Hana Yori Dango Anime Review

English: Boys Over Flowers

Synonyms: HYD, Boys Over Flowers: Jewelry Box, End of the Century

Type: TV

Episodes: 51

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Sep 8, 1996 to Aug 31, 1997

Producers: Toei Animation, Viz Media

Genres: Drama, Romance, School, Shoujo

Duration: 25 min. per episode

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

I am absolutely positive that everybody must have heard about Korean Drama called "Boys over flowers" with 'Lee Min Ho' and' Kim Hyun Joong' as the lead actors. Or The Taiwanese drama called "Meteor Garden" or the Japanese drama that goes by the same name "Hana Yori Dango".When I started this anime, I have seen all the versions of the dramas based on this anime. Hana Yori Dango, being the original version, beats all the other versions out there. It sticks to the manga. Though the animation is old, the art and sound are not good, the emotions involved are raw and powerful. I recommend it to the people who haven't  seen any versions of the dramas yet and also to who have watched all of them. Trust me guys. you gonna enjoy it more than anything that's out there in this genre. 

The anime starts out in a most likely way that you wouldnt expect any romance to develop from. Tsukushi Makino is ranked as a lower class student at an all exclusive high school with the majority of the students coming from a wealthy background. The school is crontrolled by the F4 known has the Flower 4, a gang of 4 guys that come from extremely rich and powerful families. Basically, the entire school idolize them but also lives in fear of getting on their bad side and getting the red card, a declaration of war by the F4, which basically means your school life becomes a living hell until you transfer out.Tsukushi goes about her day just trying to be unnoticed until she graduates, leading a fairly miserable existence. This all changes when she jumps to her freind's rescue against F4. As Tsukushi fights back and starts to gain the respect of many classmates and even begins to befriend the F4, we learn that they are not quite as bad as initially thought. About the romantic aspect of this anime is quite difficult to say without giving away any spoilers. The journey is quite an unforgettable ride that you dont want to miss out on.

Tsukushi Makino in my opinion is a boss bitch. She is tough, honest, loyal and no-nonsense type of girl Viewers will be drawn to her, She is overall a very inspirational character.

Tsukasa Domyoji is the leader of the F4 and one of Tsukushi’s love interests. He has all the classic elements of a shoujo love interest. He's wealthy and handsome. Initially he will be seen an extremely frightening character making him almost impossible to like at all. However has the series progresses he becomes less and less cold spoiled little brat and turns into a decent and sympathetic human being. Although I tried my best to keep hating him, he wore me down into actually loving him. 

As for Rui another member of F4 and another main love interest of Tsukushi. He is almost the complete opposite of the hotheaded Tsukasa. While still from an enormously wealthy family and suitably good looking, Rui is far more introverted and shy. I liked him far more at first than any of the other men in the cast but he really isn’t any nicer that Tsukasa is. My feelings for him are pretty much the reverse of what I felt for Tsukasa. I lliked him at the beginning of the series but towards the end, I actually got tired of his personality.

Given the age of this series, the animation and visuals aren't very much a fair site to look at. And I know some people really do care about the outer appearance of anime and won't even give this show a chance which is really a shame because like they say don't jude a book by its cover the same goes for this anime. Even though the hair styles and fashion are extremely dated. The artwork given for the anime does match the one for the manga. The audio for me gives me mixed emotions. There are time where i would despise the background violon music which obviously dated. But overall the voice acting is outstanding

Overall Hana Yori Dango is a series that should be on your number 1 must watch list of animes for a serious romance anime fans like me. When I say there is no other anime like Hana Yori Dango i mean it. This show is very intense and it will bring you so much emotion as a viewer. I can say that it is one hell of a rollercoaster ride.