Flower of Life Volume 1

It may look like a high school slice of life comedy, but Flower of Life is also this veteran artist's chance to vent about manga fandom with some wickedly witty observations. While her insights are hilarious for fans who are well-versed in the ways of Japanese otaku, Yoshinaga's inside jokes will likely perplex novice readers, mostly because DMP's edition skimps on the translator's notes.

While it's not the kind of boys love manga that she's famous for, Flower of Life shows off Yoshinaga's knack for creating endearing characters and quirky plot twists in an entertaining and accessible package.

Harutaro Hanazono is a happy go-lucky high school student who's the new kid in Saito-sensei's homeroom class. He missed a year of school due to a life-threatening disease, but Harutaro is too upbeat to let it get him down. In fact, he makes friends quickly and finds out that his class is full of eccentric characters, including a hardcore otaku, a shy but chubby manga fan and his "kinda gay" teacher.

While Yoshinaga is best known for her yaoi (boys love) manga like Antique Bakery, Flower of Life is more like a satire of manga culture dressed up in a high school uniform. For the most part, it works. Yoshinaga makes good use of her numerous strengths as a manga artist here. Witty dialogue, loveable characters and quirky plot twists – they're all here, with only a smidge of erotic tension that's mostly thrown in for laughs.

While the framework of the story is a slice of life comedy, Flower of Life gives Yoshinaga, an artist who knows the world of comic fandom extremely well, an opportunity to vent about manga culture. For readers who are familiar with the world of doujinshi, Comiket and yaoi manga, her observations are a hoot. On the other hand, novice readers will be left perplexed since DMP's edition doesn't offer much cultural context or translator's notes, an unfortunate omission. If you don't know what "moeh" means, you're pretty much out of luck. The other downside is Yoshinaga's love of dialogue that often turns her stories into scene after scene of talking heads who talk and talk and talk.

Still, there is a lot to love here. Yoshinaga has a flair for drama/comedy that feels exaggerated and authentic at the same time, and her story never loses its light-hearted spirit. Overall, Flower of Life Volume 1 is an entertaining first installment that makes it worthwhile to stick around for more.