Ammitsu, Volume 1 Cover, Takane no Ran San, Kodansha.
Takane no Ran San – Information
Author of Story: Ammitsu
Chapter Count: 10 volumes, around 40 chapters
Status: Completed!
Content Warnings
These content warnings do not reflect the contents of the review below; only the literary work itself.
- Illness
- Bullying
Spoiler Disclaimer
This recommendation post may contain small plot spoilers for review purposes. Any major spoilers are hidden by default and are able to be revealed via click or tap.
Takane no Ran San – Plot Summary
The Takane no Ran San manga (also known as Ran the Peerless Beauty in English) is 100% shoujo fluff!
If you’re looking for a super sweet romance that’s calm and soft, Takane no Ran San is perfect. This story is all sweetness, with no huge unnecessary misunderstandings, no extreme side characters, or any huge conflicts.
It’s nothing but a super adorable high-school romance with a pretty flower theme! It’s only 40 chapters long and has a very romance-focused plot. A perfect and satisfying short read!
The story is focused around first year student Ran Takamine, a beautiful hard-working girl who is adored by many in her school. She makes high grades and is in the gardening club. She is a “cool beauty” who many think is out of reach.
This cute shoujo focuses on Ran’s experiences as she becomes closer with her classmate Akira Saeki; after discovering that he and his family run a flower shop.
Why I Enjoyed Takane no Ran San
This story is so lovely and the romance feels delicate and appropriate for the younger characters. There are lots of fluffy scenes as our characters progress into their relationship! The story overall is pretty simple and innocent, giving you some warm and fuzzy feelings during the more sweet moments.
The art style for Takane no Ran San is also so beautiful. I absolutely love the volume cover arts! The art throughout the actual series to nice too, featuring a very clean and pretty shoujo style. There is a lot of wholesome sweetness throughout this story, and the art really fits the fluffy vibe well.
Ammitsu, Volume 8 Cover, Ran the Peerless Beauty, Kodansha.
I love the flower theme in this manga. It continues throughout the entire story even until the end. The author includes it in a natural way (especially since our male lead works in a flower shop) and it really helps to support the sweet, fluffy shoujo manga style that we all know and love!
Because of the younger ages of these characters, we get to see all the building blocks of the relationship. From the shyness of liking each other at first, to slowly becoming closer, to achieving really sweet “firsts” as an actual couple.
As these two cute characters grow closer, they have to overcome the barriers of familial approval and setting appropriate boundaries for their relationship. They are the cutest! We also get to see their relationship grow stronger as they finish each year of school, which is very fulfilling, especially towards the end.
Overall, Takane no Ran San is full of extremely sweet shoujo moments. It will warm your heart and definitely make you smile! It is a lighthearted, refreshing, and pure romance between two very lovely, likable characters.
You will easily fall in love with both of their personalities, and enjoy seeing their relationship grow naturally!
There’s also a few challenges they overcome together as a couple; such as the second leads trope that’s common in shoujo mangas for creating tension, but honestly their characters are pretty tame. While they do cause a bit of trouble, it’s nothing super crazy like in other stories.
Takane no Ran San doesn’t really have any super crazy conflicts. Their small interruptions are actually pretty realistic for high-school drama.
Both of these second leads are actually not awful characters (we even get to appreciate their good points), and help the two main characters see new sides of each other’s personality. I actually didn’t hate either of these characters, which is refreshing (although as per usual, second leads can be a little irritating, haha).
Takane no Ran San has lots of fluff, but there are a few other struggles for our characters. These two have to overcome being split in their junior year, as well as overcome Ran’s difficult past.
They take a rather mature approach to overcoming these obstacles! We also get to see them overcome these challenges together, and it’s really nice to see Ran grow as an individual. And of course, she is able to achieve her growth thanks to Akira and her other friends!
Overall the story starts off romantic, progresses very well, and wraps up extremely satisfactory. I especially liked the final chapter, as the story ends really nicely and has a wholesome little surprise. It’s so sweet, so make sure you read it until the end!
Any Cons?
The cons for Takane no Ran San are very minimal!
Personally, I think this story could have used some more development for Akira. This story focuses primarily on Ran, which was enjoyable, but I also really liked Akira and feel like he could have used some more character growth or depth.
He gives off the “perfect ML” vibe, but I would’ve liked to see him overcome his own challenges (there is one in this story, although a bit small). I did love his smiley and sunny personality a lot, though!
Ammitsu, Volume 6 Cover, Ran the Peerless Beauty, Kodansha.
Secondly, both of the second leads feel a bit random. It could be because the story is kept short, but it feels as if they come in, do their thing, and then almost disappear.
Maybe if the story was longer this would have been avoided, but overall with only 40 chapters the story was still very sweet and enjoyable. It allows you to focus more on the progress between the two main characters!
More In-Depth Review (Warning: Spoilers!)
There’s actually not much to go in-depth about here. Takane no Ran San is such a sweet and enjoyable read. I really liked that the flower theme is brought in continuously, especially at the end where it sort of connects our main characters even from the beginning.
Their first outing together was in a beautiful sunflower field, and the fact that the author shows them returning to the field when they’re a bit older and actually in a relationship is so cute and wholesome.
I also appreciate that the author kept the romance pretty tame in this shoujo story between high schoolers. I think that feels pretty relatable, and as an adult enjoying manga it makes the story more comfortable.
I understand that everyone’s life is different and some may have had an earlier start to their romantic relationships, but I think that this allowed the author to uphold the sweet and innocent themes in this story, and that made it easy to enjoy as an adult, too.
Final Thoughts
Takane no Ran San is a such a cute and pure love story. It’s easy to binge in one go and enjoy the fluffy romance plot! If you’re looking to read a quicker story with a calm and and uncomplicated plot, this sweet manga will be a perfect fit.
Readers who enjoyed Kimi Ni Todoke will enjoy this series, too (although this series is much quicker in terms of romance and number of chapters). It’s very sweet and wholesome, so enjoy!
Disclaimer: Any images used for this blog are for illustrative purposes only, are not owned by me, and are under ownership of the artist or publisher.
Images Credit: Ammitsu. Takane No Ran San (Ran the Peerless Beauty), Kodansha USA, 2019.
