Flower in a Storm 1

Shigeyoshi Takagi – Viz – 2010 – 2 volumes

I was a little shy about this one at first. It sounds cute, but it also sounds like the type of series that has many, many opportunities to go bad. Unfortunately the format works against it, since it was clearly serialized in an irregular publication, and a lot of the amped-up silliness doesn’t go together well when the stories are read all together like this.

It also has horrible cliches working against it. Riko is trying to be as normal as possible to hide the fact she has “super powers” or abnormal physical ability, and she is chased enthusiastically by Ran, the richest person in the country. He meets her one day in a car accident, finds out everything about her, and then decides he would like to marry her. Wacky shoujo hijinx ensue. He does so much that is over-the-top and attention-grabbing that Riko can’t help but run away. Plus there’s the fact that he proposes to her out of thin air, won’t take no for an answer, and then just starts hanging around and pestering her good-naturedly from then on.

I can’t find it in my heart to condemn it, though, since I like the moral so much. Riko tries hard to be normal because she was rejected by a boy she likes due to being freakishly strong. She doesn’t want to stand out in any way, and when Ran flies in in a helicopter, it kind of shatters her peace. But explaining this to Ran only confuses him, since he can’t figure out why she’d want to change herself, saying you should always like who you are.

Usually, the shoe’s on the other foot, and the heroine is trying to excel at something to catch the boy’s eye, so I also like the reversal here. It’s still pure silliness, but I think the boy’s attitude helps a lot, too. Ran is a lot of fun, and one of the few rich kids who’s not a complete jerk. He also genuinely likes Riko for who she is, and it’s hard to begrudge him that.

It’s one of those series that’s not great (no ongoing plot, too many jokes, too many common plot devices), but I had an awful lot of fun reading it, anyway. I was a little angry with the first chapter, but by the end of the book I was caught up in the cute romance. At two volumes, it’s also hard to begrudge Ran and Riko their fun. I do hope there’s a nice resolution in the next volume, though.