Boys Over Flowers

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Don't be so full of it!

Hana Yori Dango (Western title: Boys Over Flowers) is a Japanese Shojo manga series written by Yoko Kamio. It ran for thirty-six volumes over a period of eleven years. It has enjoyed massive popularity in Japan and Asia. It has been adapted into an anime , three live-action television dramas (one in Taiwan called Meteor Garden, one in Japan, one in South Korea and one in development in Mainland China), an animated movie set in a parallel universe, and a live-action movie.

The story varies a bit from continuity to continuity, but the basics are thus. Plucky Girl Tsukushi Makino is the sole middle class student attending the Fiction 500 prep school Eitoku Academy. The school is presided over by the F4 (short for "Flower Four"), Tsukasa Domyoji, Rui Hanazawa, Sōjirō Nishikado, and Akira Mimasaka, whose parents have paid the administration a massive amount of money to allow their offspring free reign of the school. As a result, they lord themselves over the school and use their influence to get the entire student body to physically assault students for such transgressions as "accidentally squirting lemon juice into our leader's eye." For about a year and a half, Tsukushi tries to preserve her safety by being ignored, but steps in to protect her only friend at school (Shrinking Violet Makiko Endou) after she accidentally offends Tsukasa, the F4's leader. This causes her to be alternately assaulted and ostracized by the entire school, with the exception of Tsukushi's crush Rui (who often steps in and saves her when he's not busy spacing off and Tsukasa(who is more intrigued than outraged). She eventually befriends the F4 and her influence seems to largely put a stop to their bullying ways.

The series gradually changes focus to the Love Dodecahedron surrounding the main characters, and eventually focusing on the main couple of Tsukushi and Tsukasa. The latter half is largely composed of them working around their massive class differences (his parents are Corrupt Corporate Executives, hers are increasingly insolvent) and thwarting the plans of Tsukasa's Evil Matriarch Kaede to separate them.

For the Korean Series adaptation, see Boys Before Flowers.

Tropes used in Boys Over Flowers include:

• Abusive Parents: Tsukasa's Freudian Excuse is the unbelievable neglect coming from Kaede. See the main page.
  • Some mention should go to Tsukushi's parents. While they're generally flighty but loving, one chapter has her coming home from school to find them and her brother packing their things: they were moving out to the city, not taking Tsukushi, or planning to tell her until that very day. Keep in mind Tsukushi's is in school and has no job...Her parents promise to send money for her, but when she finally gets a letter from them, it says that they don't have money to send her yet, so here, have some strips of seaweed. Tsukushi honestly thought she'd starve, and probably would have if not for her friends. They are also incredibly stupid, want Tsukushi to be a gold digger and keep losing money on pointless things like pachinko resulting in their poverty...
• Accidental Kiss: Happens in the live action version between Tsukushi and Tsukasa due to an unlikely trip-fall-catch.
  • In both the Manga and Anime, this was how Tsukushi lost her Sacred First Kiss to Domyouji.
• Adaptation Distillation: The jDrama neatly compresses the sprawling plot of the manga into a much smoother, shorter story.
• Adrenaline Makeover: Tsukushi goes through one when she decides to stand up to the F4. Most obviously shown by her taking down her pigtails.
• Adult Child: Akira's mother. Apparently what inspired him to like older women.
• Airplane of Love: Twice, and both more literal than most cases. First when Tsukushi watches the plane in which Rui is flying to Paris take off, then when she watches Tsukasa's jet take off for New York.
• Air Voyance: At least three times.
• All Amazons Want Hercules: The cause of Shigeru's attraction to Tsukasa.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Tsukasa is definitely the most rough-edged and morally questionable member of F4, and the one who gets the girl (although Tsukushi was initially turned off by his Jerkass ways and preferred the more subdued Rui.) Also a possible factor in Yuki's feelings for Sōjirō.
• All Love Is Unrequited: In the first half of the story, at least. Tsukasa wants Tsukushi who wants Rui who wants Shizuka, and that's not even getting into all the minor characters.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Tsukushi gets a lot of this.
• Alpha Bitch: Yuriko, Erika, and Minako. They start out pretty malevolent, but get closer to Butt Monkey status as Tsukushi's position with F4 solidifies.
  • Sakurako is this too, but becomes Good Is Not Nice later.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: A few of these, notably when Tsukasa is first confessing his feelings, then later when Tsukushi reciprocates (it's still an anguished lash out, because that's just how Tsukushi rolls.
• Arbitrarily-Large Bank Account: None of the F4 ever seem to run out of money, at least until Kaede cuts Domyoji off
• Arranged Marriage: Kaede Domyoji succeeds in forcing Tsubaki into one of these and tries and fails to force Tsukasa into a few, specially with the very quirky Shigeru Ookawahara).
• Attempted Rape: Poor Tsukushi...
• Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Par for the course with a Takahashi Couple.^[context?]
• Bastard Boyfriend: Subverted with Tsukasa and Tsukushi. He does have several traits belonging to the archetype, but she doesn't fit in the archetypical Shrinking Violet girlfriend so they fit much more into Belligerent Sexual Tension.
• Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me: Tsukasa once asks his maids to give Tsukushi a bath and change her clothes since they were ruined. Tsukushi, however, believes he's going to rape her and attacks him.
• Beauty Contest: The Teen of Japan competition is a cross between this and a Talent Contest.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: All over the place with Tsukushi and Tsukasa.
• Beta Couple: Sōjirō and Tsukushi's friend Yuki, to a varying extent depending on the continuity.
• Betty and Veronica: Rui (Betty) and Tsukasa (Veronica)
• The Big Damn Kiss: In the J-Drama, Tsukasa and Tsukushi have one of in both season finales. The first one is particularly epic.
• Big Damn Movie: Hana Yori Dango: Final, the film conclusion to the J-Drama series, changes the plot from a melodramatic Will They or Won't They? to a globe-spanning quest for a missing tiara. Subverted when the whole thing is revealed to be a plot by their friends and family to test the strength of their relationship.
• Big Fancy House: Several. We see Shigeru's, Sakurako's, Shizuka's, Akira's, Sōjirō's, Rui's and three of Domyoji's, but particular focus is given to the Domyoji primary Tokyo residence, which is enormous. Every wealthy character is actually implied to have several more Big Fancy Houses around the world.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Sakurako wrote the book on this trope. See her entry on the page.
• Break the Cutie
• Brother-Sister Incest: Sort of, one-sided. One of the first things that attracts Tsukasa to Tsukushi is that she treats him in the same manner his older sister Tsubaki did... 'kay.
• Bumbling Dad: Again, Tsukushi's father.
• Butt Monkey: Tsukushi and Kazuya.
• Cannot Spit It Out: On both sides, but eventually Tsukasa tends to be upfront about his feelings, while Tsukushi still has some difficulty expressing hers.
• Catch Phrase: Tsukushi's "Unbelievable!" ("Arienai-tsu no!")
• Category Traitor: A big tool in the F4's corruption of the student body; if you don't at least seem to actively participate in the public shaming and bullying they assign to those who they "red card," then you're likely to be the next recipient.
• Chastity Couple: The Official Couple ends up being this, mostly due to Tsukushi's nervousness and much to Tsukasa's chagrin.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Rui and Shigeru.
• Conflicting Loyalty: Kaede's machinations eventually force Tsukushi to be torn between the well being of her friends and family and her relationship with Tsukasa
• Cool Big Sis: Both Tsubaki Domyoji and Shizuka Todo serve in this role.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Kaede Domyoji, and implicitly the parents of the rest of the F4.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Domyoji is incredibly clingy.
• Dances and Balls: The party during Tsukushi's vacation with fellow students on the cruise.
• Disappeared Dad: While Tsukasa's father is referenced occasionally in the manga, he is never seen and it's stated that Tsukasa himself hasn't seen him in years. In the drama, he is simply not mentioned at all until the movie.
• Distracted by the Luxury: Tsukasa tries to pull this on Tsukushi in order to get her to drop out of Eitoku. It doesn't work.
• The Dutiful Son: Sōjirō
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Tsukushi goes through so much crap, to hell and back, before she gets to her Happily Ever After. Most of this is Tsukasa's fault, but she never gives up on the world despite how terrible it is, but in the end, things turn out alright, and you might say, good.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Tsukushi does this to Rui several times during the manga.
• Femme Fatale: Sakurako, especially after her Heel Face Turn
• Five-Man Band: But not in the way you'd expect:
  • The Hero: Tsukushi
  • The Lancer: Rui
  • The Smart Guy: Sōjirō
  • The Big Guy: Tsukasa
  • The Chick: Akira
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: F4 fits with Tsukasa as choleric, Rui being melancholic, Sōjirō being phlegmatic, and Akira as sanguine.
• Gender Blender Name: Shigeru is a girl. Just a heads-up.
• Genki Girl: Shigeru, full stop.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: In the movie, Tsukasa and Tsukushi are having a somewhat sexually charged conversation in a hotel bedroom when a third character bursts in on them. Tsukasa immediately starts grabbing for a pillow to put on his lap.
• Gold Digger: Tsukushi's family wants her to be this, although she technically qualifies as an aversion.
• Good Is Not Nice: Sakurako, after her Heel Face Turn.
• Grand Romantic Gesture: At the end of the J-Drama, Tsukasa hijacks Tsukushi's senior prom and turns it into a giant Wacky Marriage Proposal with thousands of people cheering in the seats of the stadium.
• Heel Face Turn: Tsukasa, Sakurako, Thomas, Junpei, both of Tsukasa's parents, the list goes on. Probably the only "villains" who don't are the Terrible Trio; however, don't expect any of these to be perfect nice guys and gals after the switch.
• Heel Realization: His relationship with Tsukushi forces Tsukasa to go through this. This becomes a Crowning Moment of Funny in at least one continuity where, after having allowed himself to be brutally assaulted to protect Tsukushi, he writes her a letter thanking her for teaching him what it's like to get beat up.
• Heroic BSOD: Rui, as a product of his upbringing, tended to have panic attacks. Shizuka helped him get rid of them.
• Heterosexual Life Partners - Akira Mimasaka and Sojirou Nishikado. Extremely hetero? Yes. Always together? Yes.
• High School Dance: The J-Drama ends with one combined with a Wacky Marriage Proposal of all things!
• Hollywood Psych: In the anime/manga, Rui tells Tsukushi he used to have autism. He got over it.
• Hurricane of Puns: The F4 pull off one in a flashback of Rui grating apples.
• Impoverished Patrician: Domyoji becomes this for a while when Kaede cuts him off.
• Inter Class Romance
• It's a Costume Party, I Swear: In the television series.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Fashionable: Tsukasa's first act after developing an interest in Tsukushi is to have her kidnapped for an impromptu makeover
• Karma Houdini: The F4's bullying borders on Kick the Dog territory at times, up to and including Tsukasa authorizing some underlings to gang-rape Tsukushi (though varying media have different levels of how explicit the authorization was). They never particularly suffer any consequences.
  • Laser-Guided Karma; Tsukasa does get beaten nearly to death on one occasion and is stabbed almost mortally on another, add to that all the emotional tolls he goes through throughout the series. It does occasionally suck to be Tsukasa.
• Jaded Washout: Tsukushi's father falls into this.
• Jerkass --> Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Tsukasa, so much.
• Kick the Dog: F4, and especially Tsukasa, start doing this in their first appearance, wherein they are shown ordering their peers to violently bully a student into dropping out.
  • Rui also gets this treatment, when he is vocally dismissive of Tsukushi's worries and safety despite being the only other semi-sympathetic character shown at that point.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Plucky Girl Tsukushi. She lives in a Crapsack School, but she almost never gives up, and isn't allowed to when she wants to. Partially subverted as that she gets her happy ending, though she has to work for it.
• Important Haircut: Shizuka gives herself one as a symbol of her resolution to leave showbiz and become a lawyer.
  • Also, after Yuuki gets over Nishikado she gets a new short haircut.
• I'm Not Pretty: Sakurako, to the extent of getting plastic surgery because Tsukasa relentlessly bullied her due to being merely plain in looks.
• Lap Pillow: In the japanese television series, when Tsukasa gets sick and Tsukushi takes care of him. Twice.
• Large Ham: Sachiyo, the owner of the okashi shop Tsukushi works at.
• Last-Name Basis: Typical in Japan, but rather unusual in that it continues between the main couple even once they're in a relationship/ engaged.
• Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone: The rest of the F4 and company often engineer to put Tsukasa and Tsukushi in these situations, occasionally locking them in if they thing the concerned parties will object.
• Les Yay: Shigeru and Sakuroko near the end (much to Sakurako's chagrin). It's not so much that Shigeru stats acting like a lesbian, but her Cloudcuckoolander nature really doesn't seem to let her know that saying "I'm in love with you!" after this crowning moment of awesome for Sakuroko or dragging her to the dance floor as Those Two Girls might give those implications.
  • Makino also occasionally gets awestruck by particularly beautiful girls, even going so far as to decide to attend Eitoku due to being so impressed by Shizuka.
• Likes Older Women: Akira, having been turned off of younger women by his Adult Child mother's behavior.
• Locked in a Room: In the television series, the Official Couple ends up locked in an elevator.
  • Happens on a few various occasions in different locations in the manga as well
• Lonely Rich Kid: Rui, Tsukasa and Sōjirō .
• Love At First Punch: Why did Tsukasa fall for Tsukushi? Because she didn't take his crap.
• Love Dodecahedron: Very much so in the first half of the series. Less so in the second half, but still with the obligatory shojo set of unrequited lovers surrounding the Official Couple.
• Love Makes You Evil: Sakurako's Freudian Excuse. The other is
• Love Redeems: Tsukasa starts acting less of a Jerkass as he develops feelings for Tsukushi.
• Malaproper: Tsukasa. "Anyway, the point is, you sleep-talk during RAM sleep!"
• Mafia Princess: Akira's a bit of a male version in the jDrama, and his little sisters qualify.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Shigeru tries to become one of these for Tsukasa. When he makes clear that he doesn't like her that way, she resorts to play Shipper on Deck and get him and Tsukushi together instead.
• Meaningful Name: "Tsukushi" really is a stubborn weed (a type of horsetail, to be exact), and the character holds herself to it.
• Mood Whiplash: the serious tone of the story gets interrupted with commercial breaks marked by humorous sitcom style antics of the guys trying to peek at Tsukushi in a bubble bath, especially jarring when it is seen in the middle of an attempted gang rape.
• Once Per Episode: That insert song they use in the drama.
• Oranyan: Tsukasa.
• Pair the Spares: Sakurako and Kazuya might be in their way to this, in the end of the anime.
  • Yuki and Soujirou are teased as a potential secondary love duo in the Japanese live action version, though it never comes to fruition. Their Korean live action counterparts -- Ga Eul and Yi Jung, respectively -- do end up paired up in the end.
• Parental Marriage Veto: Kaede spends most of the second half of the series trying to exercise this.
• Parental Neglect: All members of the F4 (except perhaps Akira) seem to display this to some extent, but Tsukasa seems to have been the most negatively affected by it. Ironically, when his mother starts paying attention to him, his entire life takes a turn for the worse.
• Peer Pressure Makes You Evil: This trope gleefully shoves the entire student body over the Moral Event Horizon.
• Penny Among Diamonds: Tsukushi being this is the main conceit of the story.
• Perpetual Poverty: Tsukushi's parents
• Pretty in Mink: Male example; Tsukasa wears a fur-trimmed coat to the zoo.
• Pun-Based Title: The title is an old Japanese Idiom: "Sweets before (are better than) flowers." (The practical beats the purely emotional). Except they use a different "Dango" character (a fairly obscure word for boys) instead of the character that means "sweets".
• Rape Is Love: Depending on the adaptation, Tsuakasa's behavior borders on this. Also, he gives orders (how ambiguous they are vary on the adaptation) that lead to another Near-Rape Experience via the hands of bullies. Some of this jerkassitude may have something to do with the fact that he wasn't originally supposed to be the romantic lead.
  • Shizuka was flat out flattered that Rui felt strongly enough about her that he would attempt to rape her. This turned into a Near-Rape Experience when he stopped to puzzle out just how wrong it was that she was entirely accepting of this.
• Romantic Runner-Up: Rui for both Makino and Shizuka.
• Running Gag: Domyoji has a tendency to mispronounce certain words.
• Sacred First Kiss: Given the Serious Business treatment (ominous music, freeze frame) after Domyoji kissed Tsukushi in the dark during a party. It's as if everyone just found out that Domyoji was a murderer or something.
  • Makes some more sence once you recall the Values Dissonance in regards to close physical contact in Japan.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules: Tsukushi, in spades. Part of what draws Tsukasa to her.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections: The F4 are certainly not above using theirs. Akira's Yakuza ones come particularly in handy.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money: AND HOW!
• Second Love: Although Tsukushi initially loved Rui, she ends up with Domyoji.
• Shrinking Violet: Makiko.
• Shipper on Deck: Shigeru is a Tsukushi/Tsukasa fangirl. The rest of the F4 joins in sometimes.
  • And Tsukushi tries her damnedest to ship Rui/Shizuka.
• Ship Tease: Considering how many volumes the mangaka got out of leaving open whether or not Domiyougi and Tsukushi, the Official Couple could count as this early on. But there's also liberal Fanfic Fuel for any Yaoi Fangirls who wanted to ship Akira and Sojiro, in spite of the obvious
• "Shut Up" Kiss: Tsukasa gives one to Makino in the J-Drama right before he leaves for New York.
• Sure Why Not: Rui was originally supposed to be the romantic lead, but Tsukushi ended up paired with Tsukasa when that ended up being the Fan-Preferred Couple.
• Team Dad: Akira is this to an extent. He doesn't particularly care about forcing morality on the group (and probably couldn't if he wanted to) but is the general mediator for conflicts and seems to take it upon his shoulders when the group isn't getting along, eventually leading to him getting in a fistfight with Tsukasa when the latter won't stop stirring up drama with Rui.
• Team Mom: Shizuka seems to have formerly filled this role for the F4, and her absence may have something to do with the extreme levels of jerkassery they've fallen to by the beginning of the series.
• The Teaser: Used in the J-drama. There might be a recap mixed in with it, too.
• There Are No Therapists: Tsukasa has displayed serious behavioral problems his entire life, Rui was said to be pretty much mute and uncommunicative as a child. Neither of their sets of parents, despite being of considerable means ever sought professional help to address this.
• This Is Reality: (Paraphrased:) "Falling on top of your worst enemy and kissing her? This isn't a manga, you know!"
• Through His Stomach - Attempted by Umi on Tsukasa when he was suffering from Amnesia and had forgotten all about Tsukushi. In a potential Crowning Moment of Awesome for Tsukasa, he rejected the romantic upstart because her cooking wasn't like Tsukushi's.
• Traumatic Haircut: Tsukushi gets her hair ruined by a bunch of bullies and has to get it cut, first by her mom and then by Rui.
• Tsundere: Both Tsukasa AND Tsukushi.
• Would Hit a Girl Tsukasa will hit a girl, and has, just like he'll hit anybody else, whether it's his Love Interest for ticking him off or some Rich Bitches who need it.
• Underdressed for the Occasion: At the "betrothal party" in the anime.
• Unlucky Childhood Friend: Sakurako and Kazuya.
• What the Hell, Hero?: A significant part of the second half of the story is about Tsukasa having to face up to the consequences of all the lives his bullying and carelessness ruined.
• The White Prince: The F4 and assorted minor characters. Notably, all of the common subtypes are represented in the F4 (Sōjirō and Akira are clownish but charming buffoons, Tsukasa is the pompous, arrogant meanie (who is also a buffoon), and Rui isthe composed, reserved and usually highly intelligent one).
• Will Not Be a Victim: Makino.
• Woman Scorned: Oh man, Sakurako.
• You Must Be Cold: It seems as though Domyoji is constantly giving Tsukushi his coat...
  • Genderflipped on at least one occasion, when Tsukushi gave Domyoji her scarf after he caught a cold.