Boys Over Flowers (Japanese: 花より男子, Hepburn: Hana yori Dango) is a Japanese manga series written and drawn by Yoko Kamio. The story is set in Eitoku Academy, a fictional school for students from wealthy families. It follows Tsukushi Makino, a girl from a middle-class family. Her mother sends her to Eitoku Academy to attend school with children from her husband's company. At the school, Tsukushi meets the F4, a group of four boys from very rich families who often act mean to others.

The manga was published in Shueisha's Margaret magazine from October 1992 to January 2004. These chapters were later collected into 37 book volumes between 1992 and 2008. In North America, the manga is published by Viz Media.

The series has been adapted into many forms. It first became an audio drama on CDs from July 1993 to July 1994. Later, it was made into a live-action movie in Japan in 1995. An animated television show, produced by Toei Animation, aired on ABC from 1996 to 1997. The first live-action version was made in Taiwan and called Meteor Garden in 2001. Other live-action versions followed, including a Japanese series from 2005 to 2007 (and a film in 2008), a South Korean version in 2009, a Chinese version titled Meteor Garden in 2018, and a Thai version called F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers from 2021 to 2022.

In 1996, Boys Over Flowers won the 41st Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōjo manga category. By February 2015, the series had sold over 61 million copies worldwide. This makes it one of the best-selling manga series ever and the most popular shōjo manga of all time. The series is very popular in East Asia.

Plot

Eitoku Academy (英徳学園, Eitoku Gakuen) in Yamanote, Japan, is a well-known school that serves children from wealthy families. Because of this, Tsukushi Makino, who comes from a middle-class family, is seen as an outsider at first, as her name literally means "weed." The school is led by the F4 ("Flower Four"), a group of four young men from Japan's richest families. Tsukasa Domyoji is the son of the most powerful and wealthiest family in Japan. At first, he and the other members of the F4 bully Tsukushi when she challenges them. However, Tsukasa becomes interested in her because she is the only girl at the school who dares to stand up to him. Tsukushi, though, does not like Tsukasa's quick-tempered attitude and instead develops feelings for Rui Hanazawa, Tsukasa's childhood friend, who is gentle and kind.

The other two members of the F4 are Akira Mimasaka, who is calm and often helps resolve conflicts, and Sojirou Nishikado, who enjoys dating many women. Akira usually has a girlfriend and prefers older women because his mother and two younger sisters are young and playful. Sojirou is happy to be in casual relationships with many women, though it is later revealed that he once loved a childhood friend. Over time, Tsukushi begins to see how much Tsukasa changes after falling in love with her. However, their relationship is blocked by Tsukasa's mother, Kaede, because of the difference in their social classes. Tsukasa's older sister, Tsubaki, supports their relationship and becomes friends with Tsukushi.

Media

"Boys Over Flowers," written and illustrated by Yoko Kamio, was published in parts in Shueisha's magazine Margaret every two weeks from October 1992 to January 2004. In July 2006, a short story based on the manga was published in issue 15 of Margaret magazine. Another short story with two parts was released in January 2007. The series was collected into 37 book volumes, released between October 23, 1992, and June 25, 2008. English translations of all 37 volumes were published between 2003 and 2009 by Viz Media. The manga was also published in France by Glénat and in Spain by Planeta DeAgostini.

In February 2015, Kamio began a sequel titled Boys Over Flowers Season 2, which was published in Shueisha's online magazine Shōnen Jump+.

An audio drama adaptation of Boys Over Flowers, called "CD books" (CDブック), was released from July 1993 to July 1994. The drama featured Takuya Kimura, who made his voice-acting debut as the voice of Rui Hanazawa, the main character of this adaptation.

From 2008 to 2009, two of the three live-action television series based on Boys Over Flowers—Hana yori Dango and its sequel Hana yori Dango Returns in Japan, and Boys Over Flowers in South Korea—were aired on Xing Kong (now owned by Star China Media, a company under China Media Capital). These versions were dubbed in Mandarin, except for Meteor Garden and its sequel Meteor Garden II in Taiwan, which used Chinese subtitles with the original audio.

An anime television series of Boys Over Flowers was produced by Toei Animation and broadcast by Asahi Broadcasting Corporation and TV Asahi in 1996. A spin-off theatrical short film, set in an alternate universe, was released in 1997. This was the last Toei Animation television series to use traditional cel animation; all future projects by the company used digital ink-and-paint techniques. The anime was later released on DVD in North America by Viz Media in 2003, titled Boys Over Flowers. It was re-released by Discotek Media in 2016 under the title Hana yori Dango.

Reception

Boys Over Flowers won the 41st Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōjo category in 1996. By February 2015, the series had sold more than 61 million copies, making it one of the best-selling manga series ever and the best-selling shōjo manga ever. In April 2023, Guinness World Records officially recognized Boys Over Flowers as the shōjo manga series with the most published copies by a single author. In TV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, where 150,000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, Boys Over Flowers ranked 70th.

Legacy

F4, also known as JVVK, was a boy band from Taiwan. The group included members from the 2001 version of the TV show Meteor Garden: Jerry Yan, Vanness Wu, Ken Chu, and Vic Chou. The group was formed in 2001 after the Meteor Garden series ended. They released three albums: Meteor Rain (2001), Fantasy 4ever (2002), and Waiting for You (2007). According to Forbes, F4 sold 3.5 million copies of their first two albums across Asia by July 2003. In 2007, the group changed its name to JVVK because of copyright problems. The new name used the initials of the members, listed in order from oldest to youngest.