Boys Over Flowers

To be honest, I was really expecting more out of this manga. I had heard so much ranting and raving from the readers, but the art was very disturbing (epecially domouji's hairy) and the story was shallow. It's hard to explain, but i felt as if the characters were being developed too quickly, and there were too many problems all piled up at once. The japanese show turned me on more than this manga did

Hana Yori Dango is the first shoujo manga I read, therefore it always hold a special place for me. If you have seen the anime or any of its drama adaptations, you should definitely check out this manga as well. In the times when feminism is yet to conquer Japan, Makino Tsukushi (the heroine) retaliates against the F4's bullying. Yes, I'm aware that she doesn't have the fighting skills of Wonder Woman but what makes her strong is the strength of her spirit. She's spunky, independent, hard-working, refuses to be a subject of social humiliation and stands up for what she believes is right - traitsthat, I believe, perfectly define her as a "weed." And yet, despite all this, Makino has a warm and forgiving heart and sees people the way they are. It's true that she had her own moments of weakness but that just makes her more human and realistic in my opinion. However, the bullying part only covered like 20% of the manga - and the rest is your typical shoujo/romance plot between a rich troubled guy and a poor plucky girl. And because of this, I'm not surprised at the number of readers who complain about how cliche it was. This manga is supposed to be a CLASSIC and since it was the best-selling shoujo manga of all time, it's no wonder that it's one of biggest inspirations from all the cliches you've been reading in the mainstream shoujo titles now. But what makes this manga stand out for me are the CHARACTERS. Each of them are multi-faceted and well-rounded and for that, I was too emotionally invested with them more than the plot. They have their good and bad traits that you can actually love or hate them as the story progresses on. Perhaps there are even a few people aware of the fact that Hanadan was Yoko Kamio's "experimental" work. Back then, she planned to make Makino end up with Rui - which explains why the Domyouji/Makino ship doesn't seem like a "match made in heaven" in the earlier volumes and "doesn't seem right" for super feminists. But since the mangaka changed ships, transforming Domyouji from a mess to a human being (so Makino will change her opinion about him) became the basic premise of Hanadan - and I believe that it's one of the biggest strengths of this manga. Both the character growth (especially that of Domyouji) and how the pairing development was handled is quite impressive. Every mistake and transgression he caused her, he pays for it a thousandfold. How he does it? Words of apology are the hardest things to come out especially from a character who has the biggest pride in this manga - but he did show it by RISKING HIS LIFE for her a lot of times. Not to mention that he has to undergo one hell of an emotional rollercoaster just to win her over. He suffered as much or even more than she does. I wouldn't date a guy like Domyouji in real life but since Makino is a character neither me or you can insert yourself into, I believe he and Makino suit each other well. The change wasn't one-sided since you get to see that happen in Makino as well. Throughout the course of their relationship, they both became mature and better people. If you compare Domyouji in the beginning and in the end, you get yourself two different people. And not just Domyouji, you can also see how much influence Makino brought to the rest of the F4 as well. As for the art, I'm probably part of the minority who wasn't bothered by the earlier style since I began reading this during the 90's. Trust me though - the more you read, the more you see how much both her art + story-telling improved.

I hate this manga. I hate it so much. I read the first half of it Christmas 2020 and had to take a 6-month break from it to free myself from the endless suffering it caused me. But just like Tsukushi, I love toxic boys so I had to finish it. I love them. All of them. ur all terrible people. objectively bad. "oh they're teenagers tho" yeah ok but when I was in high school I wasn't plotting a fake rape prank on a girl who slightly scorned me. I don't even know if I am remembering that part right. all I remember isit being wack. also. I get it. drama. tension. blah. they should have fucked tho. tbh it would have done more for me than it would have for them. I needed that closure. but no she has a "cold" and "I'm suddenly a gentleman" fuck outta here. I could go one for hours. days. years. I hate it so much. its everything wrong with shoujo. but I mean. i would read it again. its like love island. trash yes. but I mean, its my trash. i love her, I hate her. do I like Tsukasa or do I wanna beat the shit out of him? to be decided. ALSO, THE WAY TSUKAKA GETS ALL MATURE AT THE END UH NO NOT THIS KID HEs not like that anyways 10/10 great hate read but also would be a lie to say that I didn't enjoy it and hold all the characters close to my heart

What can I say? I absolutely adore this manga. I love it so much that I decided to write my first review for it. I should start by saying that in order to read Hana Yori Dango, I feel like I had to overcome a few crucial things. First: the art: I'm a stickler for pretty drawn manga (I'm shallow, hah), so when I first saw HYD, i was skeptical. It was a bit dated, with the characters all looking kind of...heavy? But the story was so funny and so engaging, that I kept going. Second: the shoujo "cliches". Yeah, they are to be expected ofthis genre, but when I encountered the first one in HYD, I wondered how it would be handled. Yokio Kamio knows how to write in cliches with panache and A LOT of humor, trust me. And her characters make what would be boring situations into something funny, heartfelt, and marvelous . And so I kept reading... Third, and final: translation gaps. This wasn't a problem with the manga itself, but with my own resources. I'm not a native Japanese speaker, so I had to rely on the English Scanlations I found online. At a certain volume, I think in the late teens, there would be a lot of empty speaking bubbles. This is understandable, since this manga is long, and it has to be difficult to translate the entire thing. At first it frustrated me, especially since I was so hooked into the manga, but I went on, drawing my own conclusions from the pictures alone. Thankfully, these weren't very crucial scenes. I kept reading. And was it was all worth it. The art grew significantly better, the plot just kept getting more exciting, and the translated speaking bubbles came back again (side note: the missing bubble encouraged me to buy the manga all the more!) Before I knew it, 3 days passed had by, and I had read all 200 + chapters and extra side stories. Since that time, I have reread some of the chapters too. Overall: I love this manga. It is one of my favorites. I love the characters, the story, the art. It is a masterpiece. It is no wonder that it is Japan's bestselling shoujo manga of all time. Braw Yokio Kamio, bravoo!