Flowers & Bees, Vol. 1

Masao Komatsu is a high-schooler who is tired of never scoring or talking with the ladies. Or when they do talk to him, they just make fun of him and his pig-like friend, Yamada. And there's one girl in particular that has caught his eye, a teen model named Noriko. The problem is that she's way out of his league looks-wise. One day, by accident Masao encounters Noriko's boyfriend on the street and follows him into a salon called "World of Beautiful Men" run by some disturbingly effeminate hairdressers who vow to make him attractive. What ensues is a Frankenstein like story in which Komatsu will have to endure hair-stripping, eyebrow removal, sorry hair-cuts, servility, and humiliation all in the name of looking good. Aren't there already some reality TV shows like this? Beneath the bare-bones comedy of the whole situation, Moyoco Anno is pulling off a great satire. Why should it always be women who remake their features, who destroy their lives in order to obtain ideal beauty? Here's a guy who's willing to sacrifice anything to attract the opposite sex, to live up to the latest fads, and curry favors from the most desperate women. Anno does a good job of showing a boy who can no longer control his desires and suffers because he never realizes that beauty is just a projection from within. As Masao's looks begin to change, he might just regret that his wishes have been granted. I would also recommend the manga Kare Kano and the anime His and Her Circumstances. Also the anime and manga of Azumanga Daioh.

Flowers and Bees was something I'd been thinking about buying for the past 2months. But since I don't have a lot of money now, my manga buying has been cut down to one Volume a month. :( So, since it was my birthday, I thought "Hey! I deserve some manga!!!", so I went in the store and was trying to decide which one to get. And I decided... "Well, I want something new, but not something to hard to follow, my brain is fried!!!". So picked out Flowers and Bees. Flowers and Bees is the story of a young man named "Masao Komatsu", whom has very bad low self-esteem issues. :( He is sick of girls making fun of him and calling him "Helmet Hair" and he is very uncomfortable with himself. He wants woman to fawn over him, he wants to look like a Bishonen(beautiful man), because he thinks it will bring him happiness. So he goes to the "World of Beautiful mean" where some somewhat looney "men" help him become a beautiful man by over charging him and making him look worse(most of the time). They keep telling him he needs to get confidence in himself, and other people tell him this as well as not to care what others think. Yet, he still believe's his looks are the key to happiness. I *loved* Flowers and Bees so much because it has a very odd ball sense of humor, it is more adult(the rating is mature), but there isn't a ton of sex in it or anything, so I'm *glad* for that. :D I would reccomend Flowers and Bees to guys or girls, because I am a girl, and I thouroughly enjoyed, and my brother read it, and so did he. We both laughed are rear-ends off.! hehe Its nice to have a guy uncomfortable with himself, I'm so used to reading Shoujo where girls are like that or whatever. Or rather, I am a girl and I know what Masao is going through, and I KNOW guys go through it to, so its nice to see it portrayed here, and very well I might add as well. *HOPE* you *enjoy*!!! & God Bless ~Amy

When I bought this book I took it to school and my friend stole it from my hand later that day she gave it back because she finished it then my boyfriend Jacob took it and at the end of school both of them walked up to me and told me I needed to get the next one so I did and that one was just as good and I am waiting for the next one!!!!!

Definitely, most definitely worth reading! I was really looking forward to getting this series, mostly because it was written by Moyoco Anno who wrote Happy Mania, a series by Tokyopop that I am a huge fan of. Moyoco Anno probably has one of the greatest senses of humor since Rumiko Takahashi, though her style of humor is very different from most manga writers. For one thing, what makes her writing so funny is that she doesn't JUST rely on goofy jokes, dumb situations, and puns to make her work humorous. Instead, she uses a lot of real life references and satires, that pretty much make fun of all the ridiculous things people do and that we have to put up with in our lives!Flowers and Bees in particular is about a guy who has become obsessed with being one of those Japanese pretty boys that all the girls are, in theory, gaga over. Of course, at first he thinks the idea is totally crazy, but with girls telling him his eyebrows are too bushy and that his hair looks like a helmet, he's starting to reconsider. Plus, he becomes infatuated with a girl that he's CERTAIN will fall head over heels with him if he can just show off how trendy and sexy cool he can be.Anyway, like all good people, at the cost of his wallet and pride, the guy ends up becoming obsessed with the idea. (like a girl that says, "if a little make up looks good on me, then if I cake on five layers of it, I'll look beautiful!) His desire to be the sexiest guy alive, becomes an addiction and the sad thing is, he's just making himself look goofier and goofier the harder he tries.So, take a poor guy, obsessed with trying to look good. A few girls that love making fun of him trying to look good, and another girl that he practically idolizes every time he sees her walking down the street, and blend in a trio of psychotic male beautitians (god, I need to learn how to spell) and we got ourselves one hell of a funny manga. Also note that though it was written for older male audiences, it's pretty much got something for everyone. I'm a older teenaged girl and I thought it was great ^_^ So enjoy!