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Title:  Boys Over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango) Vol 33

Author: Yoko Kamio

Publisher: Viz

ISBN:  9781421517209

May Contain Spoilers

My love for this series continues!  Yoko Kamio has managed to keep me entertained through countless pages of melodrama, and at the end of every volume, I still can’t wait to get my hands on the next.  Only three more volumes to go – what am I going to do to get my fix of shojo crack when it’s over? 

Tsukasa is still suffering from his weird case of amnesia – he remembers everyone but Tsukushi.  It figures that a guy as hard-headed has Tsukasa would only forget about the girl he loves.  To make things worse, he seems to really hate her, now that she’s a stranger to him.  Argh!  I felt so bad for Tsukushi as Tsukasa rejects her again and again.  He doesn’t just tell her to get lost, though. No way!  Tsukasa is meaner than a bag full of bees, and he emphatically tells her time and again just how much he can’t stand even the sight of her.  The pain!  Tsukushi is just as pig-headed has ever, and she sticks to her guns, thinking that if she’s patient, Tsukasa will eventually remember how much he loves her.

This is where things really sucked me in. Umi is there, waiting in the wings, to flit in at every opportunity and try to make a good impression on Tsukasa.  She’s like a butterfly, light and cheerful, and most people quickly succumb to her contagious charms.  Tsukushi does.  So does Susumu.  The F4 aren’t buying her perky bill of goods, though – they think she’s a fake and they don’t hesitate to give her the cold shoulder.  They even get annoyed with Tsukasa for being so dumb as to forget the girl he really loves.  I have to admit that I wanted to slug some sense into Tsukasa and wipe that overly friendly smile off of Umi’s face.  More than anything, though, I wanted Tsukushi to do something more than put on a brave face and continue to be brushed aside by Tsukasa. 

In Tsukushi’s defense, she thought that if Tsukasa really loved her, he would choose her again, even after having forgotten her.  Their love was supposed to be magical and defy all the odds – she’s heartbroken when that doesn’t seem the case.  Then she just wants to put him and her feelings for him behind her.  And that’s when she started acting like the Tsukushi that we all know and have grown to love.  Her temper flares, she flies off the handle, and then she runs away.  Best scene in the entire book.

I love the Sojiro and Yuki subplot.  They make such a great couple!  Yuki absolutely adores him, but can he give up his womanizing ways?  Maybe we’ll find out in the next volume. 

Grade: A-

Rated for Teen