Darth Wiki / Gilded Flowers

Gilded Flowers (Working Title) is a duology of short doujin based on the Japanese TV adaptation of Boys over Flowers... or, rather, a deconstruction of the series and other Japanese romantic media like it, written and drawn by the same person behind Pokemon Pixel and Alt-talia.

Apparently, it was created when the author watched a summary of it in a Sociology course, and frustrated by many aspects of it, she decided to take the premise in an entirely different direction.

It features two routes; the Tsukasa route preserves the original pairing, but Tsutsuji is much more assertive, understandably rejects Tsukasa harshly, and manages to turn a good deal of the school population against the Flower Four, focusing especially on Tsukasa’s character development and redemption before winning her heart. The second route focuses on Rui, who as in the manga is a diagnosed Autistic, as he rids himself of his toxic friends and ends up with Tsutsuji.

The stories, especially the first route, still feature the cheesy and cartoony tone of the original series, but see to give Tsukasa his comeuppance and to give more power to the heroine of the story.

(Note: This is something I came up on on a whim, but nothing’s stopping me from putting up every idea that crosses my mind. Because why not).

Tropes featured in Gilded Flowers include:

• Amazon Chaser: Tsukasa seems to be more of one here, falling for the one girl who was able to stand up to him, and also beat him up. And it’s shown that her bravery and the fact that she doesn’t let him have all the power is what attracts him.
  • Rui is a similar case; he’s attracted to her because she made him realize that he can stand up to his so-called friends.
• Berserk Button: Tsukasa crushing Tsutsuji’s lunch her parents spent hours preparing for her the night before is what finally cases her to snap, just like in the source material, though here it’s explained that these pushed two of hers; making the love of her parents and perfectly good food go to waste (the latter which the author notes is also a Berserk Button if hers, which is what made him need to suffer in her eyes), having grown up to appreciate those things the most due to being poor. And unlike the TV series, she goes hard on him. As in, she kicks him in the groin twice, decks him in the nose, almost breaking it and ruining his precious face, then knocks him to the ground facefirst and forces his mouth over the lunch he ruined, all the while screaming at him. In front of the rest of the watching cafeteria. The author has stated that “I wished she would just go Jenny vs. Cartman on him. So it could have been much worse”.
• Beta Couple: While not much time is spent on it, in the Tsukasa route Rui and Sanjo become a couple. Apparently Rui’s special interest is JRPGs, and she also apparently happens to be a fan of them. They’re even shown playing an old copy of Final Fantasy IV. Daww.
• Compressed Adaptation: The first route, which follows the original plot a bit more, mainly hits the key plot points.
• Freudian Excuse: While Tsukasa’s behavior at least is given an explanation, unlike most examples it isn’t tragic; in fact, quite the opposite. Much like Pokemon Pixel’s Silver, Tsukasa simply is a spoiled brat through and through who was never told “no”. In flashbacks, his parents are shown encouraging him as he sneered at the houses in a working-class neighborhood, bending to his demands when he throws a tantrum over getting the wrong remote controlled airplane for Christmas, and treating their servants like garbage in front of him as a child, which understandably made him almost unable to comprehend treating anyone of lower social standing to him - in other words, basically everyone - as equals, having never worked a day in his life or have earned anything. The two playboys are heavily implied to be the same, though it seems that Rui’s upbringing is a more straight example, in that his parents were so strict that he decided just doing what others tell him was just the best route to go. He was trained in basic etiquette for formal occasions and tea ceremony, but outside of those he never got the memo that one is never free from needing to control themselves. Tsutsuji giving him a beatdown was probably the first time he had been punished outside of those contexts in his life.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: The rest of the F4 don’t really have a high opinion of Rui either. He’s not only the one remotely decent person out of the four, but he’s also Autistic, which the other three, the Jerkasses they are, think makes him lesser than them.
  • The F4 is this to basically the whole school. The teachers hate them, the students hate them, and the mob of latter is pretty eager to ignore them once they gain the confidence to.
    Random boy: If all of us are expelled, all of our parents can sue this place, and Daddy won’t save you then. Piss off
• Groin Attack: Tsutsuji kicks Tsukasa in the crotch after he grinds her lunch under his shoe. Repeatedly. And then some. And it is awesome.
• Take That, Scrappy!: This series is absolutely glorious to those who hate Tsukasa or think he didn’t develop enough.