Four of Japan’s most gorgeous guys have the near-impossible task of turning goth-loner Sunako into a lady. When they find Sunako all dressed up and ready for a night on the town, the guys think their luck may have finally changed. Hoping to catch a glimpse of Sunako’s date, the quartet follow her out the door. But instead of a handsome young prince, they find an old granny with a taste for the macabre!
Granny’s Museum of Horrors is closing shop and she’s promised all of the remaining items to her best (and only) customer, Sunako. Just what the guys need–more gruesome artifacts cluttering their house. Sunako is hoping to bring her horrific treasures home, but the guys will do anything to stop her . . . even if it means all-out war.
Tomoko Hayakawa (はやかわ ともこ, Hayakawa Tomoyo) is a Japanese artist and writer, best known for her ongoing manga The Wallflower, which has spawned both an anime and a live action series.
Oh, Sunako....you are such an enjoyable character!!
In this volume, Granny speaks of closing her museum, and giving Sunako all her creepy stuff. But, the boys won't hear of this. So, they cater to all Granny's wishes to keep it from happening. The fishing competition was awesome. In the end, Granny keeps all her stuff, anyway.
Later, we find Sunako trying to dig up bodies under Sakura trees at a blossom viewing. She gets everyone there all revved up to change their lives, but they still abandon her.
So I guess I skipped reviewing volume 7 for some reason... but It was really good as well. The Naie x Ora ship is sooo real. I'm serious it's so cute. As for the Takano and Sunako's ... -_- It's a veryyyyy slow burn manga. At the same time I really like that factor and we can focus more on side stories and the like. Especially the one where the ghost was wandering because he wanted to give his love letter to his lover finally in death. It was sooo emotional ugh. Also, Sunako's fetish for gothic things continues to grow which I find hilarious since it's the opposite of being a "lady". I really like how she doesn't change automatically and is still herself! It's really cute and honestly, this is why I like her
The Wallflower, vol. 8 was another fun addition to the series. Okay, so being honest there isn’t much development in regards to plot or anything but it’s still a really fun series! This volume has four chapters + a very short bonus chapter. Each chapter is like a mini story - none of the chapters in this particular volume are connected (at least as far as I can tell) so can be each read as it’s own individual story.
This volume starts off with a short “bonus chapter” titled ‘Ranmaru’s Fabulous Day’ - it’s a day in the life of Ranmaru. The first real chapter of the book focuses on Takenaga and Noi and their not-relationship/relationship. Full of misunderstandings, internal and external interference and their inability to communicate (Takenaga, well, mostly - we all know how Noi-chan feels by now) let’s just say things go nuts. We finally do get to see some progression in their relationship.
In the next “chapter” we get to meet Granny, a friend of Sunako’s - who has a taste for the macabre. She is planning on leaving Sunako her entire collection - this starts an all out competition between the boys and Sunako-chan to win Granny’s favor. This chapter (and Granny) was a lot of fun. Following this chapter, the boys and Sunako decide to go flower viewing (cherry blossoms) - though Sunako-chan has ulterior motives, in the end she actually ends up inspiring other people (inadvertently). Finally we get to see what the gang is up to during Golden Week. The boys get jobs at a French Restaurant with meals included and Sunako-chan gets a week all to herself to recuperate. By the end of the week the boys are dying for some normal food - and Sunako is ready to go!
I enjoyed it and had a lot of fun reading through it.
Overall Rating: B Synopsis: A Shōjo comedy/romance manga created by Tomoko Hayakawa. At the beginning of the manga, Sunako Nakahara confesses her love to a boy, who utterly rejects her and tells her she's ugly. As any reasonably young person would do, Sunako then discards all traces of her femininity, and retreats into odd and morbid hobbies, such as collecting skulls.
Fortunately, Sunako's aunt owns a mansion that four gorgeous boys live in (huh?). Apparently, the boys pay rent to live in the mansion, and the aunt offers them free rent if they give Sunako a Pygmalian-esque makeover, and she becomes a "perfect lady". The boys set to work, and hilarity ensues.
Often, Sunako is shown as an exaggerated version of her true self that looks like a female version Cartman from Southpark. Will these gorgeous boys succeed? Will Sunako's inner beauty shine through?
I passed over The Wallflower several times before checking it out. I'm not a huge fan of the art, but I love the ridiculous plot so far. This works pretty well as a comedy/romance Shōjo, and I'm interested in the characters. The series is ongoing, so I'm not sure how long they can keep the plot interesting, but I'll definitely be reading it for awhile. It has a lot of potential.
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The things that bothered me in the past volumes may still be in this volume... and it will always be. However, I finished watching the anime, and I like the characters so much, especially Sunako, one of the best female characters in shoujo IMO. She is hilarious, she never cries or sulk or get depressed, or care about what other people think of her. She is crazy, weird, creepy, independent.
And the boys... I think I love them more than I like the boys in OHSHC. I always laugh when Yuki cries because he is afraid of Sunako's stuff or of Granny' stuff, or when Oda does not know how to express his feeling to Noi-chi, or when Takano is in bad mood or competes against Sunako.
Probably the 2 best chapters in this volume are the one where Sunako and Takano compete to get what Granny wants, and the last one, where the boys start working in a restaurant and then they are DYING to eat Sunako's food again. So funny (oh, and Sunako's chibi... I am going to miss her in anime!)
some unkind person ripped out random pages throughout this volume and i hope they stub their toe daily for at least a month
that said, wow it has been a long time since i read wallflower! like i'm pretty sure the last time i bought a volume was in high school? dang. happily it's even funnier than i used to find it mostly because i remember that high school me agreed fervently with the manga's assessment that these guys are hot and now. lulz. lulz everywhere. they're a touch too standard shoujo to work for me that way now xD
i'm still all about the central conceit though; i'm 1000% sure this manga is going to end with sunao still fundamentally herself and this pleases me. gothic skulls, humour, and romance! what more could any shoujo reader want
E già...è il primo volume che mi piace poco..a parte l'episodio inziale che ha provocato in me le solite risate..anhe se poche..il resto è scivolato via senza dirmi nulla..
Questo mi preoccupa un pò..non vorrei che fosse l'inizio della decadenza...perchè mi dispiacerebbe troppo...era così divertente! non aspettavo altro che questo manga ogni mese per godermi le avventure strampalate di Sunako e Co.!
Anche perchè ho scoperto che son circa 23/24 volumi in totale..e non siamo neanche a metà!
Spero sia solo un momento no della mangaka..e che dal prossimo ritorni all'altezza dei precedenti..sennò...no non diciamolo!
I haven't read The Wallflower in two years, until I happened to pick this book up at the library. But immediately, I was reminded of how much I loved reading this series and how hilarious it is. Sunako-chan is really funny. She's shown in chibi version 90% of the time and I think that makes it all the more "laughable". ^_^ In this volume, the "bishonen boys group" and Sunako visit a graveyard where Sunako goes about in a rampage, determined to dig up a few corpses. ^.^
I keep chugging along on this one. This volume features some entertaining bits that are mostly pretty conventional, aside from Sunako's involvement. Though it does have an entertaining take on a Golden Week arc where, instead of the usual vacation beach etc arc, Sunako decides the best thing to do is hide in her room while the guys attempt to make some money.
Loved this series. I love reverse harem type series especially when the girl is considered to be 'plain.' Nakahara was a hilarious character and I loved all of her creepy ways.
It was similar in my mind to Boys Over Flowers. Same general concept and characters.
Overall series review (mostly) 4 Stars - so far, I’ve still got a few to go… Additional: Like most long running series there are some duff chapters/volumes