Happy New Year and TGIF!! This is the first Friday of 2017 and with it comes a brand new Fangirl Moment post!! Since this is the first post of the new year and because I have quite a few new followers, I figured this would be a good time to explain what Fangirl Moment posts are:
Fangirl Moments are a part of a weekly post series where I cover a wide range of topics (books, movies, anime, manga, etc). These posts are relatively short (roughly 500 words), just a short snapshot about the topic of the week and are uploaded every Friday (give or take)… Previous Fangirl Moment posts can be found under the Fangirl Moments tab on the top menu, organized by type (or just click the tab for the master list).
So now that that’s out of the way… *ahem* I thought long and hard about what I wanted to cover this week and after much deliberation and many sleepless nights I decided to go with… Oh who am I kidding? I don’t really plan these posts out! 😛 This time around, I decided to go with a BL manga that I bought over the Christmas Break, Does the Flower Blossom? (Hana wa Saku ka) by Shoko Hidaka.
Does the Flower Blossom? is a five volume slice of life boys love manga, that follows the budding relationship between a mature office worker and a young artist. This manga series is licensed in English by Juné, please support the author and purchase the volumes when they become available in your area!
If ya’ll will remember I covered one of Hidaka-sensei’s other works, Blue Morning in an earlier Fangirl Moments post… but, I didn’t realize it was the same author until after I finished Does the Flower Blossom? How that happened, I’ll never know but I’m glad that I did, I absolutely loved this series from the very first chapter all the way to the last!
Sakurai Kazuaki. At age 38, he’s single, overworked, and starting to feel a bit miserable about his life. One day a young college guy at a train station bumps into Sakurai and wrecks his magazine. Fate — or coincidence — has it, Minagawa happens to own the same magazine at home, and instead of apologizing for the damaged item, he invites Sakurai to his house and replaces it with his copy. “What an arrogant young kid he is!” Sakurai dislikes him immediately. Yet, despite feeling annoyed and frustrated by Minagawa’s rude and arrogant behavior, Sakurai soon finds himself a frequent visitor of the secluded household…
–Juné
Youichi is a distant young artist running an out of the way boarding house that was left to him by his deceased father. While, Sakurai is a lonely advertising executive, who spends most of his days and nights toiling away in the office. Two men that never should have met strike up an unusual friendship born from their shared loneliness. Sakurai finds himself captivated by Youichi’s cold indifference, and Youichi can’t help but look forward to the more “adult” Sakurai’s frequent visits to the boarding house.
I’ve said this before, but I prefer slow romantic development over the sex equals love stories that are common in BL/Yaoi manga. Of course Sakurai and Youichi eventually start up a sexual relationship, but that doesn’t happen until the end of the series. The bulk of the story focuses on the budding relationship between the two men. We get to see them move past their initial hatred of one another as they gradually fall in love. Of course not everything is smooth sailing, their relationship is riddled with obstacles from the start. Youichi is awkward and has a hard time expressing himself, while Sakurai is hesitant to start a relationship with another man, especially one as young as Youichi. But, together they learn to let go of their pasts and find comfort in each other…
I breezed through the first two volumes in about an hour, but the prospect of waiting for my pre-ordered copy of volume 3 was too great and I had to resort to other means… I know, I know, I was weak and I will bare the weight of my shame forever (I am still going to buy all the volumes when they are released), but, it was worth it! This is one of the best BL manga series I have read in a long time and I am more than happy to show my support for such a fantastic work! I just can’t believe it took me so long to find it! I highly recommend this series, Does the Flower Blossom? is beautiful story about love and new beginnings. This is a slow realistic story that will have you captivated from start to finish, so if you consider yourself a BL fan… go read this manga NOW!
They look hot haha
OMG yes, they are so hot!! I love the author’s art style!!
Lol 😂
another boys love favorite of mine deserve so, much more attention than it gets and one of the many on my waiting list of manga to review. You gave an awesome insight into this manga!!!
Same! I fell in love with this on from the start and I can’t wait to read your thoughts on it when you write your review!! Do you have any other suggestions for BL manga like this?
Awww thank you, I’m glad you liked what I wrote!! I was worried I wouldn’t do the series justice lol 😀
I Read a lot of my manga on my phone but whenever I have chance to buy any I try as my anime collection is bigger than my manga one. I haven’t read any boys love manga so this is something I would read. Sounds like a hot mess lol
Gurl, don’t get me started on my manga collection, it’s only getting bigger by the year ha ha ha ha!
You’d definitely like this one, it has a fantastic story and the characters are all great. There isn’t any hardcore BL stuff in it, so it’s perfect for someone just getting into the genre!! But, I do have some other suggestions if you are interested!! 😉
YES YES SUGGEST ❤❤❤away !!!
So definitely read: Doukyuusei by Asumiko Nakamura, I did an FM post about it back in June and I cannot praise it enough! It’s such a beautiful story!!
Then there’s Twittering Birds Never Fly by Kou Yoneda!! That series is one of my all time favorites!!!
I could go on!!
Actual relationship development definitely sounds like a better read than sex=love trope. It’s great that you found a story that you enjoyed so much!
IKR! It is so refreshing to have a BL manga with an actual plot!! Yes, I’ve read some of this author’s other works, and she writes some great stories, so I’ll definitely be sticking with her stuff in the future too!
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! Do you read BL stuff too?
I don’t read manga all that much, really. The only one I’m following is Attack on Titan. And to be honest, I’m a little leery of BL’s tendency to cast homosexual relationships in a heterosexual mold.
But I do read m/m romances in published and online fiction.
*gasp* JK, that’s understandable, I tried reading the AoT manga and it was a no go on my part lol. But, over the years, I’ve found that I read way more manga than I watch anime….
Yeah, BL is a bit unrealistic at times, but I have read some that deal with same sex relationships in a pretty realistic way. But, the best portrayals of same sex relationships come from web comics, they have some really great ones out there! Where do you read your m/m fiction?
Yeah I admit the art isn’t the best but it does get better as it goes. Honestly though, I’m just obsessed with it. Oops.
I’m the opposite though. More anime than manga though I read more than I watch anime. But for some reason, manga’s mixture of images and words doesn’t work to well for me.
Yeah I’ve heard of some of the more popular web comics. I usually stick to Ao3 and fictionpress since I can get a wide range of fiction of all sorts. M/M, F/F, Polyamory, BDSM-there’s a bit of everything and there are some seriously amazing writers there.
It took me awhile to get into manga, but for me it’s easier to make time to read a manga as opposed to setting x amount of time to watch anime, especially now that I’m working during the day.
I just got into webcomics recently and I really love how versatile the stories are! I’ll definitely check those sites and thanks so much for sharing!!
It’s all about the build up! And it sounds like this manga followed just that. So often romantic developments are just rushed and it feels forced or fake…
After all, the wild monkey love can happen laaaater.
Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to more fan girl moments!
Yes!! I needed this one in my life! I can’t believe it took me so long to read it though!
Yup the wild monkey love happens at the end where it belongs lol
Oh definitely, Fangirl Moment posts are the most fun to write!!
Don’t worry, the classics are timeless! Actually I’m not sure if this is a BL classic but perhaps it should be!
Aw yeaaah. None of those shallow homeruns before the first date, woo!
Oh, no, now I’m going to think of BL as monkeys playing baseball. Sounds a bit like Bacchikoi!
Haha, makes sense!
LOL that’s a good question, i don’t think it is… but it should be one!
God, if this wound up being anything like Bacchikoi, I might have cried!
The secret classic. The one that’s unmentioned in the history books but known to all who are worth their salt in the BL fandom!
It would have been a tragedy! Thankfully it was avoided!
YUP YUP, exactly Remy, you get it!!
Hmm not a huge fan of bl but I did like YOI so I should try and consider some bl manga. But dat shojo rofl
I feel you, some can be a bit cringy, but this one is so good!!
Gurl, I can shojo with the best of em lololol
Nice! Will add to my neverending tbr list rofl