I've put in my two cents so onto the story! Everything starts off with a cute little scene of a two year old girl (The Heroin of the story, Kajika Burnsworth) on a remote island with a white tiger named Mustafa and a 6 year old boy (One of the love interests, though aparently not one of the love game candidates, Lee-Leng Fang).
Fast forward 12 years, Mustafa, Kajika's beloved white tiger, has died and Kajika is in Japan about to start attending a public school for the first time. She doesn't make the best first impression with most of her classmates but ends up befriending an adorable girl named Yui. And here's the part I really love- Yui starts to question her sexuality a bit when some of their classmates pick on Kajika for seeming to "swing that way." Nothing ever becomes of it (other than a great enviable friendship) but it's a nice touch all the same.
The next part's a little weird and I have to say it doesn't flow as gracefully as it could- Kajika angers a senior who has some tie to a gang who kidnap her and attempt to kidnap Yui. Yui is rescued by Kajika's body guard, Toranosuke, and the two pursue the gang but end up getting there just after Kajika is rescued by a gorgeous Chinese man, who turns out to be Kajika's best friend/Brother figure, Lee-Leng Fang.
It turns out Lee-Leng was there to pick up Kajika and take her back to New York (I really love that this doesn't take place mostly in Japan.) at the request of her father- the multi-billionair Harry Burnsworth. Kajika is not very happy about returning home, having previously made her dad promise to let her stay in Japan for six months (she only got to stay for 2). Her dad proposes that she play a game, he picked out three men for kajika to marry and Kajika would have to choose between them, once she had chosen he would tell her a big secret about her "destiny". I was a bit put off by this at first, I was worrying it would be some fantasy oracle magic involving deal- but it turns out to be a really interesting and realistic. Well, realistic in a daydreaming sense.
So anyway- the big deal with the marriage game is Kajika would meet the guys to see if she would fall in love with them and if they would fall in with her, the catch being no one would know if they were the chosen guy (though even he says it'll be easy to tell as soon as you see them).
The first Love-interest, Eugene Alexander De Volkan is a beautiful french boy with no will to live- oh and he looks like Mustafa. The dead tiger. Yeahh..... Kajika thinks he has the tiger's soul inside him and it's a tad bit embarrassing at first. But it blows over shockingly smoothly and (no spoilers for you guys) Kajika ends up making him love life for the first time and he falls in love with her. Ah, but she doesn't think she's in love with him. She loves him though, but not in the marriage way.
The second love interest (which I currently am not at all convinced is even a real love interest for reasons you'll learn if you make it through about 18 or 20 episodes) is a Prince from a quickly developing former third world country. Prince Rumaty Ivan of Raginei is 14 (the same age as Kajika) and the second son of the current king. They meet at a party for Lee-Leng's family, Rumaty very rudely and accidentally saving Kajika from being raped by a hired thug for a woman trying to get at Lee-Leng. Later Kajika and Rumati have a nice walk together after he falls out of a window trying to escape his smothering escorts and body guards. They get chased by assassins and almost get killed, but like always Lee-Leng saves the day. Then, not even 24 hours later, the hired goon hires an assassin to try and get to Kajika with poisoned strawberries. Rumati saves her life and there's a fun little fuss with Lee-Leng confronting the woman behind it all and smashing her cold evil heart to bits. After this whole ordeal Rumati falls in love with Kajika (betcha didn't see that coming) but she confesses that she likes him alot but doesn't think she loves him. (She's shockingly smart in that for being only fourteen, usually I can't stand shojo's because the heroins are so rash but she's a really really great character.)
The third love interest is, my favorite of them all, 20 year old Carl Rosenthrall. The only son and chosen heir of Harry Burnsworth's biggest enemy/rival. Oh gosh, where to I start with this amazing character? At first I really didn't think I'd like him- a spoiled rich blonde boy who would only be interested in marrying Kajika for political footing, but boy was I proven wrong! He turns out to be a sweet guy, who doesn't like women (Kajika being the only exception). But not only does he just not like women (Yaoi fans will love this) he has a past of ONLY MEN. Yes. He kisses a dude (For non Yaoi fans I'm sorry- but you are in luck! They don't actually show the kiss, they just show him and the boy's feet). After a while of getting to know Kajika, he confesses to Harry Burnsworth and Lee Leng that he intends to marry her.
At this point Lee Leng is 19 and not included in the Love Game because of his family standing, which I find sad because he's my number one choice for Kajika's husband. He's the head of what is basically the Chinese Rule. He controls everything from Polotics to The Mafia in China.
The story line isn't just about the boys though (THANK GOD, THERE'S ACTUALLY A PLOT TO THE STORY!) Most of it centers around Rumati's homeland, which is falling into ruin for various reasons. I don't want to give to much away- since it's the most compelling part of the show- So I'll cut off here.
Hanasakeru Seishounen so far is probably one of my top three favorite Shojo's. With it's cultural diversity- OH! I forgot to mention my favorite part of the show! THEY SPEAK ENGLISH. SOMETIMES. And it's not too crappy of English! YAY! There's just on part though, where Eugene is talking to Kajika's friend Yui and she's showing him a picture of her house and she says TWO TIMES "This is my house" and he replies with "Is that our house?" ahhh, I didn't know weather to laugh or cry then. I was so proud until.. well he is french so I suppose he can be forgiven, conversing with some one with a vastly different native language than you in a language that neither of you are completely fluent in must be tough.
KAY! Really the closing now. This is a great Shojo anime and I highly recommend it! It's got action; gun fights, knife fights, sword fights, verbal fights, even suicide and a couple people die. Romance, and it's not that cheesy. Drama, lots an lots of drama. and best of all, It's really entertaining! Oh, and the characters are relate-able! (relate-ability is something anime seems to lack quite often)
Where to watch it: http://www.animeget.com/hanasakeru-seishounen-anime
