Boys Over Flowers (Japanese: 花より男子（だんご）, Hepburn: Hana yori Dango) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoko Kamio. The story takes place in the fictional Eitoku Academy, an elite school for children from rich families. It tells the story of Tsukushi Makino, a girl from a middle-class family, whose mother enrolls her in an elite high school to compete with the families from her husband's company. While at Eitoku, she encounters the F4, a gang of four boys who are children of Japan's wealthiest families and who bully anyone that gets in their way.
The series was serialized in Shueisha's Margaret magazine from October 1992 to January 2004, with its chapters collected in 37 tankōbon volumes between 1992 and 2008. In North America, the manga is licensed by Viz Media.
The manga has been adapted into various mediums. It was first adapted as an audio drama released on CD from July 1993 to July 1994. This was followed by a Japanese live-action feature film in 1995, then an animated television series, produced by Toei Animation, that was broadcast by ABC from 1996 to 1997. The first live-action television adaptation was one produced in Taiwan, titled Meteor Garden (2001). After Taiwan's Meteor Garden, a number of other live-action television adaptations have followed. A Japanese live-action series aired from 2005 to 2007 (and was followed by a 2008 film), a South Korean adaptation aired in 2009, a mainland Chinese adaptation, also titled Meteor Garden aired in 2018, and a Thai adaptation, F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers, was aired from 2021 to 2022.
In 1996, Boys Over Flowers won the 41st Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōjo manga category. By February 2015, the series had over 61 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time and the best-selling shōjo manga of all time. The series enjoys immense popularity in the Eastern Asia region.
Contents
Plot
Eitoku Academy (英徳学園, Eitoku Gakuen) in Yamanote, Japan is a prestigious school that caters to children from upper-class families. Hence, Tsukushi Makino, who comes from a middle-class family, fulfills the literal meaning of her name, as she is initially considered to be the "weed" of the school. The school is ruled by the F4 ("Flower Four"), four young men from Japan's wealthiest families. Tsukasa Domyoji is the son of the wealthiest, most powerful family in Japan. They initially bully Tsukushi when she stands up to them. However, Domyoji eventually takes an interest in her because she is the only girl in the school who stands up to him.
Tsukushi, however, is repulsed by his hot-headed nature and bullying demeanor, falling instead for soft-spoken and sensitive Rui Hanazawa, Tsukasa's best friend since childhood.
The other two members of the F4 are Akira Mimasaka, the laid-back peacemaker of the group, and Sojirou Nishikado, an unrepentant playboy. They both usually have at least one girlfriend at any one time; Akira prefers older women because the women of his household (his mother and two younger sisters) are quite childish. Sojirou is happy to be in casual relationships with many women, although we later discover that at one time he was in love with a childhood friend. Over time, Tsukushi's feelings towards Tsukasa evolve, as she begins to appreciate the degree of change that occurred in Tsukasa once he fell in love with her. However, because of the difference in social class, Tsukushi and Tsukasa's relationship is blocked by Tsukasa's mother, Kaede but supported by his elder sister, Tsubaki, who becomes friends with Tsukushi.
Characters
Tsukushi Makino (牧野 つくし, Makino Tsukushi)
Voiced by: Maki Mochida (anime), Megumi Toyoguchi (video game)
The protagonist who is a teenage high school girl whose name, Tsukushi, means "weed". She is thus the "weed" that will challenge the "Flower Four" or F4. Tsukushi is one of the very few students studying at Eitoku High School to come from a middle-class family. Her mother pushed her to join Eitoku because the children of her father's work colleagues all attend prestigious schools. Tsukushi is unhappy at Eitoku, but feels if she quietly exists for two years, she can survive it. However, after defending her friend who accidentally falls down a set of stairs and onto the leader of the F4, Tsukasa Domyoji, she, instead, receives a red card—a declaration of war. This officially marks her for future torment by the F4 and the rest of the student body.
However, unlike most of the F4's targets, Tsukushi retaliates by directly attacking Tsukasa. This unexpected retaliation and steadfast resistance to the hazing is one that he has never encountered from a target before, and falls in love with Tsukushi. Initially, Tsukushi hates all of the F4 except Rui Hanazawa, for whom she harbors romantic feelings. But, after Rui admits that he will never stop loving his childhood sweetheart Shizuka, Tsukushi slowly falls in love with Tsukasa and becomes friends with the F4.
Tsukasa Domyoji (道明寺 司, Dōmyōji Tsukasa)
Voiced by: Naoki Miyashita (anime), Takahiro Sakurai (video game)
Tsukasa is the leader of the F4 group and the heir to the large Domyoji Enterprises. He grew up with the rest of the F4 as his mother was always overseas, and his older sister relocated to Los Angeles after her marriage. His mother, in particular, is cold towards him, and wants to control his life for the sake of preserving the family name.
As the extremely hot-headed and volatile leader of the F4, Tsukasa uses his power to rule over the entire school. He uses an infamous red card and attaches it inside anyone's locker who has made the F4, particularly him, upset. A red card gives the entire student body at Eitoku free rein to bully, prank, and humiliate the receiver until they decide to leave the school. However, Tsukushi's declaration of war against the F4 after receiving the red card, retaliation against the student body and strong will, reminds Tsukasa of his beloved older sister, Tsubaki. He thus grows fond of Tsukushi, eventually falling madly in love with her.
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by Yoko Kamio, Boys Over Flowers was serialized in Shueisha's bi-weekly magazine Margaret from October 1992 to January 2004. In July 2006, a short story based on the manga was published in issue 15 of Margaret magazine; another two-installment short story was published in January 2007. The series was collected in 37 tankōbon volumes released between October 23, 1992, and June 25, 2008. English translations of all 37 volumes were released between 2003 and 2009 by Viz Media. It has also been published by Glénat in France, and by Planeta DeAgostini in Spain.
Kamio began a sequel, Boys Over Flowers Season 2, in Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+ online magazine on February 15, 2015.
CD
An audio drama adaptation of Boys Over Flowers, marketed as "CD books" (CD ブック), was released from July 1993 to July 1994. It starred Takuya Kimura, in his voice-acting debut, as the voice of Rui Hanazawa, whom this adaptation focused on.
Live-action television and films
Note:
In 2008–2009, such 2 of the 3 Boys Over Flowers live-action television series as Hana yori Dango with its sequel Hana yori Dango Returns in Japan and Boys Over Flowers in South Korea were aired on Xing Kong (currently owned by Star China Media, a subsidiary of China Media Capital) dubbed in Mandarin except Meteor Garden with its sequel Meteor Garden II in Taiwan using its audio with Chinese subtitles.
Anime
An anime television series produced by Toei Animation and broadcast on television by Asahi Broadcasting Corporation and TV Asahi in 1996. It was followed by a spin-off theatrical short film, set in an alternate universe, in 1997. This is the final television series produced by Toei Animation to utilize cel animation; all television series produced by the company then after would use digital ink-and-paint. The anime was later released in Northern America on DVD by Viz Media in 2003, as Boys Over Flowers. It was then rereleased by Discotek Media in 2016, as Hana yori Dango.
Reception
Boys Over Flowers won the 41st Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōjo category in 1996.
By February 2015, the series had over 61 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all-time and the best-selling shōjo manga of all time. In April 2023, Guinness World Records has officially certified Boys Over Flowers as having the most published copies of a shōjo manga series written by a single author. On TV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150.000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, Boys Over Flowers ranked 70th.
Legacy
F4 and JVKV
F4 (Flower Four) or JVKV was a Taiwanese boy band consisting of cast members of the 2001 Taiwanese version, Meteor Garden: Jerry Yan, Vanness Wu, Ken Chu, and Vic Chou. It formed in 2001 after the Meteor Garden series ended. They released three albums, Meteor Rain (2001), Fantasy 4ever (2002), and Waiting for You (2007). According to Forbes, F4 has sold 3.5 million copies of their first two albums all over Asia as of July 2003. In 2007, due to copyright issues, the group changed its name to JVKV, using the initials of its members in descending order their ages.