Aoharu × Machinegun (Japanese: 青春×機関銃, Hepburn: Aoharu × Kikanjū) is a Japanese manga series by Naoe, serialized in Gangan Comics' shōnen manga magazine Monthly GFantasy from January 2013 to August 2019 and collected in eighteen tankōbon volumes.
[1] Hotaru is the Student Council President of her high school and is known for her brute strength, good reflexes, and a strong sense of justice.
Due to his past, when he was betrayed by friends he trusted, he has low self-confidence and often worries that Masamune might abandon him.
In truth, Haruki was overwhelmed by his younger twin brother Haruka during TGC and left the team because he felt that he wasn't strong enough.
Nagamasa is the leader of the survival game team Hoshishiro, which is the name of the hospital he works as a doctor at along with his teammates Fujimon and Ichi.
He initially appears to be a very kind man, but he is the object of Tooru and Masamune's resentment due to what took place in the past.
He eventually returns to Hoshishiro, but unlike the other members of the team he expresses distrust for Nagamasa, finding it difficult to tell what he's planning.
It started serialization in Square Enix's shōnen manga magazine Monthly GFantasy as a one-shot, on June 18, 2012,[3] and later as a full-fledged series, on January 18, 2013.
An anime television series adaptation produced by Brain's Base and directed by Hideaki Nakano premiered on July 2, 2015,[a] at TBS.
[44] Anime News Network (ANN) had three editors review the first episode of the anime:[47] Theron Martin found interest in the relationship dynamic between Hotaru and Masamune, a potential exploration of gender identity, and gave credit to the show's technical aesthetics despite lacking in palpable comedic moments; Nick Creamer was drawn in by the characterization of Hotaru but found criticism in the direction of both the plot and animation as feeling mediocre and typical of its given genre.
The third reviewer, Rebecca Silverman, found the episode to be one of weakest debuts of its given season, criticizing the character of Hotaru and the storytelling she's placed in, and the middling production that's accessory to the delivery.
[48] She commended the "fairly realistic depiction" of airsoft towards a female demographic and the initial character setup of Hotaru and Midori, but found the series overall unspectacular with its half-hearted delivery of both shōnen-ai and shōjo elements simultaneously, unfinished plot and an "irritating and hyperactive" English dub with only Greg Ayres' portrayal of Midori as the highlight, concluding that: "Although it contains some sparks of promise with a few characters who aren't entirely stereotypes, Aoharu x Machinegun is ultimately my least favorite type of show – boring, incomplete, and made for practically nobody.