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Title: Boys Over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango) Vol 35

Author: Yoko Kamio

Publisher: Viz

ISBN: 9781421522494

May Contain Spoilers

Tsukushi is in for an unpleasant surprise when Tsukasa informs her that he’ll be moving to New York right after graduation.  His father is ailing, and he’s going to help run the family business.  Tsukushi is shocked, and she’s having trouble working through her feelings for Tsukasa and how she’s going to get by without him.   Will their relationship survive a four year separation?

Coming to terms with Tsukasa’s plans for the future proves a very difficult task for Tsukushi.  She’s even more confused when he asks her to marry him.  They’ve only just started dating!  Still, it’s hard for her to keep her head when he’s being charming and romantic.  Tsukasa has matured and finally found a path to follow, and now it’s Tsukushi who is feeling directionless and undecided.  Maybe the overwhelming aroma from the thousands of roses he had delivered to her tiny apartment made it hard for her to focus on her plans for the future.

I think that Tsukushi finally showed some personal growth in this volume.  She isn’t fighting her feelings for Tsukasa any more, and now that she knows that they will be apart for a while, she’s starting to think very hard about herself and her relationship with him.  She has been avoiding making any commitment to him, but now he’s the only thing on her mind.  She had expected that they would have the year together that his mother promised, and now that he’s willing to go to New York and help with the business, of his own free will, she is dazed and worried about their future.  Will they still be a couple, thousands of miles apart?  Will they still love each other four years from now?

What I liked the best about this volume is how Tsukushi forced herself to make choices she ordinarily would have been too conservative to make.   Even her decision to purchase a more expensive pair of shoes was a big change for her, and shows that she’s now, slowly, willing to take some risks.  Doing something different and looking at things in a new way is full of danger and the possibility of disappointment, but she finally pushes herself to take a step forward and do just that.  There’s a whole wide world out there, but she’s been too afraid to see it.  She’s always so worried about the future that she doesn’t live for the moment, and because of that, she’s missing out on experiences that other people her age take for granted.  Will she ever be able to take misfortune and happy times in stride?  I think more than anything else, she needs to learn to just go with the flow, and take things one step at a time, because life gets too overwhelming when you don’t.  

Grade: A-

Review copy provided by Viz