April Showers Bring May Flowers Volume 1
Writer and artist: Roku Sakura
Publisher: Yen Press (print and digital editions)
Translation: Leanne Harvey
Lettering: Bianca Pistillo
Publication date: December 3, 2024
Rating: Teen
Genre: Manga (JPN), Comedy, Romance, Daily Life
Rokuakura’s April Showers Bring May Flowers was added to Yen Press’ growing library in December. It is a romantic comedy manga completed in 12 volumes, and won 5th place in the 2019 “Next Coming Manga Award” in the print category. Currently, only the first volume is available in English, but the next volume is scheduled to be released in March. I’m looking forward to seeing it made into an anime! Take a peek at Volume 1 of April Showers Bring May Flowers.
©Yen Press, 2024
Flowers and sparkle. A fateful encounter and a romantic confession. Hana Tabata is both familiar with the world of girls’ manga and at the same time a complete outsider. She believes she is too ugly to experience the kind of romance she reads about and is doomed to be a background character for the rest of her life. She has no friends at school, but is on a committee that deals with keeping the buildings and gardens clean and tidy.
Her duties include refreshing the classroom vases, and she comes to school before everyone else to keep a low profile. One morning, Hana is feeling particularly playful, tucking a flower behind her ear and imagining herself as the main character in her favorite cartoon. However, the fateful encounter she had been reading about was not ready for Yosuke Ueno, the hottest and kindest boy in the class, to catch her off guard. Hana screams and runs away, but this unexpected encounter opens the door to a surprising friendship.
April Showers Bring May Flowers is a youth manga. This demographic is mainly targeted at adult men, and you can see the difference from girls’ manga, which are works aimed primarily at young women and girls. This first volume balances the comedy that comes from Hana’s internal self-deprecating monologues and misunderstandings of certain situations with the friendship that develops between Hana and Ueno. And Hana isn’t the only one we meet on a deeper level.
Two more characters are given context. First of all, there’s Uguisudani, the other female student on the cover who is a “girly” beautiful girl who is liked by everyone. The other, Shinbashi, is as heavy as a flower, and after living an isolated middle school life with no friends, he decides to change himself and go on to high school. How successful he will be in that field is another story.
©Yen Press, 2024 ©Yen Press, 2024
My first impression of this first volume was that the general development of the story was reminiscent of Kimi ni Todoke Kimi ni Todoke. A female protagonist who is not beautiful and lives inside her own head, a handsome male protagonist who is kind to everyone, and a lovely love rival who everyone thinks is an angel but secretly plots destruction using his appearance. female lead. Well, maybe not that much, but still.
Hana’s character is written with a more comedic and paranoid tone compared to Sawako’s character. Ueno says that the flowers in her hair are cute. Hana’s brain warp enters Ueno, where it spreads throughout the school and she imagines a near future where others call her “Hana Ugo”. When we went to the convenience store to get something to eat, Ueno said, “Maybe I should buy something warm,” which Hana translated into Deluru as “You came to be my wallet.” That means.
©Yen Press, 2024
Her personality and how she interprets every interaction through the lens of self-esteem and body image may seem like too much to some people. Reading over and over on paper can become redundant and boring, especially if the characters keep falling into the same thought patterns. But I appreciated this iteration in April Showers Bring May Flowers.
This repetition reveals how strongly one’s body image is tied to one’s values, and how these harsh, critical thoughts permeate one’s seemingly unrelated everyday interactions with others, or the experience of wanting to participate. It amplifies how often we are kept away from. of.
“Normal” girls in romance manga are usually depicted as not much different from traditional beautiful, thin girls. However, Roku Sakura chose to distinguish Hana from other girls stylistically. Although the tone of Sakura’s approach to Hana is humorous, this visual difference serves to remind the reader of how others see her. My only hope is that artists don’t force Hana to change her weight or eating habits in the name of “health.” For now, it’s been reassuring to see her parents supporting her in eating what she likes.
The main character, Ueno, is depicted as a bright and kind person who can talk to anyone without discrimination. We get to know him a bit more towards the end of the volume, thanks to Hana’s mother going the usual nosy mother route and playfully interrogating him during a chance encounter. I think we’ll get to know more about him than his kindness and warm personality in the next volume!
©Yen Press, 2024
The art style is straightforward and does the job well. In keeping with the tone of the series, Hana’s reactions throughout are hilarious, not to mention relatable. All the characters other than Ueno have strange faces on the inside. However, there are moments when Hana looks happy or blushes shyly, which is very endearing. These moments are quite rare and are all the more memorable because they are markedly different from how she usually looks.
April Showers Bring May Flowers begins with four color pages, two of which are double-page spreads. In the physical version, these pages are printed on glossy paper. Comic book covers aren’t the norm in America, so these colored pages are always welcome. Another nice feature is that the characters are drawn in color not only on the cover but also in the panels.
In conclusion, I enjoyed Volume 1 of “April Showers Bring May Flowers” more than I expected! Of course I’m looking forward to the sequel. Lovers of shoujo manga and romance manga will definitely not miss this series, but readers who prefer the comedy aspect to be more prominent in their romance and slice-of-life stories will also have a satisfying time. You can do it. In the future, you will see more qualified leads, regardless of gender.
©Yen Press, 2024
April Showers Bring May Flowers Volume 1 is available in digital and print versions on the Yen Press website and other retailers.
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