Hanakage no Kioku
Flower Shadow's Memory

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Hanakage is a pretty decent love story as far as yaoi goes. There's not a whole lot of smut; rather, it focuses on the development of the relationship between their characters as they deal with their emotions and societal repercussions.

It's not that long and it isn't mindblowing, but it's about love and sacrifice and the complexity of emotions. Set in an older time and using a plot device of the gap between nobility and servants, the drama seems more sincere and less theatrical than in a lot of modern-day yaoi angst you see often. I say it's decent.

The art is very pretty, as well. Nice, ... clean lines.

Hanakage no Kioku is the story of 2 childhood friends who love each other, but are of different social positions. Laurent, a young butler who loves plants and Arthur, the young nobleman. And then there's Ceral, Arthur's childhood classmate who has stumbled across the garden. Other than that, the name's and story are pretty confusing.
The manga is fast-paced with minor characters playing little to no-role that you don't even remember who is who. The art work is all right, it's a lot better than ... the sterotypical BL art whith little boys and big eyes. The men look like men. The story is a little confusing with not knowing when flashbacks takes place, where it begins and where it stops, and how long ago was it? And also with poor transitions form one event to another. Character development was good, from having Arthur and Laurent being immature naive children slowly starting to realize their feelings for each other.
If you are looking for a hard-core yaoi story, look elsewhere. There is almost nothing in this, well at least until the last chapter. And then there's only 1 page of smut.

This is my 1st review, so please be gentle. :3

[a minor spoiler... i guess] I liked the premise and the art cover so I glanced a bit over existing reviews and decided to give this manga a read. And I was quickly left severely disappointed and mad. I dropped right after the rape scene, which occurs right in the first chapter. It's not really a spoiler, but more of a trigger warning to those who like me absolutely loathe that bs of a plot necessity. Another rape yaoi manga... like, are we ever gonna evolve past this? Damn. At least, you can skip these "gems" of a manga world thanks to people who bothered ... to write a trigger warning to let others know what's up. [thank you reviewers who does that]
The art is bad too. I mean, faces are ugly, and that's kinda the most important part for me.
Overall rating 3/10. Just to not make people who liked it completely mad and than having them come to my page and complain.