Chou yo Hana yo
Butterflies, Flowers

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I have read the first five volumes, and I am eagerly awaiting more!

The story bascially revolves around a mistress/butler relationship - although now, many years later, they are poor. Chouka has just started working, and who should be her boss, but her previous servant, Masayuki. Whose opening question appears to be "are you a virgin?".

And this pretty much sets the tone. It is pretty much a humourous exploration of the relationship between these two. And their relationship has so many levels. That of master and servant, that of boss and subordinant, that of boyfriend and girlfriend.

I like the art. I sometimes find Chouko's ... chibi a bit uuuuugly, but she looks quite nice most of the time. Despite there being quite a cast of characters, everyone that you need to know is drawn well, and clearly

The characters are archetypes. Across the 5 volumes that I have read, I do see Chouko and Masayuki changing - and that is nice. The side characters are also important, and there are a few side stories that I really hope get resolved! Masayuki's character in particular I like. It is through him that a lot of the humour is worked. All in all, I have to say, I *like* the characters, and I look forward seeing where they go!

I reccomend this to people who like saucy humour. I have been laughing out loud whilst reading this. There is a lot of visual humour. and overall it is just plain funny! A lot of the humour does centre around sex, so if that is not your thing, avoid it. Otherwise, this is light, and humourous, and all in all, a lot of fun!

In general, shoujo features more innocent romance, while josei tends to take a more mature approach and doesn't shy away from delving into the sexual side of relationships. An office romance story, 'Chou yo Hana yo' revolves around Chouko Kuze, whose once-rich family are now wallowing in poverty. She gets a job as a secretary under a very inappropriate boss, who turns out to be none other than the servant who used to tend to her as a child — and still insists on doing that, in an odd mistress/servant, superior/subordinate dynamic.

Right off the bat, the story is unusual for a Yuki Yoshihara manga: her ... scripts usually rely on subverting shoujo tropes and stereotypes, most often by having the main female character be horny and assertive while her love interest is the "prey". Here, the shoujo personality tropes are played straight, with Masayuki relentlessly pursuing Chouko. However, instead of the repetitive flirting attempts that border on sexual harassment, I would have liked to see more of Chouko and Masayuki's relationship as ojou/servant, as it wasn't developed enough to make their connection as adults believable.

True to Yoshihara's style, raunchy humor and visual jokes abound, and most of their effectiveness comes from how bizarre they are. But you can stretch this simplistic plot only so much until the material runs out, and CYHY galloped straight past that point, culminating with a certain subplot in which Chouko is almost date-raped and the outcome is handled very poorly. Other than that, the constant sexual harassment from Masayuki himself was annoying.

The art is clean, with pleasant-looking character designs, as is the norm with Yuki Yoshihara; with Masayuki hogging the story so much, Chouko in monstrous chibi form (Yoshihara's own words) doesn't appear quite as often. There's also some fairly explicit sexual content later on, but it's done tastefully and not dwelled on for too long. Yoshihara has her specific style but it's easy to tell the characters apart, and we even get a (toned-down) cameo from Maria of 'Itadakimasu's.

CYHY is a story that suffers from having been stretched past the point of being enjoyable. The sweet spot would have probably been around 5 volumes, to avoid slipping into tedium. If you've already read other works of Yoshihara's and are familiar with her style, it might come across as less funny. However, it's OK if you're in the mood for some wacky office romance with a different relationship dynamic than what you'd usually encounter—and if you're willing to power through some old-fashioned josei sexism and awkwardness.

The last time I read this manga was about 10 years ago. I remembered it being really funny to me with all the crude humor and slapstick, which at the time really attracted me to this manga; besides the artwork of course.

However...crude humor is definitely subjective when it comes to ‘Butterflies, Flowers’. With the time that have gone by, and a lot of growing up to do, my love for this manga dissipated into the abyss.



Story: 4/10

The plot is simple: girl grows up in a rich household with maids and servants; she was attached to a servant who had to find work elsewhere ... after her family lost their rich lifestyle. 10 years go by; girl starts work at a desk job, reunites with servant she was once attached to. He is now a boss for a real estate company. Turns out he's a tyrant and obsessed with the girl. The two fall in love, and go through trial and error like any other couple.

For such a simple plot, it has a very passive aggressive tone in every volume. The point of the story is for Masayuki (MMC) to finally see Choko (FMC) as a woman after all these years, not as a child needed to be catered to. Was it executed well? Not really. It seemed like the manga-ka was confused with which direction she wanted to take this "servant/master" trope towards, which made both main characters confused with their own relationship. Their relationship went in circles between platonic and romantic. Don't get me wrong, there are kinks that establish the "servant/master" trope in manga, but ‘Butterflies, Flowers’ did not bring that kink to fruition.

Now, this is where my love for BF came to die.

Masayuki CONSTANTLY sexually harassing Choko became overdone, overtime. This was used as a comedic trope in every single volume. Not to mention, it very much becomes part of the plot within their relationship. When a FMC does not like sexual harassment as a kink, and even communicates that, it should not be a kink at all. Masayuki, for the majority of the time, neglects Choko’s demands. She did not consent to any of this. This is mainly the reason why the "servant/master" trope does not work in this series.




Art: 8/10

The artwork is (unfortunately) gorgeous. I always used to think Masayuki was a glamorized Seto Kaiba artistically 😂 Anyway. Yuki Yoshihara's style gives characters an attractive aura to them, and I love that. This is the only redeeming quality this manga brings.



Character: 4/10

Right off the bat, Masayuki is completely problematic in the entire manga. His sexual harassment tendencies is apparently a “character trait”.

He also portrayed misogyny to control Choko and puts blame on her for irrelevant things by gaslighting her. In return, Choko retaliates by putting her foot down every time, and yet she still goes back to him. If this is supposed to be a “kinky” servant/master trope, I assure you it’s not. It’s clearly abusive. Their relationship is constantly questionable and toxic. Choko desperately wants to be seen as a woman, not as someone Masayuki used to serve. It actually makes me question if Masayuki even sees Choko as a grown woman tbh…

...So…is he a groomer? It sure appears that way since Masayuki has been obsessed with Choko ever since she was a CHILD.

Anyway, they have some relatively good moments, but very minimal. It’s like a breath of fresh air when they’re not constantly arguing in every volume.

Honestly, Choko and Suou (we will get to her shortly) are the most rational characters in the whole manga. This is really the only saving grace this story brings.



Enjoyment: 3/10

Like I said, the humor is subjective here, especially when sexual harassment is concerned. Not everyone will be into it. It just got too much for me personally.

Regarding Mayasuki and Choko; Since the very beginning their relationship has been passive aggressive, and I just got so fed up reading their constant bickering back and fourth.


One thing that did not age well in ‘Butterflies, Flowers’ were the transphobic tropes portrayed on Suou, who is Masayuki's childhood friend. It is clearly evident they are transgender (at the very least androgynous), and half of the “humor”was her “cross-dressing” who “couldn't make up her mind”. There is a plot introduced that involves Suou with a potential love interest with another woman, and it was never explored. If this had been explored, I would've praised this manga for being ahead of it's time. Then again this was 2005 when this manga came out, so I'm not even surprised it was never thought out. So why introduce it to begin with?



Overall: 4/10

I hesitated to finish BF when I used to love it so much back in the day. This manga is just not as good as I thought it was. In some areas the humor did not age well, but on the other hand there were some nice moments that I wish were more fleshed out. You can definitely see the confusion with the story and characters by having no sense of direction at all. Everything went in circles. If you are looking for a "servant/master" kink out of this....please look elsewhere.