Boys Over Flowers

Boys Over Flowers(花より男子,Hana yori Dango)is a Japanesemangaseries written and illustrated byYoko 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 inShueisha'sMargaretmagazine from October 1992 to January 2004, with its chapters collected in 37tankōbonvolumes between 1992 and 2008. In North America, the manga is licensed byViz 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 Japaneselive-actionfeature filmin 1995, then an animated television series, produced byToei Animation, that was broadcast byABCfrom 1996 to 1997. The first live-action television adaptation was one produced in Taiwan, titledMeteor Garden(2001). After Taiwan'sMeteor Garden, a number of other live-action television adaptations have followed. A Japaneselive-action seriesaired from 2005 to 2007 (and was followed by a2008 film), aSouth Korean adaptationaired in 2009, a mainland Chinese adaptation, also titledMeteor Gardenaired in 2018, and a Thai adaptation,F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers, was aired from 2021 to 2022.
In 1996,Boys Over Flowerswon the 41stShogakukan Manga Awardfor theshōjocategory. By February 2015, the series had over 61 million copies in circulation, making it one of thebest-selling manga series of all timeand the best-sellingshōjomanga of all time. The series enjoys immense popularity in the Eastern Asia region.
Eitoku Academy(英徳学園,Eitoku Gakuen)inYamanote, Japan is a prestigious school that caters to children fromupper-classfamilies. Hence, Tsukushi Makino, who comes from amiddle-classfamily, 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 initiallybullyTsukushi 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 unrepentantplayboy. 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 insocial 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.
Written and illustrated byYoko Kamio,Boys Over Flowerswas serialized inShueisha's bi-weekly magazineMargaretfrom October 1992 to January 2004. In July 2006, a short story based on the manga was published in issue 15 ofMargaretmagazine;another two-installment short story was published in January 2007.The series was collected in 37tankōbonvolumes released between October 23, 1992,and June 25, 2008.English translations of all 37 volumes were released between 2003 and 2009 byViz Media.It has also been published byGlénatin France,and byPlaneta DeAgostiniin Spain.
Kamio began a sequel,Boys Over Flowers Season 2, in Shueisha'sShōnen Jump+online magazine on February 15, 2015.
Anaudio dramaadaptation ofBoys Over Flowers, marketed as "CD books"(CDブック), was released from July 1993 to July 1994. It starredTakuya Kimura, in his voice-acting debut, as the voice of Rui Hanazawa, whom this adaptation focused on.
Ananimetelevision series produced byToei Animationand broadcast on television byAsahi Broadcasting CorporationandTV Asahiin 1996. It was followed by a spin-off theatricalshort film, set in an alternate universe, in 1997. This is the final television series produced byToei Animationto 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 byViz Mediain 2003, asBoys Over Flowers. It was then rereleased byDiscotek Mediain 2016, asHana yori Dango.
Boys Over Flowerswon the 41stShogakukan Manga Awardfor theshōjocategory in 1996.
By February 2015, the series had over 61 million copies in circulation, making it one of thebest-selling manga seriesof all-time and the best-sellingshōjo mangaof all time.In April 2023,Guinness World Recordshas officially certifiedBoys Over Flowersas having the most published copies of ashōjomanga series written by a single author.OnTV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150.000 people voted for their top 100 manga series,Boys Over Flowersranked 70th.
F4(Flower Four) orJVKVwas a Taiwaneseboy bandconsisting of cast members of the 2001 Taiwanese version,Meteor Garden:Jerry Yan,Vanness Wu,Ken Chu, andVic Chou. It formed in 2001 after theMeteor Gardenseries ended. They released three albums,Meteor Rain(2001),Fantasy 4ever(2002), andWaiting for You(2007). According toForbes, 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.