| Boys Over Flowers | 
Cover art of Boys Over Flowers volume 1 tankōbon published by Shueisha | 花より男子
(Hana Yori Dango) | | Genre | Slice of life story, Romantic comedy | | Manga | | Author | Yoko Kamio | | Publisher |  Shueisha | | English publisher |   Viz Media | | | | Demographic | Shōjo | | Magazine | Margaret | | Original run | October 1992 – September 2003 | | Volumes | 37 (List of volumes) | | Live-action film | | Hana Yori Dango | | Director | Yasuyuki Kusuda | | Released | August 19, 1995 | | TV anime | | Director | Shigeyasu Yamauchi | | Studio | Toei Animation | | Network | Asahi Broadcasting Corporation | | | | Original run | September 8, 1996 – August 31, 1997 | | Episodes | 51 | | Anime film | | Hana Yori Dango: The Movie | | Director | Shigeyasu Yamauchi | | Studio | Toei Animation | | Released | March 8, 1997 | | Runtime | 90 minutes | | TV drama | Meteor Garden
traditional Chinese: 流星花園 | | Director | Tsai Yueh Hsun | | Network |  Chinese Television System | | Original run | April 2001 – August 2001 | | Episodes | 19 | | TV drama | Meteor Garden II
traditional Chinese: 流星花園II | | Director | Wang Ming Tai
Jiang Feng Hong
Mai Da Jie
Zheng De Hua | | Network | Chinese Television System | | Original run | November 2002 – December 2002 | | Episodes | 31 | | TV drama | Hana Yori Dango
Japanese:花より男子 | | Director | Yasuharu Ishii | | Network | Tokyo Broadcasting System | | Original run | October 21, 2005 – December 16, 2005 | | Episodes | 9 | | TV drama | Hana Yori Dango Returns
Japanese:花より男子2(リターンズ) | | Director | Yasuharu Ishii
Osamu Katayama
Daisuke Yamamuro | | Network | Tokyo Broadcasting System | | Original run | January 5, 2007 – March 16, 2007 | | Episodes | 11 | | Live-action film | Hana Yori Dango Final
Japanese: 花より男子ファイナル | | Director | Yasuharu Ishii | | Released | June 28, 2008 | | TV drama | Boys Over Flowers
Korean:꽃보다男子 | | Director | Jun Ki Sang | | Network |  Korean Broadcasting System | | | | Original run | January 5, 2009 – March 31, 2009 | | Episodes | 25 | | Anime and Manga Portal | Boys Over Flowers (花より男子, Hana Yori Dango?) is a Japanese shōjo manga series by Yoko Kamio. It was serialized in the bi-weekly anthology magazine Margaret, which is aimed at high-school-age girls. The manga series ran continuously from October 1992 to September 2003, and was collected into 37 tankōbon volumes. In 1996, it received the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo.[1] Recently, the series has started to be released in a deluxe edition (larger pages and with all the color artwork from the magazine reproduced). The manga has been remade into 3 drama productions (in Taiwan, Japan, and Korea, along with one spin-off, 2 live action movies, 1 anime movie and also an anime series.[2] Hana Yori Dango is the best-selling shōjo manga in Japan of all time (54 million copies in 2005.)[3] The title Hana yori Dango, is a pun on a Japanese saying, "Dumplings before Flowers" (花より団子, "Hana yori Dango" lit. "dango (rice dumplings) rather than flowers"). "Dumplings before flowers" is a well-known Japanese expression that refers to people who attend Hanami, but rather than enjoying the beauty of the flowers, head straight for the food vendor booths, preferring tangible things like food and drink to the abstract appreciation of the flowers’ beauty.[4] The author creates the pun by changing the kanji of the title to mean "Boys over Flowers" (花より男子?). Note that "boys" (男子?) is normally read danshi (だんし?), but the furigana indicates that it reads dango (だんご?). Makino Tsukushi, a working-class girl, attends an elite escalator school called Eitoku Academy (英徳学園, Eitoku Gakuen?), populated by children and older youths from rich, high-society families. She is the "weed" of the school, surrounded by all the rich kids, including the "Flower Four" (F4). The F4 leader and son of the wealthiest, most powerful family in Japan, Domyouji Tsukasa, takes an interest in Tsukushi, because she is the only girl at Eitoku who does not fawn over him. However, his hot-headed nature and bullying ways are originally a major turn-off for Tsukushi, who has her sights set on someone else (Hanazawa Rui). The violinist Hanazawa Rui, Tsukasa's best friend, becomes Tsukushi's first serious romantic interest. He is a quiet and cool guy, but he has a soft spot for his close friend and Tsukushi's idol, the model Todou Shizuka, whom he harbored feelings for since childhood. His character is a bit complex, and always has changing feelings for Tsukushi, but above all cares about her a lot. The other two members of the F4 are Mimasaka Akira, the laid-back peacemaker of the group, and Nishikado Sōjirō, 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 silly. Sojiro 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 the course of the series, however, Tsukushi's feelings evolve, and she begins to appreciate the degree of change that occurred in Tsukasa once he fell in love with her. He becomes fiercely loyal to Tsukushi and believes in her beyond all doubt, and slowly gets her to see him in a different light. The physical obstacles and emotional challenges of their rocky high-school courtship form the basis of the story. Other themes include Tsukushi's attempt to fit in at the school, the problems of her family's lifestyle and income, and the decadent lifestyle of upper-class Japanese girls. Recently in July 2006, a short story was released in issue 15 of Margaret magazine. An anime series was produced by Toei Animation and broadcast by Asahi Broadcasting Corporation. It ran from 8 September 1996 to 31 August 1997 with a total of 51 episodes. A 1997 anime movie was also produced, however it deviated from the plot of the actual manga as it was set in an alternate universe and characters were placed into new roles to suit the movie's new story. The anime movie is reminiscent of the American film Flashdance, Tsukushi is an aspiring dancer attempting to win a role in a large stage production. [edit] Live-action TV series Due to its immense popularity, Hana Yori Dango has been adapted into TV series several times: Meteor Garden, a 2001 Taiwanese series broadcast on CTS, followed by Meteor Garden II in 2002; Hana Yori Dango, a 2005 Japanese series broadcast on TBS, followed in 2007 by Hana Yori Dango Returns and also, most recently in 2009 a South Korean adaptation, Boys Over Flowers, broadcast on KBS. [5]. [edit] Live-action films In 2008, Hana Yori Dango Final was released in theatres on June 28, 2008 [6] to end the Japanese TV series, all the original actors reprised their roles. The movie focused solely on Tsukasa and Tsukushi's adventure to retrieve the precious family heirloom: a tiara called "Smile of Venus" which was stolen by a mysterious man in black. The film has proven to be a huge success in Japanese cinemas remaining at #1 at the box office for several weeks, earning over US$ 70 million. The DVD for the drama is currently the #3 Best Selling Japanese Film DVD of all time after a mere 4 weeks of entering the charts, having stayed on top of them for all 4 weeks. The DVD was also the #1 best-selling DVD that was released in 2008 [7]. A cameo appearance was made by Naohito Fujiki, who played Hanazawa Rui in the original first live action movie [8], Hana Yori Dango, which was made in 1995 starring Uchida Yuki as Makino Tsukushi. [edit] Characters [edit] Rui Hanazawa (花沢 類, Hanazawa Rui?) - The violinist Rui Hanazawa, Tsukasa's best friend, becomes Tsukushi's first serious romantic interest. He is generally quiet, but has a soft spot for his close friend and Tsukushi's idol, the model Shizuka Todo, whom he has harbored feelings for since childhood. His character is a bit complex, and his feelings for Tsukushi are in a nearly constant state of flux (varying from annoyance to love), but above all cares about her a lot. In season two of Hana Yori Dango, he grows closer with Makino, but he also claimed that he loved her and that he is the one that would make her happy, not Domyoji. They eventually become very close friends and she depends on him as a confidant. According to Tsukushi, Rui Hanazawa is the one who can heal her wounds and make her feel happy and calm again when hurt by feelings for Tsukasa.
It's commonly mistranslated that Rui had autism "as a child", when a more accurate translation is that he had autism "since I was a child". Rui has Asperger syndrome, which makes socializing difficult for him. He has trouble recognizing facial expressions: for example, when trying to draw Tsukasa, he drew an expressionless egg with curly hair. These are personality traits which he still holds. [edit] Sojirou Nishikado (西門 総二郎, Nishikado Sōjirō?) - Voiced by: Yoshihiko Akaida (Japanese), Andrew Francis (English)
- Drama actors: Kensaku Saeki and Shota Matsuda (Japanese version), Ken Chu (Taiwanese version), Kim Bum (Korean version), Wei Chen (Mainland (Chinese) version)
- Another member of F4, Sojirou is quiet and very interested in the tea ceremony, which is his family's business. For the most part, he and Mimasaka usually work to keep the peace within the group and following Domyoji. In season two, he reunites with his first love, whom he had believed had only loved his brother. Later he learns that she had truly loved him, but the relationship is unsalvageable (in the manga they both recognize that they missed their one chance to be together, and in the drama she has become engaged to someone else). Makino's close friend, Yuuki has feelings for him and it is uncertain whether he feels the same way. He is also one of the two playboys in the F4.
[edit] Akira Mimasaka (美作 あきら, Mimasaka Akira?) - Voiced by: Yuuta Mochizuki (Japanese), Alistair Abell (English)
- Drama actors: Koichi Hashizume and Tsuyoshi Abe (Japanese version), Vanness Wu (Taiwanese version), Kim Joon (Korean version), Zhu Zi Xiao (Mainland (Chinese) version)
- Mimasaka is arguably the kindest and most mature member of F4. His family is very powerful in the Japanese underground (in the manga they own a large trading company). He keeps his cool and rarely loses his temper, although when he does, even Domyoji has to run for the hills. Akira is the other of the group's two playboys. His tastes tend towards older women, mainly because of his mother's childish ways. He has two younger sisters who are twins. He is also the one F4 member who like to and only uses cash. It was revealed in a special chapter that he actually had romantic feelings for Tsukushi, as she sees him as the man that he is, and sincerely appreciates him for it. Tsukushi also makes him realize that since he helps balance F4 out, a supporter if you will, that if he ever leaves them, then F4 will fall apart. However, he keeps his feelings to himself, due to the fact he cherishes his friendship with Tsukasa.
- He also often joins Sojirou in teasing Tsukasa about being a virgin.
[edit] Friends - Yuuki Matsuoka (松岡 優紀, Matsuoka Yūki?)
- Voiced by: Kanako Tobimatsu (Japanese), Tabitha St. Germain (English)
- Japanese drama actress: Aki Nishihara
- Taiwanese drama actress: Rainie Yang
- Korean drama actress: Kim So Eun
- Yuuki and Tsukushi were best friends at school before Tsukushi's parents decided to send her to Eitoku. The two of them still work together at a dango shop after school. Yuuki offers Tsukushi a lot of encouragement and advice about her situation with the F4. As she gains more familiarity with them, she develops romantic feelings for Sojirou.
- Shizuka Todou (藤堂 静, Tōdōu Shizuka?)
- Shizuka is a rich heiress and childhood friend of the F4. She and Rui particularly are very close; she was the first person who was able to get him to come out of his shell, and the two were inseparable for much of their childhood. She began a modeling career during her high school years, but shocks everyone at her twentieth birthday party by announcing that she plans to give up her career as a model as well as her position as the Todo heiress to move to Paris and become a human rights lawyer. In the drama, Shizuka was the inspiration that convinced Makino to attend Eitoku, and later to pursue a legal career.
- Rui initially accompanies Shizuka to Paris at Tsukushi's request, but their relationship suffers as Shizuka spends more and more time at work. Eventually, Rui returns to Japan in frustration. Shizuka remains in Paris and eventually marries to a lawyer there, giving her bouquet to Tsukushi.
- Kazuya Aoike (青池 和也, Aoike Kazuya?)
- Voiced by: Ietomi Yoji (Japanese), Brad Swaile (English)
- Taiwanese drama actor: Edward Ou (歐定興)
- Kazuya is another one of Tsukushi's childhood friends. He enrolls at Eitoku after his family comes into money through some real-estate deals. The other students at Eitoku draw a sharp distinction between Kazuya's "new money" and their "old money." The F4 in particular mention this difference fairly often.
- Tsukushi is both relieved to have a friend at Eitoku, and worried for Kazuya's safety if he continues to hang around her. She is particularly worried about Domyoji, who clearly considers Kazuya a romantic threat.
- Kazuya is fiercely loyal to and harbors romantic feelings for Tsukushi, but also relatively clueless and not very quick to pick up on things. He is not featured in the drama.
- Makiko Endo (遠藤真紀子, Endō Makiko?)
- Voiced by: Fuuko Misaki (Japanese), Nicole Bouma (English)
- Taiwanese drama actress: Ye An Ting (葉安婷)
- Makiko is one of Tsukushi's only friends at Eitoku in the beginning of the series. Tsukushi rescues her from inevitable torment after she collides with Domyoji on the stairs. Although she's forced to break off their friendship to prevent becoming a target of abuse, Makiko finds ways to help Tsukushi, sending her secret messages of encouragement or to warn her of impending danger. She disappears without comment as the manga goes on, therefore in the live-action versions, her character is merged with Sakurako.
- Sakurako Sanjo (三条 桜子, Sanjō Sakurako?)
- Born a very ugly child, Sakurako was the object of torment of the children she went to school with. When she confessed her love to Domyoji, he traumatized her by making fun of her looks.
- Sakurako undergoes plastic surgery and returns to Eitoku, determined to use her new beauty to take her revenge on Domyoji by making him fall in love with her. She acts sweet and innocent, but lets her true colors show when she thinks no one is watching. When she hears of his growing attraction to Tsukushi, she conspires with her friend Thomas to destroy her. She has Thomas drug Tsukushi at a club and then distributes photos of the two of them in bed together around the school, causing the student body to turn on her for betraying Domyoji.
- When Domyoji eventually refuses Sakurako's advances and sees through her plans, Sakurako becomes remorseful and she and Tsukushi become friends.
- Ookawahara Shigeru (大河原 滋, Okawahara Shigeru?)
- Voiced by: Emika Sato
- Japanese drama actress: Natsuki Kato
- Taiwanese drama actress: Ke Huan Ru (柯奐如)
- Korean drama actress: Lee Min Jung
- Shigeru is the princess of the Okawahara Corporation. She becomes the fiancee of Tsukasa and at first she is completely against it but soon she warms up to Tsukasa. Shigeru befriends Tsukushi and asks her to help her get Tsukasa, not realising that Tsukasa likes Makino and Makino in return harbours feelings for Tsukasa. In the end, she realises that Tsukasa will never love her and so decides to her two friends get together.
- On the surface, Shigeru seems aggressive and "boyish" but she is actually quite girly.
- Tsubaki Domyoji (道明寺 椿, Dōmyōji Tsubaki?)
- Tsubaki is Tsukasa's sister. She is one of the few people who is not afraid to stand up to him, a trait that Domyoji secretly admires in her. She marries the wealthy heir to a hotel company and moved to Los Angeles with him. Although she has obtained a degree of happiness in her marriage, she did not choose her husband and was manipulated by her mother Kaede into breaking off her relationship with an ordinary boy she loved and marrying to suit the family interests. She begs Domyoji not to make the same mistake.
- Sachiyo Sengoku (Okami-San) (千石 幸代, Sengoku Sachiyo?) *only present in Japanese drama
A woman who owns the dango shop in which Tsukushi and Yuuki work in. She has a habit of listening in on their conversations and usually popping out from nowhere. She always relates an issue dramatically to men she had dated in the past, all of which had unusual situations for their breakups. These stories tend to cause confusion and weariness to the girls as time goes by, making them wonder about Okami-san's real age. Although she has no counterpart elsewhere, in the Korean version there is a male character, Bom Chun Sik, who plays a similar role. He is the owner of the porridge shop where Tsukushi and Yuuki's counterpart work, also occasionally listening in on their conversations and often giving them somewhat wayward advice. While Okami-san develops a noticeable albeit subtle attraction to Akira upon meeting him, Chun Sik develops a slightly infatuated admiration for Sojirou's counterpart, fondly referring to him as "Prince". [edit] Enemies - Kaede Domyoji (道明寺 楓, Dōmyōji Kaede?)
- Tsukasa's controlling mother. She is the chairwoman of Domyoji Enterprises. She is very clever and devious and hatches many schemes to break apart her son and Tsukushi, who she sees as an "insect" that must be squashed for the sake of the family.
- Class 2-C (2年C組生徒, The Girls of Class 2-C?)
- Yuriko Asai (浅井 百合子, Asai Yuriko?)
- Voiced by: Yoshiko Shimizu
- Japanese drama actress: Saki Seto
- Taiwanese drama actess: Belinda Cheng of Beauty4 (鄭美黛)
- Korean drama actress: Gook Ji Yun
- Minako Yamano (山野 美奈子, Yamano Minako?)
- Erika Ayuhara (鮎原 えりか, Ayuhara Erika?)
- The three girls who bully Tsukushi throughout their high school years, Yuriko believes that Domyoji only has a passing interest in Tsukushi and resolves to make her life horrible. She often sucks up to the rest of the F4 more than the other students.
[edit] Family - Haruo Makino (牧野 晴男, Makino Haruo?)
- Tsukushi's father. He often cannot hold a job and this puts pressure on Tsukushi to earn the family income. He often states that he will work harder and stay devoted so that Tsukushi will not work as hard, but he never does. He, along with his wife, respect Domyoji and treat him like a god. He also wants Tsukushi to marry someone wealthy so that they will not have to live in poverty.
- In the manga and the drama, he, and the rest of the family, excluding Tsukushi, end up moving to a fishing village to make a living.
- Chieko Makino (牧野 千恵子, Makino Chieko?)
- Tsukushi's mother. She is very comical and while sometimes she seems to care very little for Tsukushi's feelings, it is later revealed that she will not allow her daughter to be insulted. She dreams of having Tsukushi marry someone wealthy and constantly tries to get Tsukushi together with Domyoji.
- She, along with her husband and son, end up moving to a fishing village in hopes of getting a better life there.
- Susumu Makino (牧野 進, Makino Susumu?)
- Tsukushi's younger brother, he is determined to go to the cheapest high school and get a part time job so that Tsukushi can continue to attend Eitoku. He eventually ends up moving to a fishing village with his parents. He plays a larger role in the live-action version and the manga than in the original Anime.
[edit] Relationships Domyouji and Tsukushi's relationship has varied from the start. In the beginning it was one of hatred and physical violence, due to the fact he waged war against her all the time. However as Domyouji got to know her, he slowly falls in love with her though he has always held a cold heart. Due to this, he attempts to make advances on Makino, but always ends up fighting with her. In the manga they go through many hardships to be together. His stubborn mother, Makino's friendship with Rui, Makino's constantly changing feelings, and also Domyoji's frequent angry outbursts (as wells as many other problems) are always keeping them apart. In the end, their love wins out. Towards the end Domyoji makes an announcement to the media to go to New York for 4 years in order to take over his father's company. During this announcement period, Makino is troubled but later says that she will not go with him and that when he comes back she'll be waiting for him and will make him a happy man. The story ends with Domyoji going to New York and Makino watch his plane leave in the sky. - In the short story published after the series had concluded, Domyoji and company goes to Paris along with Makino to go to Shizuka's wedding with a French lawyer. Domyoji told Makino that he already paid for her four years of university to keep an eye on her. They agree to wait until Domyoji was done in three more years.
- During the countless times that they break up, Domyoji goes crazy and returns to his "evil" and violent ways. However, when he is with Makino he is tamed and kind. Because of this, everyone around them is always saying that he is no good without Makino.
- It is also hinted that at the end of the 4 years spent apart, they will get married.
[edit] Unauthorized Chinese Version There is also an unauthorized and implied adaptation of the story that finished airing in mainland China. The show is called Meteor Shower (or Meteor Rain). It was broadcast by Hunan TV The show producers speaking on Hunan TV's website state that Meteor Shower is not a remake of Meteor Garden which was very popular in Chinese-speaking world, but an original drama completely different from earlier shows and should not be considered an Hana Yori Dango adaptation, in an attempt to circumvent the controversial copyrights issue. 《新流星花园》改名引网友热议 制片方称一切为原创开路. English translation : "The new Meteor Garden" was renamed friends hot you cited states that all producers for the original open, Hunan TV The reason for this deliberate distancing from Hana Yori Dango is that producers of Meteor Shower and Hunan TV never obtained a proper Hana Yori Dango dramatization license, which cannot be granted until 2011 under the copyrights holder's licensing policy. [edit] References [edit] External links [edit] Official sites | Boys Over Flowers by Yoko Kamio | | | Franchise | | | | Adaptations | | | |
