By:Michelle Gamble
Being bullied by anyone is no fun, but getting bullied by someone who has control of practically everything? That is exactly what the heroine of ‘Boys before Flowers’ has to go up against. The T.V series based off the popular Anime and Manga tells of a girl who overcomes poverty, status, and most importantly the tough exterior of ‘Domyouji Tuskasa’.
The story starts out with a common girl named Makino Tsukushi at a school for only the most elite students. She is gawking at the number of brand name accessories and high end people around her, questioning the schools very existence. It appears as any normal day, but then out of nowhere a voice can be heard all over the school that someone has received a ‘red notice’.
The response to said announcement results in the whole school getting out of class to go bully some poor person who dared insult the wealthiest people in the whole school,The ‘F4’.
They bully people for the simple fact that they can. They are made up of, Akira Imasaka, Nishikado Soujiroh,and Hanazawa Rui and the leader Tsukasa Domyouji.
Makino and a transfer student were the only ones to stay behind, at least until the transfer student Sakurako Sanjo asks her about what is going on. Makino leads Sakurako through the hallways to observe the bullying first hand.
The crowd chants, similar to what I imagine a crowd of Romans in the coliseum did when the gladiatior was about to be eaten by a lion but in this case the lion is Domyouji. He punches the poor kid in the face hard enough to make the poor kid who has already be beaten collapse. Like drones the kids applaud their leader. The only one who finds it repulsing is Makino, who secretly wants to stop it but think she has no power to.
A few days later she gets the red notice for defending her new friend Sakurako. At first she takes the punishment, she gets bullied by the whole school instead of getting beat, however she does not give up, because the only ‘nice’ person in ‘F4’ helps her out saying that he is sick of all the beatings. She falls for her savior Hanazawa Rui, for his kindness and his beauty.
Her fighting spirit is triggered by accusations of impurity and Domyouji stepping on the prawn that her parents worked hard to get for her, leads her to fight back delivering Domyouji a punch in the face and declaring war back on them.
For reasons unknown instead of being mad Domyouji feels attracted to her. It is the first girl that he has liked so he assumes that she has the same feelings towards him.
She is invited to a formal party celebrating F4s friend and Rui’s love interest, and her idol Shizuka Todo’s homecoming. However she gets tricked when three girls tell her that she can wear informal attire. Shizuka sees this and stands up for her and gets her more suitable to wear. Through several accidents, later on that evening she ends up getting her first kiss from none other than Domyouji.
Eventually She falls in love with him as well, however her status is hindering their relationship when his mother finds out about it. Now it’s not only her but her family that are in danger.
Makino struggles relentlessly with what she feels for Domyouji and her family and throughout the entire show she struggles with what to do in regards to both. She loves Domyouji however her family will always be number one. In order to protect them she tries to break it off however Domyouji and F4 won’t have it. They always help her in whatever ways possible.
Domyouji’s mother however is relentless and even goes through the trouble of taking him to America, to take over running the business. At first he treats it as if it was nothing, thinking that people were replaceable.
In order to help him learn the truth his Mother creates a situation. The person he was staying with loses his job and decided to committed suicide by jumping off a building in front of Tuskasa. Needless to say this got him on the right path and he ended up feeling the weight of responsibility.
After a great amount of time being abroad, Tsukushi somehow manages to go to New York searching for Tsukasa, who at this point cares more about his company than he does for her. She gets mugged right after she arrives and as always like the knight in shining armor Rui come to her aid. That day she runs into Tsukasa at a hot dog stand however he ignores her and the drama begins again. Tsukasa is torn between his company and her, always dreaming of the man who died tragically in front of him yet never forgetting the girl he fell in love with.
At this point in the story without their leader the F4 adapts and most of them are on Tsukushi’s side. They go to Tuskasa demanding to know what it going on and why he didn’t want to see Tsukushi. Tuskasa doesn’t explain anything and tells them that he is too busy to be bothered by them either. They all feel betrayed, and leave empty handed and upset.
Not too soon after before his birthday his mom decides they need to go back to Japan to celebrate and to announce to everyone’s surprise his engagement to a girl he has no interest in. All of his friends including Tsukushi is in attendance and when he tries to explain the situation to her, something catches his eye, the man whom he thought dead is walking the streets of Tokyo. It turns out his mother played another nasty trick on him to get him to comply.
The main themes in this drama are ‘the power of love’, ‘the power of friendship’, and most importantly ‘finding ones way through life by overcoming odds placed in front of you.’ These themes are the basic morals which are obtained. While watching it brings people a sense of self worth and empowerment. Making one believe that in truth anything is possible with effort.
Over all it is a very entertaining story to watch unfold. The angst of high school is the perfect setting for the drama to commence, the events and characters are easy to relate with, especially when trying to find your way through life, when it is at its worst. The music accompanies the drama and like any good film enhances the feelings and reactions that the characters themselves are going thought. In all it’s a drama worth watching and enjoying to the fullest.
The series is a huge success in not only Japan but in Korea as well. The two are very similar though the Korean version goes into more detail than the Japanese Version. Each series is 25 episodes long and includes some of their respected top actors.
For Japan Oguri Shun, plays the gentleman ‘Rui’ ‘Matsumoto Jun’ plays the lead actor Tsukasa and Unoue Mao plays Tsukushi. They are all pretty famous and have many other works. The Korean main cast includes Lee Min Ho, who plays the lead male role Goo Jun Pyo, Kim Hyun Joong who plays the part of the ‘Rui’ Character but his name is Yoon Ji Hoo, and Hye Sun plays the heroine of the story Geum Jan Di. They all do amazing jobs at capturing the characters and letting you live through them.
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