By Kazumi Tohno
NETCOMICS, 175 pp.
Rating: 16

Flower Garden features three shoujo short stories. In the first story, “Flower Garden,” Shoko wakes up after a drinking binge to find herself naked in bed with a 16-year-old boy named Kaoru. Much to her surprise, Kaoru is still there when she returns from work with her fiancé, Matsuda, later that evening. It turns out Kaoru is a distant relative who is staying with Shoko while he goes to school nearby, since he was forced to leave his old school due to bullying. As the story goes on, a series of events pushes Shoko and Kaoru closer and closer together as Matsuda is alienated from Shoko. In the second story, “See You in the Dream,” popular novelist Takashi meets cranky guide lady Yuriko while at a botanical garden doing research. Their paths cross a few more times, and they find out that they may be some sort of dream couple. In the third story, “Black Chocolate,” chocolate takes on different meanings on Valentine’s Day for a girl and two of her friends.

This is the third collection I’ve read by Kazumi Tohno, and unfortunately it was the worst of the three. There are some nice elements in the title story, like Kaoru getting close to the girl that draws yaoi manga in his class, and the fact that the girl is actually an assistant to the arranged fiancée for Matsuda. It’s also one of the only series I’ve read where the characters are concerned about transmitting STDs. But other elements of the story are ridiculous. Matsuda doesn’t have a say when his company decides he’s going to get married (as far as I could tell, he was just an employee and not related to the owners). There is minimal plot progression between when Shoko is in love with Matsuda and when she falls in love with Kaoru. Actually, it was a misunderstanding that Matsuda was never given a chance to explain that triggered the end of the story.

“See You in the Dream” is kind of silly, but probably the most enjoyable story in the volume. The two main characters periodically fall asleep and communicate with each other through dreams, which doesn’t make much sense, and the crisis at the end is also kind of silly, but it was at least a rather sincere romance. “Black Chocolate” is a mess. Other than the basic idea of the story, not much else is conveyed, character-wise or plot-wise. The art is such that all the characters look alike, which makes the two boys run together.

Though the character designs are difficult to distinguish from one another, the art has a really classic early ’90s feel to it, with a lot of soft and blurry edges. The art actually reminds me a lot of Mitsuru Adachi, except maybe a bit softer. I like it better in this book than the other two compilations by Tohno, but that might just be because the art in this one is slightly more classic-looking.

Unfortunately, this collection is very disappointing compared to The Gentlemen and the Lady. From underdeveloped characters to contrived plot devices, it falls short in almost every area save for the artwork. “See You in the Dream” is really the only story that’s worth reading, but even that story is pretty mediocre. I think most people are going to want to give this a miss.

Flower Garden is available online at NETCOMICS.com