April Showers Bring May Flowers, Vol. 1

ブスに花束を。 [Busu ni Hanataba wo.] #1

by Roku Sakura, Leighann Harvey (translator)

Pessimistic high school student Hana Tabata doesn’t believe her life could ever be like that of a heroine from the shoujo manga she reads—she’s convinced she’s ugly, and she’s always alone. Still, she can’t help but imagine herself as a leading lady when she’s changing out flowers early one morning...until she’s caught in the act by her handsome classmate Yousuke Ueno! Hana can’t wrap her head around his kind words at first, but as they grow closer, she finds her life slowly beginning to change…

Genres: Manga, Romance, Graphic Novels, Young Adult, Slice Of Life, Seinen, Shojo

180 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 4, 2016

Reviews

[Keanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was recommended to me after I said “shoujo manga makes me want to eat drywall, I love it so much.” I had high expectations due to this being the immediate recommendation after my comment, however!!! It was… mid. Just mid. Maybe once there’s more to it, I will like it more, but so far all the characters are very flat :(

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you know the difference between self-deprecating and self-flagellating? This story sure doesn’t and it makes the difference between something that’s okay to spend time with versus kind of unpleasant.

And I get it. I was absolutely like this in middle school and I am well aware it made me kind of a bummer to spend time with. Tabata, our lead, lacks no such hindsight, however, and spends the entire volume being consumed by loathing and anxiety. Doesn’t that sound a treat?

The story’s message about accepting yourself for who you are and being true to yourself is a good one. A great one, even. But if you tied a good message to an arrow and shot it into my sternum I wouldn’t want to read that one either.

It’s too bad because this premise has been done better before and could be done well here. The male lead is just genuinely nice and it’s pretty easy to see why he’s coming to have such a high opinion of Tabata (largely because he doesn’t marinate in her interior voice like the audience).

The class cute girl is also pretty good because she knows she’s good looking and can’t figure out why Tabata is drawing the eye of the guy she wants and she’s quietly making a really good friend by having a bad motive.

I don’t hate it, but I really don’t love it and things don’t begin to change by the end either. This sort of cringe takes effort to pull off and this doesn’t quite get there. I’ll give it a second volume, just because it has some bright spots amidst the gloom.

[Chris Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute! Still waiting for the final few chapters but have reread it twice in the meantime

Best part is that the girl doesn't suddenly evolve into a peerless beauty but rather the guy loves her for who she is and finds her adorable every time 😍

4.5 stars 💕

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. Nothing special. I didn't really care about any of the characters.

[Dora · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's okay, still too early to know for sure if I am going to read the whole series... I have yet to connect with/like any of the characters 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Mystic DreamClouds · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to enjoying this one but it fell kind of flat for me. I think the overly pessimistic Tabata threw me off and the self depreciating humor just drowned me.

Tabata is a character who is normal – she’s not a supermodel, a pro-athlete or a student council president. Nope, just a normal character and I enjoyed how she knew and accepted that about herself. But then her self-depreciation is what irked me because it was sometimes unjustified. It seemed like Tabata kept distancing herself from people unnecessarily, like sure school has untold hierarchies and groups but no one needs to embrace loneliness. I didn’t understand it and her parents were such sweethearts, so it’s not like she was being discouraged or abused by her family. I’m not sure if Tabata just lacks self-esteem or confidence but the manga didn’t portray this well and that felt odd.

Ueno is a kind character and he started talking to Tabata genuinely because of his curiosity. I liked how he doesn’t let even his friends badmouth about how others’ looks. That said, I feel like we don’t know much about his character and it’ll be interesting to see how his feelings change as the story unfolds.

There are quite a bit of supporting characters and it’s quite evident that they will all have pairings. The pairings hinted so far are unusual but not uncommon. I liked how most are just being regular teenagers. They aren’t out to get at each other’s necks or start false rumors, instead they are mainly trying to understand and create opportunities for themselves. I liked how this was captured and executed.

The plot is pretty common – unpopular girl and popular boy. It’s not a unique concept and it isn’t taking a unique approach except for the supporting cast. There isn’t anything that really stands out to me but I did like how unconventional it can be while sticking to cliches. Like Ueno meeting Tabata’s parents in the first volume is unconventional but Ueno’s friend also being there as a potential interest could be considered a bit cliche.

The artwork has a somewhat comedic approach. It exaggerates certain facial expressions or characters when there’s a need to create a comedic moment. There is a clear distinction between characters who are supposedly pretty and popular versus the unpopular and not pretty characters. I wasn’t a fan of this because it’s using stereotypes mainly and well, how a character looks shouldn’t define their personality. That aside, there are many iconographic moments which were fun and expertly used. I also liked how the backgrounds didn’t overwhelm the characters but supported the dialogues.

Overall this was a good read and I’ll be continuing this series. We don’t get many shoujo licenses, and this was the genre that introduced me to manga so I always feel like I should read more to support it. But there’s also a certain fluffy feel I get when reading shoujo; like it’s heartwarming to a certain extent and a series can capture many different emotions. Anyways, I’m also interested to see how Ueno and Tabata’s relationship grows and what waves they experience!

Read more reviews @ Mystic's Review Shelf

[RaspberryRoses]

the female lead just felt a bit over the top in her negativity... not sure i plan to stick with this one

[Meishuu · Rating 5 out of 5]

3.5 stars for a shojo, but 5 stars just because I loathe the overrated “Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku” (The fragant flower blooms with dignity) and its Purity Sue.

Here the main girl doesn’t actually gets a “make over” or changes her “unconventional” appareance. Which is refreshing for these type of stories. An underrated manga and anime for sure.

[DonutKnow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haha everything’s blown so out of proportion- but I’m curious if the popular guy is actually catching some feelings 🤔🤔🥰

[Ray Flores · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me animé a leer este manga porque la prota se ve como una chica muy normal, de hecho, parece un NPC y eso es lo interesante de algunos mangas shoujo: que tomen varios tropos conocidos y les den la vuelta.

Sin embargo, me está costando mucho no rodar los ojos porque la prota tiene complejo de inferioridad a pesar de que no hemos visto real evidencia de que alguien la haya tratado mal o le haya hecho bullying. Aun así, el interés romántico parece haber sido hechizado por esa personalidad tan sope y bueno, supongo que eventualmente veremos más de ellos dos.

Lo que sí que no quisiera que esto fuese un triángulo amoroso o que la típica chica linda fuese en realidad una hipócrita que solo busca el beneficio propio. En fin, creo que fue una introducción regular y espero se ponga mejor en los siguientes volúmenes.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

looked cute and the plus size mc gave me hope but i just don't vibe with the self deprecating "humour"

[Hisgirl85 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Potential to be very good. Cute start

[Charity · Rating 5 out of 5]

A plain awkward girl gets the chance to make friends and fall in love WITH NO MAKEOVER ARC. What a blessing. The characters are adorable, and the main character is appreciated for who she is without having to change her style/personality/looks/lose weight. Such an adorable and heartwarming read.

[Tib · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for MizzManga's 12 First Volumes of Christmas reading challenge. Prompt: Most Anticipated

This was super cute! I'm not sure where this is going to go or what everyone's motives are exactly, but it's fun to see how extremely off Hana's perception of things are because she doesn't value herself at all. I hope she can actually be friends with the people who are being friendly with her!

[Laura A. Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had very high expectations when started this volume because I had heard nothing but glowing things about it, and I was not disappointed!!

Oh my goodness, there was so much I loved about it that I'm not sure I could convey everything because it was wonderful in every way!

I guess a good place TO start is with our heroine Hana who is SOOOOO relatable!! I truly do love it when a story starts with a female lead comparing her life to a shoujo manga because even if in this case Hana felt like she never will have her own shoujo love story, I know that by the end she will. It feels like a sweet foreshadowing that makes the heartache worth it because I was sooooo sad to see how unkind she was to herself! 😭😭😭 Even if no one is openly mean to her, she really doesn't see herself in a positive way at all and it made me sad on her behalf more than once. However, even with that said, I laughed A LOT because of her expressions and how she really is trying to avoid any trouble, only to find herself at the center of it. LOL! I'm very hopeful that she will start to see herself differently because she is a lot of fun, kind, and very caring.

Now I feel bad when I say this about Ueno, but I mean it in the kindest way: He really does have golden retriever energy and I'm LOVING it! LOL! Usually, I hate when people say that about characters, but he is so charismatic, bright, and extremely kind that I couldn't help thinking how he lives up to that kind of saying! Every time he was on page I couldn't help but smile, especially at how kind he is to Hana! I really think he is going to help her see how she is valued and special as an individual because he already did that with a friend of his! Truly, I deeply loved his character!

I won't say much about the other female character on the cover, but TBD of how I feel later on…

Overall, I'm SO excited to read more of this series! This first volume was wonderful and would definitely recommend it to those who are looking for a "chubby" female lead, a male lead who lights up the page, and lots of humor through storytelling and art!

[Anindita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume 1
Chapters 1-6.5

Self-deprecation at its finest.. I can relate to her plight, regardless of how crass Tabatais to herself... I love how adoring her family is though. Both guys are straight-up green flags from their interactions with everyone including FL. They listen and make an effort to include people in conversations and aren't judgmental like the rest of the cast so far. The girl, Uguisudani (Dani for short), is the typical irritant protagonist you'll find in most manga. She is manipulative and knows her pretty privilege exists and uses it to her advantage. Targeting people isn't cute, and Dani has to come to terms quickly that just going after the guy straightforward is more respectable than underhandedly cutting people down to feel and look better about herself...

I don't know.. FL is relatable when it comes to her hobbies and love for flowers and romance novels... but that's about it. I hope she continues to gain some confidence in herself as she continues forward (glad to see her family is supportive and loving above all else).

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shoujo classico che più classico non si può. Tuttavia, finalmente, abbiamo una protagonista che è veramente "non bella". Ho apprezzato molto questa scelta estetica, perché è troppo facile etichettare come brutta una protagonista che poi, in realtà, sulla carta non lo è per davvero, con buona pace di tutte le sue paranoie.
In questo caso, Hana Tabata non è la solita finta ragazza bruttina, lei è sul serio una liceale un po' in carne, con un viso comune, taglio di capelli standard, indossa occhiali anonimi, e non viene considerata dalla classe, ma non per questo bullizzata o trattata male. La sua caratterizzazione estetica rende più verosimile la sua timidezza e inadeguatezza nei confronti dei compagni di classe, come il solare Ueno, il compagno di classe più popolare e gentile che, fatalità, la beccherà in un momento molto particolare...
Ah, siamo solo al primo volume ma lo sappiamo già tutti che finirà col bello della classe, siamo qui per questo dopotutto. Sono curiosa di vedere come li faranno innamorare.
Bonus disegni: il tratto è pulito, semplice ed elegante.

[Calvin Coqui]

The story of a sorta-chubby plain faced high school girl with cripplingly low self esteem meeting and making friends with a cool nice popular guy, and presumably falling in love in later volumes. I found it recommended to fans of Skip and Loafer (for the nerdy girl x popular guy dynamic)

Hana's low self-esteem can sometimes make this very hard to read. She sabotages herself, rejects genuine acts of kindness or overtures of friendship, or misinterprets them as masks for cruel intentions, and generally isolates herself from others when she does not necessarily have to. These low lows of Hana's internal monologue is to contrast with how cute it is to watch Ueno be nice to her against all of her expectation. I hope that if I continue with the series I'll get to see Hana's walls come down a bit, because it can be very very hard to watch her misinterpret normal interactions as secret slights against her.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Romanticizing chores? It's a thing for 2025 so I had to chuckle when Tabata feels like she's not ever going to be the star of anything because she's not really pretty or personable. Except she takes care of the flowers at school and is discovered by the popular (and sweet) boy at school-- that might very well change her feelings.

The goofy situations she gets herself in to are all the more endearing. She's planting flowers and weeding and he comes along. She knows she probably stinks of sweat. She tries to smuggle him a note to tell him not to talk about the "secret" between the two of them, but it's hard when he's popular and there are people always around him.

Simply a delightful manga.

[Chelsea Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 Stars

Hana was too pessimistic, even for a high school girl struggling with image and puberty and all that stuff. How was she able to twist literally everything back to "Oh my god! I'm so ugly, clearly no one in the history of ever will ever think a single nice thing about me!"?

I feel like there were some threads that could have potential, like Uguisudani and her confusion over how Hana is getting Ueno's attention, or even Shinbashi's attempts at being cool (although really, he's kind of close to Hana levels of ridiculous) but Hana needs to get a lot less pessimistic really fast. I'll give at least vol 2 a try and see how things look like they're going, but I'm not sure about this one...

[Munchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's no comedy here and nothing but a negative main character who constantly puts herself down, thinks she's being pitied or hated, and doesn't understand when someone's genuinely being nice. It just never clicks with her. The characters don't really scream likeable and there's no lessons being learned here, therefore the main character never truly grows with each situation. I would like to see this series thrive or at least develop better, so I'm hopeful progress will be made in volume 2. So I'm giving it a second chance. However, I wouldn't recommend book one as a good manga to read. I should want to root for our girl, not feel upset by her.

[Zephorah Dove · Rating 4 out of 5]

This totally gives me Kimi ni Todoke vibes but I enjoyed it! It's such a cliche premise but it gets me every time.

Volume one was a cute set up (I cracked up each time she ran away) and I can't wait to see what happens next. I also love the addition of the school having a beautification group who beautify classrooms. Adorable.

Thanks so much to Edelweiss and the publisher for the DRC!

[Susanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute high school comedy. Tabata is an insecure wall-flower who tries to be as unnoticeable as possible. When the nicest boy in her class, Ueno, suddenly pays attention to her, she doesn’t know how to take it. Little by little she gets drawn to her classmates’ activities, though she keeps missinterpreting their motives and fears they make fun of her behind her back.

This wasn’t a romance—yet, anyway. It’s more about communication and misunderstandings. A formerly unpopular boy tries to make himself popular and keeps reading the people around him as positive to him. Ueno doesn’t have his own chapter, but we get glimpses into how he,too, has trouble interpreting people around him. And lastly, the most popular girl in the class can’t figure out why Ueno would be nice to Tabata and makes her own wrong conclusions.

I like how this wasn’t about a make-over, where the plain girl suddenly emerges as a beauty and becomes popular. The awkward moments with her parents were relatable, both making their own wrong conclusions, and although Tabata’s insecurities and wrong conclusions were a bit over the top, they were really easy to undersstand too. Ueno remained nice throughout. Art was nice, and the start was interesting enough that I might continue.

I received a free copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Kaitlynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was... interesting. Not in a bad way though. I didn't look at the tags before I started this one and thought it was shojo/josei (it's not. it's labelled as seinen). So some of the humor hits a little...different.

I am curious to see how the characters are going to grow, though.

Thank you Yen Press for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Albert Qian · Rating 2 out of 5]

a potentially good plot completely wasted…the insufferable, miserable main character and the imaginary hot and charismatic man who randomly falls in love with her for seemingly no reason at all…there are a few points where it is quite touching and funny but it reeks too much of self insert and underdeveloped characters

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kept going back and forth on whether I liked it or disliked it. The fmc was kind of irritating, but the storyline was set up in such a silly way that I was still able to enjoy this. It progressively got better throughout the volume and that ending spiced things up. Now I want to read the next one.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was cute and kind of cliche but I didn’t mind it. There are some things like the whole “Omg Im so ugly and unpopular I’m so embarrassing” moments that are annoying but overall it was cute for a high school manga. Tabata is cute and very unaware of her surroundings, it’s funny to read as she gets into situations where she’s forced to interact and get out of her shell.

[ivy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an easy read, fun, but there’s not much to it. I hated how Tabata was constantly self-deprecating as a joke, and I don’t like how often the writer would hint (whether subconsciously done or not) that being fat is something to be ashamed of or want to get rid of. But overall, it was just another romance manga.

[Karina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un manga muy tierno. Aunque a mí yo adulta a veces le desespera un poco la forma de actuar de Tábata comprendo que viene desde sus inseguridades que, por su edad, puede verse como algo imposible de superar.

[Priscilla G · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was kind of annoying at times, but it was also kind of sweet. the main character, Hana, is sweet, awkward and shy but overthinks to the extreme, which became kind of annoying. i'm curious enough to continue the series though.