Manga Monday: Butterflies, Flowers

Butterflies, Flowers (Volume 1)

Yuki Yoshihara

Choko Kuze is desperate for a job since her family's wealth disappeared.  Coming from a priveleged background forces her to take whatever comes her way, but she certainly never expected to work for one of her former servants.  It makes for an interesting dynamic, as Masayuki Domoto makes many ridiculous demands on his new employee (and even asks her if she is a virgin during the interview), but turns on a dime to praise her and call her Milady, particularly when off the clock (and even drives her to and from the office).  Choko recalls her childhood friendship with Domoto fondly, and admits pretty early on that she's fallen pretty deep for the handsome guy, something that hits home when she sees women throwing themselves at him.  The illustrations are really beautiful in this title, as the book's title suggests, but this is another one of those shojo manga titles that too abruptly bounces from serious and emotional to goofy and cartoony, a line that I think has to be tread carefully in a shojo book.  Choko sometimes steps into the obnoxious camp too much because of this and the rest of her personality is a little too bland to compensate.  It's nice to see Choko stand up every once in awhile and take charge, but for the most part, she's far too passive, something that some of the supporting characters in this title are attempting to change, a transformation that can't come soon enough for me.  This is mildly entertaining overall, but there are much better shojo titles out there to choose from.