuse to hang out with the other men in Shimabara and to hide the fact that he's celibate. It's also an excuse to help Kohana out financially and allowing her a night of rest, as he has a soft spot for due to the fact she has the same name as one of his sisters.

** Hijikata despises Ito with a burning passion due to being on the receiving end of Ito's relentless unwanted affection ''and'' being aware of Ito's desire to throw a wrench in the Shinsengumi. But on one occasion where they end up agreeing on something, Hijikata has a fleeting moment of thinking that Ito's 'a bit cute' and Hijikata immediately looks like he wants to run away somewhere to vomit.

* [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have To Be Gays?]]: Hijikata is a raging homophobe, and his extreme discomfort with the notion of same-sex relationships is often played for laughs. The story goes is that a male sales clerk once tried to come onto him, which left him permanently traumatized. Unfortunately for Hijikata, [[{{Bishounen}} his looks]] have made him the object of affection of several men over the course of the story.

** Okita himself takes this to extreme lengths after he realizes that he's in love with Sei. Recognizing thathe would choose being a warrior over being a proper husband, Okita refuses to pursue a relationship with Sei, feeling that would be unfair to her. As a result, Okita believes that it would be better to wish for Sei to find happiness with someone else, and has a tendency to throw support behind or fantasize about her getting together with various other potential suitors, even to his own emotional detriment when he does so.

* ObliviousToLove: Okita; even the other characters notice it ("Is this idiot ''serious?''"). Okita ''never'' realizes when someone is romantically interested in him, and also has very long delays before realizing when he's developed feelings for someone. This can at least in part be attributed to his personal vow of celibacy, though.

** Whenever Soji spends the night with Kohana, he literally just goes to sleep in her company, merely hiring her as an excuse to hang out with the other men in Shimabara and to hide the fact that he's celibate. It's also an excuse to help Kohana out financially and allowing her a night of rest, as he has a soft spot for due to the fact she has the same name as one of his sisters.
** Sei partakes in a "three-day indulgence" (a tryst inwhich one stays at a brothel for three days in a row) every month to escape headquarters and her duties on the heaviest days of her period. She eventually no longer has to do this when Akesato is freed from servitude and moves into a private home where she can live as Kamiya Seizaburo's lover and Sei can visit wihout having to pay.

** Okita himself takes this to extreme lengths after he realizes that he's in love with Sei. Knowing that that he would always choose being a warrior over being a proper husband, Okita refuses to pursue a relationship with Sei, feeling that would be unfair to her. As a result, Okita believes that it would be better to wish for Sei to find happiness with someone else, and has a tendency to throw support behind or fantasize about her getting together with various other potential suitors, even to his own emotional detriment when he does so.

* DeadpanSnarker: Saito, but his snark is almost entirely in his head.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Girls start to get marriage propositions as soon as they get their period, often get married shortly, and they have virtually no say in their marriage, as it is ultimately their parents who make the final decision. Boys also have fairly little say in their own marriages and are expected to be soldiers and killers just as young. It's also not that unusual for individuals who are not even into their teens to be apprenticed for work or treated like they're adults, in both positive and negative ways.

** 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.
** 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. While Kondo is genuinely sympathetic to what Hijikata experienced, he also openly blabs about 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 that Hijikata is genuinely disturbed, the concern is solely that he will kill Ito in retaliation rather than that Hijikata was, and continues to be, a victim of harassment and unwanted advances.

** 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 develops a crush on the courtesan Miyuki-dayu.
* FakeRelationship: Ironically between Okita and 'Kamiya Seizaburo'. After it comes to light that the entire first troop is in love with Sei's male identity, Okita agrees to pretend that he and Kamiya are in a Shudo relationship to help fend off some of Sei's unwanted admirers, since few would try to step on such a relationship. Despite this, neither of them is aware of their mutual feelings for each other.
** Okita also attempts a similar arrangement with Kohana, the courtesan he usually hires the company of [[PlatonicProstitution despite never sleeping with her]]. He seriously considers buying her out of prostitution to live in private quarters with him, creating a front that she is his lover, which would also allow her to live a free life with her daughter. This tragically doesn't come to pass when Kohana, who has fallen in love with Okita, decides that she can't bear to endure a false life with a man who doesn't love her, and turns him down.

** Kondo and Hijikata, to the point they've referred to themselves as each other's "husband" and "wife" as well as the "father" and "mother" of the Shinsengumi. Hijikata even lightheartedly jokes that Kondo is 'cheating' on him on a few occasions where Kondo shows admiration for a new intellectual acquaintence. The narrative describes their feelings for each other as "greater than that of husband and wife", and while Hijikata denies that his decision to be a bachelor for life in service to the Shinsengumi was because of Kondo, Kondo is the one who made the Shinsengumi possible. Despite all of this, they're both exclusively attracted to women (and Hijikata is repulsed by any thought of homosexuality).

* ImportantHaircut: In order to come off more convincingly as a man when joining the Shinsengumi, Sei shaves the top of her head, something which was viewed like a punishment if it happened to a girl during the time. Okita takes it as proof of her resolve.

** Okita himself takes this to extreme lengths, even after he realizes that he's in love with Sei. Okita steadfastly holds onto his conviction serve Kondo, and so refuses to ever pursue a relationship with Sei. He believes it would be unfair to her, since he knows that he would always choose being a warrior over being a proper husband. As a result, Okita also believes that it would be better to wish for Sei to find happiness with someone else, and has a tendency to throw support behind or fantasize about her getting together with various other potential suitors, even to his own emotional detriment when he does so.

* MyMasterRightOrWrong: Soji and Hijikata to Kondo, and Kondo to the Tokugawa Bakufu. Sei is too comfortable questioning Soji to really fit this trope, while Yamanami chose to desert the troop and commit seppuku than challenge his loyalty to Kondo.

* ObliviousToLove: Okita; even the other characters notice it ("Is this idiot ''serious?''")

** Whenever Soji spends the night with Kohana, he literally just goes to sleep in her company, merely hiring her as an excuse to hang out with the other men in Shimabara and to hide the fact that he's celibate. It's also an excuse to help her out financially and allowing her a night of rest, as he has a soft spot for her in part because she has the same name as one of his sisters.
** Sei wins a "three-day indulgence" after scoring a hit on Soji, which she uses to escape headquarters and her duties on the heaviest days of her period.

* RomanticFakeRealTurn: Okita decides to, when necessary, pretend to be in a Shudo relationship with Kamiya to help ward away some of her admirers and prevent the discovery of her gender. He realizes that he's in love with her many volumes later.

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

** Sei gets assigned to be Hijikata's assistant while healing from an injury. The two of them spending extended periods of time together has Hijikata getting increasingly comfortable in her presence... and then subsequently constantly looking like he's crawling in his skin because he, still believing 'Kamiya' to be male (albeit with an illness making her feminine), [[SweetOnPollyOliver can't stop subconsciously questioning Kamiya's gender]].

** Kondo and Hijikata, to the point they've referred to themselves as each other's "husband" and "wife" as well as the "father" and "mother" of the Shinsengumi. Hijikata decides to remain a bachelor for life because of the Shinsengumi, which only happened because he adopted Kondo's dream of becoming bushi. The narrative describes their feelings for each other as "greater than that of husband and wife," but they're both exclusively attracted to women (and Hijikata is repulsed by any thought of homosexuality).

** Ito isn't very fond of Kondo, and doesn't find either his ideals or physical appearance to be very attractive. On top of that, Ito sees Kondo as a 'rival' of sorts for Hijikata's affection despite the fact Kondo and Hijikata's relationship, [[HeteroSexualLifePartners while very strong]], is strictly platonic. However there are occasions where Ito is caught off guard by Kondo's natural charisma, and he gets comically distressed at the idea he could be charmed at all by Kondo.

** 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 time over a decade.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Girls start to get marriage propositions as soon as they get their period, often get married shortly, and they have virtually no say in their marriage, as it is ultimately their parents who make the final decision. Meanwhile, boys are expected to be soldiers and killers just as young. It's also not that unusual for individuals who are not even into their teens to be apprenticed for work or treated like they're adults (in both positive and negative ways).
** A ''kosho'' (a servant who handles the tasks of a secretary or assisstant, usually younger than the person who employs them), has no right to reject their master's advances if their master wants to enter into a sexual relationship with them.

* FakeRelationship: Ironically between Okita and 'Kamiya Seizaburo'. After it comes to light that the entire first troop is in love with Sei's male identity, Okita agrees to pretend that he and Kamiya are in a Shudo relationship to help fend off some of Sei's unwanted admirers, since few would try to step on such a relationship.

* FakeRelationship: Ironically between Okita and 'Kamiya Seizaburo'. After it comes to light that the entire first troop is in love with Sei's male identity, Okita agrees to pretend that he and Kamiya are in a Shudo relationship to help fend off some of Sei's unwanted admirers.

** Okita himself takes this to extreme lengths, even after he realizes that he's in love with Sei. Okita steadfastly holds onto his conviction serve Kondo, and so refuses to ever pursue a relationship with Sei. He believes it would be unfair to her, since he knows that he would always choose being a warrior over being a proper husband. As a result, he also believes that it would be better to wish for her happiness with someone else, and has a tendency to throw support behind or fantasize about her getting together with various other potential suitors, even to his own emotional detriment when he does so.

** Kondo and Hijikata, big time, to the point they've referred to themselves as each other's "husband" and "wife" as well as the "father" and "mother" of the Shinsengumi. Hijikata decides to remain a bachelor for life because of the Shinsengumi, which only happened because he adopted Kondo's dream of becoming bushi. The narrative describes their feelings for each other as "greater than that of husband and wife," but they're both exclusively attracted to women (and Hijikata is repulsed by any thought of homosexuality).

* SecretKeeper: Okita finds out Sei's a girl early on and chooses to look the other way. Other individuals that come to be privy to Sei's true gender are: Akesato, a Shimabara courtesan who once was in a relationship with Sei's brother Yuma. Yamanami, who finds out through Akesato. And Doctor Matsumoto, who was a colleague of Sei's father. [[spoiler: Saito is the latest addition, who deduced Seizaburou's true identity through her slip of tongue about a secret which was supposed to be only between her brother, Yuma, and "Sei", which Saito knew about due to being Yuma's friend.]]

** Ito isn't very fond of Kondo, and doesn't find either his ideals or physical appearance to be very attractive. On top of that, Ito sees Kondo as a 'rival' of sorts for Hijikata's affection despite Kondo and Hijikata's relationship being strictly platonic. However there are occasions where Ito is caught off guard by Kondo's natural charisma, and he gets comically distressed at the idea he could be charmed at all by Kondo.

* 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. Kondo and Hijikata attempt to arrange one for Soji, only for Soji to screw it up spectacularly.

* BigDamnKiss: Between [[spoiler: Hijikata and Ito]] of all people. Although, because of that, it's both played for laughs and subverted, considering that while [[spoiler: Ito has been infatuated with Hijikata from the get-go, Hijikata hates Ito's guts. The reason why this even occurs is because at the time, Ito could've easily swayed Todo to turn against the Shinsengumi, but chose not to, and rather than wanting to owe Ito for it later, Hijikata (angrily) planted a big one on his smacker]].