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Flower of Life #3
Flower of Life, Volume 3
It is Christmas and Harutarou and his classmates have big plans for the holiday. But when the cake, the tree and the music turn up missing, all that is left for them to do is commiserate under the Christmas Eve sky.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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About the author
Fumi Yoshinaga
156 books248 followersJapanese: よしなが ふみ
Fumi Yoshinaga (よしなが ふみ Yoshinaga Fumi, born 1971) is a Japanese manga artist known for her shōjo and shōnen-ai works.
Fumi Yoshinaga was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1971. She attended the prestigious Keio University in Tokyo.
In an interview, she said that "I want to show the people who didn't win, whose dreams didn't come true. It is not possible for everybody to get first prize. I want my readers to understand the happiness that people can get from trying hard, going through the process, and getting frustrated."
Little is known about her personal life. She mentions that her favourite operas are those by Mozart in the author's note of Solfege.
She debuted in 1994 with The Moon and the Sandals, serialized in Hanaoto magazine, but was previously a participant in comic markets.
Of Yoshinaga's many works, several have been licensed internationally. She was also selected and exhibited as one of the "Twenty Major Manga artist Who Contributed to the World of Shōjo Manga (World War II to Present)" for Professor Masami Toku's exhibition, "Shōjo Manga: Girl Power!" at CSU-Chico.
Outside of her work with Japanese publishers, she also self-publishes original doujinshi on a regular basis, most notably for Antique Bakery. Yoshinaga has also drawn fan parodies of Slam Dunk, Rose of Versailles, and Legend of Galactic Heroes.
Fumi Yoshinaga (よしなが ふみ Yoshinaga Fumi, born 1971) is a Japanese manga artist known for her shōjo and shōnen-ai works.
Fumi Yoshinaga was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1971. She attended the prestigious Keio University in Tokyo.
In an interview, she said that "I want to show the people who didn't win, whose dreams didn't come true. It is not possible for everybody to get first prize. I want my readers to understand the happiness that people can get from trying hard, going through the process, and getting frustrated."
Little is known about her personal life. She mentions that her favourite operas are those by Mozart in the author's note of Solfege.
She debuted in 1994 with The Moon and the Sandals, serialized in Hanaoto magazine, but was previously a participant in comic markets.
Of Yoshinaga's many works, several have been licensed internationally. She was also selected and exhibited as one of the "Twenty Major Manga artist Who Contributed to the World of Shōjo Manga (World War II to Present)" for Professor Masami Toku's exhibition, "Shōjo Manga: Girl Power!" at CSU-Chico.
Outside of her work with Japanese publishers, she also self-publishes original doujinshi on a regular basis, most notably for Antique Bakery. Yoshinaga has also drawn fan parodies of Slam Dunk, Rose of Versailles, and Legend of Galactic Heroes.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 12, 2007
Flower of Life is a difficult one -- I love the bits about Hanazono's school life, his friendship with Mikuni and his classmates. The story about Takeda going shopping with Hanazono's classmates made me clutch at my chest and go AWWW. They pick out nice clothes for her! They have tea and gossip! But the fact that they go shopping and do girly things together doesn't change Takeda; she doesn't have any interest in clothes at all after that. I love that. I mean, it sounds obvious that one shopping trip shouldn't change a person, but so many stories have "geek girl lets down hair and becomes interested in things feminine, as is only natural" scenes that it's refreshing to have one story that goes "geek girl allows herself to be all prettied up, but then reverts right back to form".
Also I love that the girls then tactfully choose to split up next time so that everyone can have fun shopping, instead of Takeda and the girls boring each other. EEE. They're so sweet!
And I loved the Christmas party story and I loved the one where Hanazono fights with Mikuni over Artistic Differences, but then they make up, and Hanazono's view of the fight is drawn in old-school shounen manga style. So so cute!
But. But. The subplot with the teacher and the otaku makes me uncomfortable. I don't really know what to think of it. I think the fact that it's mostly being played for laughs, while at the same time we're getting a look into how the teacher feels and she's taking it completely seriously ... man, I don't know. I wouldn't say the subplot's totally spoiling my fun, but if not for that I'd be able to give it 4 stars. As it is, I think I'll be squinting my way through the bits about the teacher and her affair with the otaku all through the series.
Also I love that the girls then tactfully choose to split up next time so that everyone can have fun shopping, instead of Takeda and the girls boring each other. EEE. They're so sweet!
And I loved the Christmas party story and I loved the one where Hanazono fights with Mikuni over Artistic Differences, but then they make up, and Hanazono's view of the fight is drawn in old-school shounen manga style. So so cute!
But. But. The subplot with the teacher and the otaku makes me uncomfortable. I don't really know what to think of it. I think the fact that it's mostly being played for laughs, while at the same time we're getting a look into how the teacher feels and she's taking it completely seriously ... man, I don't know. I wouldn't say the subplot's totally spoiling my fun, but if not for that I'd be able to give it 4 stars. As it is, I think I'll be squinting my way through the bits about the teacher and her affair with the otaku all through the series.
May 25, 2024
A Christmas party with the class was a nice way to send off this series. There's one more volume of this, but it's doubtful I'll be able to get a copy. Over the years, many manga series I was following went on hiatus, or the volumes I was missing were prohibitively expensive. In cases like this, I've been perfectly content to enjoy what I've got and not worry about the rest, regardless of the genre or what the situation was when things got cut off.
I'm curious about how the event goes for Harutaro and Shota, and that's about all I feel is "missing." I certainly am not invested in which relationship Shige ends up sticking with. They're both terrible. One of them is even a crime, in my country...
I'm curious about how the event goes for Harutaro and Shota, and that's about all I feel is "missing." I certainly am not invested in which relationship Shige ends up sticking with. They're both terrible. One of them is even a crime, in my country...
November 2, 2024
I feel like not that much happened in this volume, but I still liked it!
Also Majima may be a dick but I don't think he deserves to be preyed upon by his teacher. It's really a bummer that such a plotline is unnaturally injected into this slice-of-life when we could be seeing Majima grow more alongside his peers.
Also Majima may be a dick but I don't think he deserves to be preyed upon by his teacher. It's really a bummer that such a plotline is unnaturally injected into this slice-of-life when we could be seeing Majima grow more alongside his peers.
August 29, 2019
Fumi Yoshinaga does write the most interesting slice-of-life stories...
May 11, 2022
Every adult in this manga is completely insane. Absolutely no sense of any kind of logic.
April 5, 2013
Hazy character motives and aimless storytelling continue to plague the "Flower of Life" series, but in this penultimate volume Yoshinaga finds some of the narrative strength that has made many of her creations such successes. Her strength is in writing character, and in this story of Christmas she composes some of the most erratic elements of this series and lets her dramatis personae take a breath.
This isn't great stuff yet, but much more tolerable than the second volume, which failed pretty much on all fronts.
This isn't great stuff yet, but much more tolerable than the second volume, which failed pretty much on all fronts.
November 1, 2014
like 90% of this volume was great
i love hanazono and mikuni's friendship, i love how hanazono envisioned their fight as an old school shonen battle, i super adored everything that happened with sumiko this volume (nerdy girl goes shopping, acquired friends, still doesn't really like shopping! sumiko gets me). and yamane-san is super cool, i totally understand aya's friend crush
sadly however shigeru/mikuni. i do not and probably will never understand the appeal of teacher/student stories. still, it was a p short part of a otherwise excellent volume. 4 stars
i love hanazono and mikuni's friendship, i love how hanazono envisioned their fight as an old school shonen battle, i super adored everything that happened with sumiko this volume (nerdy girl goes shopping, acquired friends, still doesn't really like shopping! sumiko gets me). and yamane-san is super cool, i totally understand aya's friend crush
sadly however shigeru/mikuni. i do not and probably will never understand the appeal of teacher/student stories. still, it was a p short part of a otherwise excellent volume. 4 stars
May 9, 2010
More episodic stuff happens in this volume. Some girls go shopping. Everyone plans a Christmas party and stresses out when things don't go as planned. But then it all works out in the end. Or is that a spoiler?
Meanwhile, the teacher is up to no good!
The manga continues to be interesting, but now I do wonder if it's going anywhere in particular.
And it looks like volume 4 (the final volume?) is going to be hard to track down for some reason.
Meanwhile, the teacher is up to no good!
The manga continues to be interesting, but now I do wonder if it's going anywhere in particular.
And it looks like volume 4 (the final volume?) is going to be hard to track down for some reason.
November 17, 2013
better than America's funniest.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews