Hanasakeru Seishōnen

Hanasakeru Seishōnen
Cover of Hanasakeru Seishōnen volume 1, as published by Hakusensha
花咲ける青少年
(Hanasakeru Seishōnen)
GenreDrama, Romance
Manga
Written byNatsumi Itsuki
Published byHakusensha
MagazineLaLa
DemographicShōjo
Original run19871994
Volumes12
Anime television series
Directed byChiaki Kon (1-23)
Hajime Kamegaki (24-39)
Produced byAtsuko Nishiwaki
Atsuya Hirooka
Yuji Shibata
Dōkō Honma
Written byMamiko Ikeda
Music byTetsuya Saitō
Gō Satō
StudioStudio Pierrot
Licensed by
Original networkNHK
Original run April 5, 2009 February 14, 2010
Episodes39

Hanasakeru Seishōnen (花咲ける青少年, "Youth That Can Bloom") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsumi Itsuki. Set in the modern era, the story follows the path to romance of fourteen-year-old Kajika Burnsworth, daughter of powerful industrialist Harry Burnsworth, owner of the Burnsworth international conglomerate giant. Kajika agrees to participate in a "marriage game" with her father, in which she must select her future husband out of three men that her father has supposedly preselected for her.

Despite its shōjo-romance undertones, the story itself evolves as a power political mystery involving a small, southeast Asian country called Raginei (purportedly near Malaysia). Raginei as a country is only 1,000 years old, but became extremely wealthy within the last 50 years or so due to a change in ideals implemented by past King Machaty that allowed the international export of oil. While Kajika searches for her suitors and puzzles over the concept of love, the country is thrown into political turmoil and Kajika's friendship with Prince Rumatti Ivan, as well as the Burnsworth relationship with Raginei, lands her right in the middle of it all.