Manga Review: Butterflies, Flowers, Volume 5, by Yuki Yoshihara

2 of 5 Stars

Publisher: VIZ Media

Goodreads Synopsis:

Choko Kuze is the sensible daughter of a venerable family who went bankrupt. She joins a real estate company as an entry-level office worker, but her eccentric boss is harder on her than anyone else in the company! After hearing him inadvertently call her "milady," she realizes he was the young servant boy she knew as a child. At work he's a tyrant, but after hours he insists on treating her like a lady of the nobility. Is romance even possible for a couple locked in such a crazy role reversal?

Choko Kuze is in a relationship with Masayuki Domoto, her current boss and former servant. Masayuki asked Choko to move in with him, but now he can't bear taking his precious Milady away from her parents. Will shopping with Choko for lovey-dovey home furnishings change his mind?

Review:

[Manga contains Explicit Content.]

I don't think I like this series. I didn't really mind it at first, but now it's just bothering me.

It's not really my type of humor, which is a bit disappointing. It's a little to exaggerated for me, and there are perverted jokes, that normally I would like, but don't. And some of the jokes that Masayuki makes, and the jokes done to Choko aren't all that funny to me. Some of it is alright, but other parts are too dramatic for me.

Masayuki annoys me a bit. He's protective of Choko a bit too much, and too dramatic, and maybe it's the servant part of him that bothers me most. The way he's so cruel to her, and then acts so sweet. The sweet part of him just isn't as good as it could be, and the cruel parts of him aren't all that entertaining and don't seem to have as much hidden sweetness to them that I would like.

And Choko really bothers me. I don't like much at all. She's not very smart and she's a bit whiny and cries too easily... She's the typical weak heroine, and I don't like that. Weak main characters bother me, a lot, and especially when they're female. And she is very much that.

I want to like this series, for many reasons. It's Josei, meaning that the characters are older, out of high school, and it's more for older women. And the smut scenes! There were, like, three of them in this one book! Those are the types of things that I especially like in a book, of any type really. And they could be so much better, if Masayuki wasn't demanding in a way that bothered me, and if Choko wasn't so weak. I really want to like it for those reasons.

I've talked more about what I thought on this series than this actual volume. Most of the books actually kind of a blur for me. So, Choko was going to move in with Masayuki, and they go furniture shopping, but he has some conflicts about her moving in. And then Choko's family home burned down, and they're all very upset about this, and Choko cries. And then Masayuki has some sex-related problems, which is interesting. This isn't really something that happens in most manga, or books in general, and it's neat to see it happen for once. And then the manga ends with Masayuki and Choko having an intimate moment, and they talk some about him not calling her milady anymore.

I don't know if I'm going to continue the series or not. I might, because there are only a couple books left, but I don't know if I like it enough. And I don't have much hope that it'll get any better. I don't see Masayuki getting any better, nor do I see Choko getting any smarter. I hope they do, and I would only read more in hope of them getting better. (And, you know, maybe for the smut scenes.)