Hana Yori Dango's story may not be unique, or original, but it is great and unique in its own way. It follows a lower class girl Tsukushi Makino as she attends the wealthiest school in Japan called Eitoku Academy. Because of her attitude, it doesn't take her long to become the most hated person in the school and the target of the F4, the sons of the most powerful families in all of Japan. Then however it doesn't take long for the main leader of the F4, Tsukasa Domyoji, to take a interest in Makino because she is the only girl in the school who doesn't show an interest in him. However because of his attitude Makino pays no interest in him- instead she has her eyes set on another guy.
As stated above the story may be simple, but it's compelling none the less. Even though it starts out as a love triangle, it is quickly solved who the main character will end up with and thus we get to see a relationship in an manga (Which is quite rare outside a couple of titles). Even though the love triangle is solved early on that does not stop the Drama in any way. To see these two characters grow as their relationship grows is truly a wonderful joy and is one of the strong points of the manga.
The strongest point of this manga lies with the characters. Makino Tsukushi may be one of the best and most likeable character's. She is contently faced with adversity, whether it be extreme bullying by the school, or having to work and balance school to help support her poor family. She never puts her head down, but instead keeps pushing forward. She also has the unique ability to tame the most pig headed people in the world, a very rare ability indeed. We mustn't forget Tsukasa Domyoji- while he is portrayed early on as a foul, mean, stubborn rich kid, he is much more than that. He is caring and brave, and most of all innocent. His character, thanks to Makino, goes through some of the best development I have seen in a Shoujo Romance manga.
The art work is unique in its own way. As the series ran for over a decade the art does improve tremendously as it comes closer to its end. It starts off very dated, with not much detail in the environment around the characters, simply character designs and sometimes very awkward facial expressions. But by the end it is vastly improved, with a lot of detail added to the environment, and while the character design didn't change their facial expressions did and you can literally feel the emotion coming off the characters.
If you are a fan of Shoujo Romance anime or manga and you have not read this yet then go read it. The story and characters will suck you into this tangling story of Cinderella as she tries to deal with her own feelings and the problem of being in the lower class.
That was a sincerely interesting post Burntlettuce. It touched on everything i wanted to know about the manga and add details like the progression of the artistry.
ReplyDeleteJust saying because i called out some things i thought could be worked on chrono last post. I think you avoided some the pitfalls he did along with touching on higher a writing form.
Overall, it made me want to check out the manga despite reminding me of Spiral A in the whole Academy angle. I also notice that you didn't really give it a rating or score.
it's easy to go read it online i bet for free and that way it would be worth a read but; assume someone may be interested in buying but they want to make sure it's well spent.
A simple thing like "check it" for average that you could find something interesting about it but overall you can do without, "Buy it" meaning it's really good and won't be disappointing but it's not the best. A "Must Read" would be like a top of the line meaning that's the best of the best. Something like "Watchmen" or "Finding Nemo" in their respective mediums would be not second to any thing else. Just my advice.