I don’t know how I overlooked this series for so long, and I feel sort of bad about it. Flower of Life is very fresh and entertaining, hosting a cast of fun and quirky characters. It’s not just the high school students who are confused about what path their lives should take; even some of the adults are struggling to be true to themselves. Most of the enjoyment is generated by the diverse personalities as they shift in and out of the spotlight in a merry-go-round of individual dilemmas.

It’s been a while (two years) since the previous installment, but I found that the characters came right back to me. Plus, there’s a handy catch-up listing to start. Harutaro and Shota are trying to make manga professionally, while Kai and his teacher lover are figuring out their relationship, left as the cliffhanger from book 3.