Age 12
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is a Japanese
slice of life Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence of events in a character ...
romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...
'' shōjo''
manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
series written and illustrated by Nao Maita. It began serialization in August 2012 in
Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...
's ''
Ciao ''Ciao'' ( , ) is an informal salutation in the Italian language that is used for both "hello" and "goodbye". Originally from the Venetian language, it has entered the vocabulary of English and of many other languages around the world. Its du ...
''
manga magazine Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is used ...
and ended in October 2019. It was published in twenty volumes. The manga was adapted into an
original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...
that was released in April 2014 and it was also adapted into a video game and a TV anime series released in 2016.


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.


Characters


Main characters

; : :Hanabi is the first protagonist of the series along with Yui and is part of a three-girl clique with Yui and Marin. She is very child-like, from her appearance to her behaviour, with her two signature pigtails and innocent charm that makes her oblivious to the boys' actions in class unless it is very obvious. She gets close to Yuuto during a music session when their homeroom teacher required them to partner with the classmate they are sitting beside, which happened to be him. Initially oblivious towards his feelings for her, she finally develops feelings for him when they share their first kiss. She has a bit of a one-sided rivalry with Cocoa, who is the most popular girl in class and wants to be Yuuto's girlfriend, as she believes them to be a perfect couple. ; : (OVA); Juri Kimura (TV series) :Yui is the second protagonist of the series along with Hanabi and is part of a three-girl clique along with Hanabi and Marin. She is developing both physically and mentally the earliest out of the group, but is still insecure due to the presence of not having a mother around to help, so she often asks Marin. Projecting a model student air, Yui initially dislikes Hiyama due to his delinquent-like attitude and his hobby of teasing her, but grew to like him after he spent a long time trying to find something important for her that she lost. ; : :Yuuto is Hanabi's boyfriend and is very affectionate of her. He is the most popular boy in school, and that is matched with his good looks and mature appearance that makes almost all the girls, especially Cocoa, fawn over him. He develops feelings for Hanabi early in the story and kisses her on the rooftop. They start going out and become Class 6-2's first actual couple. ; : (OVA/game); Shun Horie (TV series) :Kazuma starts off as a delinquent-like prankster and a rash speaker, but actually has a soft side to him. Having a crush on Yui early in the series, he covers it up by teasing her and leading a group of three boys to do foolish antics to rile her, but stopped soon after. He helps Yui find a precious item that she lost and confesses when she does so too. They start going out and become Class 6-2's second couple after Hanabi and Yuuto.


Supporting characters

; : :Hanabi and Yui's best friend and makes up the three-girl clique along with them. She thinks that boys her age are immature but helps her friends during their love troubles normally by acting like a love adviser, conveying the wisdom of her unseen elder sister, who has apparently had several boyfriends. ; : :Cocoa is Hanabi's love rival for Yuuto. She does everything to become his girlfriend, including dishonest and ungainly means. In front of people, she acts sweet and innocent, but acts mean to make Hanabi lose her self-esteem and confidence. ; : :Hanabi's childhood friend who has just come back from Tokyo. He also wants to be her boyfriend. ; : :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 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". ; : (game); Shinnosuke Tachibana (TV series) :Inaba is a fellow student from Yui's cram school who took an interest in Yui after hearing that she had a boyfriend.


Media


Manga

;Volumes *1 (March 1, 2013) *2 (July 1, 2013) *3 (November 29, 2013) *4 (July 1, 2014) *5 (October 30, 2014) *6 (February 27, 2015) *7 (July 27, 2015) *8 (December 23, 2015) *9 (April 27, 2016) *10 (November 29, 2016) *10.5 (December 26, 2016) *11 (March 2, 2017) *12 (July 21, 2017) *13 (November 29, 2017) *14 (March 30, 2018) *15 (August 1, 2018) *16 (February 27, 2019) *17 (July 1, 2019) *18 (October 31, 2019) *19 (December 26, 2019) *20 (July 1, 2020)


Anime


OVAs

The ending theme is by . ;First season ;Second season


TV series

The TV anime is split into two seasons, the first half aired in April 2016, while the second half aired in October. The opening theme in episodes 1-12 is "Sweet Sensation" by
Rie Murakawa is a Japanese voice actress, singer and radio personality from Saitama Prefecture, Japan. She is currently affiliated with Stay Luck. She is known for her roles as Hotaru Ichijō in ''Non Non Biyori'', Escha Malier in '' Atelier Escha & Logy: ...
, while the ending theme is "Cotona MODE" by
AŌP was a Japanese idol group known for singing anime songs, many of which have charted on Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the ...
and the opening theme in episodes 13-24 is "Ano ne, Kimi dake ni" by AŌP, while the ending theme is "Yuuki no Tsubasa" by Machico.


Reception

Volume 3 reached the 47th place on the weekly Oricon manga chart and, as of December 8, 2013, has sold 36,632 copies; volume 4 reached the 20th place and, as of July 13, 2014, has sold 53,162 copies; volume 5 reached the 38th place and, as of November 9, 2014, has sold 50,161 copies. It was nominated for Best Children's Manga at the 38th
Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially w ...
s. In 2019, ''Age 12'' won the 64th Shogakukan Manga Award for the
children A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...
category.


References


External links


Official website

''Age 12: A Little Heart-Pounding'' anime
at Tokyo MX * {{OLM 2014 video games Adventure games Nintendo 3DS games Nintendo 3DS-only games OLM, Inc. Romance anime and manga Romance video games Slice of life anime and manga Shogakukan manga Shōjo manga Video games developed in Japan Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga