This brilliant work by Ame Arare  is an awesome collection of four stories related to “Geishas” (courtesans).

Hira hira itself depicts the waving sound of handkerchiefs, flags, paper etc. in Japanese. It is also associated with frilly and lacy things related to girls.

All the stories are basically historical tragedies, set in Edo period. The first story called “Strings of previous existence” tells the story of  a girl Akane who falls in love with Tadaaki, servant of a feudal lord who is frequent guest of her. What does she do to charm him when he doesn’t show any emotion towards her?

Second story, “Dream mirror”, deals with a girl Miyuki, who leaves her house for her sick younger sister Yukie. Her family is not well enough to continue Yukie’s medical treatment. So she becomes a courtesan to earn easy money. But what happens when she receives a letter saying Yukie is getting married when she doesn’t find herself in a condition to show herself to everyone?

Third story, “Jade’s bird” is about Hisui, a girl who has been raised by Shinza Emon, a person of great authority and post. Hisui grows up to become a courtesan under his supervision and falls in love with him. But Shinza gets engaged to daughter of some feudal lord. Does he realize his feelings towards Hisui?

In the fourth and the last story, “Flower Lantern”, Hotaru is someone who doesn’t get many customers. One of her frequent customers is Shigezou, a flower seller. Hotaru snaps after an ex-customer of her, insults her in  front of younger ones. How does Shigezou help her? Is he really coming for her or is there some other reason?

Find out here: http://www.mangahere.com/manga/hira_hira/

In terms of art i’ll give this manga 4.5/5, stories 4/5 and emotions 5/5. This manga shows you that these girls are not just selling their body for fun. They may have circumstances which compel them to do such work just like present world. People have to do something to fill their stomachs, sometimes unbelievable. You and me are in far better off place than many others. And it teaches that they have emotions too. They are human beings after all (I’m writing this particular sentence, a lot lately….. Obviously, some people are being treated like animals, some worse than that and some, who don’t even deserve it, are being treated as Gods. No one is being seen as human being…..that brings me to the question…. what is a human being…….. but this is becoming too philosophical……… no offense to anyone!)

Oh well, this was my first manga review and I chose tragedy for that, I don’t know why. But oh well!