Born into a middle class family and considered poor compared to her wealthy classmates, typical teenager Tsukushi Makino deals with life, love, and new classmates after she is accepted into the prestigious Eitoku academy.
Yōko Kamio (神尾葉子) is a popular Japanese manga artist and writer. She is most famous for Boys Over Flowers (花より男子, Hana Yori Dango?), for which she received the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1996. Her work has been translated and distributed in Asia, Europe, and North America.
Yōko Kamio readily admits that she had no intention of becoming a professional manga artist when she was young. Kamio originally went to secretarial school, but her love of drawing soon led her astray. She then eventually entered the professional mangaka field in 1989. In the following years, Kamio published Suki Suki Daisuki, Ano Hi ni Aitai, and Meri-san no Hijitsu in Margaret before she finally created Hana Yori Dango in 1992.
The Hana Yori Dango manga became established relatively quickly in Japan. Many people commended Kamio for her realistic portrayal of high school life and everyday violence through the Hana Yori Dango series. Although Kamio was initially surprised by the confessions of high school violence stated in fan letters, she realized that Tsukushi's fiery character served as a role model for much of Japan's youth and helped others cope with school violence.
Kamio watched as the success of Hana Yori Dango's 1992 début followed through with many more months on the best-sellers list. Voice CDs by SMAP and a live action movie about Hanadan charted the series success in the mid-1990s. By 1995, an animated series for Hana Yori Dango was already in progress and Kamio had also helped pick main leads for the anime show.
Hana Yori Dango ran in the Japanese Margaret magazine as well as the Korean Wink. The series has also been published in Japanese, Chinese, Cantonese, Thai, Korean, French, and English. The anime series has been broadcasted in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Italy, and has also been licensed and released in the United States. Additionally, it was also recreated in a Game Boy Color game (only released in Japan) during the summer of 2001. With its ever-increasing popularity, Hana Yori Dango was then made into a popular live action TV series in Taiwan titled Meteor Garden. The manga series finally ended in Margaret's August 2003 issue, and the 36th tankōbon which included the Akira special "Night of the Crescent Moon" was released in January 2004 as the manga's final volume.
While Yoko Kamio initially wanted Hanazawa Rui to be the main hero of Hana Yori Dango, due to the outstanding personality of Domyoji Tsukasa (and Domyoji also becoming more popular than Rui) she changed the hero role to Domyoji.
Despite Hana Yori Dango's success, Kamio had originally planned to end the series by Spring 2000. However, in February 2000, at a mangaka conference in Taipei, Taiwan Kamio announced that she would continue writing Hana Yori Dango. At one point, she got so wrapped up in the Hana Yori Dango storyline, that she confessed to having dreams about Doumyouji. Of course, she said that "Falling in love with a character that I created is just disgusting..."
I feel that this series is increasingly like watching a train wreck. It's icky, somewhat painful, and quite gory, yet you can't tear yourself away from it. The series is ridiculous, but not in a silly way - more in a vaguely disturbing way.
For example, I feel like we're supposed to start shipping Domyoji and Tsukushi to be together. Domyoji is the bullying leader of the F4 who in the last volume physically attacked Tsukushi. Now he basically orders her to go on a date with him in his backward attempt to be charming. And despite the basic revulsion I feel towards him, I am somewhat drawn to him.
Then there's Rui, who on the surface is a sweet, gentle boy. He's the one Tsukushi has a crush on. But alas, he's in love with the unattainable Shizuka. However, even he has a dark side. When Tsukushi tries to convince Shizuka to stay in Japan rather than move to Paris for the sake of Rui, is he grateful? No, he lashes out at Tsukushi.
I'm looking at each volume with more scorn, but still plan to pick up the next one. Does it get better.?
Time for another comparison to the drama version I watched. Rui's character I'm just not a shipper of in the books so far. Like, in Meteor Garden I thought the character was SO CUTE AND CUDDLY like a teddy bear. This one is just.... lazy and entitled. I don't know how, because they have a lot of the same lines but it's different. Shiriza and the main girl's relationship is also a lot more fleshed out in Meteor Garden....but I find this acceptable.
We’re all reading this ironically right? Like, someone please explain to me why this has such a high rating, I’m scared. It’s so cheesy and over the top, but it’s the casual portrayals of straight up abuse and sexual assault for me. Obviously I’ll be continuing it; I’m in too deep. But please, spare yourselves.
Un poco decepcionada por la escena del ascensor. ¿Qué les digo? Amé esa escena en Hana Yori Dango y Boys Over Flowers, pero aquí la sentí bastante meh.
C'est vraiment un manga en dents de scie… même si je suis contente que ce tome soit bien meilleur que le précédent (ce qui n'était pas trop difficile en même temps), mais j'espère qu'à un moment donné le niveau va se stabiliser, et pitié plus rien comme le tome trois…
Avec le recul, je me demande même ce que Yoko Kamio avait en tête. Parce que par exemple, Shizuka, qui se donnait des grands airs est maintenant un personnage plus humble voire même un exemple à suivre. Elle se montre douce et gentille, sans condescendance. La première partie du tome est même assez profond vis-à-vis des sujets abordés, et on y trouve plus de maturité.
Et on en vient à la demande de Domyoji de sortie avec Tsukushi… Bon la demande tombe comme un cheveu sur la soupe, vu que le garçon ne comprend vraiment rien aux relations humaines, mais j'y vois une avancée vers une nouvelle ère, et ça, c'est plutôt encourageant. Tsukushi bien évidemment a un peu de mal, ce que l'on peut aisément comprendre vu ce qu'il lui a fait vivre… mais c'est aussi le prétexte pour apprendre à mieux connaître son bourreau. de là à ce que des sentiments naissent, nous sommes encore loin, mais si déjà, l'un comme l'autre peuvent s'influencer mutuellement, ça serait génial.
De là découle un changement radical pour notre héroïne qui devient soudainement populaire au lycée. Je ne suis pas fan car c'est d'une hypocrisie sans nom, mais je comprends aussi le fait que Tsukushi ait envie d'un peu de paix et de ne pas constamment devoir se battre. Sur le long terme j'espère qu'elle trouvera tout de même un cercle d'amis proches qui l'aimeront vraiment et pas que des garçons, s'il vous plait !
Il y a donc du mieux et c'est plutôt chouette. Mais j'avoue que je reste sur mes gardes car j'ai vraiment été refroidie par le tome trois… Je croise les doigts.
Volume 4 continues the fiery back-and-forth between Tsukushi Makino and Tsukasa Domyoji, with their relationship swinging wildly between hostility and attraction. A few moments offer genuine emotional weight, showing that beneath Tsukasa’s arrogance lies a boy struggling with vulnerability. Tsukushi remains strong-willed and relatable, though her tendency to leap into misunderstandings keeps the drama high. While the pacing can feel uneven, the expressive art and sharp comedic timing carry the volume. A solid, if slightly repetitive, entry.
3 stars. I’m still really rocky with this series and the way it deals with the subject matter but this one was a bit better than the last two. That’s not saying much to be honest, but it’s a start. I still think this series has a ton of issues, but I’m gonna see just how long I can stick with it. I'm sure I'll throw in the towel before I reach the end, but we'll see.
I dont have much to say about this volume. It was average. I don't dislike the artwork and the story in this one was pretty good. I think part of the problem is taking such long breaks between volumes due to limited access to the various volumes. I'm also trying to compare to the kdrama version and forgetting how the sequence of events ran in the kdrama to compare it. It's not bad, and due to the kdrama I will continue, we'll see how it goes.
lu en japonais Très sympa, Sakurako est hyper suspecte... et comment ça le mec Allemand lui propose un verre et "bizarrement" elle se réveille chez lui, en sous vêtement et sans souvenirs ??? non je pense que les deux la l'ont droguée tout simplement. Dommage, je m'y attendais, genre dans cette série, ya vraiment que des coups de putes entre les persos, mais des fois on a envie de croire aux bons côtés des gens.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
There you go Doumyoji! And here is where the romance started. A guy patiently waiting for his date because he is worried she met an accident. How sweet and kinda dumb - 4 hours waiting is too much and in the snow! But anyway, it was in this volume that Makino blushed because of Doumyuji so yey! She even thought he was cute.
I really don’t get Makino at all. Are we meant to take her inability to let Domyoji suffer alone means she’s a saint? Instead of seeing her compassionate, it makes her look stupid or having succumbed to the abuse she suffered.
Makes me question if her parents raised her to have so little respect for herself because no one should take care of people that abuse them.
I swear Tsukushi has such a lovable character. And I loved how the author didn't go with the cliché of making Shizuki a bad, typical, rich wannabe model that has Ruis heart in her claws. I really liked Shizuki. Looking forward to see her in the future 😭😭😭
Amo su inocencia... realmente amo al personaje de Domyoji es muy lindo cuando se lo propone y amo su reacción cuando los demás F4 lo confrontaron, esta llegada de Thomas no me agrada al igual que la niñita eta de primero.