This isn’t a series overview; I’m just comparing volume one with volume 32. I haven’t read volumes two through 31. When the series is complete in English, I’ll have to ask myself: “I really like Hana Yori Dango but do I $300 like it? Do I like it as much as a new iPod?”

Boys Over Flowers, Vol. 1

By Yoko Kamio
Viz, 208 pp.
Rating: Teen

Boys Over Flowers, Vol. 32

By Yoko Kamio
Viz, 184 pp.
Rating: Teen

Behold the power of Hana Yori Dango! Boys Over Flowers, (as it is called in English) is the best-selling shojo manga, possibly the best-selling shojo of all time, with over 35 million copies in Japan, possibly as many as 58 million copies depending on your source.¹ A 2008 live action film finale to the 2005 live action drama series was number one at the Japanese box office, bumping Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to number two at the box office. ²

Let’s think about those best seller numbers for a minute: Valley of the Dolls at 30 million copies is often cited as one of the top-selling books of all time (after the Bible and Mao’s books). 58 million books is more in league with say, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hollows sold 44 million, (perhaps 72 million worldwide).³

Boys Over Flowers has been turned into a Taiwanese drama, a recent Korean drama, and a 51 episode anime series. What’s the secret behind this enduring hit? In an extensive research effort for this review (an effort dating back to 2003), I read volumes one and 32 of the manga, watched the first five episodes of the anime series, watched the OVA, and thoroughly enjoyed the Japanese version of the live action drama. (I’m halfway through season two, so no spoilers!)

Boys Over Flowers began its twelve-year run in 1992 in Margaret magazine, introducing us to Tsukushi, a plucky poor girl attending a school for the super elite. Today, that plot element is a manga cliché, parodied in titles like Ouran High School Host Club, but in Hana Yori Dango the plot still seems fresh. Tsukushi, whose name means “weed,” tries to keep a low profile at school, but she secretly hates that four pretty and ridiculously rich guys called the “F4″ (four flowers) who run the school like a gang of bishonen bullies. Tsukushi stands up for a friend and suddenly finds herself to be the next victim of the F4’s bullying. Rather than transferring schools, Tsukushi declares her own “war” on the F4, which is something no one has ever done before.

Domyouji's hair 1992

I really love the premise, because I wish this was a story about class conflict. Instead, the story leans in the direction the love triangle direction, but for some reason no matter how many times I see it in a different formats I expect a different result (maybe this time it will be about class conflict…). Much to my consternation, the dumbest, meanest, and richest member of the F4, Tsukasa Domyouji, falls for Tsukushi.⁴ This being shojo, Domyouji doesn’t realize he’s in love, and expresses his newfound interest in Tsukushi by having her kidnapped and giving her an expensive makeover courtesy of his personal staff. Tsukushi still hates Domyouji afterward, and he’s left wondering why.

The premise drew me in, but it’s the plot that surprises me into feeling both intrigued and annoyed simultaneously. I don’t want Tsukushi to be with Domyouji, and she doesn’t want to be with him, and yet, 31 volumes later (or nine episodes on average) I’m cheering for the couple. It’s somehow both frustrating and rewarding.

Ten years passed in real life between volumes one and 32, and hairstyles and fashions have changed a lot. Kamio’s art style seemed a bit amateurish (and severely dated) in volume one, but by volume 32 she has a practiced hand (and maybe more assistants). Kamio’s art in volume one has a terrific energy behind it, as if the lines can barely contain the story she’s trying to tell. The story feels earnest, and the characters’ emotions are carried through the page, which makes for the best of shojo.

The more I think about it, the more the art reminds me of Ai Yazawa’s Neighborhood Story. Now I want to read more early 1990s shojo for comparison!

Domyouji’s hair changes drastically over the years. Originally a failed experiment at drawing dreadlocks (he looks a little like Vanilla Ice) by 2002 Domyouji had more of a modified perm, which is also how he looks in the live action drama.

Kamio Explains Domyouji's Hair

Unfortunately it seems like the series jumped the shark somewhere along the way. Volume 32 finds Tsukushi visiting a hospitalized Domyouji, who has lost any memory that they were ever boyfriend and girlfriend. They doctors don’t know if he’ll ever get back his 31 volumes worth of memory, and to make matters worse, there’s a really nice girl in the hospital who’s known for being so nice that she accidentally steals other girls’ boyfriends. Amnesia is such a soap opera cliché, and romantic rivals are such a shojo standard that it makes volume 32 a tough pill to swallow. There’s a lot of love lost somewhere between volume one and volume 32. It’s as if Kamio has become a well-oiled shojo-producing machine.

I’m as flustered with volume 32 as I was with volume one, but I feel as if the reward is gone. Tsukushi and Domyouji already got together once, and I’m not as enthusiastically cheering for their reunion. How many times has this happened to them? Shouldn’t this series be over by now?

Domyouji's hair in 2002

Maybe someone can clarify in the comments if I’m wrong, but as far as I can tell, the Japanese volume 36 should have ended the original run in 2004. I have no idea what’s in Volume 37, released in Japan last year. Whatever it is, it must be good, since volume 37 debuted at #2 on Tohan’s Japanese Comic Rankings the week of June 24th, 2008, when the movie came out. (Beaten out only by xxxHOLiC volume 13.)⁵

Volume 34 will be available February 10, 2009 and Volume 35 will be released April 4th, according to Diamond’s schedule. It looks like we might be able to see the end of this very long series in America in 2009 (or 2010 at the latest).

The anime series ran from 1996-1997 in Japan, and was released on 12 DVDs by Viz in 2004-2005. The series was well-loved in the days of fansubbed VHS tape trading, but it looks painfully dated by today’s standards. A bizarre one-episode 1997 OVA features Tsukushi re-imagined as a struggling jazz dancer. Yes, a jazz dancer. I don’t think the OVA has been distributed officially in English.

Volumes one through 33 of Boys Over Flowers are available now.

¹ “35 million” source. “58 million” source.
² Source
³ Source.
⁴ For clarity’s sake, I have referred to the protagonists Tsukushi Makino and Tsukasa Domyouji as Tsukushi and Domyouji, because I find referring to them Tsukushi and Tsukasa a little confusing, even for me.
⁵ Source.