Story- 10
This manga follows the story of Makino Tsukushi, a middle class girl going to a school for rich people. All she wants to do is fit in and graduate, but then enter the F4, the group of popular and rich boys in the school. They are well revered and feared. One day, Makino’s friend falls off stairs and injures the leader of the F4, Makino stands up for her and insults them, and Doumyouji Tsukasa, the leader of the F4 is impressed by her courage and the fact that she isn’t swayed by his influence. He develops a crush on her, but Makino likes Hanazawa Rui, the quiet and aloof member of the F4.
Shōjo manga underwent huge reforms in the 1990s, with hits like this and sailor moon, so for its time, Hanadan has a pretty unique plot, at some points, I felt like it was unnecessarily stretched out, and everything could have happened slower than over the course of a single year(I mean, you have pagers at the beginning and phones towards the end).
Art- 6
Since this manga came out in the late 90s, the art and overall character designs looks quite dated. But, it keeps improving over the course of the manga, and towards the end, it looks more or less like the style followed today.
Characters- 10
The strongest point of the story, the characters develop extremely well over the course of the manga.
Back in the 1990s, Japan hadn’t really jumped on the feminism bandwagon, but we have some extremely strong female characters- Makino Tsukushi and Shizuka Toudou.
Makino is the inspiration for the “poor hardworking girl with a lot of perseverance” trope followed today. She’s kind, with a strong sense of justice, and you’ll find yourself liking her. The hero, Doumyouji Tsukasa starts off as a violent and cruel person. He treats Makino more like a pet than a human being at the beginning, and gets anxious when she isn’t around him. However, he develops well, and turns into a more kindhearted and gentle person, although still prone to occasional violent outbursts.
Hanadan also has strong female characters, such as Shizuka Toudou(who does something shocking no one in her social class would do) and Tsubaki Doumyouji(who stands up as an equal to her brother and does not give into his tantrums).
The rest of the F4 is nice too- Hanazawa Rui starts off as an introvert but ends up opening up to Makino after sorting out his feelings, my second favourite character development. Mimasaka and Nishikado deserved better, in my opinion, but you can see the impact Makino had on the group of four rich snobs.
Enjoyment- 10
I enjoyed this manga, and I simply couldn’t put it down, I laughed and cried with all the characters and I just felt so happy and warm inside, and I closed the book with a smile on my face.
Overall- 10
This manga is definitely worth a read, please don’t judge it to be stereotypical simply because it’s an older manga, but look at its strengths- being such an impactful manga that has inspired countless other such stereotypes, Hanadan is a rollercoaster ride of emotions, and I’d definitely read it again and again. If the manga medium isn’t really your thing, you can always check out the multiple drama adaptations it spawned or read the anime.
Thank you for reading!
