General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Takane and Hana (高嶺と花)

Takane and Hana (高嶺と花) is a 2019 Japanese live-action television drama adapted from the romance comedy manga of the same name by Yuki Shiwasu (師走ゆき), serialized in the shōjo manga magazine Hana to Yume (Hakusensha) since December 2014¹. The drama was produced as an original series for Fuji TV's streaming service FOD and later broadcast on Fuji TV's terrestrial channel¹. It stars Mahiro Takasugi as Takane Saibara, a 26-year-old heir to a business fortune, and Aisa Takeuchi as Hana Nonomura, a 16-year-old high school student, in a story the production describes as a ten-year age-gap, class-difference "tsundere" (character type: initially hostile, gradually warm and loving) love comedy¹.

Key fact	Detail
Original work	Manga by Yuki Shiwasu, serialized in Hana to Yume (Hakusensha) from December 2014; 18 collected volumes, the last marked as the finale¹^•²
Format	FOD original streaming drama, 30 minutes × 8 episodes, streaming from March 18, 2019³
Terrestrial broadcast	Fuji TV, from April 22, 2019, Mondays at 24:55¹
Lead cast	Mahiro Takasugi as Takane Saibara (26); Aisa Takeuchi as Hana Nonomura (16), her first heroine role¹
Staff	Scripts by Juri Takeda, Iyo Nishikori, and Nana Yamamoto; direction by Yusuke Ishii and Hiroyuki Nakada³
Theme song	"LOVE & HOPE" by RUANN (TOY'S FACTORY)³
Genre	Romantic comedy, drama⁴

Spoilers

Premise

The story begins with an arranged marriage meeting (omiai). Hana Nonomura appears in disguise as a stand-in for her older sister Midori, who was the one scheduled to meet Takane Saibara, the heir of the Takaba group¹. Hana assumes the rich heir must be unattractive, but the man who appears is unexpectedly handsome. Her initial excitement gives way to anger at Takane's arrogant manner and verbal abuse, and she throws her disguise wig at him and storms out¹.

The meeting appears to be off, but Takane becomes interested in Hana precisely because her words and attitude are unaffected by his looks and status as a corporate heir. Hana, for her part, resolves to make the arrogant Takane submit, and the omiai continues¹. Fuji TV's episode guide gives the leads' ages as Takane, 26, and Hana, 16, in the first episode⁵.

Episodes and cast

The drama consists of eight episodes³. Early episodes establish the pair's combative dynamic: in episode 2, Takane, having had his lips stolen by a mere high school girl, takes to his bed for two days, then orders Hana to attend a Takaba group gathering disguised as her sister Midori without being detected⁵. Episode 3 introduces Nicola Luciano, a rival heir of an apparel brand and Takane's university friend, who arrives from Italy⁵. Later episodes follow the couple through a hot-spring trip, interference from Takane's aide Eiji Kirigasaki, and a stretch in which the group's chairman freezes Takane's bank accounts and he must live on 10,000 yen a month in a run-down apartment⁵.

The supporting cast includes Junki Tozuka as Eiji Kirigasaki, Asahi Ito as Nicola Luciano, Kenshin Endo as Hana's childhood friend Souma Okamoto, Rei Nagami as Hana's classmate Mitsuko Fujiwara, and Yū Miyazaki as her friend Mizuki Ogawa³^•⁶. Tōru Shinagawa plays Takaba Sōten, the chairman⁶.

Manga and drama differences

A guide for readers picking up the manga after the drama lists the main differences between the two versions. In the manga, Takane's arrogance and his flustered moments are emphasized, and his exchanges with Hana are comical and fast-paced, while the drama softens Takane's character somewhat and adds more serious scenes. The manga's storytelling leans on quick gags and a sweet romantic-comedy feel, whereas the drama favors more realistic staging⁷.

Reception and availability

On the Japanese review site Filmarks, the drama holds a user rating of 3.2 out of 5 from 378 reviews, with 51 percent of ratings in the 3.1 to 4.0 band⁸. On Plex it carries an audience rating of 6.4 out of 10⁴, and on the international streaming service Rakuten Viki, which offers it with English subtitles, it holds a rating of 8.6⁹. Availability is region-dependent: as of one 2025 listing, the series streams in Japan and Croatia on Rakuten Viki and FOD but is not available in the United Kingdom¹⁰.

A note on the title

The title 高嶺と花 is easily confused with the 2018 Nippon TV drama Takane no Hana (高嶺の花), a different work. That series has no manga source; it is an original script by Shinji Nojima starring Satomi Ishihara as a flower-arrangement heiress, and some readers mistake a same-titled romance manga by Shuichi Shigeno, the author of Initial D, for its source¹¹. The 2019 FOD series discussed here is the adaptation of Yuki Shiwasu's manga¹.

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026