Anime Hana Yori Dango [Boys Over Flowers]

[Dagger]

[quote]All average teenager Tsukushi Makino wants is to get through the rest of her time at rich, snobby Eitoku High and graduate. But when the F4--a group of wealthy, influential, good-looking bullies--go after Tsukushi's friend, everything changes. Can a girl from the wrong side of the tracks survive high school?[/quote]
That's the description you'll find on the back of the DVD case. But when you get down to it, HYD is the quintessential shoujo love triangle, with the principle players being Tsukushi and two members of the F4, Tsukasa and Rui. It's very melodramatic and very addictive (at least for me, haha).

Right now I'm up to episode 9 or 10 and will hopefully see more quite soon, Netflix willing. I figured I'd present my thoughts on the show by keeping tracking of which guy I root for and when.

Episodes 1 - 4: Rui. On a shallow level, I find his character design much more appealing--but in these episodes also brought out his quirky charm (for instance, I loved the scene in which he bought a tiny cake just because it was cute). Tsukasa just came across as a goofball. I think it's interesting how they balance Tsukasa and Rui's roles by making Tsukasa the "adversary"--because at least initially, that antagonistic chemistry gives Tsukasa his main advantage. If Rui were the F4's leader instead, then it really wouldn't be any contest.

Episodes 5 - 8: 50/50. Tsukasa won major points with me during and after the [spoiler]kissing scene,[/spoiler] (which, by the way, used the amusingly dramatic classical music to fabulous effect). But then he utterly lost them when he [spoiler]"snapped" and semi-forced himself on Tsukushi. That whole sequence was absolutely ridiculous--and pretty unbelievable, as far as I'm concerned. I just can't find him to be scary in the slightest. Granted, this is partly the fault of his seiyuu, who seems unable to pull out a convincingly pissed-off voice, but overall he came across as being a spoiled brat.[/spoiler] Rui's disinterested comments are, as far as I'm concerned, much more cutting and effective than any of Tsukasa's tantrums.

Episodes 9 - ?: For the time being, I've gone back to Tsukasa. The [spoiler]party[/spoiler] scene did a great job of proving that he and Tsukushi do play off one another rather well. You have to give a guy some credit if he [spoiler]lets you throw up on him. How romantic.[/spoiler]

I also don't like this whole [spoiler]Shizuka going back to Paris[/spoiler] situation. That sets things up for [spoiler]Rui settling on Tsukushi while Shizuka is gone, only to find that he still cares about her when they encounter each other once more.[/spoiler] I'm going to be wary of fully supporting Rui before that's resolved. (<-- So she says, but... :p )

~Dagger~

[angelbyday]

[COLOR=Blue][SIZE=3][FONT=Tahoma]Don't try to keep track! This had me wavering the whole time on which guy I liked better. Like you said one vol. you hope she ends up with ?, then the next vol you find something to like about the adversarivy. However (at least for me) by the last disk (and several new charaters later) You come to the conclusion who should be with who, but in my case conclusion and the script were on different pages! Like Dagger said it's a love triangle, which will have you drained at the end just trying to figure out who this poor girl should be with. If you haven't ever seen it, it is worth checking into, the art and music is a little old looking (kinda reminded me of marmalade boy style wise, I don't know why though?) it has great character development, and a really great plot![/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Nekova]

I don't know; I think the love triangle part of it fades really quickly. It becomes clear pretty quickly that [spoiler]Rui and Tsukushi[/spoiler] aren't going to be together, and most of the series after that focues on how [spoiler]Tsukushi and Tsukasa are going to overcome the various obstacles that are always in their path[/spoiler].

I think I'm a big fan of this series just because of that :). I was never a Rui fan; I always liked the series best during the brief times when [spoiler]Tsukushi and Tsukasa were together[/spoiler].

[Dagger]

I really really hope you didn't just spoil me for how it turns out, Nekova. :( I didn't look under the tagged parts of your post, but it's quite easy to read into the un-tagged parts and come away with what is probably the same conclusion. So I hope I'm wrong.

Anyway, I'm getting close to the halfway mark, and I kind of hate to say it, but Tsukushi is acting pretty stupid, bless her little heart. [spoiler]Lying for no reason (she doesn't owe Tsukasa anything right now; she hasn't even responded to his confession yet!) is not appealing in a character whose best traits are her bluntness and her ability to stay true to herself.[/spoiler] Silly girl.

Rui is kind of an ***hole, bless [i]his[/i] heart, but I loved the timing of [spoiler]his return from France. That was totally awesome. Oh, the drama...[/spoiler]

~Dagger~

[Panache]

Well this is one of my favorite romance amine?s out there. I heard someone say it was part of the royal three (boys over flowers, marmalade boy, and kare Kano) romance amine?s. I don't know what that really means but regardless this anime was awesome. Tsugushi was kind of a ditz and was annoying throughout the series but that made her lovable. The guy's were not *** holes like most of the rich people around them. The story was really solid and you have trouble guessing what happens next. This is really a must have for an avid romance anime fan. But there are some pretty adult thing's that happen in this anime and is very violent at times. So it's not for the youngsters.

[Dagger]

The last disc I watched was volume 7... so I guess that means I'm up to episode 28. It's actually been a week or so since I last touched HYD, so my memory is probably a little fuzzy, but oh well.

One thing that's struck me is that this show, more so than any other anime I've seen, makes it blatantly obvious when an episode is important (or at least worth making pretty). That is, the difference between their episodes done by their animation A-Team and everything is really glaring. So far the episodes which have had the most care lavished on them are episode 1, the episode in which Tsukushi [spoiler]gets dragged by a car[/spoiler] and the [spoiler]basketball[/spoiler] episode. It's kind of a shame, because the character designs are fantastic when they're treated well but pretty blah when they're not.

HYD hit a distinct low point for me prior to the introduction of [spoiler]Tsukasa's sister.[/spoiler] Tsukushi was acting stupid and out of character, and neither of the boys were making themselves very attractive, either. Now it's veered into hilariously bad fanfiction territory, what with the whole [spoiler]getting lost in a blizzard and having to stay warm with mutual body heat[/spoiler] plot device, but at least it's a little more interesting. I want [spoiler]Shizuka[/spoiler] to make a visit for the sake of drama.

Rui definitely got a chance to shine in the [spoiler]basketball[/spoiler] episode. [spoiler]"I'll stop time for you"[/spoiler] is a line that Tsukasa will have to work very, very hard to surpass (at least in my mind, haha). But despite Tsukasa's deplorable instability, his character is gradually starting to come off better and better, so it's not as if I'm firmly planted in either camp at the moment.

~Dagger~

[theiceisfrozen]

I was absolutely addicted to this show about a year and a half ago...I had to wait for the last disk to come out because I just couldn't stand the anticipation of who Tsukushi was going to pick! In the end I was satisfied with her decision though and still love to re-watch the anime and read the manga. It also spawned a live action based off it called Meteor Garden. Check it out if you love Hana Yori Dango!!