Haikara-San: Here Comes Miss Modern



Haikara-san ga Tōru (はいからさんが通る?), also known as Smart-san, is a Japanese shōjo manga series by Waki Yamato. It was serialized by Kodansha in the magazine Shōjo Friend from 1975 to 1977, and released in eight volumes. The title can be literally translated into English as Here Comes Miss Modern or Here Comes Miss High-Collar ("haikara" being the Japanese version of "high collar"), or Fashionable Girl Passing By. In 1977, it was awarded the 1st Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo. It also has been adapted into an anime series from the late seventies, and then into a film and some doramas.

The female lead is Benio Hanamura, a young woman living in the Taisho Era. Benio has been raised by a single father, a high-ranked military man, since her mom died when she was a little girl. As a result, much to the despair of Hanamura Sr., Benio is a huge Tomboy: she doesn't want to get married, scoffs at boys, smokes, drinks, likes reading and riding her bike, and her only resemblances in regards to the Yamato Nadeshiko archetype are her looks and her penchant for wearing kimonos and hakama. Her best friends are Tamaki Kitaouji, a more girlish but also openminded young woman, and Ranmaru Fujieda, a very girly-looking guy coming from a kabuki background.

At age 17, Benio receives the shock of her life. Her father tells her that she's to be engaged to a man! Benio is horrified, naturally, and even more so when she meets her husband-to-be: Shinobu Iijyuin. He happens to be a guy with whom she had several encounters that day, all tinted with Slap Slap Kiss. So Benio is caught in quite the predicament: not only she dislikes the idea of being in an Arranged Marriage, but she has also noticed that Tamaki likes Shinobu quite a bit and she doesn't want to hurt her friend's feelings. Hm, what to do.

Eventually, Benio accepts the engagement -- to try scheming against it via telling and showing Shinobu that she's an horrible excuse for a Yamato Nadeshiko, so he and his family will hate her and call everything off. Yet not only Shinobu turns out to be a Nice Guy who has come to like Benio as a person and has a saint-like patience to her blunders, but she finds herself falling for him...

Tropes from Haikara-san ga tooru.

 * Arranged Marriage: Shinobu and Benio.
 * Perfectly Arranged Marriage: When they get to know each other better.
 * Asian Gal with White Guy: Genderflipped Shinobu (mixed ethnicity) and Larissa (Russian).  Also subverted since Shinobu, due to his Hair of Gold and Blue Eyes, looks very Western.
 * Badass Grandpa: Shinobu's grandfather plays it for weirdness.
 * Beta Couple:  Also,
 * : The manga. On one hand,  On the other,
 * In the anime, which was cut short due to bad ratings, it's rather... different.
 * Bottle Fairy: Benio likes drinking sake.
 * Broken Bird: Larissa, due to
 * also had her share of broken-ness in her past, though she takes it kinda in stride.
 * But Not Too Foreign: Shinobu, half-Japanese and half-German.
 * Driven to Suicide:  tries to drown herself twice when   In the backstory,
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: Ranmaru Oh, Ranmaru.
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: He also pulls this more than once. Specially as Benio's "maid" when she moves into the Iijyuin home.
 * Eye Scream: Shingo Onijima was subjected to this in the past, and as a result he lost his left eye.
 * Fallen Princess:
 * Fat Girl: Tsumeko
 * Geisha: Kichiji.
 * He-Man Woman Hater: Tousei. Uncommonly for the trope, he has a Freudian Excuse:
 * Heroes Love Dogs: The Iijyuin family has two: Tenmaru and Chimaru
 * Hot Chick with a Sword: Benio is a kendo student so she has a trusty kendo stick
 * Hot Scoop:
 * Ill Girl:
 * I Owe You My Life: Shingo, to Shinobu.
 * The Ladette: Benio takes pride on being one.
 * Large Ham: Ranmaru can get pretty dramatic sometimes. Justified Trope: he's a kabuki performer, so he has acting training.
 * Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Benio and Shinobu to a degree. Benio and Ranmaru play it straighter, though.
 * Meet Cute: First Shinobu sees Benio crash her bike and finds it funny, so Benio slaps him. Later, Shinobu finds Benio up a tree, then catches her in a Bridal Carry when she falls off.
 * Missing Mom: Shinobu, Benio and Ranmaru lost their mothers early in life.
 * Names to Know In Anime: Keiko Yokozawa (Benio), Katsuji Mori (Shinobu), Rihoko Yoshida (Tamaki), Kazuko Sugiyama (Ranmaru), Mami Koyama (Larissa), Yoshito Yasuhara (Shingo)
 * Please Dump Me: Attempted by Benio at first. Doesn't work.
 * Plucky Girl: Benio, oh Benio.
 * Raised by Grandparents: Shinobu
 * Red Baron: Shingo "The Black Wolf of the Manchurian Steppe" Onijima
 * Romantic Runner-Up: Larissa and . The   is a specially tragic case.
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: Benio doesn't look halfway bad when in a Western dress.
 * Shoujo
 * Single Woman Seeks Good Man: It's Shinobu's kindness that drives girls like Benio, Tamaki, Larissa and  to him.
 * Spoiled Sweet: Tamaki can be a little child-like sometimes, but she has a heart of gold.
 * Also, there are more cases in the backstory. First, . Later,
 * Teen Genius: Ranmaru is just 13/14 yeas old and he's not just an accomplished kabuki actor, but he trains people in acting
 * Trauma-Induced Amnesia:
 * Tomboy: Benio
 * Tomboyish Ponytail: Benio
 * Tsundere: Benio, too
 * The Uriah Gambit:
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Ranmaru
 * X Marks the Hero: Shingo, The Lancer to Shinobu's Hero.
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: What Benio does NOT want to be, despite having the looks. She doesn't seem to fall on Real Women Don't Wear Dresses, though: she adores the much girlier Tamaki and shows empathy for the also very feminine, to start.
 * Kichiji, being a Geisha, fits in more.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Ranmaru
 * X Marks the Hero: Shingo, The Lancer to Shinobu's Hero.
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: What Benio does NOT want to be, despite having the looks. She doesn't seem to fall on Real Women Don't Wear Dresses, though: she adores the much girlier Tamaki and shows empathy for the also very feminine, to start.
 * Kichiji, being a Geisha, fits in more.