Butterflies, Flowers Review: Her Old Servant Is Now the Boss From Hell (And Her Devoted Butler After 5pm)

I have a soft spot for stories where the person with all the power keeps quietly handing it back. Maybe it's because, growing up alone with my manga, I daydreamed about someone who'd be terrifying to the whole world but gentle with me. That's a childish fantasy, and I know it. But Butterflies, Flowers takes that exact fantasy, drags it into a real estate company's admin department, and turns it into one of the most unhinged comedies I've read.

Choko Kuze used to be young nobility. Then her father's investments collapsed and the family ended up running a small ramen shop. Years later she walks into her first real office job — and her boss, the cold director who works her to the bone, is the boy who used to call her "milady." I went in expecting a sweet reunion romance. What I got was screwball whiplash, and I couldn't stop laughing.

Quick Take

• A formerly rich girl's tyrant boss turns out to be her family's old servant — who reverts to her doting butler the second they clock out
• Yuki Yoshihara's screwball pacing is the real star: absurd, over-the-top, genuinely funny
• 8 volumes complete in English via Viz; rated M (Mature) for sexual content and adult workplace humor — adults only

Who Is This Manga For?

• Readers who want adult josei romance with screwball comedy, not earnest shojo sweetness
• Anyone who loves a boss-employee romance where the two leads have real history
• Fans of leads who give as good as they get — Choko throws it right back at Domoto
• Adult readers wanting a complete, self-contained romance they can binge

Content Warnings & Age Rating

Age Rating: M (Mature) Content Warnings: Sexual content; a boss-subordinate relationship; borderline sexual-harassment behavior from the male lead that the manga plays for comedy.

This is firmly adult josei. Domoto's workplace behavior crosses lines, and the series mines that for laughs rather than treating it as a serious problem. If a domineering boss-as-love-interest is a hard no for you, this is not your book.

Story Overview

Choko Kuze's family was old money — the kind with a full household staff. Then her father failed at investments, the servants were let go, and the family ended up as the owners of a modest ramen shop. Choko grew up sensible and grounded despite the fall.

A decade later she applies to a large real estate firm and lands the job. Her direct supervisor, the Administrative Department Director, is Masayuki Domoto — and he is a nightmare. He's gorgeous, brilliant, and absolutely tyrannical, slave-driving his subordinates and needling Choko in particular with behavior that skates right up to harassment.

Then the turn: Domoto is the son of her family's former chauffeur. He grew up among the staff and once doted on little Choko as "milady." The recognition lands — and the moment they're off the clock, the dictator evaporates and Domoto becomes her devoted, obedient servant again, fussing over her like the loyal butler he used to be. The series is the comedy and romance of a man whose two halves can't occupy the same room: cold director by day, worshipful servant by night, and a Choko who refuses to be steamrolled by either one.

Characters

Choko Kuze — The grounded core of the whole circus. She came out of her family's collapse practical and unspoiled, which is exactly why she doesn't crumble under Domoto's workplace tyranny. She snaps right back at him instead of taking it. Her arc is figuring out what she actually feels for a man who is two completely contradictory people, and whether a bond that started as servant-and-mistress can ever become something between equals.

Masayuki Domoto — The engine of the comedy. As a director he's domineering, cold, and capricious; as Choko's off-hours servant he's tender and slavishly loyal. One reviewer nailed it — he "whiplashes between domineering and capricious and subservient and solicitous." The split isn't an act he can switch off cleanly, and the friction between his professional authority and his childhood devotion is what powers both the romance and the gags.

Suou — Domoto's co-worker and very close friend, a wholesome crossdresser whom Choko is jealously convinced is a rival woman until she realizes he's a man. He's the snarky frenemy who improves every scene he's in, and a lot of the supporting humor runs through him.

Choko's younger brother — A comic-relief standout, theatrically obsessed with the family's lost luxury and prone to overblown, melodramatic speeches mourning their fallen status.

What I Love About It

The two-Domotos engine. Most boss-employee romances give you one man with a hidden soft side. Yoshihara gives you two men sharing one body who can barely tolerate being the same person. The comedy is structural: he'll bark an impossible order at Choko in the office, then trail her home and revert to "anything you wish, milady." That isn't a slow-melting tsundere reveal — it's an outright Jekyll-and-Hyde split, flipped on a clock, played for maximum absurdity. It's the kind of premise that should be exhausting and somehow stays hilarious for eight volumes.

What keeps it from curdling is Choko. The harassment-flavored workplace stuff would be unbearable with a passive heroine, but she throws it right back at him at every turn. She's not a victim being chased; she's a sharp, exasperated woman managing a ridiculous man. Reviewers consistently land in the same place I did — "desperately inappropriate workplace behavior" that's nonetheless "really pretty funny." It's a guilty pleasure that knows exactly what it is, and Yoshihara's silly, over-the-top art sells every reaction shot.

Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning

Early on, a disgruntled former employee confronts Choko with a knife. Domoto's response is instant and protective — the cold director drops entirely, and in the heat of shielding her he calls her "milady." That single word is the hinge of the whole series. It's the moment Choko recognizes him, the moment the audience understands why this tyrant treats her differently, and the moment the manga's two halves of Domoto are forced into the same frame at once: the dangerous boss and the devoted servant, both showing up to save her.

It sticks with me because the gag premise suddenly has real stakes underneath it. The danger is genuine, the protectiveness is genuine, and the slip of "milady" reframes every cruel thing he's done at the office as the flailing of a man who never knew how to be near her as an equal. From there the manga earns its first kiss and Choko's confession, but it's this knife scene — fear, rescue, and one accidental word — that makes the comedy land.

What English-Speaking Fans Say

English-language reviewers tend to call it a "guilty pleasure": ethically questionable premise, genuinely funny execution. The screwball comedy and Yoshihara's over-the-top art get singled out as the draw, along with Suou as a scene-stealing supporting character. The recurring criticism is the workplace-harassment-played-for-laughs angle, which several reviewers flag even while admitting they kept laughing. It charted on the New York Times manga bestseller list in 2010-2011, so the Viz release found a real audience.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• The split-personality premise is genuinely original and milked for great comedy
• Choko is an active, sharp heroine who never just takes Domoto's nonsense
• Screwball pacing and expressive art keep it funny across all 8 volumes
• Complete and self-contained — easy to binge

Cons

• Domoto's workplace behavior crosses into harassment, played for laughs
• The boss-subordinate power dynamic requires real buy-in
• More gag-driven than emotionally deep — Story Depth is its weakest axis
• The harassment-as-comedy framing won't sit right with everyone — that's a dealbreaker for some readers and a non-issue for others, and only you know which you are.

Is Butterflies, Flowers Worth Reading?

If you want an adult josei rom-com that's fast, absurd, and anchored by a heroine who refuses to be pushed around, yes. It's a screwball guilty pleasure with a clever two-faced lead and a satisfying 8-volume run. If a domineering boss love-interest or harassment-played-for-comedy is a hard no, skip it — this one leans all the way into that premise.

Yu's Rating

Category	Score
Story Depth	★★★☆☆
Art Style	★★★★☆
Character Development	★★★★☆
Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers	★★★★★
Reread Value	★★★★☆

Similar Manga

Title	Its Approach	How Butterflies, Flowers Differs
Midnight Secretary	Boss-employee josei romance with a supernatural twist	Butterflies, Flowers swaps the supernatural for a class-reversal childhood history and leans full screwball
Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku	Lighter, gentler adult workplace romance	Butterflies, Flowers is louder, hornier, and built on a power-flip gag
Skip Beat!	Comedy + role-reversal in the entertainment world	Butterflies, Flowers compresses it into one office and one two-faced man

Official English Translation Status

Viz Media published the complete 8-volume English series in print and digital. Nothing is missing — you can read the whole story start to finish in English.

Where to Buy

Read the first volume. If it doesn't hook you, put it down. It'll hook you.

Start with Volume 1 →

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