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花より男子 [Hana Yori Dango] #4

Boys Over Flowers: Hana Yori Dango, Vol. 4

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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.

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 25, 1993

22 people are currently reading
418 people want to read

About the author

Yōko Kamio

295 books325 followers
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..."

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5 stars
861 (44%)
4 stars
610 (31%)
3 stars
370 (18%)
2 stars
92 (4%)
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19 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
Profile Image for Alison (AlisonCanRead).
513 reviews2 followers
August 10, 2016
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.?
Profile Image for Michelle Buvoir d'Encre.
96 reviews2 followers
August 28, 2020
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.
Profile Image for R ♥.
197 reviews45 followers
April 18, 2021
I forget what happened in this one but I think I enjoyed it. All the males in this series bother me so much so hopefully it will get better

instagram | goodreads
Profile Image for h.
511 reviews2 followers
March 24, 2021
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.
Profile Image for Heidi Burkhart.
2,781 reviews61 followers
September 9, 2023
Heavier issues in this series. Apparently this issues aren’t just imagined - but actually issues in many schools.
Profile Image for Mafer.
211 reviews
March 19, 2021
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.
Profile Image for Florence Mullot.
Author 1 book13 followers
September 8, 2024
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.
Profile Image for daph pink ♡ .
1,301 reviews3,285 followers
August 11, 2025
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.
Profile Image for Jamie (TheRebelliousReader).
6,914 reviews30 followers
March 13, 2016
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.
Profile Image for Alicia.
408 reviews9 followers
March 31, 2021
Finally some nice scenes between our two leads. And my gut tells me Sakurako is not a nice person at all.....
Profile Image for Nadina.
3,194 reviews5 followers
April 7, 2019
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.
Profile Image for Rachel B.
196 reviews4 followers
July 26, 2025
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.
Profile Image for V.
73 reviews
July 29, 2018
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.
Profile Image for Chelsea &#x1f3f3;️‍&#x1f308;.
2,038 reviews6 followers
December 12, 2022
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.
Profile Image for Project August.
224 reviews
March 29, 2018
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 😭😭😭
Profile Image for Brenda Jaeger.
352 reviews
November 10, 2021
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.
Profile Image for Yawenda.
78 reviews
May 3, 2020
i can smell the betrayal about to hit her...
Profile Image for Esther Carretero.
Author 8 books48 followers
May 12, 2020
Han pasado muchas cosas en pocas páginas. Sin duda se pone interesante.
Profile Image for Yasmin.
104 reviews
June 5, 2021
Damnnn lol c’est quoi cette fin 😭😭😭 yooooo je sais même plus Tsukushi va finir avec qui lol 😂
Profile Image for Taya.
432 reviews14 followers
December 9, 2022
This vol was slightly better and with least amount of train wreck ness
Profile Image for Sylwia.
1,321 reviews26 followers
Read
September 6, 2023
My thoughts on this volume and the rest of the series are in my review for volume 1.
Profile Image for RyNa.
186 reviews
May 16, 2024
Domyoji devient plus attentionné et Rui se casse en France ! Yes ✌️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews

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