Hana Yori Dango Review
August 28th, 2007 , 1:21 pm by Ayame-chan
Episodes: 51
Year: 1996
Alternative Titles: Boys Over Flowers, Boys Before Flowers
Status: Complete, Licensed by Viz Media
Official Hana Yori Dango Site (Japanese)
Official Hana Yori Dango Site (U.S)
Rating: Great
Review: Eitoku Academy is a school for children of the rich, privileged and prestigious families. The school is ruled by the F4 – a group of boys coming from extremely influential families. Their power pretty much gives them the ticket to get away with anything! Makino Tsukushi, thanks to her academic skills, finds herself in this elite school. However, being the only poor and ordinary student there, she feels quite out of place and makes up her mind to go through school without drama or attention. However, the F4, and particularly Domyoji Tsukasa do not make life easy for her and Tsukushi finds herself challenging the otherwise undisputed power of the F4. Tsukushi makes up her mind not be harassed out of school and vows to be tough on her stance. As with high school life, Tsukushi finds herself having a crush on one of the F4 boys, Hanazawa Rui – but will those feelings get anywhere? What follows is a roller coaster ride for Makino Tsukushi in love, friendship and life in general, as she stands up for what she believes is right and in doing so influences those around – more than she realises!
Hana Yori Dango has a lot going on in terms of its storyline. Although a long series, it manages to stay away from becoming the stereotypical soap opera. The story itself revolves around Tsukushi and how she understands deeper and more emotional side of life – love, friendship, jealousy and being tough in an elite and intimidating world. I loved watching the anime despite the bad and repetitive soundtrack – but thats what you get for watching a 1996 anime in 2007! The character development of Tsukushi, Tsukasa, Rui and many other characters was great and added real depth to the story. It’s really one of those animes thats not afraid to be emotional and real. Watch it!
