Boys Over Flowers, Volume 3: Hana Yori Dango

Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers) is one of the best shoujo manga out there. This series just gets better and better. Writer Yoko Kamio's art is refreshingly different from other manga art, in which all males and females look disturbingly - somehow - the same. I shrieked with laughter reading the funny parts - which are written and drawn with true comedic skills. Volume Three opens after The Big Kiss. Tsukushi and Tsukasa are staring at each other, Tsukasa looking stunningly gorgeous with his new hairstyle. On the party boat, there is heavy petting going on, except among Tsukushi, Tsukasa, and Kazuya. Hilarity ensues when the two guys get into a chest-puffing argument about who can catch the most cuttlefish. After the cruise ends, so does summer. With the start of the new semester, Tsukasa is at first eager to go to school. But when he stumbles upon Tsukushi and Rui having a conversation in "their" stairwell, he snaps. Tsukasa goes from bully to psycho, terrorizing hapless students who get in his way. Even the rest of the F-4 tells him to stop, that he is going too far. Later that evening, Tsukushi runs into the wrong side of Tsukasa - but they are all alone at school, and there is no one to help her.

Hana Yori Dango, Volume 3... Starts off with Kazuya being spastic about Tsukasa's kiss with Tsukushi. Everyone in the room begins A)gasping, B)accusing Tsukushi of being a pauper, or C)staring and shaking their heads. (D- making out! haha no.) Tsukushi, feeling pressured and dirty- eww! she kissed Tsukasa!- goes outside onto the boats balcony thing. Tsukasa follows her and says MORE pompus things ('Aren't you glad your first kiss was with me?'), which does NOT HELP, you idiot. I'm going to skip the rest and focus on the best part of the story now. Haha, sorry, otherwise I'll just tell you the whole thing! Tsukasa is actually happy about the new semester, only because he gets to play another prank (or 'plank', as he calls it) on Tsukushi. But then that stupid group of girls who don't DESERVE to have names piss him off. They show him a tape of Rui and Tsukushi on the boat. And then they tell him about the meetings on the emergency stairwell. Tsukasa, in short, goes on a rampage and beats this one kid up (in the anime, he only stops because of the health teacher, who doesn't exist in the manga). Then , to prove his insanity, he throws a chair out a window. After school, Tsukushi forgets her books at the staircase, where she sees Tsukasa waiting for her. Tsukasa then directly assults Tsukushi.... And I say no more! Great series- I give it an A+! The herione isn't wimpy or just pathetic like others are. Wonderful! But if you live in America, like I do, the books come out VERY slowly. Ugh. The next on comes out December (2004), which isn't that far away. I can't wait!

In Volume 3 of Boys over Flowers, if you had ANY doubts of Domiyogi liking Tsukushi, they will END here in Vol. 3. I personally knew it from Vol. 1. But his feelings in this book seem to have grown a lot, and that shows very much so as the story goes on. I don't want give to much away, but after Domiyogi kissed Tsukushi, as usual*(pretending he does not care for her) he says that she kiss him. And of course it was dark, and its Domiyogi, so no one will argue with that. Tsukushi is absolutely mortified, but yet somehow after that kiss, she said it was like the best day she's had in a long time. Could it be because she really cares about Domiyogi? And just like him, wont admit it? Throughout Vol. 3, we get examples of what makes Domiyogi and Tsukishi alike, even though their upbring is so different: 1. They're both EXTREMELY hard headed. - We have seen throughout the series just how hard-headed Domiyogi is, but also more subtley how hard-head Tsukushi is. She obviously has to be to put up with the F4 and stick with what she believes in. And not only that, but just like Domiyogi, she wont admit her feelings. It is becoming more appearent that she likes him, but she hasn't even realized it yet because she wont give the idea a chance to sit in her brain. As soon as it appears, she quickly dismisses it. 2. We are given clear examples of how violent they are. -They are both willing to hurt people when they see fit. Domiyogi has often seemed more cruel and extreme, and in this book he really flies off the handle and goes crazy, but so does Tsukushi. And the same line is given when the worst case happens "You're going to kill him!!!". So this must be linking the two together more. And also in the same seen, one of the F4 compare Tsukushi's violent behavior to Domiyogi, saying she's "As bad as he is". 3. They're both too proud. - The reason Domiyogi wont admit gis feelings is because he has a rep to live up to, and he always calls the less-privelaged rude names. If he were to admit his feelings for Tsukushi he would be saying he was wrong, and once again he's to hard-headed for that. In the first book we see him trying to transform Tsukushi to make her more "acceptable". Now he doesn't exactly say that, but I believe because of his pride he felt that dating her or hanging out with her wouldn't be a problem if she were rich, or at least looked it. Tsukushi is to proud to mingle with the Richies as well, as we see in the beginning. Now we have only been given examples of a--hole rich kids, until Kazuya, her old childhood friend came in. But he was not born rich, so its not the same. Shizuka however has been the only example so far of a nice rich kid. But the thing is, in the beginning we saw that because of Tsukushi's pride she didn't want to look for nice rich kids, she assumed they were all jerks, all she wanted to do was coast through. Of course had that happened, this series would've been extremely boring. :p So as of Volum