Makino Tsukushi, a girl who comes from a poor family, just wants to get through her two last years at Eitoku Gakuen quietly. But once she makes herself known by standing up for her friend to the F4, the four most popular, powerful, and rich boys at the school, she gets the red card: F4's way of a "Declaration of War." But when she doesn't let herself be beaten by them and is starting to fall for one of the F4, Hanazawa Rui, she starts to see that there is more than meets the eye...
(Source: ANN)
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Comentários
Skadi
The shoujo romance genre is littered with countless series with predictable formulaic plotlines, bishies, and uninteresting characters. Often we are left with a terrible non ending or one in which usually one side can’t express their feelings for the other until the credits start to roll. Hana Yori Dango completely captivated me from the beginning and left me with a rewarding ending that restored my faith in the romance genre. The premise starts out in a way that you wouldn’t expect much romance to develop from. Tsukushi Makino is a middle to lower middle class student at an exclusive high school attended bymainly wealthy students. Tsukushi is not particularly happy with her high school life nor does she really even want to be at this school. But she attends because of her parent’s insistence and because they have sacrificed a lot to send her there. The school is controlled by the F4, a gang of 4 guys from extremely rich and powerful families. Basically the entire school lives in fear of getting on their bad side and getting the "red card", which basically means your school life becomes hell on earth until you transfer out. Tsukushi goes about her day just trying to be unnoticed until she graduates, leading a fairly miserable existence. This all changes when the only real friend has accidently incurs the wraith of the F4, she jumps to her defense and finds herself given the red card. But she’s not the kind of girl who's going to back down and she declares war back on the F4 herself. As Tsukushi fights back and starts to gain the respect of many classmates and even begins to befriend the F4 and we learn that they are not quite as bad as initially thought.
I found the story to be quite moving and powerful and found myself experiencing the full range of emotions. The portrayal of the bullying, which becomes quite intense at times was often very difficult to watch. There will be times you will cringe and times when you will jump out of your chair and cheer. Eiktoku High School may just be one of the 4 or 5 worst places on earth. It truly was a hell on earth and it doesn’t exactly paint a pretty picture of high society and the people who populate it. I’m not sure I would have had to strength of character Tsukushi had to stick things out and not let them win. It’s difficult to talk about the romance aspects of this anime without giving away spoilers. Though it will become pretty obvious fairly early where they are going and who she’s going to end up with. The journey to this revelation though is quite the ride. The ending differs completely from the manga version, since this anime was completed several years before its run had finished. Despite the original ending it is still very satisfying and believable.
Tsukushi Makino emerges as perhaps the best shoujo heroine of all time. I really cannot give her enough praise for how I felt about her as a character and how much I would love to have a friend like her. She is tough, practical and no-nonsense type of girl in a world full of shallow materialistic bitches. Viewers will be drawn to her both her likeable nature and the sheer torture she has to endure over the course of the series. The things that are done to her and the torment she is put through are both frightening and inspiring. Seeing the events of the story told through her inner monologue made me feel even more connected to the plot and her emotions felt even more intense because of it. Though perhaps she is in the end a bit more forgiving than I personally would be if I was in her place, she is overall a very inspirational character.
Tsukasa Domyoji is the leader of the F4 and one of Tsukushi’s love interests. He has all the classic elements of a shoujo love interest. He’s fabulously wealthy, handsome, and an asshole. I have mixed feelings on him. Initially he is an extremely frightening character. His menacing demeanor and the adjunct terror that Tsukushi often feels in his presence makes him initially almost impossible to like at all. However as the series progresses he becomes less and less the horrible boogeyman he begins as and actually turns into a decent and even sympathetic human being. While I tried my best to keep hating him, he wore me down not unlike Tsukushi into believing someone could actually fall in love with him. As a character, Tsukasa makes a huge amount of growth. He changes from selfish and egotistical brat into a much more humble and likeable guy while still maintaining the essence of who he is.
Rui is another member of F4 and another main love interest. He is almost the complete opposite of the hotheaded Tsukasa. While still from an enormously wealthy family and suitably good looking, Rui is far more introverted and shy. I liked him far more at first than any of the other men in the cast but he really isn’t any nicer that Tsukasa is. While not physically violent his cold nature and inconsistency in when he does or doesn’t jump to Tsukushi’s defense doesn’t exactly win him any feminist awards. My feelings for him are pretty much the reverse of what I felt for Tsukasa. By the end of the series I grew tired of his personality and while he does manage to change a little, his nature just gets more and more annoying. He was also just a bit too bishie for me.
Most of the remaining supporting cast is pretty detestable. The two remaining members of F4, Akira and Sojiro are not very well developed as characters being their basic personality archetypes and never emerge as serious love interests. Tsukushi’s childhood friend Kazuya is likeable and provides comic relief, often at times when the story can really use some. While he is in love with Tsukushi he is more of a friend to her and he provides her with a much needed friend at times when she really needs one. Shizuka also is one of the rare decent characters who also provides Tsukushi with plenty of support and encouragement in times of need. There are plenty of absolutely spoiled rotten waste of skin bitches and assholes to get mad about. But despite the anger you’re likely to feel every time one of them appears on screen or plots against the heroine they do serve a useful purpose in the growth of the main characters and in the development of the romances.
Given the age of this series the animation and visuals are understandably dated. Unfortunately they are bad enough that it’s possible that it will discourage some people all together from even giving this series a chance. That is a real shame. While I can’t say that I loved the artwork, I did eventually develop some appreciation for it as the series progressed. The color palette used is very drab and the hairstyles and fashions are also extremely dated. The character designs are true to the manga and are realistic body types which adds to the overall sense of realism. The settings and backgrounds though are strength are all look pretty good.
The audio is also a bit of a mixed bag. While the voice acting performances are all top notch, I didn’t much care for the music at all, especially the lame and uninteresting OP animation sequence. The incidental and background music is also very dated.
Ultimately Hana Yori Dango is a series that should not be missed by serious romance and anime fans alike. It’s a very intense series likely to stir up just about every emotion there is for the viewer. Though as much as I loved Tsukushi and the story, I just can’t give this series the perfect score I wanted to because of the uninspired art and music. I highly recommend it.
FalseEpitaph
A romance that is not romantic at all Hana Yori Dango was one of my worst anime experiences, mainly because it tricked me in the first 20 episodes. In the beginning, the anime offers an interesting plot, especially with the protagonist. However, to my surprise, everything broke down relatively quickly, here are, in my view, the main problems of the work: -The "triangle": The love triangle of this anime does not make any sense, because simply, one of the 2 parts of the triangle is not interested in the protagonist, in fact, all the moments that this person directs in a more "loving" way with protagonist seemedto me out of pity, or for him to console himself from another novel. (It is a triangle because the protagonist is indecisive about which boy she likes)
-The characters: The protagonist at the beginning is very interesting, strong and courageous, but in the last 2/3 of the work she becomes petty, false and liar, unpalatable. The men in this anime are even worse, one of them is a bully who, believe me, RAPES the protagonist, well, if you consider that the other only used the protagonist when she was fragile, it is also rape ... It is worth mentioning that because of the bully she suffers at least 4 times physical aggression, I just don't understand what the author had in mind.
-She didn't love him: I won't say who she stays with, but for me she didn't love him at all, just looked at the other, she didn't even say once that she loved him in 51 episodes! Not in appearance either, whenever she was with him she seemed in a bad mood. So, the main point of the anime, romance, for me, didn't exist.
-The manga Vs the anime: When I finished the anime I was so nervous, and I found out that the ending in the manga was different, so I read the last chapters and damn it! It's totally different from the anime, the chemistry between the characters was absurdly better, I don't know what happened to make these changes in the anime, in short, do you want to know the story? Read the manga.
-Visual and audio waste: I really like the anime songs (minus the opening) but the violin pieces were beautiful, the visual was beautiful too, the design of the characters was exactly the style I liked, unfortunately, wasted in a horrible story.
A story with a lot of potential, but that the immaturity of practically all the characters of the work, spoils it.
Orbi
Considering that this anime aired about 10 years ago, the animation and sound are not as great as the shows you'd see nowadays, but that's no reason to shy away from this great series. The characters are fully developed and you really start to put yourself in their shoes once you get to know them better. While some of the storylines can be a bit farfetched, there's just enough balance of drama, romance, and comedy to draw you in. The storylines have so many twists that you'll never be bored while watching this series. Bottom line: If you're looking for an anime packed with drama, romance,comedy, and interesting plots and characters, this is the anime for you. If you are more concerned with pretty animation and good OSTs, you should look elsewhere.
PhoenixOtaku1990
The Story Hana Yori Dango is a school-life anime surrounding the exploits of Tsukushi Makino, a new student at Eitoku Academy who happens to be of lesser means. Desiring nothing more than a low-profile existence among the upper-crust of society Tsukushi’s world is turned upside down when she encounters an elite clique of popular men known as the F4. From here, she begins a chaotic, fish out of water story where the boys are constantly involved. In the midst of this, she manages to fall for two of the Flowers Four creating a romantic triangle with two distinct flavors. The first relationship is your standard aloof loveinterest angle with Rui Hanazawa. I like the quiet, kind, artist, nature of the character and his dynamic when opposite Tsukushi elegantly done despite the lack of dialogue between them However, this ceases to be when their growing relationship is subvert by his returning flame, Shizuka Toudou. While Shizuka was a welcomed addition providing exposition on the F4’s history, a humanizing character for the group as a whole, and a sort of guide for Tsukushi she felt more like a protagonist in her own right rather than a supporting character. But, by far, the worst thing the writers of the anime could have done was use the sympathetic character to remove Rui as the love interest for the secondary alternative.
The secondary Romance begins with the leader of the F4. Tskasa Domyouji. To say that I despise this character is a gross understatement. His personality shifts between childishly lording his status over characters to picking on Tsukushi to being uncharacteristically nice to her. Worse yet he seems to have an almost incestuous fixation with his sister who happens to look like our main heroine. As if to feed into the creep factor he holds her down and nearly RAPES her in an early episode.
While he does mature throughout the series the and eventually becomes worthy of the love interest role the aforementioned moments irredeemably corrupted the character to such a degree that I cannot stand his on-screen prescience. Even after he redeems himself by softening up I still detest the character I am supposed to root for. In short I found him to be a pretty face with little more than a base understanding of social functions that was easily overshadowed by almost every other character.
bof
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this brings me to the side-characters which can be summed up in the phrase as bland as white bread. In fact, the only two character’s whose names I remember without consulting MyAnimeList ar Soujirou and Akira and their main functions were to act as the F4’s exposition and voices of reason. Otherwise, every other character in the series is a direct embodiment of their trope. The childhood friend is a cookie-cutter childhood friend. Tsukushi’s family seems to be the cliché poor family composed of the overbearing mother, the pathetic father, and the annoying little brother. After that every other character just blends into the background until they decide to cause trouble or just randomly speaks up. To remind Tsukushi of her place.
The focus on the pauper-versus-prince wealth disparity that persists throughout the series is a glaring weakness in storytelling. While this is a universal plot element that transcends its medium it actually weakens the relationship building aspect of the show. Combine this with the night-and day dynamic between Tsukushi and Tsukasa and the viewer gets a dysfunctional relationship that feels forced and unrealistic. Sure, one might see it as a clear case of opposites attract but, Boys Over Flowers executes this poorly.
Thus I come to the shows worst flaw of this entire narrative. its execution If the story of an independent woman finding herself in a high-society prep school featuring a cast of bishounen men is familiar to you have likely seen a reverse-harem anime in the last 20 years. While the show’s formula is well-trotted ground for many anime fans at this point the story’s progression is painfully slow providing the viewer with very little pay-off. For any romantic plot steady character growth and interaction is key. Hana Youri Dango’s characters grow at a snail’s pace making its run a slog to get through.
Style:
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Alongside the painfully weak story Hana Yori Dango suffers from an eye-ruining animation style that seems to be a halfhearted attempt to simply colorize the cells of the original manga. While the muted colors and stark background would have translated well to the manga format the same cannot be said for animation. In fact. I found the lack of vibrancy and life in some scenes to be somewhat distracting at times. Aside from that character movements seem a bit stiff which forces some of the dialogue-heavy moments feel more like poorly animated GIFs rather than properly animated sequences. But, discounting my nitpicking, I feel that character and background designs are beautiful when assessed separately as portraiture.
Sound Design:
Much to my delight, Hana Yori Dango scores highest in the category of sound design. Unfortunately, this applies to the series’ soundtrack rather than its vocal performances. While they can be taken separately, I feel the two are inexorably linked and aides the viewer in suspending their disbelief. For their time, the talent did a passable job of bringing the characters to life. But, it is important to remember that the 90s were an awkward time for anime dubs and this anime suffers greatly from the growing pains of the time. Thankfully the music does a great job of distracting us from the flawed delivery.
For the most part, the music of Hana Yori Dango does quite a bit to amplify the high-society feel of the show. The opening and ending themes are light and airy J-pop pieces that connotes a relaxed and energetic tone. This does a great job of setting the tone as a slice of life piece. Intermittent pieces like Tomaso Abononi’s Symphony No. 5 adds depth to the upper-class feel of Eitoku Academy. Together, classical and popular styles fill the gap created by poor voice acting. Sadly, it isn’t enough.
I watched the series in its English dub as distributed by Viz Media as instructed by the one who requested this review. While it was nice to hear popular 90s era voice actors like Micheal Adamthwaite and Stephen Park in the roles of Tsukasa Domyouji and Rui Hanazawa I feel that Kelly Sherodin was completely miscast as Tsukushi. This led to my great dismay as her pronunciations of the name Rui as Luis grated on my ears. Alongside this, some dialog was stiff and stilted leading to an overall flat delivery. The lack of compelling delivery forces me to dislike the dub but only slightly.
Recommendations:
I do not usually give my recommendations separate from my conclusion but since the following are TV dramas rather than anime I feel obligated to break form and inform you as to the existence of two great shows. If you wish to see this concept done properly I point you to the Taiwanese Drama Meteor Garden as I believe the acters Vic Zhou and Jerry Yan provide the best characterizations of the two male leads. While the Karean variant has its merits, I find it slightly less appealing. Still, feel free to check both out for yorself as this is a matter of preference to me.
Final Thoughts:
In conclusion I feel that Hana Yori Dango suffers from a lack of proper execution. But, it is still a salvageable piece. In many ways it is the progenitor to great series in its genre and I encourage fans of pieces like Ouran High School Host Club to check this out, The dub is currently licensed by Viz Media and is available at Rightstufanime. Please feel free to enjoy Boys Over Flowers and stay tuned here for more reviews.
Avalein
I really want to write a review for this anime I don't think it will be as long as the others however, this is my first review. This anime, while old with older art, was amazing for me. I had been feeling like I hadn't seen a good romance in a while and what brought my attention to it was a review that had said it "restored their faith in the romance genre" The main characters while childish and obnoxious at the start slowly seem to develop into mature-ish young adults. Starting with Makino, throughout the anime she is rather stubborn, naive and headstrong. She is astrong female character that faces many emotional trials, while struggling with her life she manages to overcome everything relatively well. Her character has been constructed in a way that places you in her position, withering away in fear when she does or feeling happy when she does.
The F4 boys that she stands up against also go through changes as well, making you cringe and want to pull your hair out. There are many things that could be said about the things they do wrong and right, however, overall they are young boys going through school with emotions and things that a normal person could not understand.
The story was captivating and by the first episode I wanted to know more and see more. It was an anime with life and has many lessons in it. It addresses bullying and other themes that high school comes with, and was easy to relate to.
I enjoyed Hana Yori Dango a lot more than I thought I would and I managed to watch it in two days, days off work spent well in my opinion. I felt extremely satisfied with it and the way it ended. There were times were I couldn't help but laugh along with the characters. The anime came alive to me, it became a real thing and I wanted to give Makino a good slap every now and then. There was not one moment I wanted to give up on it and not one moment I wasn't entertained.
I give it an overall score of 9/10
StarMasayume
I loved the story concept when I first heard it--it sounded awesome and I couldn't wait to watch it. Guess what? It is awesome! I have watched this series numerous times with different friends (surprisingly a few were guys!) and all have loved it. The animation style is a bit more old school... but in a way it's more endearing than all color shininess. I like the more subdued coloring style in settings and the music fits well. I love the violin music and the opening song. Some people may be annoyed by character stubborness... key word DRAMA, lots and lots of it. And justwhen you think there should be a happy understanding and feelings returned time and time again? Think again. Though may I say she's a stubborn idiot when it comes to love, Makino is a strong-willed character that you can admire. Doumyouji is a tempermental rich-boy, but under the tough-guy act he's more of a cute bratty kid who doesn't know how to act around a crush... and gradually starts to grow up. With the setting, the characters, plot, romance, drama, and a bit of humor, I highly recommend this series.
Shellshock123
A story about a poor girl moving to most fucked up school filled with rich snobs. **Due to the nature of this review I will be spoiling the first 15 episodes of the series. This includes a major initial love triangle that gets resolved.** Boys over flowers is a *reverse harem* romance comedy series about this heroine who is really poor who attends this really super duper rich school. In this school there is 4 top dogs. Known as the F4. Though really you will only get to know about 2 of them. Particularly, Rui hanazawa = the violin player. And Curly man who is alsothe leader of the F4 and the MMC. The series than revolves around 5 (really just the 3) characters and how they all affect each other. Other characters show up from time to time. Jealous women mostly. But again it mostly revolves around those 3 and later just curly man and the FMC.
Now this series starts off really bad. Why you ask? Well, the F4 are the biggest group of assholes ever. These guys are very harsh people, that make satan look like a pretty princess. They beat up random ass people who bump shoulders, Hurt kids so much that they have to drop out. And if they put a red card in your locker that means that every other student will be out for your blood. They are such a vile group its kinda hard to root for any romance. With that being said, they do kinda grow on you albeit begrudgingly.
Now the series starts with this love triangle between rui, the FMC and the MMC. Rui is actually the nice guy of the group. But is also an asshole because this is a shoujo manga. Now there is this push and pull thing going on between the FMC and Rui, and Curly man wants in on the action but his desire to date the FMC is very odd. I don't understand why he starts liking her in the first place.
Let me break down what he does in the first 10 episodes of the series. First he hires 4 goons to rape her. Then he puts a red card in her locker (which she fights back and the male lead starts gaining affection for her). Then he tries to rape her himself. Then the school tie her up to a car and *drag her around* and he runs away like a fucking dumbass. They are other moments where he physically assaults' her. I understand that I've made him look like the worst guy in human history but he does do nice things and this is the problem I landed in. The author wants us to believe that the MMC and FMC are supposed to be together and there is this push and pull thing happening between them but at the same time Curly man is constantly going way too far and it seems absolutely ridiculous that the author just wants us to sweep this shit under the rug.
They are both good quiet and loud moments in this series that makes you appreciate the MMC but in contrast to the entire thing he is a piece of shit. Even if by the end of it, I did think that these 2 were meant to be together.
I originally was rooting for Rui. Because he was i shit you not the nicest character in the series so far. And he was still an asshole. There is this whole love triangle this that becomes a square when Rui's crush shows up and he leaves with her to France. But its done so poorly i just completely missed it tbh. I'm glad Rui left though because this did solidify the relationship between curly man and FMC but at that point i still didn't actually like the MMC. Rui does show up again but this is purely to fuck with there relationship and nothing else.
Majority of the cast also suck massive dick. Lets start the FMC's parents. They literally put her in a school like that so she can marry some rich kid and they can be together happily ever after. One time the mom refused a bribe from someone's mom because she believe that he daughter would marry her son and be even more rich. The dad is also just a complete deadbeat. What are these parents man....
The 3 wicked witches of the west are also awful. They are just there to fuck up the main heroine as much as possible and have no repercussions whatsoever even by the end of the series. Any heroine that tries to help the FMC is also trying to murder her behind her back. There is such a large amount of garbage people in this series it really makes you wonder what kind of fucked up childhood the author had.
The only really likable character in this series that has personality and charm and isn't retarded (mostly) is the Tomboy Princess. She is very likable and i wanted to see more of her. Too bad she only shows near like the end of the series.
I also could not take any moment in the series seriously. Like there is this music playing every single time whenever there is a dramatic sequence to the point of over doing it. I cannot help but laugh during these moments. They happen so much and are so repetitive that I just lose it from time to time.
I've seen some people say that Curly man is a great guy. I hope people saying this get out of the abusive relationship they are currently in because the MMC should not be the type of guy you go after
TLDR: The series in general is just filled with shit characters, with no personalities that get practically no repercussions whatsoever. That is my problem. There are good moments but its not worth wading through a sea of bullshit to find it. 3/10
Im curious about the movie though.
qichiro
The opening theme is pretty catchy and while the story was very slow to get to the point, I did enjoy the drama of this series. That being said, it was way too much drama and it felt like everything was repeating. Certain scenes were realistic and others...just weren't. The ending of the anime didn't really give me any closure, since the heroine didn't seem really close to her main lead at least not in a romantic way, but I was able to get through this anime. I would recommend it to someone like me, just enjoys watching anime and wants to add another title to this list, howeverI would not watch this a second time.
Xai16
The Manga was great, the anime was great, the movie was boring as sh** (did they even try or did they just sh** in a bucket and call it an anime movie?), THE DRAMA WAS FLAWLESS!!! Even if you've never read the manga or seen the anime, SEE THE DRAMA!!! I realize i'm promoting the drama more than the anime but OMIGOD, it is THE drama (the score, btw, is mostly for the drama)!
otaking97
Seriously this is my first review and it's for a reason. This series kicks serious ass! I'm not dancing through the flowers on this one. I'm serious if you haven't seen it and consider yourself a romance fan you are currently failing at life. I should infact probably find you and smack you up side the head. Domyouji is a serious badass character. But like everyone he has his problems and issues. He's got a problem expressing himself and he's all about Makino. But unfortunately she's kinda scared shitless of him and is always chasing after Ruiwho is a total pussy. I can't stand his emo ass shit. Now Rui and Domyouji are childhood bro's and a part of the F4 with two other guys who pretty much rule the school. They are all super rich brats that do what they want and hey if I was in their position I would too.
As for these ratings I see it's not to hard to judge. The show is old and it looks it. The sound kinda sucks. Nothing special at all. But enjoyment will rock your socks off and have you skipping the ending and openings to get back to the story. No shit I am fucking serious.
But anyways it follows a lot of the typical plots and can be cliche at times but this show is a total romance/soap opera. No supernatual nonsense or anything. Just animated real life. Watch it. NOW!!
radioredhead
Alright for i start of my review i want to say that my rates might seem ridiciously high but i never ever had any other connection with a anime nor Jdrama in my whole entire life. At first hana yori dango was my first japanese live action drama (also considerd my first asian drama) I have now seen about 120+ asian dramas and not a single one passed the number one spot that hana yori dango took. When i watched this anime some years ago i was still little and had alot of things going around like love, break ups, lairs, false friendships and thisanime/manga/drama in overall helped me survive all of this.
Still in 2015 this drama is something i think of everyday. It helps me in the bad and good days. Because of drama i started to think different. It made me smarter and more aware of the world.
Thanks to this drama i'm now that girl i always wanted to be.
To some it will sound off and totally overdramatic maybe your right. But in the end i might not care if you think it's over the top because this show is .. breathtaking to me.
simplydru
I do not believe there is a language in existence with the proper words to convey just how much I despise this fucking show. I can honestly say that, without a doubt, watching "Boys Over Flowers" (BARF) was the most excruciating anime experience in all my life. Never before have I so hated almost every character in a show so fucking much that I found myself vainly waiting for them all to be slaughtered in a school shooting or terrorist attack, only to be met with disappointment when the sadly death-free ending is framed as a happy one. I want to make this perfectly clear:In no way are my words intended to be hyperbolic. I truly do so hate this show with every fiber of my being; so much so, in fact, that I will immediately think the worst of anyone who likes it because only someone who is ignorant, stupid, deluded and/or a complete piece of shit could possibly enjoy this show... and there are absolutely no exceptions to this rule. Yeah, fucking fight me, bitches.
So, yeah, scores. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo...
Story: 1
Art: 6
Sound: 6
Characters: 1
Enjoyment: 1
OVERALL: ***ZERO OUT OF TEN***
By the way, I am going to spoil the shit out of BARF because fuck this show, and I am not going to bother using any of the characters' names because fuck each and every one of them with a razor-wire dildo. Now let's get this over with...
STORY: BARF is little more than a cheap hetero/co-ed bastardization of the fantastic shoujo classic 'Oniisama e...', as both revolve around a high school girl from a comparatively-modest background finding herself unwittingly-involved with a clique of popular stuck-up rich kids, and getting bullied mercilessly as a result of the association. In this case, a girl from a poor family gets into a prestigious high school, but ends up becoming public enemy #1 on campus after she stands up to the leader of an influential clique of spoiled rich douchebags with the most fragile bitch-ass egos in existence. Because she does the right thing, the childish rich kids order everyone in the school to bully her without mercy, which results in the entire school body constantly abusing her at every opportunity.
Throughout all 51 episodes of this pitiful excuse for a show, girls and boys alike take turns literally beating her into the ground, often with baseball bats, as though she were an evil piñata full of diamonds or something. At one point, a number of boys even tie her up to a fucking sports car and drag her behind it, with half the school cheering it on like it were a sporting event. Add to this several sexual assaults, a few murder attempts and at least one forcible kidnapping, and you've got yourself at least a few life sentences' worth of felonious behavior by at least half of the cocksuckers who attend this horrid school... which never once attracts the attention of pretty much any authority figure able or willing to intervene. Pretty fucking despicable, right? Well, just you wait, because we're not done yet!
The show then attempts to trick you into thinking these snooty jackasses are actually good people by having them retaliate against some of her most violent attackers, but what the idiot author(s) apparently forgot is that they were the one who ordered their classmates to do this shit in the first place, never made a real effort to put a stop to the attacks once and for all, and instigated further violence whenever she did something that even remotely displeased these fucking losers. And to think people defend them...
This is where it starts getting especially twisted, though. The ringleader of this douchetarded little clique, the one who is by far the most responsible for every bit of the misery I just mentioned, professes his love for the MC early in the show, and maintains his love for her even as he arranges for her future misery. Even worse, whenever the MC rebuffs his rapey advances or simply refuses to reciprocate his confessed feelings, what does he do? Handle rejection maturely and move on with his life? HE FUCKING SLAPS HER! This happens so many times, in fact, that I got desensitized to it after a while.
And now, finally, here is the worst part: Not only does the whiny prick responsible for all of her misery profess his love to her early on in the show, but he ends up being the one she chooses in the end! True to form for this piece-of-shit series, our bruised & battered MC ends up developing one of the most hardcore cases of Stockholm Syndrome ever displayed, and chooses to eventually marry the most stupid, ridiculous and abusive man-baby in all of Japan! I lost all sympathy for this foolish ditz when she refused to disassociate from these overprivileged pricks, but this decision made me almost wish the schoolchildren actually succeeded in murdering her.
Fuck this shit.
ART: Whatever. The smiles look fucking weird.
SOUND: Whatever. Who cares what a pile of shit sounds like anyways?
CHARACTERS: As I said earlier, I so hated this group of taint-licks that I wished for them all to die the most horrific deaths imaginable by the time I reached the fifth episode. Hardly anyone is even remotely redeemable, from the MC & her family to the rich douche-nozzles & their families, and the only characters who display anything akin to a decent personality are auxiliary characters who, for the most part, have relatively-little influence on what inevitably transpires and even become apologists on occasion.
ENJOYMENT: In order to mitigate the discomfort of having my senses abused by this deplorable atrocity, I literally watched the vast majority of this series by playing it at 2x speed and fast-forwarding through every non-dialogue scene. If anything, perhaps I will consider this an especially-painful rite of passage, if only to justify my suffering through this turd sandwiched between stiffer turds.
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IN SUMMATION: If you genuinely enjoy BARF, you are a terrible person and I hope equally-terrible things happen to you until the day you die, which I will joyfully celebrate.
Just kidding... not.
esmp
This show had potential. There was also parts of it I really liked. My main issue with it was that the same problem that infects a lot of romance animes, the unrealistic conclusions, overtorn thoughts, and ridiculous action or inaction. The very first part of the series was a slow starter, but it began to pick up and even though the relationships and characters felt shallow it wasn't bad. Eventually the character's became deeper but at this point, even with a pretty good story, the puzzling actions of some of the main characters became annoying. "Does he really like me?" Of course he does you idiot. Laterit becomes really bad and nonsensical but I will save the spoilers.
I also really wanted to see the pairing more as an actual couple because I felt like that would have lead to some interesting character interaction but they didn't get there.
This series had potential so I'm a little disappointed it ended up so average.
HazukiSama
Well other reviews already told the story so I'm going straight to the point,If you like romantic comedies you'll love this anime,also the main character is awesome she never gives up,I know the art is annoying but keep in mind that it is old,the plot alos has some twists even though the end of the series might be obvious,still really good anime for shoujo fans.It also has classical music,more relaxing.The opening and second ending also grow on you even though the opening is mostly related to the movie.
meneope
There are two types of shoujos. First you get what I call the Neo-Shoujo types (e.g. the works of Wataru Yoshizumi, of which you could say the comparable equivalent to Hana Yori Dango would be Marmalade Boy) and then you get what I call feminist-grounded Shoujo types (e.g. Nana). The former portrays an idealised version of love and focusses on romantic relationships and friendships. It's about dreams and hopes. The protagonists are perpetually in a state of innocence and carry the viewers in that fantasy. The other genre, by contrast, is more dark and down-to-earth where the protagonists do not believe in fairy-tales anymore (soto say) and is not in search of an idealised first kiss but rather of the next man to hump! Indeed the feminist-grounded shoujo always attempts to romanticise such illicit sexual intercourses to try to portray it as life realities. Dream and fantasy is not part of this genre which focusses more on the disillusions of life. Some of them should actually be classified as downright Josei - the female equivalent of hentai or Seinen.
Hana Yori Dango lies in between these two. On the one end it deals with the realities of life such as peer pressures, school bullying as well as sexual pressures which teenagers face; but concurrently it manages to fit all these within a cinderella-kind of fairy tale plotline with the rich prince and the poor princess kind-of-romance thing. The beauty of this is that it works - it makes us dream, cracking in our shoes, always wanting to see what's going to happen next or how things will turn out! So for instance amidst all the sexual pressures and other life depressing realities she has to confront, the heroine managed with a bit of luck to go through it all, remaining true to herself and achieving her dreams the way she wants! Isn't shoujo fantastic indeed!?!
Hana Yori Dango is one of those must see anime for all connoiseurs of manga/animes. There is a reason why it is the best-selling shoujo of all time and has been running for a period of 11 yrs! If you want to know why, well you know what to do!
[Ps. Be aware that Yoko Kamio's artwork is unique and is somewhat more generally realistically-inclined than the averaged animes or mangas out there. Hair colour ranges from dark to red, no blonde [except for "foreigners"] or fancy colour in between [e.g. no blue-haired aliens depicted], eyes are more proportionate to face, and nose and lips are somewhat included as opposed to the average common japanese animes! She also includes water-coloured style romaneque and picturesque landscapes. The author has done only two major works so far, of which only Hana Yori Dango has been animated, so it is unlikely you would be acquainted with her style. However notwithtanding, you should have no problem getting used to it once you get absorbed into the story and you will probably even develop a liking for it!]
Rubblewolf
Before I begin this review, I just want to say that this review is a bit late and my first impressions from my blog (listed on my profile on this site) hasn't changed with the exception of some of the things that I have to add after finally finishing this series. Where to begin? I remember back in high school some of my friends mentioned this anime to me, or more specifically the Japanese drama from 2005 but those same friends also had the mangas so yeah. But instead of referring to the series as Hana Yori Dango, they referred to it as Boys Over Flowers(which is what the title translates to here in the West). I didn't really find myself interested in watching the Japanese Drama or reading the manga, BUT the title, Hana Yori Dango has stayed in the back of my mind much like a few other animes that came out around the same time (Fushigi Yuugi, Ayashi no Ceres, etc).
It almost feels like the 90s were the time for the more mature Shoujo and romance animes because when I compare this anime to Marmalade Boy and Fushigi Yuugi, I always find the same common themes (there's always a love triangle of sorts, the main female protagonist starts off bickering with the main love interest, and there's apparently always something trying to keep the two main characters apart, and it's usually from the girl's side of the relationship that things get tense due to the girl hesitating on acting on their feelings while the guy risks their lives to win the girl over).
Anyways, what is Hana Yori Dango about? It's about a poor/lower class girl named Tsukishi, who after defending her friend from the F4, the most popular boys in Eitoku(sp?) Academy, it’s then that a red tagging “game” begins between her and the F4 and of course being tagged with a red card makes all the other students at the school bully Tsukishi. It’s during Tsukishi’s many interactions with the members of F4 that Tsukishi finds herself slowly falling for two members of the F4 (Tsukasa and Rui/Lui).
I bingewatched HYD in almost a week and a half, and I gotta say, I had a rough time getting into it at first. The art style took some getting used to (and it's not because I'm not used to 90s anime, I've watched a lot of 90s anime). I think it was the designs for some of the characters. Especially the girls. A lot of the girls looked a bit weird or off to me. Most of the guys ranged from ok looking to good. But I got used to it and once I did, I found myself starting to like the anime. I still like it actually, but I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here.
In the beginning I actually legit liked Tsukishi because she reminded me a lot of me, at least where being nice and always helping others is concerned and I don't blame her for kicking Tsukasa's ass once in a while, cause the guy needs a good slap to the face when he mouths off as he does. Speaking of Tsukasa, I didn't like him in the beginning. He came off as a total... he was a jerk, a cocky jerk at that. Then there's the other members of the F4. Lui was... interesting...
The way Tsukishi hyped him for the audience made him seem like one of those quiet shy jerks who acts like a jerk but really he's a kindhearted person, but I found him to be boring. They made him classy and somewhat kindhearted, yeah. He was the first one of the F4 to be nice to Tsukishi, but IDK. He felt boring. After I lost interest in Rui and Tsukushi getting together, I turned my interest to Tsukasa because he was starting to mature and grow up some.
Again, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Let's talk about Akira and Soujiro. In the beginning when I didn't care much for Rui and Tsukasa, I actually found myself liking Akira and Soujiro a lot. They were funny and charming. They actually had a lot of patience in trying to get Tsukishi with Tsukasa (or with Rui) and they didn't treat her like complete crap. I mean they were a bit rude towards her in the beginning but they quickly warmed up to her. They even supported her possibly going out with either Rui or Tsukasa. But sadly despite all of their comedic moments and their charm, they only play the role of matchmakers or comedy relief when another side character, Kazuya is on screen with them. It's sad too because i really want to see them take the spotlight so that the viewers can take a breather from the constant back and forth Tsukishi does with Lui and Tsukasa (especially Tsukasa, like dang girl, just hurry it up and tell him something, don't leave him hanging!).
Out of all the female characters, I absolutely loved Tsubaki and Shizuka. These two are so classy yet kindhearted. Both of them supported Tsukishi on whoever she wanted to date (Rui or Tsukasa) and they accepted her for who she was. I was actually sad to see Shizuka leave eventually. Then there was Yuriko and her two gal pals, these three were fake as all hell and I wanted to beat the crap out of them. I kinda wish there was some character development for the terrible trio but there wasn't. When it seemed like there was, they immediately go back to being nasty witches and it destroys whatever character development there was for them. Then there's Sakurako. Sakurako annoyed me from the first time I saw her. She was all too sweet and I figured she was gonna be the fake sweet and manipulative girl from the get go. While I was getting frustrated with Tsukishi being indecisive about Rui and Tsukasa, I didn't see Sakurako's meddling as a fresh breath of air. As a matter of fact I didn't like her little arc at all.
Finally we come to Junpei, the worst "villain" in the entire anime. I didn't like him, his character design was the worst of all the guys on the show and his personality is even worse. I understand his motives for wanting revenge against Tsukasa, but that whole kidnap Tsukishi and beat up Tsukasa scene was extremely over the top. It made me extremely uncomfortable. It's almost worse than when Tsukasa almost raped Tsukishi while angry at the thought of her dating Rui or something. And rape is something no one deserves to go through.
Unfortunately, the beat up Tsukasa scene and the Tsukasa almost raping Tsukishi and how all the characters dealt with it afterwards felt awkward and unsettling. It was as though the author really wanted to try and surprise the audience and make them accept that both the scenes happen and the characters are over it and fine with it because it's a love story and everything is gonna be sunshine and skittles.
And also I don't like Tsukishi's family, I mean I understand their financial situation but you can't rely on your daughter to date and marry a rich dude alone. I'll admit Tsukishi's parents are funny, but the whole “let’s rely on our daughter to end our money problems” thing just really annoys me (They also have a son who could help out with their money problems, too…).
Like I said before, I wish we could get a few one shot episodes that focus more on the side characters than Rui, Tsukishi, and Tsukasa so we could get a breather from the ongoing drama between them, but sadly this is a shoujo anime, and most shoujo/romance animes must keep the spotlight on the two (or three) main characters while leaving the side and supporting characters in the limelight. Which is a shame because while I've grown to like Tsukasa immensely, I still find Akira, Soujiro, Tsubaki, and Shizuka far more interesting than watching Tsukishi's indecisiveness. As a matter of fact, I lowkey liked the minor interactions that Sakurako had with Kazuya because if they had their own little one shot episode/adventure together, I can totally see Kazuya slowly getting over Tsukishi and moving onto Sakurako and getting her to not be so fake.
That's pretty much it. I was gonna talk about the Rui and Shizuka arc but I think that was actually a good arc and I had no complaints with that. And as for the Tsukasa and Tsukishi's relationship, rooted for the two of them to get together the whole time, but I'm getting tired of Tsukishi flaking out on Tsukasa, especially after they've had a crap ton of cute moments together. But those cute moments were worth watching and I’m glad that everything ended nicely for everyone in the end.
All the music and sounds were really beautiful and they were pleasant to the ears. Even the voice acting (the English dub, which I watched) was really good.
I may have a lot of gripes with this anime but I'm going to admit that despite what I said about the characters, it does have an interesting cast and I'm glad the anime has quickly moved on from the whole red paper tagging thing to actually churning out a complicated romantic and friendship plot because otherwise, seeing Tsukishi dodging all the kids being sent to mess with her and seeing her just merely insult and banter with Tsukasa would get boring really fast. All in all, would I recommend this anime to everyone? Well if you’re a big shoujo fan and don’t mind watching older animes than yes, I highly recommend this anime to watch. Just be forewarned that there are some uncomfortable moments in this series but otherwise Hana Yori Dango was extremely enjoyable.
daisyfang4
I like to keep my reviews brief and straight to the point without any spoilers Story- The story was elegantly done. I loved how they had a clear plots and didn't steer away from it. These plots were not as simple as a love triangle they were complex and really developed. The whole anime was based off the concept of love and how people would do anything for it. Art- This anime was made during the 90's however the art is not to harsh. I like the vintage look that this anime provides. Characters- This anime gives a wide variety of characters that we see growand blossom from each trail that they face. Each character progressed and we got to see who they actually are. Even supporting characters were developed to their full potential and that is what makes this anime different from other anime's. No character was left alone and forgotten about.
Enjoyment- I enjoyed this anime thoroughly. It was more than just another love story and that' s what makes it different from other romance anime's. It had a story to tell that was deeper that just love. They had economic situations that many people face on a daily basis and internal feelings that people would feel.
I totally would recommend this anime to anyone who wants a good romance story that is complex and has meaning.
sprinkgo
It's bad. Objectively, it's bad, but I really enjoyed it. It's a classic messy shoujo that will piss you off to no end, but it's so brainless that you end up feeling really relaxed while watching it and it's really fun to just sit back and pay half-attention to. There's some genuinely good character development and some likeable people, some really sweet moments, and some inconsistencies that will make you kind of insane. If you like brain-rotting shoujo and need something less-than-serious to get your mind off of things, this show is perfect! Tsukushi will make you nuts, but you'll love her anyway. Have fun.
H1kikomori
AMAZING - by far one of my favorites :) The main thing i would say is do not be turned off by the amount of episodes, but i ain't going to lie that this anime was on my 'To Watch List' for a very very long time. But once i started it, i could not stop until the end. Each episode is better than the ones before and the paste the development of the story line is presented provides you with a more understanding of the choices made as well as answer each question your mind conjures. It definitely does not leave any stone unturned. So muchhappens regarding the storline to even put it all in writing. All i can say is they is never a dull moment in ALL 51 episodes. From the crazy mother; the two timing/back stabbing friends and countless of misunderstandings
I really hope you enjoy Hana Yori Dango as much as i have
