Flower of Eden

It starts off really well but it's really no different from watching a Kdrama, especially near the end. It's rare for a shoujo manga to explore PTSD and what it means to be a victim of sexual abuse. I can see its place in the shoujo timeline. But it gets ridiculous when the protagonist has to rely on her two love interests to save her every single time. It's highly overdramatic. For younger audiences, I think this would be an important read. It's a rare older shoujo that borrows a lot of tropes from Hana Yori Dango, which was in the rage at the time, suchas: rich in-laws threatening to pay off the protagonist if she stays away from their son, classmates as bullies, and rather helpless girls that solely rely on their love interests to do everything for them. I guess that was in the rage back in the day, but comes off as just dated and old fashioned.

NOTE: I do not care if the author plagiarized someone's work. Im here to review this manga on the basis of the manga itself. If plagiarism bothers you read someone else's review (seriously) Eden no hana is a very addicting series. This manga is about a character who got adopted by a household who doesn't love her. And her estranged brother comes back to rescue here. Originally i thought it would some slight drama sibling love story. But dear god this manga is just on full blast the entire way through. There is literally 0 stops in this manga. Every chapter is just more insanethan the next. Like you'd think 'oh finally its ok now'. NOPE. This manga just doesn't stop and partly because of that i just couldn't stop reading. Now i don't think there were too many badly written characters in this series and those that were were minor despite being a major part of a characters life. Whoever with the exception of like 4 characters everyone is like out for blood. Trying to make sure something goes wrong. Its hell. I liked the FMC and MMC and liked how the author made there relationship both romantic and platonic (at least at first) but the consistent tension was also gut wrenching. Now the FMC suffers from PTSD due to sexual abuse from her previous household. The story really isn't about brother was household. but more of her regaining her life again. And i enjoyed these parts i like how the author potrayed but at the same time from other series i feel like it was also kind of glossed over. She is saved basically by 2 different men both just trying to save her The crying scene are also just spectacular. The buildup to it. the emotional depth when it happens. Its just tears you apart. There is levity in this series. But it would've worked if there was more that way when everything does fall to shit it would have more impact. I think the ending was pretty good too though i would've liked a bit more of the relationship in question. Overall i think this was a very addicting series. The author paced herself barely but everything was out for blood. The main characters were likeable. and the series was fun but im never reading this series again. 7/10