When the Chameleon Flowers Bloom
Japanese manga series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
When the Chameleon Flowers Bloom (Japanese: どくだみの花咲くころ, Hepburn: Dokudami no Hanasaku Koro; lit. 'When the Dokudami Flowers Bloom') is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shiho Kido. It has been serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon since November 2023.
| When the Chameleon Flowers Bloom | |
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Daigo Shigaraki (left) and Shiro Kiyomizu (right) | |
| どくだみの花咲くころ (Dokudami no Hanasaku Koro) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Shiho Kido |
| Published by | Kodansha |
| English publisher | Kodansha |
| Imprint | Afternoon KC |
| Magazine | Monthly Afternoon |
| Original run | November 25, 2023 – present |
| Volumes | 4 |
Plot
Daigo Shigaraki is seen as an outcast at school, known for his temper tantrums and strange habits. One day during art class, model student Shiro Kiyomizu notices Shigaraki making a bizarrely creative clay sculpture, and later observes him making grass dolls of his classmates in the chameleon flower fields, including one of Kiyomizu, leaving him in awe. After the flower fields are razed and the dolls start disintegrating, a manic Kiyomizu confronts Shigaraki, offering to help motivate his creativity in any way. Despite being unsettled by Kiyomizu's obsessiveness over his art, Shigaraki accepts. From there, an unusual friendship blooms.
Publication
Written and illustrated by Shiho Kido, When the Chameleon Flowers Bloom was first posted on Twitter on October 25, 2022, where it was well received by readers and won the grand prize of the Afternoon Shiki Shō (アフタヌーン四季賞; 'Afternoon Four Seasons Award') for Autumn 2022.[3] It started serialization in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon on November 25, 2023.[4] Kodansha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes, with the first one released on May 22, 2024.[5] As of December 23, 2025, four volumes have been released.[6]
In February 2025, Kodansha began publishing the series in English on its K Manga digital service.[7]
Volumes
| No. | Japanese release date | Japanese ISBN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 22, 2024[8] | 978-4-06-535497-1 | ||
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| 2 | December 23, 2024[9] | 978-4-06-537721-5 | ||
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| 3 | June 23, 2025[10] | 978-4-06-539728-2 | ||
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| 4 | December 23, 2025[6] | 978-4-06-541730-0 | ||
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| 5 | August 21, 2026[11] | 978-4-06-544496-2 | ||
Chapters not yet in tankōbon format
- 21. "Fake" (贋作, Gansaku)
- Extra Story: "Ten Minutes" (10分間, Jū-Funkan)
- 22. "Money" (金, Kane)
- 23. "Hole" (穴, Ana)
- 24. "A Special Lesson" (特別授業, Tokubetsu Jugyō)
Reception
The manga ranked second at the 3rd Late Night Manga Awards in 2024 hosted by Bungeishunjū's Crea magazine.[12] The manga ranked third on Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list of best manga of 2025 for male readers.[13] It was nominated for the 18th Manga Taishō in 2025 and ranked fifth with 51 points.[14][15] It received the 29th annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize's New Creator Prize in 2025.[16]