Hana Yori Dango

It’s worth mentioning that the F4 craze that hit Asia (Meteor Garden) is based on (if not a direct port of) this Anime.

DISCLAIMER: spoilers are evident in this review as they are somewhat needed to explain cartain things so read at your own risk.

Series

This time, I don’t care if I’m biased… I loved this anime! I’ll explain why in a while. The name means something like “Boys Before Flowers” Basically, it’s about the life of a lower-middle-class girl studying in a high class school. The same school of the “F4,” who are the heirs to the most powerful corporations in Japan hence have a lot of pull and influence in the school. No one messes with them… period. If they don’t like you, they “red-tag” (their declaration of war) and you’re as good as kicked out (or dead, whichever way you’d like to take it).

Anyways, of course Makino Tsukushi (protagonist) ends up getting in their way (else there’d be no story) and fights back. She goes through a lot of s#!+ but those childish troubles of getting bullied change into something more complicated for the characters involved … love.

Here’s the spoiler: The leader of the F4, Doumyoji Tsukasa, falls in love with her. Oh you’d wish it was as simple as that! But considering his type of character, the other “people” involved in the series, and Makino’s own “interests.” You cannot begin to imagine how twisted the series was gonna get! For all it’s worth, I really liked it because the storyline and development were superb. The animation generally sucked, but you could turn a blind eye, since you really won’t notice it once you get hooked on the story itself. The story was awesome in the sense that it was outrageous, but at the same time, realistic. Realistic enough to make any person relate. The reason probably why it looks so extreme is because it focuses on the realationship between someone from the masses and someone from the top 0.000001% in the social strata. While very plausible in movies and TV series, that’s next to impossible in real-life.

It’s a hilarious series overall, but when it gets to the drama and “sacrifice” topics, it can really make you weep! (well maybe not you, but I did) This is a must-watch anime… especially for the ladies. And the guys, well I’m straight, and I loved it!

Movie