Age 12
| Age 12 | |
 Cover of volume 1. | |
| 12歳。 (12-Sai.) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Romance, slice of life |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Nao Maita |
| Published by | Shogakukan |
| Demographic | Shōjo |
| Magazine | Ciao |
| Original run | 2012 – present |
| Volumes | 10 |
| Original video animation | |
| Directed by | Seiki Taichū |
| Music by | Kaori Ohkoshi |
| Studio | SynergySP |
| Released | April 3, 2014 – present |
| Runtime | 14 minutes |
| Episodes | 12 |
| Game | |
| 12-Sai. Honto no Kimochi | |
| Developer | Happinet |
| Genre | Romance, adventure |
| Platform | Nintendo 3DS |
| Released | December 18, 2014 |
| Anime television series | |
| Age 12: A Little Heart-Pounding | |
| Directed by | Seiki Taichū |
| Written by | Fumi Tsubota |
| Music by | Motoyoshi Iwasaki |
| Studio | OLM |
| Network | TV Tokyo, AT-X, SUN |
| Original run | April 4, 2016 – present |
| Episodes | 24 |
Age 12 (12歳。 12-Sai.) is an ongoing Japanese slice of life romance shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Nao Maita.[1] It began serialization in 2012 in Shogakukan's Ciao manga magazine[2] and eight volumes have been published so far.[1] It was adapted into an original video animation that was released in April 2014[2] and it was also adapted into a video game.[3] The anime is split into two seasons, the first half first aired in April, while the second half airs in October 2016.[4][5][6]
Plot
Hanabi Ayase and her best friend, Yui Aoi, are 6th graders in school. When Hanabi is chosen to work with Yuuto Takao for an upcoming test, she begins to fall in love with him and they both start dating. Yui also falls in love with Kazuma Hiyama, after he protects her from a classmate who talked about Yui behind her back, and they start dating as well. But with physiological changes and more and more obstacles in their love lives, will Hanabi and Yui overcome everything and find true love at the age of 12?
Characters
Main characters
[7] Hanabi is one of the two main female characters of the series. Her best friend is Yui. She started off as a girl who dislike boys. Cocoa originally tried to prevent her from getting closer to Yuuto because of her unrequited feelings for him. Later on, Yuuto took an interest in Hanabi and the two accidentally kissed on the school's rooftop, leading the class to become shocked and the two officially becoming a couple.
- Yuuto Takao (高尾 優斗 Takao Yūto)[7]
- Voiced by: Sōma Saitō (OVA/anime)
[7] Yuuto is Hanabi's boyfriend and is very affectionate of her. Being very popular and handsome at school, though Hanabi only sees him a normal person. In the beginning, he took an interest in Hanabi after they witness their teacher's kiss and always teases her.
- Yui Aoi (蒼井 結衣 Aoi Yui)
- Voiced by: Juri Kimura (anime); Nanami Haruno (OVA)
Yui is one of the two main female characters of the series. After Hanabi started going out with Yuuto, Yui wanted to find love of her own. Eventually, the boys in her class started playing pranks and lead suspicion to Kazuma, a classmate who was usually found to be the source of pranks. After her shower broke down, she has been visiting Hiyama's family bath and lost her late mother's key—in which Hiyama found and Yui started having feelings for him, later becoming his girlfriend.
- Kazuma Hiyama (桧山 一翔 Hiyama Kazuma)
- Voiced by: Shun Horie (anime); Yūichi Iguchi (OVA)
Kazuma started off as a delinquent-like prankster and is found to be a rash when speaking but after having a crush on Yui, he becomes quite timid and eventually the two start dating after he found the key a crying Yui was looking for.
Supporting characters
- Marin Ogura (小倉まりん Ogura Marin)
- Voiced by: Mayuki Makiguchi
Hanabi and Yui's best friend. She thinks that boys in her age are immature. Also, she acts like a love adviser, conveying the wisdom of her unseen elder sister, who has apparently had several boyfriends.
- Cocoa Hamana (浜名 心愛 Hamana Kokoa)[7]
- Voiced by: Sayuri Hara
[7] Cocoa is Hanabi's love rival for Yuuto. She does everything to become his girlfriend. In front of people, she acts sweet and innocent, but acts means to Hanabi.
- Ayumu Tsutsumi (堤 歩 Tsutsumi Ayumu)
- Voiced by: Tetsuya Kakihara
Hanabi's childhood friend who has just come back from Tokyo. He also wants to be her boyfriend.
- Eikou (エイコー Eikō)
- Voiced by: Takumi Watanabe
Eikou is one of the biggest pranksters in Class 6-2. He teases girls, makes girls' popularity rankings (which winner is usually Cocoa) and collects Yuuto's "golden thoughts".
- Tomoya (トモヤ)
- Voiced by: Taishi Murata
Tomoya is one of the biggest pranksters in Class 6-2. He teases girls, makes girls' popularity rankings (which winner is usually Cocoa) and collects Yuuto's "golden thoughts".
- Inaba Mikami (三上 稲葉 Mikami Inaba)
- Voiced by: Shinnosuke Tachibana (anime); Atsushi Tamaru (OVA)
Inaba is a fellow student from Yui's cram school who took an interest in Yui after hearing that she had a boyfriend.
- Hanabi's Big Brother
Media
Manga
- Volumes
- 1 (March 1, 2013)[8]
- 2 (July 1, 2013)[9]
- 3 (November 29, 2013)[10]
- 4 (July 1, 2014)[11]
- 5 (October 30, 2014)[12]
- 6 (February 27, 2015)[13]
- 7 (July 27, 2015)[14]
- 8 (December 23, 2015)[15]
- 9 (April 27, 2016)[16]
- 10 (November 29, 2016)[17]
Anime
Episode list
OVAs
The ending theme is "12-Year-Old's Love" (恋の12歳 Koi no 12-Sai) by "Singing Cat's Song Company" (うたたねこ歌劇団 Utata Neko Uta Gekidan).
- First season
| No. | Title | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "~Kiss. Hate. Love~" "~Kisu. Kirai. Suki~" (〜キス・キライ・スキ〜) | May, 2014 |
| 2 | "~Secret~" "~Himitsu~" (〜ヒミツ〜) | August, 2014 |
| 3 | "~Confession age1~" "~Kokuhaku age1~" (〜コクハク age1〜) | October, 2014 |
| 4 | "~Confession age2~" "~Kokuhaku age2~" (〜コクハク age2〜) | November, 2014 |
| 5 | "~Confession age3~" "~Kokuhaku age3~" (〜コクハク age3〜) | December, 2014 |
| 6 | "~Christmas~" "~Kurisumasu~" (〜クリスマス〜) | January, 2015 |
| 7 | "~Beginning~" "~Hajimari~" (〜ハジマリ〜) | February, 2015 |
| 8 | "~Names~" "~Namae~" (〜ナマエ〜) | February, 2015 |
- Second season
| No. | Title | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | (〜boy friend age1〜) | August, 2015 |
| 2 | (〜boy friend age2〜) | October, 2015 |
| 3 | (〜boy friend age3〜) | November, 2015 |
| 4 | (〜boy friend age4〜) | January, 2016 |
TV series
The opening theme in episodes 1-12 is "Sweet Sensation" by Rie Murakawa, while the ending theme is "Cotona MODE" by AOP (A応P) and the opening theme in episodes 13-24 is "Ano ne, Kimi dake ni" by AOP (A応P), while the ending theme is "Yuuki no Tsubasa" by Machino.
| No. | Title | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Kiss. Hate. Love" "Kisu. Kirai. Suki" (キス・キライ・スキ) | April 4, 2016 |
| Finally, Hanabi Ayase, Yui Aoi, Marin Ogura and the others are 6th graders! One day, the girls are talking about kissing. Later, the homeroom teacher announces the recorder playing test. Hanabi ends up paired with Yuuto Takao. But when they see their teacher with another teacher kissing, they accidentally kiss! | ||
| 2 | "Confession" "Kokuhaku" (コクハク) | April 11, 2016 |
| At Yui's household the bath broke and she has to take bath at Hiyama Bathhouse. Even though she decided not to fall in love, she starts having feelings for Kazuma Hiyama. At the same time, another boy confesses to her, though Yui politely turns him down, saying that she likes someone else. He responds by mysteriously touching her arm. Later, Kazuma gets into a fight with the boy who confessed to Yui, and Yui seeks to find out why. Another girl tells Yui that the boys have been touching the girls arms because one of them said that the arm is as soft as the breasts. This girl says that The boy who confessed to Yui started saying things like "wanna know what Yui's breast feel like?" and that that's why Kazuma fought with him. Yui realizes that Kazuma was only trying to protect her by fighting, and goes over to the Hiyama Bathouse to confess her feelings to him, where she learns that he likes her as well. | ||
| 3 | "Double Date" "Daburudēto" (Wデート) | April 18, 2016 |
| Yuuto asked Hanabi to go out with him. His girlfriend convinces him to take Yui and Kazuma along with them. The two couples go on a double date at the mall. | ||
| 4 | "Triangle" "Toraianguru" (トライアングル) | April 25, 2016 |
| Class 6-2 has a new student: Hanabi's childhood friend who has just came back from Tokyo, who starts having a crush for Hanabi, despite seeming to be a bit of a bully. | ||
| 5 | "Birthday" "Bāsudē" (バースデー) | May 2, 2016 |
| Hanabi and Ayumu go shopping to get a present for Yuuto's birthday, after which Hanabi will go on a date with Yuuto and give him his present. Ayumu purposefully makes her late for the date, and tries to tell her that he likes her, but is interrupted by Yuuto. Due to a misunderstanding, Hanabi ends up thinking that Ayumu hates her, which depresses her, because she had grown to want to be his friend. | ||
| 6 | "Boyfriend" "Bōifurendo" (ボーイフレンド) | May 9, 2016 |
| Ayumu tries to take Hanabi away from Yuuto. They wind up in a race. Cocoa, who wants to be Yuuto's girlfriend, decides to help Ayumu win. Can Hanabi and Yuuto discover the truth? | ||
| 7 | "Beginning" "Hajimari" (ハジマリ) | May 16, 2016 |
| After Kazuma asked Yui to walk her home, she thinks what does she like him for. The answer finds it's begin in previous year... | ||
| 8 | "Names" "Namae" (ナマエ) | May 23, 2016 |
| Hanabi and Yui try to address Yuuto and Kazuma by their names, and to make the boys do the same. In the end, only Yui and Kazuma manage to, when Hanabi and Yuuto couldn't. | ||
| 9 | "Friends" "Tomodachi" (トモダチ) | May 30, 2016 |
| Due to a misunderstanding, Hanabi and Yui fall out with each other and won't speak to each other for the next few days. In the end, Hanabi reconciles with Yui while defending the later from other girls from another school. | ||
| 10 | "The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd" "Orihime Hikoboshi" (オリヒメヒコボシ) | June 6, 2016 |
| With the Tanabata coming along, Hanabi's homeroom teacher asked the class to write something nice about their classmates in their Tanzaku in hopes that it will strengthen the bond between boys and girls in the class. Meanwhile, Cocoa plans to sabotage the relationship between Hanabi and Yuuto again by borrowing the boys' camera to make group picture of herself with Yuuto, which fails. | ||
| 11 | "Summer Love" "Natsukoi" (ナツコイ) | June 13, 2016 |
| After accidentally hitting Yui on the head with a football during the gym lesson, Kazuma invites her to a pool date as an apology and they invite Hanabi and Yuuto. However, Eikou and his pranksters overhear the girl's conversation and on the day of the pool date, they keep spoiling the couples' time and mood, so it's up to Kazuma to chase them away. | ||
| 12 | "Fireworks" "Hanabi" (ハナビ) | June 20, 2016 |
| With Yui's cram school lessons and Kazuma's work in his family's bathhouse, Hanabi and Yuuto are left to go on a date at the summer festival. Even with Eikou and his pranksters and the other girls keeping the couple apart (which turned out to be Cocoa's plan to separate them), Hanabi and Yuuto manage have a good time at their date and see the fireworks together. After the fireworks Yuuto managed to take the courage and say Hanabi's name through a recording toy rabbit, much to her joy and each other's embarrassment. Meanwhile, another boy from Yui's cram school takes an interest in Yui (foretelling something unpleasant in the next season). | ||
| 13 | "Kiss Kiss Kiss!?" "Kisu kisu kisu!?" (スキ・キス・キス!?) | October 3, 2016 [18] |
| After entering her puberty, Yui Aoi started having pimples on her face, which worries her that because her pimple, Kazuma might not like. But Kazuma confronts some girls who were trying to steal him away from Yui, after hearing about her pimple and worries, and Yui herself, and tells them her pimple won't change a thing. After they accidentally kiss and receiving an invitation to Kazuma's house, Hanabi and Marin encourage Yui to go make a step forward in their reationship. But after a bad moment at Kazuma's house, Yui runs off with tears and meet Inaba Mikami from her cram school, where they later talk and he makes a move on her. But Kazuma follows her and takes her away from Inaba, and they reconcile. On next day, Eikou publishes a secret taken photo of Yui and Kazuma's kiss and distributes it to Yui's cram school, shocking both Yui, Kazuma, and surpising Inaba. | ||
| 14 | "Rival" "Raibaru" (ライバル) | October 10, 2016 |
| At cram school, Inaba tries to make Yui like him, but in the end she thinks of him as nothing more than a playboy. After Inaba defends a friend of Yui's from cram school who got sent to the principal's office, Yui begins to see him in a different light. | ||
| 15 | "Promise" "Yakusoku" (ヤクソク) | October 17, 2016 |
| Parent's Day is coming up in class 6-2, and a lot of the family members of the students are coming to the class. Hanabi's brother is going to be coming. At first, she is looking forward to introducing him to Yuuto, but she starts to think that he might not aprove of her dating at such a young age, and is torn about whether or not to tell him. On Parent's Day, Hanabi feels guilty about not introducing Yuuto to her brother properly. After talking with Yuuto about it, they pinky-promise to like each other forever. | ||
| 16 | "Heart" "Kokoro" (ココロ) | October 24, 2016 |
| Yui helps the girls in her class make wish bracelets, which are bracelets that, if worn by the person you like and yourself, will make the two of you stay together forever. Yui makes two for her and Kazuma, but loses hers on accident. Inaba helps her look for it, but Kazuma is the one who finds it and gives it back to her. Kazuma is upset that Yui didn't tell him that she had lost it, and she starts crying, prompting Inaba to comfort her. | ||
| 17 | "After the Rain" "Ameagari" (アメアガリ) | October 31, 2016 |
| Inaba takes Yui to the fair to cheer her up. He ties her wish bracelet to a balloon and sets it free to symbolize her leaving Kazuma. Yui chases after it into a Haunted House. Kazuma finds her in it and, knowing that she is afraid, leads her out. Kazuma and Yui stand up against Inaba and make it clear that Yui only has feelings for Kazuma. | ||
| 18 | "Balance" "Baransu" (バランス) | November 7, 2016 |
| 19 | "One-sided Love" "Kataomoi" (カタオモイ) | November 14, 2016 |
| 20 | "Adults" "Otona" (オトナ) | November 21, 2016 |
| 21 | "Shigakuriko" "Shigakuriko" (シ ガクリ コ) | November 28, 2016 |
| 22 | "Bye Bye" "Baibai" (バイバイ) | December 5, 2016 |
Reception
Volume 3 reached the 47th place on the weekly Oricon manga chart[19] and, as of December 8, 2013, has sold 36,632 copies;[20] volume 4 reached the 20th place[21] and, as of July 13, 2014, has sold 53,162 copies;[22] volume 5 reached the 38th place[23] and, as of November 9, 2014, has sold 50,161 copies.[24]
It was nominated for Best Children's Manga at the 38th Kodansha Manga Awards.[25]
References
- 1 2 "12 Sai - Boyfriend vo". manga-news.com (in French). Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- 1 2 3 "Nao Maita's Shōjo Manga 'Age 12' Gets Anime on DVD". Anime News Network. February 22, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ↑ "'Age 12' Shōjo Manga Gets 3DS Game This Winter". Anime News Network. April 3, 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
- ↑ "Age 12 Shōjo Manga About Girl's Coming of Age Gets TV Anime". Anime News Network. January 26, 2016. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
- ↑ "Age 12 Shōjo TV Anime's Title, April Debut, Main Visual Unveiled". Anime News Network. February 3, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
- ↑ "Age 12 Anime to premiere 2nd split season in October". Anime News Network. June 9, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Ai Kakuma, Sōma Saitō, Sayuri Hara Star in 'Age 12' Anime on DVD". Anime News Network. April 3, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ↑ "12 Sai - Boyfriend jp Vol.1". manga-news.com (in French). Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ↑ "12 Sai - Boyfriend jp Vol.2". manga-news.com (in French). Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ↑ "12 Sai - Boyfriend jp Vol.3". manga-news.com (in French). Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ↑ "12 Sai - Boyfriend jp Vol.4". manga-news.com (in French). Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ↑ "12 Sai - Boyfriend jp Vol.5". manga-news.com (in French). Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ↑ "12 Sai - Boyfriend jp Vol.6". manga-news.com (in French). Retrieved September 6, 2015.
- ↑ "12 Sai - Boyfriend jp Vol.7". manga-news.com (in French). Retrieved September 6, 2015.
- ↑ "12 Sai - Boyfriend jp Vol.8". manga-news.com (in French). Retrieved March 10, 2016.
- ↑ "12 Sai - Boyfriend jp Vol.9". manga-news.com (in French). Retrieved March 16, 2016.
- ↑ "12 Sai - Boyfriend jp Vol.10". manga-news.com (in French). Retrieved October 21, 2016.
- ↑ "Age 12 2nd season reveals new character October 3 premiere". Anime News Network. June 21, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
- ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, November 25-December 1". Anime News Network. December 4, 2013. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, December 2–8". Anime News Network. December 11, 2013. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, June 30-July 6". Anime News Network. July 9, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, July 7–13". Anime News Network. July 16, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, October 27-November 2". Anime News Network. November 6, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ↑ "Japanese Comic Ranking, November 3–9". Anime News Network. November 12, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ↑ "38th Annual Kodansha Manga Awards' Nominees Announced". Anime News Network. April 3, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
External links
- Official website (Japanese)
- Age 12: A Little Heart-Pounding anime at Tokyo Metropolitan Television (Japanese)
- Age 12 (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
