Tsukushi's on-and-off boyfriend Tsukasa is hospitalized after a gruesome head injury! While his life hangs in the balance, his devious mother shows no emotion at all. Could a mother really be so heartless?! Even if Tsukasa is able to survive, he may never be the same again...
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..."
This is the volume where the author decides to add yet one more unnecessary character to get in the way of the main couples happiness for reasons that are never made clear or make sense other than to keep this money train going. Also, main male character gets stabbed and loses a lot of blood, nearly dies and somehow only has select memory loss of his one true love? Give me a fucking break!!!
Snark aside, I will continue to love Rui until the day I die.
At this point in the series, Tsukushi has developed the patience of a saint… or maybe just Stockholm syndrome with extra hair flips. The volume serves up its usual mix of misunderstandings, jealous glares, and random dramatic escalations that could’ve been solved in five seconds if anyone here knew how to use their words.
The romantic tension is still addictive in that soap-opera way, but the pacing feels like it’s jogging in place while occasionally tripping over its own shoelaces. Tsukasa’s “grand gestures” land somewhere between swoon-worthy and “sir, calm down.”
Three stars because it’s still entertaining, but I’m starting to think the true endgame here is the author seeing how many volumes it takes before readers lose their minds.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of treading water & endless romantic rivals, the end has finally come to this series. While I was overjoyed to read the final volume, part of me wondered if the series really needed 32 volumes to tell it's story.
In any case, this volume sees a big confrontation between Tskushi & Tsubasa's mother, with a decent resolution to that plot arc. The plotline then switches to an accident that Tsubasa has, which erases his memory. However the type of amnesia he has is very specific... he has completely forgotten Tskushi & reverted back to the way he was before. (Of course he has.) If that's not bad enough, there's a new rival for Tsubasa's affection who is hiding behind a wall of seemingly "real" friendliness. (The type that seems real, but is obviously fake.)
Overall, I really enjoyed this volume. It had a nice mixture of drama & romance, and still entertained me. It's a definate improvement over some of the previous volumes! I don't know if this would be enough for some fans to complete their collections, but it's worth looking at. If Viz ever put out big book compilations of their manga, BOF/HYD would be one of the first titles I'd recommend. It's a good series, but the sheer amount of volumes will discourage the average collector on a budget.
what do i say about boys over flowers? i've consumed it in every flavour possible - manga, tv, film, anime, taiwanese tv, korean tv - i'd probably listen to the drama cds if they were available - and i'm still not bored with this story. the manga definitely has weaknesses due to its serialised nature - i'm sure Kamio never expected it to stretch to 36 tankobon and would structure it differently if she were to go back - but it's still, volume by volume, enchanting. it captures those critical shojo life lessons about growing up and learning to love - yourself as well as boys - in a funny, sweet, truthful (allowing for the essential fantastical nature of the story) way and never goes off the rails like Kare Kano. it's *wholesome*, even when there's sex. of which there isn't much. 36 volumes and you can count the snogs on the fingers of one hand. even hypothermia didn't work.
wow... now this part from Boys Over Flowers really hit meh after Tuskusa got attacked by one of his mothers enemy by gettin stabbedin the back of head i thought it was the end of it but when yuh read on he is recovered but there is a huge twisted that not even Tuskusi could hanging....HAVING A BOYFRIEND WHO DOES NOT REMEMBER HER AT ALL!!! after reading that i was extremely shocked I actually thought that his cruel mother had sumthing to do wit because of the fact that she can not stand his girlfriend because of sum reason she refuses to show emontion i guess that what happens when your unfit Parent!!!
AAAAHHH Makino me da tanta pena ;n; y la única que la entiende en esta situación es Rui, de verdad sigo creyendo que es un perfecto mejor amigo, pero no más... Makino y él no pegan como pareja... son demasiado distintos.
Cuando Makino le grita internamente a Domyoji que ella era la chica de Nueva York Q.Q
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This was pretty good and again it covered plot that I remember from the kdrama. These last volumes did not seem to cover a big time span, but that is okay. It doesn't entirely feel like it is winding down. It was a good volume and well paced though. The manga version of the characters are growing on me more and more as I get through the series.
I'm so distraught. I'm stuck sitting here thinking about the events that occurred. I have to wait all day to get the next books! I went from tears to laughter and back to tears in this volume so many times!
Pertama baca manga ini waktu umurku 10 tahunan - ikut membaca waktu kakakku sewa dari taman bacaan komik di dekat SMA-nya. Sebetulnya ini terlalu dewasa, sih, untuk anak SD haha. But anyway, dulu rasanya cukup menikmati karena karakternya goodlooking dan stylish. Alur ceritanya juga banyak yang membuat ngakak. Sekarang, umurku 30 tahun dan membaca ini cukup merasa terganggu di banyak hal: romantisasi abuse, violence, sexual harassment, institutionalized bullying, dan membangun mindset 'I can fix him' untuk remaja perempuan. Memang, sih, manga ini 'kan dibuatnya tahun 1992 - mungkin society memang belum seprogresif sekarang. Tapi jadinya menurut saya manga ini lebih cocok ditujukan untuk orang dewasa, ya, ketimbang remaja putri seperti shoujo pada umumnya. - Masuk volume 30, rasanya kok ceritanya semakin 'berat' yah secara emosional! Berat dalam artian mungkin karena setiap karakter semakin dewasa dan menyadari bahwa banyak hal yang tidak bisa dikontrol - memaksa orang untuk menyerah setiap harinya. Lalu cinta pun terus menerus menjadi sebuah ujian.
Volume #32 Tsukasa Doumyouji (ML 1) masuk ke ICU karena tikaman di dermaga yang menghabiskan banyak darahnya. Ia tidak sadarkan diri dan Tsukushi Makino (FL) terus menemaninya. Dalam momen-momen penantian ini, Kaede Doumyouji datang ke RS sebentar saja - bahkan tidak melihat Tsukasa. Hal ini membuat Tsukushi marah dan menampar Kaede, mempertanyakan sisi keibuannya. Namun Tsukushi menyesal dan berusaha meminta maaf pada Kaede sebelum Kaede kembali ke NYC - tentu saja, tidak terlalu Kaede gubris. Setelah berhari-hari, akhirnya Tsukasa sadar dan menunjukkan kemajuan penyembuhan yang baik. Tapi ternyata... Ia sama sekali tidak ingat pada Tsukushi! Dokter berkata, kemungkinan besar Ia amnesia dan tidak ada jaminan ingatannya akan kembali 100%. Tsukushi merasa hancur tapi berusaha tetap tegar - sampai Ia menyadari, ada pasien perempuan yang manis sedang dirawat di RS yang sama dengan Tsukasa. Semakin Tsukushi memperhatikan, pasien yang bernama Umi Nakajima, semakin Tsukushi menyadari bahwa hari demi hari Tsukasa semakin dekat dengan Umi - dan tetap lupa pada Tsukushi! Tsukushi yang patah hati tetap berusaha tegar dan mengesampingkan perasaannya, berharap kesembuhan Tsukasa menjadi yang utama. Dalam momen ini, kembali Rui Hanazawa (ML 2) menemani saat-saat tergelapnya.
Jujur ini salah satu volume yang aku benci dari seri ini. Ga adil! Sedih banget jadi Tsukushi dan Tsukasa yang selalu bertemu rintangan dalam percintaannya. Apalagi kemunculan Umi menurutku hanya nambah-nambah konflik ga penting. Huhuhu JUSTICE FOR TSUKASA TSUKUSHI RELATIONSHIP!!!!
This is the worst part for me, in every adaptation. Could erase it from the story, like they did in the c-drama. Can't stop until the thing gets untangled, though. I simply hate it, so I must pass over in order to enjoy the story again.
The worst adaptation about it (because there were different levels of amnesia) was the taiwanese one OMG the entire second season 30 episodes he couldn't remember her!!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Oh my goodness! These two just can't catch a break. The feels hit strong in the heart and leaves you on the edge of the seat. All of these characters come to feel like friends and I'm rooting for each and every one of them.
Il y a un petit peu de mieux, mais j'avoue que le nouveau stratagème de Yoko Kamio fait partie des schémas que j'apprécie le moins dans les romances… Donc, pas évident d'apprécier ce tome trente-deux comme il se le doit, mais ici, c'est seulement dû à mon ressenti. Il y a encore cet effet de « trop » à savoir accumuler les obstacles pour que le couple de héros n'arrive jamais réellement à être ensemble. C'est quelque chose que j'ai un peu du mal à comprendre avec Hana Yori Dango, car on a l'impression depuis le départ que la mangaka ne veut pas qu'ils soient ensemble en fin de compte. du moins, elle fait tout pour, et côté romance… ce n'est pas le shôjo sur lequel il faut se jeter…
Je pensais aussi que l'agression de Tsukasa à cause des agissements de sa mère serait plus exploitée que cela. Il a quand même failli mourir car Kaede est un requin sans âme. Je trouvais que c'était un angle d'attaque plutôt intéressant surtout avec tout le passif entre la mère et le fils, mais au final, on a une tentative de montrer la marâtre sous un jour plus sympathique… personnellement, je n'adhère pas. C'est trop facile et ça ne m'a fait ni chaud, ni froid. Il faut bien plus que les miettes qu'elle ose donner pour me faire changer d'avis sur elle.
Vient ensuite le énième obstacle… l'amnésie… ou comment faire un retour en arrière de trente-et-un tome ! Ah le cadeau dont je rêvais, nous qui avions tellement ramé pour en arriver là… et qui encore une fois laisse Tsukushi faire tout le travail pour sauver leur couple et notre héroïne qui s'en prend plein la tête encore et toujours… Oui, vous sentez que j'ai adoré, hein… Après, il y a tous les à côtés qui sont sympathiques. le groupe d'amis plus solidaire que jamais, des moments d'amitié forts, une héroïne combative à souhait qui doute, mais en même temps qui reste droite dans ses bottes… Donc non, bien entendu, je n'ai pas passé un mauvais moment, c'est juste que je suis frustrée. J'ai cette impression que l'on n'aura jamais réellement quelque chose de serein, une relation où l'on est capable de relire quatre, cinq fois le passage tellement il donne des papillons dans le ventre… Je veux de la romance et de la vraie, zut quoi ! Parce que je vois la fin se profiler comme celle de Parfait Tic, et clairement, cela ne va pas me satisfaire du tout…
TEAM RUI!! TEAM RUI!! TEAM RUI!! *cough cough* I mean... again... Team Kazuya?
Lol! But speaking of Kazuya, I miss him!! Why hasn't he come to visit Tsukasa!!?
This volume was kind of meh. I think the turn in storyline isn't anything too great/special/out of the ordinary and in fact, it makes me quite happy (though poor Tsukushi...but she should pick Rui anyway). But, even with this recent development, I still have no doubts Tsukushi and Tsukasa will end up together >_<
Also, I don't understand why Tsukushi is trying to humanize Kaede Domyoji. She doesn't have feelings and she DOESN'T care about her son. Just because she Um, no.
There was something in the way all of the characters came together that I found irresistibly compelling about this series. It did remind me a lot of Ouran while I was reading it and maybe that is why I liked it so much. Tsukushi is an interesting protagonist, I loved when she started taking action and sticking up for herself.
While I wasn’t overly fond of the artwork style I was able to get past it because I my love for the storyline. This is an honest story with twists and turns, ups and downs, but then again that is real life.
saving my review to the need of the series. just have to say I find this tacked for writers cheap... and a story killer. Im not talking about stuff like the vow where the whole point was the loss memory. I am talking about why don't we also make the driving character of the relationship reset so the indisive one can push the love. and lets add another love interest. I found this vol horrible And rushed though. almost didn't read it.
Amnesia? From a stab wound? Is that even possible in real life? It was unrealistic. Geez.
However, Tsukasa seemed to have forgotten Tsukushi after waking up from his coma. It was only her whom he had forgotten by the way.
There’s a new character, Umi. She is so bright even Sakorako was “blinded”. Hahaha
Oh and Rui my Rui, how come you like that? I hoped you showed your feelings for Tsukushi earlier. Who knows, you might even have ended up together and saved you all this drama.
Well hell...He of course must have gotten amnesia and forgotten all about Tsukushi!!!! Then of couse some too-sweet and too-nice girl should have appeared!!! This volume made me mad, have hardly bee able to turn the page! I fear the next one is a difficult volume too...Poor me!!!!