As another commenter has said, the plot is indeed deep, sweet and in a way - very beautiful. The evolution of the plot does not seem rushed, but isn't excruciatingly slow as well.

Perhaps it's due to my undying love for the byronic heroes, but for me probably the best part of the story are the main characters who are flawed and imperfect from the beginning up until and including the very end in a way that's coherent with their storyline. No sudden and unexplained end of long-term depression and damaged mental state, just a little improvement.
Usually even the male characters with the worst, well, character, tend to have everything - money, women, no troubles communicating with the world, etc. In this story the mangaka has broken this "rule". The girl is probably a bit too overpowered when it goes to the charisma, but not to the level of other shoujo-manga characters. In this case I can actually understand people liking the sweet and innocent girl.

The situations are not overly romanticized or sexualized, hence the "slice of life" in the genre, though quite a generous amount of humor is added, probably just enough to retain the readers from climbing on the nearest roof and jumping off. Though I usually dislike the classical endings, here it is done with style and actually makes sense, seeing the nineteen of twenty chapters leading up unto it.

The only thing that bothered me a little at the beginning was the art as it looked somewhat, well, unfinished, but in the end a little bit of sketchiness seems to be very adhering to the characters and scenes.

In short - read it if you can take some amount of realism and the fact that the storyline might not be particularly happy or the characters perfect does not make you run away screaming.

It kinda reminds me of Dengeki Daisy you know? The same darkness the male characters are in - the idea of salvation, the romance etc. Not saying it's a rip off or anything - I just think they're both excellent stories that have similarities~

I love it all, the slow passionate (but not passionate in an obvious way?) romance, the imagery of flowers. One thing is the ending though - I kinda wish we knew more about Iori and Kei - what happened? Or was it just falling in love? And a bit more about Kei/Chouko's past woven into the story better :3 Maybe I should re-read it. A little angsty in the middle with Kei's past but that's easily contrasted with flowers. I really do recommend this!

This was an absolutely gorgeous piece of work. I would say it is Josei rather than Shoujo as it deals with heavy themes.
I found this manga to be profoundly realistic in the depiction of its characters as they hide in their own darkness - addicted and unable to escape it.
It has a subtle beauty to it - despite the cliche flower metaphor.

I just found a new favorite manga.

Okay, I really wanted to like this one - reclusive writer with a dark past, cheery cute girl that helps him up. As someone who likes mystery/psychological shojo manga. It was right up my alley. I loved Chouko as a protagonist, but Kei?



While the premise of this manga was excellent, it could have been executed a LOT better. Points for Chouko's friends and Akiyama, who shined the whole way though. The poetry bit about the flowers was really nice but

An okay read if you have some time to kill, but don't really expect much beyond that.

... Last updated on May 21st, 2017, 5:01pm

Considering the potential of the material, the beginning was weak. It fails to grab your attention. It would've been much better if the author showed the death of the parents, how she came to live with Kei and her coming out of the darkness in the 1st volume. Instead, by skimming over the events and then randomly using flashbacks to fill in the pieces, most of the emotional impact is lost. In fact that's the biggest weakness of the story, you are left to figure out what the author is trying to portray instead of feeling and going through it with the characters most of the time. The only characters that have any significant emotional impact are side characters (the editor and the kid from the club who was my favorite character, too bad there was almost no background info on him). The part of the story with Iori should've been either fleshed out more or given less significance, the way it was shown it was neither here nor there. Some other minor things bothered me like why Kei had to go to his father's house to beg for pills, no matter how much they were shunned, I doubt his mother's health would've been ignored. Also, Chouko's parent's going away for TEN years leaving her behind and her dad caring more for Kei than her did not really match up with their personalities as shown by the author. It is these types of things that made it hard to relate to the characters.

Ultimately, no matter how it is done or how much of the actual events are shown, the best stories of this particular genre take the reader inside the character's hearts and make them feel what the characters feel, unfortunately this manga mostly fails in that aspect. I would recommend this only if you like the psychological genre and read everything else that's at least decent within it.

... Last updated on May 22nd, 2012, 11:33pm

What I like about this manga is that it doesn't pretends to be more than it is, the author didn't drag it, I even wanted more, and I'm not a fan of long mangas. But this here, it's quite a nice story, I liked the art and specially the protagonist's dark character. The mangaka sees this story to the end, she doesn't try to pull personalities changes, she just let the relationships between the character grow. I must say, now I have a weakness for dark writers <: You'll want more, believe me.

I enjoyed the dark parts but I feel like the story would have been better if it started from the point of her parents coming back and gave us a more in-depth look at Chouko's darkness during the time she spent in the house, rather than pieces in flash backs.

this is gorgeously dark and breathtaking. not for the faint of heart...appreciate it myself 'cause of the dark times I've been going through. realistic manga about despair.
I've always been partial to settings where the characters have to be saved...really well done. bitter sweet. not a full 10 'cause it gets a bit off here and there...

It was deep and heavy at times, but I did enjoy it.
Usually I'm used to more superficial story-lines, but this too does the work, even though there's no smut, nudity, sweet-talking or air-headed women and mischievous men.
I guess that some things are better off unsaid.
Overall I do recommend it if you're in the mood for something less chirpy.

... Last updated on March 13th, 2016, 10:00am

Okay, so what exactly is wrong with him in the first place? I mean, I get really confused when they talk about being "deep" or what not and then there's some talk about flowers and such. I understand he wrote Hana because he fell in love with Chouko but what's the problem between him and Akiyama's childhood friend? That Yui or rui whatever her name is. I seriously have no idea what's going on after two volumes.

But nevertheless, the one that I love the most is definitely Chouko! As well as Akiyama! Behind that cheerful face lies a sad and burden past. /sigh. Honestly saying, i wouldn't really recommend this since the storyline is quite confusing but you can always try giving it a shot I guess.