Hana Yori Dango (Boys Before Flowers) Opening, 1996
I noticed a severe lack of HanaDan anime here on Tumblr, so I had to fix that.
Perhaps someday in the far off future I’ll be able to watch this series to completion. I loved, beyond words, the manga series and I thought that seeing these awesome kids animated would be super awesome, but it wasn’t really.
I assume it was so that it would appeal to a wider audience, but the slight dumbing-down of the story and the addition of that toy thing annoyed me. What was that and why did that seem like a good idea? It’s been many years since I tried to watch it and although much of the impact has faded, I can’t help but remember all of the bad stuff. The unnecessary departures from the manga really killed it for me. For the future me’s sake, I hope that these creative licenses remain as minimal as I assume/hope against hope they are when compared to the series as a whole. If not, at the very least, I hope that I’ve built up a tolerance since my last attempt and I can tune those things out and enjoy Hana Yori Dango in all of its animated glory. Someday.
That said, I recommend this story of a girl whose guts helped her overcome her insecurities, take down a stuck up group of brats, tame an arrogant beast, and find happiness, love, and good friends.