Hanamaru Kindergarten

Hanamaru Kindergarten (はなまる幼稚園) is a Japanese situation comedy manga series written and illustrated by Yuto and published by Square Enix. It is mainly about a kindergarten girl who is in love with her teacher and tries to win his affection but always fails. It has been adapted into an anime television series produced by Gainax and broadcast in Japan on TV Tokyo.

Plot
Anzu goes to a preschool with her friends, the shy Koume and the eccentric Hiiragi. Together they try to attract attention from their caretaker Tsuchida. However, he is clearly more interested in the pretty Yamamoto who supervises the class next door.

Teachers
Voiced by: Satoshi Hino
 * Naozumi Tsuchida (土田 直純)
 * Tsuchida-sensei is the only male teacher at Hanamaru Kindergarten, who started teaching in the school after graduation. At first, he was seen as unreliable, but as time passes by, he gets the hang of being a teacher. He is liked by Anzu, but he does not return his affection back to her. He has a crush on Nanako Yamamoto, his colleague. Sakura called him Tsuchi when they were classmates (and still does), so Anzu does as well. He is a game otaku and plays until late at night, often resulting in him being late for work at the kindergarten. He teaches the students of first-year Sakura Class. He is nicknamed "breast man" because of his habit of looking at girl model magazines and often staring at Yamamoto-Sensei's chest.

Voiced by: Erino Hazuki
 * Nanako Yamamoto (山本 菜々子)
 * Yamamoto-sensei is one of the female teachers at Hanamaru Kindergarten. Even though Tsuchida likes her, she does not understand that men would fall for her. She teaches the students of first-year Peach Class. She appears to be good at sewing, as she has fixed Tsuchida's apron and Koume's stuffed panda-cat doll's ear.

Voiced by: Kaoru Mizuhara
 * Kusano (草野)
 * Kusano-sensei is one of the female teachers at Hanamaru Kindergarten who likes sports. She enjoys watching what Tsuchida does to get Yamamoto's attention. She teaches the students of second-year Sunflower Class. In the anime she was Koume's coach who prepared her for the school sports day's footrace.

Voiced by: Naomi Wakabayashi
 * Kawashiro (川代)
 * Kawashiro-sensei is one of the female teachers at Hanamaru Kindergarten who appears slightly geeky. She teaches the students of second-year Tulip Class. In the anime, she lent Anzu a sweater for her "date" with Tsuchida. She is described as lacking composure.

Voiced by: Arisa Ogasawara
 * Kakogawa (水主川)
 * Kakogawa-sensei is one of the female teachers at Hanamaru Kindergarten with the short brown hair. She is described as being mature. She only appears in the anime.

Voiced by: Ayumi Tsunematsu
 * Nishikaze (西風)
 * Nishikaze-sensei is one of the female teachers at Hanamaru Kindergarten with long black hair that goes to her waist and is described as being laid back. She has a sleepy look on her face. She only appears in the anime.

Kindergarten students
Voiced by: Kei Shindō
 * Anzu (杏)
 * Anzu is a girl in Tsuchida's class. She has a crush on Tsuchida to a point where she wants to marry him, but fails to get his affectionate attention. She is also a friend of Koume and Hiiragi. She is known to do unsafe actions that usually cause many adults to worry. She has a wild strand of blond hair that sticks up.

Voiced by: MAKO
 * Koume (小梅)
 * Koume is a girl in Tsuchida's class. She quickly became friends with Anzu and Hiiragi upon the start of the semester. She is very shy, timid, and sensitive. She has an older brother who gave her a red ribbon which she holds very dear to her heart.

Voiced by: Ayahi Takagaki
 * Hiiragi (柊)
 * Hiiragi, or Hii-chan to her friends, is a girl in Tsuchida's class. She quickly became friends with Anzu and Koume upon the start of the semester. She is very gifted in knowledge but is easily embarrassed. Her dad, who calls her Hii, works at a scientific lab. She wears random costumes in certain episodes. Her mouth isn't shown, even when she talks. She might have a little crush on Kenji.

Voiced by: Hiromi Igarashi
 * Yū Kobayakawa (小早川 優)
 * Yū is a boy who once helped Koume when she fell down; and as a result Koume starts to like him. He's in second-year Sunflower Class. In the anime, when they come back from summer break, he gives her a stuffed koala doll. In the manga, he seems to have a crush on Yamamoto-sensei but this was not addressed in the anime.

Voiced by: Manami Nakamura
 * Kenji (けんじ)
 * Kenji is a boy from second-year Sunflower Class who first challenged Hiiragi to see who was smarter, then was impressed with her and decided to be her student. He even calls her "master".

Voiced by: Mariya Ise
 * Hinagiku (雛菊)
 * Hinagiku is a girl from second-year Sunflower Class whom Tsuchida helped before she transferred to Hanamaru Kindergarten. Surprisingly very mature considering her age, she turned out to be the daughter of the head of a yakuza clan (and is very highly respected as well). Hinagiku fell in love with Tsuchida, and transferred to Hanamaru Kindergarten as a result. Anzu considers her as a rival.

Voiced by: Hiromi Igarashi
 * Aoi (葵)
 * Aoi is a girl in Tsuchida's class. Her parents are fishmongers, and she is proud of them, and likes to help them with the business. She appears both in the anime and manga.

Others
Voiced by: Yōko Honna
 * Sakura (桜)
 * Sakura is Anzu's mother and Tsuchida's high school classmate. She encourages Anzu to marry Tsuchida, reflecting that of her own marriage to her Art teacher. She got married and pregnant while in high school, she never graduated because she dropped out to be with her husband when he got a job teaching at an American university. She has a wild strand of blond hair that sticks up, which Anzu seems to have inherited. Despite no longer being students, Tsuchida still calls her Senpai.

Voiced by: Shion Hirota
 * Satsuki Tsuchida (土田 さつき)
 * Satsuki is Naozumi's younger sister. She visits the kindergarten to see how Tsuchida has been doing ever since he left home. She seems to care very much for her brother's well-being, and apparently has a brother complex. She is often very eager to receive any sort of acknowledgment from Tsuchida and has a tendency to get jealous whenever Tsuchida gets close to Yamamoto. She possesses exceptional culinary skill.

Voiced by: Chiwa Saitō
 * Mayumi Yamamoto (山本 真弓)
 * Mayumi is Nanako's younger sister. She is rather mischievous at times when it comes to her sister, but the two are very close. She knows that her sister is very airheaded when it comes to matters of love. She is also aware that Tsuchida has a crush on her sister, and sympathizes with him, knowing that he'll have a hard time trying to get through to her. Ironically, she is airheaded as well when it comes to people's affections aimed at herself. She works as an part-time assistant in a manga publisher, and is responsible to a mangaka named Hanamaru, who has a crush on her. She is just as airheaded as her sister to understand it, however.

Voiced by: Kōji Yusa
 * Hanamaru (花丸)
 * Hanamaru is a mangaka, the author of the manga entitled "Panda-cat", which is a hit with kindergarten children. He has a crush on his assistant Mayumi Yamamoto.

Manga
The manga is written and illustrated by Yuto. Hanamaru Kindergarten is currently serialized by Square Enix in the monthly Young Gangan magazine, and the chapters collected in tankōbon. As January 2010, seven volumes were released with the first one released on April 25, 2007, and the last one on 1 February 2010.

Outside Japan the series is licensed in Taiwan by Sharp Point Press and in Hong Kong and Macau by Jade Dynasty.