Aku no Hana

Whenever people watch a film or show, regardless of whether it’s anime or not, they want to be enticed into a deep and complex world full of mystery and wonder that they can solve for the benefit of their humanity. It seems as though Aku no Hana was meant to be something that was going to be the “change” some people were looking for in the wake of entertainment controlling the masses. But boy, did it fail at doing that on almost all accounts.

Let's reveal the elephant in the room, the animation. It is flawed, but not to the extent where it should be castrated ... out of someone’s psyche after viewing the first episode. For starters, the animation that the studio decided to use is called rotoscoping, a style of animation where people are filmed in live action and animators draw over the film frame-by-frame. Considering that this is the first anime show to do this animation style, how is the quality of the rotoscoping? Not too well, that’s for sure. The lip-syncing is atrocious, and the facial expressions are devoid of any character. They don’t fit well with the emotions that the characters are trying to convey, and given how low the budget was, the animation isn’t very fluid in most places. Though these flaws are mentioned, the show isn’t necessarily unwatchable due to the average animation, so it gets a slight pass in this department.

With this in mind, however, the art design of the background in the show’s setting is truly spectacular. The grime and rust from the buildings and the dark tone of the outside world succeed in enveloping this dark, depressing story. It fits with the style Aku no Hana is trying to capture, and its effectiveness is relatively good. Another thing that also improves Aku no Hana’s mood is the music. Its subtle ambient and minimalist influenced sound is one of the most beautifully crafted scores that I’ve enjoyed listening to.

On a technical level, the show is mixed with good music and art but average animation, but how does it compare to the narrative and writing? Not too well, that’s for sure. For one, the characters and how they are written are not well developed or fully realized with anything happening with the plot. To address this even further, the relationships between the protagonist Kasuga and our two main heroines, Nakamura and Saeki, are as well put together as one could get from a high schooler’s attempt at writing a story as this, a bad one at that. What makes these characters so bad in terms of a writing perspective is how poorly paced it gives us a clear indication that Kasuga has a bond with either Nakamura or Saeki. With Kasuga and Nakamura, there is no chemistry. They play off as a couple of degenerates who spout out vapid angsty monologues towards one another whenever they are on screen.

Kasuga himself is not an enticing protagonist to be on-screen. Just because you make him this Holden Caulfield type of character where he is obsessed with a dark poetry book doesn’t make him have any more depth than any other character in the show. Are we to sympathize with him just because he acts pessimistic about the world around him with his pseudo-intellectual jargon? Not if it’s done with careful precision in Kasuga’s archetype, which is not the case in Aku no Hana.

Nakamura and Saeki are two other characters who are unfortunately not spared in mediocre character writing. The romantic development between Kasuga and Saeki was rushed to the point where we only see very few inclinations that they are a couple. We get two awkward dates and a moment where she invites him into his room. Not only that but Saeki’s reasons for liking Kasuga are not at all convincing to the slightest degree. With all of the things Kasuga did or forced, in this case, to Saeki’s property, any ordinary girl would quickly never speak to him again. Still, just because the writers want to keep the story going, they’ll have to hope that anyone with half a brain would buy into this—no explanation for Saeki’s reasoning for liking Kasuga.

Then there’s Nakamura, Kasuga’s “sidekick” in the show. As you might predict, she is about as explained throughout the show as any other character. This is, of course, the intention because Nakamura is something that we should be wary and suspicious about whether she’s evil or not. Once she forms a contract with Kasuga, the only thing we get out of Nakamura is that she is nothing more than the show’s attempt at pouring empty melodrama into the mix to make the plot seem too deep than what it already is. Her primary goal to the plot’s theme is never given any deep context other than the fact that she thinks the whole world is bullshit and should be destroyed. If you want to provide me with an existential angst plot device, try to deliver a better explanation than just a one-dimensional written one. The character can be portrayed in a reasonably sympathetic light. Unfortunately, Nakamura just doesn’t cut out to be a deep convincing anti-hero with how poor the writing is.

While the show's tone is solid, the atmosphere tries too hard to be frightening to the point where it almost does the opposite effect of what it was initially trying to impose. Whenever there is a faint rumbling noise in the background that’s supposed to resemble a heartbeat, that is hardly effective in establishing a mood, or whenever the music starts to grow in its dynamics with a dark droning noise that is unsettling in a wrong way. What’s funny is that some of the build-ups in some of the scenes are unnecessary and fail to capture any fear. Once you do it multiple times throughout the show, it loses its momentum quickly, and all you are left with is just an empty white noise in the background.

It’s not often I talk about the actual “acting” rather than the voice acting in this show. While good in a few areas, the acting is often overly dramatized and doesn’t reach that greatness of any drama TV show you could be watching right now. Actors constantly spout out their lines and try to carry out as much emotion as possible in scenes that don’t seem as though it was needed in the first place, such as one that involves a bathroom area.

The numerous plot holes drag down the plot from making it convincing to anyone watching. Usually, plot holes can be forgiven if they are tiny to where they are not noticeable to ruin the show's flow. With Aku no Hana, many coincidences can easily be accounted for lazy writing, such as no one noticing the blackboard writing being blocked out the day after the vandalism scene. Anyone could have easily deciphered what the saying was in two seconds flat.

In the short scheme of things, Aku no Hana is just a failed experiment that probably never should have been fully realized given its source material. In all honesty, the original manga’s story is quite fascinating. If only they had hired more competent writers to fill in the wide gap that crippled Aku no Hana’s chances of becoming an intriguing psychological drama. It wouldn’t be a shock to call this a “wasted opportunity” given how the creators were ballsy in making it with the rotoscope technique; it just goes to show when you want to do something “different,” you might want to focus more on your writing structure than your artistic integrity.

Grade: D+

Aku no Hana was originally a manga written by Oshimi Shuzo, named for a collection of poems from the French poet, Charles Baudelaire. The anime adaptation was written by Itami Aki. It's a psychological drama, which is a genre I like when handled well. Of course, it's usually not. The adaptation was handled by Zexcs. The only anime I've seen that they were involved in have been Mushi-shi and My-Hime. Which is somewhat encouraging, but there were other studios responsible for the major aspects of those anime. So I have no conception as to what a work they're primarily working on might be like. I ... won't lie, it's a bit refreshing to go into something with no idea what to expect. Let's look at Aku no Hana.

We start Aku no Hana with our protagonist, Kasuga, stealing the gym clothes of the girl he likes. Isn't it just a treat to have a protagonist lose any likability they could have had the first time they do anything with story relevance? It's not the very first thing that happens, but it is the first important thing that happens. This anime loves to waste your time with long, drug out scenes in which nothing is accomplished. Presumably, to try to build atmosphere, but that only works when you actually do something. That's one of the biggest problems with the series, very little that happens is relevant. Back to the "plot," and I use the term loosely. Kasuga's perverted stalker behaviour is observed by a girl named Nakamura. She agrees to keep it a secret, if Kasuga will make a contract with her. At its core, this is a story about deviance, which fits the title since Baudelaire believed that art and morality had to be kept separate and many of the poems in his collection were considered deviant. Six of them even being banned from publication after their initial release until 1949, almost a century after the initial volume was released. The issue with this theme, as used in this series, is that there are virtually no consequences for the deviant behaviours. The worse thing that happens is that Kasuga gets a talking to. Because this is a magical city where consequence is something that happens to other people. This level of disconnect from reality is an absolutely unforgivable problem in a series that professes to be psychological. Speaking of psychological elements, those are done extraordinarily poorly. Aku no Hana mistakes moving at a ridiculously slow pace, putting in music that's supposed to be creepy, and still shots of scenery for psychological depth. Slow pacing, creepy music and still shots could all work in a true psychological piece, but they need something to work off of and Aku no Hana doesn't have that integral piece. As such, they're just stupid.

Moving on to the characters, there are really only three who merit mention since the rest can be described in simple terms like "Kasuga's mom" or "that guy with the funny eyebrows" and don't have anything going on beyond a few scenes in which they may or may not do something that's supposed to be important. The first is Kasuga. He's a whiny little pervert who likes to make excuses for his bad behaviour and has very little depth whatsoever. He reminds me of Shinji Ikari. Then we have Saeki, Shinji's... I mean Kasuga's crush. At first she seems like the typical "out of reach" girl. It's only when we spend some time with her character that we realise she's actually one of the dumbest characters in all of fiction, in addition to her general lack of personality. She makes DBZ's Goku look like a genius. I'm surprised she managed to reach secondary school without Darwinising herself. Finally, we have Nakamura. Our self-proclaimed deviant and blackmailer. There's not much to her except being loud and insulting. She's the only character I don't hate. Because, if nothing else, she insults everyone I can't stand.

The animation in this is terrible. Characters frequently lose their facial features because... the artists suck with perspective. The movements are jerky. The mouths don't even come close to natural movements during dialogue scenes. A lot of the slow movements and frozen images might be better explained by lazy artists than attempts at atmosphere since these scenes enable them to do minimal amounts of work and they clearly aren't doing well in those scenes that require actual animation.

There are some good actors in this. Both Hikasa Yoko and Ise Mariya are very skilled. Although you wouldn't know it to hear them in this. Since the series has a general problem with characters being either over or under-acted. This is a psychological series. There's no room for subtlety of emotion here... Wait, what? the creepy music gets tiresome. It could have worked if they'd used it only when relevant instead of using it constantly. They even us it when it's just a shot of people walking.

The yuri factor is a 1/10. Expect no yuri.

Aku no Hana fails to deliver any actual psychological elements, resorting instead to one and two-dimensional characters who are sure to annoy you. The series both looks and sounds bad and very little happens that results in any kind of consequence and nothing happens that results in character growth. It's unworthy of sharing a title with Baudelaire's work. As such, I'm going to just refer to it as Cheese Steak Suppository. Cheese Steak Suppository gets a 2/10. As either a psychological work or a drama, it fails on every conceivable level. I'm going to re-watch Perfect Blue and get some real psychological content.

The psychological genre is my favorite genre in anime. I love the emotions characters show as they go through the ups and downs and trials and tribulations of the story. Unlike many people who hate the “real life” backgrounds and scenery or the fact that the characters are “ugly”, the thing I hate most about this show is the lack of emotion shown by the characters which I have come to love from similar psychological stories.

I started Aku no Hana shortly after the season ended not knowing what to expect and with no idea whether I would hate it or love it. I had been ... putting it off after seeing the art style and how it varied from the manga that I had greatly enjoyed. I also thought I knew exactly where this season would end but damn was I wrong. Instead of ending it at a place where the manga changes pace and I thought left a perfect spot for the season to end, they slowed down the pace and made it so that the climax of the story will probably come around the fourth or fifth episode of the second season.

Story – 6/10

It kind of pains me to give this story such a low score. I would have dropped this show after the first episode or so had I not read the manga and known how much better the plot gets. However, the plot gets really good shortly after where this relatively uneventful season ends.

The story of Aku no Hana begins with a bored-out-of-his-mind middle school boy named Kasuga Takao. The town he lives in is surrounded by mountains on all sides, and is cut off from the rest of the world. Kasuga loves reading books and his favorite is “Flowers of Evil” (Aku no Hana in Japanese) by Charles Baudelaire. He even has a picture of Baudelaire in his bedroom and carries a copy of the book with him everywhere he goes. One day, he forgets the book at school and goes back to get it. When he does, he finds the gym uniform of his crush, Saeki Nanako, lying next to the lockers at the back of their classroom. Kasuga picks up and the clothes and smells them, and, startled by a sound behind him, gets scared and takes the uniform home with him. Kasuga decides to just put the uniform back the next day and avoid any problems, but things become difficult once he finds out that the loner in his class, Nakamura Sawa, saw him steal Saeki’s uniform. In addition, Saeki and everyone else is freaking out over the event. From there, Nakamura uses the knowledge of what Kasuga has done to force him into a contract and use him to have some fun in this boring town town full of boring people.

As much as I love the plot of the manga, the anime is just too slow paced. What could have had the climax of the manga (so far) at its end, instead decided to waste time on slow scenes and put off the real story for later. This show tries to build up tension too much, but fails in the end with a strange ending that forces a second season.

Art – 3/10

As I mentioned, I do not dislike the backgrounds that use rotoscoping (tracing over real life images and making it look animated). The one place where there is an intersection and there is a mirror that they use to split up Kasuga and his friends I thought was a very nice touch that showed how distant he was from everyone else.

While I don’t really like the designs that people consider “ugly,” it’s still not what ruined the show for me. What I dislike is the lack of emotion they portray. Despite sounding distraught or maniacal (for Nakamura) at times, the characters faces never show more blushing, tears, and sweat. Compared to something like “Higurashi” which shows emotions to the extreme, their faces are just boring. I just could not get attached to emotional scenes when I kept looking at the characters’ faces and seeing the same expression I had seen in regular scenes. Even real life people show more emotions than these characters, which is not something I can say for almost any other anime.

Another thing I disliked was how characters only gained faces after they were large enough and how faces gradually appeared on them as they moved “towards the camera.” This also detracted from the emotions of characters showed. It wasn’t a problem for background characters, but it was for the main three and Kasuga’s parents. One time Kasuga’s mother is supposed to look distressed and crying but she (as well as Kasuga’s father) has no face and instead is just sitting there for about half a minute before it lets you see her do anything to show that she is feeling distressed.

Sound – 4/10

There’s not much music in this show. While the piano tones do set up a good mood, there’s not much variety in the soundtrack. The one song that has one piano note every so often is about the only one I really noticed, and I’m not sure if there were any songs other than that and the ED. I don’t usually mention ending or opening songs, but this one starts prior to the end credits in every episode and is occasionally played during scenes. I really do not like the ending. It’s a creepy, computer generated voice that isn’t really even singing. I think it would work okay for a science fiction-horror but not for Aku no Hana.

Character – 3/10

Well, I didn’t even like Kasuga in the manga until after where the anime ends (right after where I thought it was going to end actually). Still, between the strange character designs, the lack of emotion they show, Kasuga’s fairly annoying VA (who kind of had to be annoying to fit the role), and just the lack of anything that really happens to develop the characters during these 13 episodes, I do not like main character cast. The background characters all blend together and with their strange designs, all look kind of similar (except for one of Kasuga’s friends with curly hair). Since the real interesting character development happens later than where the anime stops, there’s really nothing much to say.

Enjoyment 4/10

I kept hoping it would improve and become more like the manga I love, but it was just an uneventful, disappointing season in the end. I would recommend the manga over the anime if you want to experience the real emotion of the story and to not have the story cut off shortly before the climax. If you want something similar (but better) you could also try reading Chikan Otoko, Sundome, or Onani Master Kurosawa.

I can easily say that this is one of the worst, if not the worst, things that good ole' Nippon has ever delivered to anyone ever. Ever.

It was clear from the start that this show didn't have anything resembling a budget as proven as the terrible decision to rotoscope the entire show. It looks bad. It might have been "done on purpose" to add more "depth" to the show, but it still looks terrible. Then there's the pacing. Or lack there of. Most of the show is just nothing. Literally, nothing. There was an episode where about half of it was just walking. No ... dialogue, no inner-monologue, nothing. It just felt like a waste of time.

Then there's the characters. Ho man, the characters. I didn't like any of them. Not one. Was that the point? Probably, but it doesn't change the fact that none of these characters even interested me. Also, the fact that these kids are all in middle school really downplays the "Drama" that was put into the show itself.

The sound of the show didn't impress me either. The ending in particular was particularly awful and none of the openings to the show really left an impact on me.

I suppose most of the enjoyment comes from dissecting this pseudo-philosophical mess of a character study. It came off as pretentious with nothing really much to say. More of an insult than anything.

Overall, I don't really see how people enjoyed this show. It certainly wasn't pretty, didn't sound all that nice, and was super pretentious but had nothing to say. Kind of like a modern day hipster.

I thought this day would never come, but I finally found it. An anime that's worth of getting the lowest score possible 1/10. The so called underrated unsettling anime masterpiece that is Aku no Hana. This is probably going to contain small spoilers, but they won't really impact your viewing pleasure since there won't be any.

I'm gonna start by talking about what everyone seems to talk about and that's the animation. The anime uses rotoscoping for its characters and honestly, it may look weird on moments with their movement and lip-synch being pretty wack, but in general it was pretty good and watchable. The artwork ... of the backgrounds is much better thought, but I don't wanna stick much to the way it looks since it's the least of the problems this anime has.

Now, I have not read the manga, but I can only assume that if the plot is close to what it is in the anime that I would also not like it. Our story follows three characters, out of which I can't really decide which one is the dumbest. Our hero, Takao, steals the gym clothes of a girl he likes, and Nakamura, the other weird girl from the class sees him do it, of course. That's the first point I want to address, the plot is so unbelievable with all the convenient things that happen. Nakamura is literally everywhere, she always accidentally stumbles upon Takao where ever he is. She is able to overpower him in seconds, take off his clothes on multiple occasions, make him do all sorts of things that he has no reason for doing. The same happens with Saeki, the other girl, as she also just happens to perfectly appear when the plot needs her to appear.

So, Takao stole the clothes. Okay, you would expect he feels a bit guilty, but he goes on a rant that he shall atone for his sins for the rest of his life. They try to make this one little act appear so much bigger, almost as if he raped or murdered someone. He then follows it by literally creating non existent problems. Whatever crazy thing Nakamura says, he does it. He then somehow ends up in a relationship with Saeki, which is probably the most non sensical thing ever, it is never developed, the just randomly throw them in a relationship and expect us to believe all that and the things that Nakamura does. For the first 7 or so episodes we have the same pattern over and over again. Takao talks about Saeki being his angel, something happens in their non existential relationship, Nakamura appears randomly, tells Takao ooh you're a hentai just like me, he says that he isn't, throws in some random Baudelaire crap(yes, I realize that you will be like oooh but he is merely pretending to know Baudelaire, I know, it's still dumb) and just go on to do some of the dumbest and unbelievable sh*t ever.

Next, I want to talk about the episodes themselves and the directing of them. The anime really tries to make itself seem much more unsettling than it really is. We had creepy sounds for no reason, we get scenes of literally nothing happening, now that can be good sometimes if the plot actually is unsettling, but not here. For example the 8th episode starts with just our crazy heroes holding hands and walking for the first 9 minutes of the episode. No dialog, nothing. You just have to be like ooh so deep they're so cool. No, it's not deep, it's just edgy, just like most of this anime is.

In conclusion, I feel like the author tried to make an actual deep story about regret and shame, but failed miserably. He probably read Ningen Shikkaku and was like oh damn let me make a deep story, but he has no talent so he just made this edgy mess of an anime. No, it wasn't unsettling and hard to watch, it was just cringy and edgy, I can't stress how many times I had to pause the episode and hold my head to how dumb this was.

What does it mean to articulate a thought? What does it mean to truly say something you think without taking the opinions of your surroundings into account?

Tackling heavy themes, especially in a school setting, requires extreme care and delicate writing in order to fully capture these themes within the nature of the average teenager that can often be characterized as moody, unpredictable and unstable. Aku no Hana tries to present its dark themes through playing with the regular archetypes of a calm and collected main character simply seeking normality, an outcast girl with an unexplainable interest in him and the nice popular girl. Aku ... no Hana introduces these 3 types in its 3 main characters; Kasuga, Nakamura and Saeki. Upon establishing the groundwork for the characters, Aku no Hana abolishes them completely, showcasing the flaws within each of these characters and it does so in a fairly normal manner with an intriguing twist which sets the groundwork for later character interactions. With the first few episodes presenting interesting themes and the dark groundwork being set decently, Aku no Hana unfortunately flopped later on.

Handling character interactions within a school setting and adding onto the delicate themes that need further exploring but also leaving enough room for the characters to get explored is a difficult task. Aku no Hana fails in doing most of these, leaving only a very lackluster amount of its core themes to be explored and fully dove into by the show. The characters are stagnant for most of the series without any exploration of them whatsoever. This only works in Nakamura’s case since she was made to be a mystery and an enigma to both the audience and Kasuga, putting further emphasis on her archetype. While that does work with Nakamura, the lack of exploration and development heavily hurts Saeki’s and Kasuga’s character, leaving them to be empty characters with futile attempts to add to their personalities. In Kasuga’s case, his character is attempted to be put into the show through literature and some deeper meaning which does not really exist in the show. All it does is put further emphasis on Kasuga altering his archetype with him not fundamentally understanding the literature he is reading.

Kasuga and Saeki have such a mind boggling relationship. It is not really a romance but more so a random thing they decided to start. It is not explored at all throughout the show. All the screentime their relationship and dynamic got were the 2 dates and one house visit they did together. Apart from that, it was nothing more than just a plotpoint which existed for no real reason other than to slow the pacing of the already slow adaptation even more. While it did have potential in the way of putting emphasis on their flaws and overcoming them together or bringing out the dark in each other, it ended up just doing nothing. The show had slow pacing for most of its run time, yet the only part where it truly needed to slow things down and thoroughly explain the deepness of the relationships and the interactions between Saeki and Kasugya, was rushed to the point of it feeling like a random 2 date thing where they did it for fun and not for any sort of attraction towards each other.

Aku no Hana portrays normality as a bad thing. A character having a skewed view on the concept of normality and what it means to be normal is fine, as long as that view is brought to light as a genuine flaw and not used as a way to bring out the core theme of the show. Aku no Hana repeatedly presents normality as the worst thing a human can be. With Kasuga’s main theme being his desperate attempts at being special but ultimately being like everyone else and him truly reaching uniqueness through finding himself within Nakamura whilst Nakamura sees the unique in Kasuga and repeatedly attempts to bring it out. This dynamic works simply because of the wrong message the show is trying to send. Normality is fine and should be viewed as such.

Aku no Hana tries way too hard to be scary. The tone of the show is amazing and portrays how bizarre Kasuga’s and Nakamura’s relationship truly is and it repeatedly manages to put emphasis on the dark side of humans and how flawed our mentality truly is. The atmosphere it sets up, however, fails miserably at following up the tone. With repeated sound effects mimicking a heartbeat, breathing and sweat dropping all comically failing in enhancing the horror aspect of the show, instead just making the scenes feel awkward instead of genuinely creepy like it should have stayed at. Genuine fear is incredibly difficult to showcase, especially within animation and should not be attempted without full focus being put on it. Aku no Hana attempted to enhance the importance of scenes with the atmosphere it sets but it ends up doing nothing.

The animation and art are neither good nor bad. The whole show is done in rotoscope, which is actual actors getting animated, including their mouth movements. The backgrounds are absolutely gorgeous with insane attention to detail within them as well as the music. The music uses subtle noises and tones which serve not to grab the viewer’s attention but to enhance the viewing experience without the viewer even noticing and it does what it intends to do with insane precision and care.

With all of the bad things about Aku no Hana and its characters, the final scene of the show might be one of the best climaxes in animation. With the core themes of rejecting normality and having truly free will, the final scene of the show brings out these themes to their fullest and encapsulates everything Aku no Hana had tried to accomplish in its whole run time. What could have been as amazing as the final scene was, Aku no Hana feels disappointing to look at. It is experimental with both its visual and story aspects which it deserves credit for, but those aspects were not utilized to their full potential. At the end of the day, while it is not entirely bad, Aku no Hana feels like a failed experiment that was meant to achieve great things but fell flat with its weak character writing and the story direction.

To articulate a thought is to truly be free.

While I give the story, sound, and characters 6+s, it really doesn't mean much. A theoretically good story doesn't promise that the execution of the plot is well done. While the manga got it right, the anime screwed the pooch.

Aku no Hana is one of manga fairly decent manga that get an anime adaption so aggressive shitty that it should be filed under as a hate crime. I'm not even going to harp on the character designs as a sole reason as to why the anime is so bad since there are many other issues, such as pacing, Saeki herself being a mediocre character, and ... Nakamura essentially carrying the entire series.

The average length of a chapter in the manga is about 35 pages. Even though it's almost double the length of your typical manga chapter, you can burn through the three dozen pages at breakneck speeds due to the numerous one-panel pages and stretches of little to no dialog. The anime takes away this quick read and slams the brakes on the pacing. While the urban scenery is beautifully done, it's not enough to compensate for NOTHING FUCKING HAPPENING for long stretches of time, which creates a new problem: we are treated to characters who are not named Nakamura for more time. Takao Kasuga's inner monologues drone on for ages, taking the feeling of his internal anxieties and turning it into a chore for the viewer to shift through to get to the next scene. For most of the material the anime covers, Saeki functions more as a plot device than an actual character with little to no aura, functioning more as a trophy or an object of desire than a human being. Nakamura, in contrast, has so much stage presence she honestly makes the rest of the cast look bad in comparison, especially with Ise at the helm, giving an A+ grade performance. With a core cast of a mere three, having one being so unanimously dominant results in a horrible balance where every scene of which she is absent from is torturously boring to sit through.

While it's not the main reason why this adaption is shit, the animation (or lack thereof) is salt on the wound. As we all know, Zexcs is a shitty studio that has NO FUCKING MONEY WHATSOEVER. When you are a studio that has little budget and capital, the last thing you should do is opt to experiment with an expensive and difficult animation style, like rotoscoping. You know what happens when you try something hard like rotoscoping when you're a broke company who makes Godawful shit like Sister Princess, H2O, and Cuticle Tantei Inaba? It looks like GARBAGE. In an animated work that's supposed to have a more realistic appearance, characters having no details is inexcusable. A person's face can tell you about a lot of what is going through their heads. They can tell stories just from their appearance. There are some words or thoughts that are best conveyed through the face of a person. A show that prides itself on being a more "serious" show with an art gimmick should not have faceless characters, or at least have them not look like they have Down's while they're breaking into a cold sweat, panicing trying to remember what number comes before "potato".

The animation was already unimpressive in episode one, so to see it get worse as the series went on felt like they were spiting Oshimi by making it look bad on purpose. All of the sensuality and youth of the characters has been castrated in this adaption, replaced by a fifth-finished character details and 16/17 year-olds looking like they're hitting their mid-late 20s and suffering from birth defects, breaking atmosphere and immersion in record-setting time thanks to the characters being set against the wonderfully done backgrounds. Rusty bent metal has never looked so pretty. Nice backgrounds are the only thing that the Mushishi director has seemed to carry over into this series, and it's not nearly enough to pardon the numerous flaws it has in regards to both the directing and the source material.

Aku no Hana could have been one of the crowning gems of 2013, but instead gets treated as a 3rd class citizen and practice grounds for Zexcs failed animation experimentation. On the bright side, the anime bombed, but encouraged people to buy the manga, with hopes that they can filter out this disastrous adaption from their consciousness, resting easy that a season two is out of the question.

It's funny how often you hear about "not judging a book by its covers" especially in reviews and such.Well in this case I wish i did judge it by the first impression it made or even by the number of mixed reviews ,some bashing it, I heard about.Because as it turned out Aku No Hana was one of the worst titles I've seen in recent years.


Before going into the review I want to point out that i didn't read the manga before starting the anime,which in retrospect was a very bad idea because now due to the bad taste this series left in my mouth ... I lost the much needed curiosity to find out how the manga is in comparison, so keep in mind that this a anime version only review.I'm sure that a lot of things were explained much better in the manga,character interactions had more room to develop and so on....

STORY

The story is surprisingly simple ,especially for a tile labeled under the psychological genre,our main character Kasuga Takao is a high school student ,loves to read books and has a idealistic crush on his popular classmate Saeki Nanako.
One day due to a stupid circumstance he ends up stealing her gym clothes ,but is caught by another classmate Nakamura Sawa who blackmails him to form a contract with her in order to not reveal what he just did,which due to how the series progressed meant toying around with him making Kasuga do a few ,well lets say some indecent but very petty stuff (ex: Kasuga wearing said gym clothes) for her own amusement and as she stated "to break down his walls".Oh and yes it sound like the premise of a hentai title if that's what you're thinking.
And that's pretty much it,yeah I wish i was joking.Did you expect something more? Because you wont find it in Aku No Hana.

So in direct consequence due to how minimal the plot and story are ,there is very little happening in each episode.These 13 episodes could have easily been condensed into around 4-5 episodes without much of a problem and without missing any vital information.What keeps it at 13 episodes is a absolute indecent amount of padding and just wasting the viewers time with very long shots of the scenery,close up of objects and in one case just the 2 main characters simply walking for half a episode.

*final episode spoiler

Also in the final episode they even had the nerve to recap what little has already happened that far in the first half of the episode and in the second half to show previews of "things to expect" in the second season,which to this day has yet to be announced because of its bad reception and lack of sales.
The studio actually animated some short scenes/moments from the second half and were cocky enough they would get a green light for of this abomination.Well to our luck we were sparred of this second season so far.

CHARACTERS

And here we go right into the belly of the beast,all the characters are completely unlikable and simply a pain to have to endure watching.While i did hear that's what the producers were going for it still doesn't excuse how undeveloped they are and just how things happen because the plot dictated that way not because of the characters motivation.

Starting off with Mr Personality himself :Kasuga Takao. A complete push-over ,spineless, uber bland main character, he mostly does what Nakamura dictates without that much of a consideration.
Only thing you can say defines his is that he is angsty and later on develops Stockholm syndrome towards Nakamura ,which honestly you would actually expect from someone who is so damn pathetic.

Saeki Nanako is the (initially) love interest for the main character ,although as he describes it its a platonic kind of feeling aimed towards a "muse" status.She is the classroom's beauty and also the most intelligent (although that is highly questionable due to her actions) Not much to say about her,in retrospect she is the most grounded and normal character in the entire anime.

Nakamura Sawa ,the blackmailer.Initially presented as a problem student who dislikes/hates everything around her.After witnessing Kasuga stealing the gym clothes she developed a sick interest in him as she thinks he is also a deviant like her and want's to witness his actions.
Simply put she is downright toxic :foul mouthed/vulgar,unpleasant ,bipolar.All what you would expect from a mental patient that's for sure.
But what makes all of this worse is she is presented as quirky kind of character ,even charming in her own way if you will, , and that we aren't presented to the reason as to why she is this way,the anime had to keep us waiting for the second season to find out about her past/reasons.Huge mistake.

Secondary characters are almost non existing.We see a few classmates here and there,the teacher,the main characters parents.And that's it.

Notable mentioning goes to Yamada ,one of Kasuga's friends, who looks and acts like a young version of real life actor Dan Fogler.A very bad and obnoxious actor who just makes you cringe rather than laugh,same goes to his "anime counterpart".

ART

And this is the reason as to why this title got so much controversy,it uses rotoscoping technique to achieve its character design and animation.
I wont go into much detail because its something that has been discussed over and over again.To put it simply it looks really bad and hard to look at,not enough to make you drop the anime ,although this may very from person to person.It's not really a "deal breaker" but its not doing Aku No Hana any favors ,that's for sure.For characters who are supposed to be in high school they look like they are in their late 20's some even late 30's, female characters look like male characters,character facial expressions/features simply don't appear from a distance....

Backgrounds on the other hand are very well done and looks very realistic,but they did re-use certain shots and angles over and over again.


SOUND

Not much to say here ,its a very minimal type of soundtrack that doesn't get in the way of the action .Voice actors did their jobs decently if you keep in mind the material they were given,no notable standouts here.


CONCLUSION

While watching it I wanted to give Aku No Hana a 5,maybe a 4 depending on the situation that was going on.But after finishing it and witnessing all that it had to offer ,a score higher than a 3 wouldn't do it justice.
Its just that special kind of bad that you watch to amuse at how much the producers screwed up and at their incompetence in producing a worthwhile story.
Flimsy plot,unbearable character who take up the entire screen time due to how few they are,slow progression that crawls at a snails pace,bad ending.That's Aku No Hana in a nutshell.
As a 2-3 episode OVA or perhaps as a movie it could have worked ,but as 13 episodes series who even had the nerve to keep you waiting for another season it failed spectacularly.

Aku no Hana, yes.
Well, at least you can call this anime unique. It really is unique, but in a rather strange way. My opinion may not be a popular one. But I’ve got a couple of things to say…

Story (7/10): I really do like psychological anime series. Always provoking your mind and make you question yourself. Things don't go as you want them to, and they surprise you greatly, sometimes in a good way, and sometimes in a bad way.

Aku no Hana though... rather than being excitingly psychological, it just made me angry and irritated. The story was dragging, and it all was ... thanks to the characters, the terrible art, the cuts they made from the manga and the failed attempts to set the right mood. It was shockingly awkward to watch at times. It’s not really the story that is the problem, it’s the bad usage of characters and other visual details. I really like the idea of Kasuga having dark, perverted secrets and Nakamura being a terrifying brainwasher and the whole dark, suffocating tone about it… But there is no way that I could enjoy it with these characters!

Characters (3/10): Ah yes. Of course a person can be weak, of course they can be cowards, of course you can be brainwashed. But this went too far.
ALL the characters were weak. Expressionless, mentally ill and far too easy to mess with. The whole situation Kasuga was in with Nakamura was ridiculous, for me at least. How can a person be this mentally weak and so easy to brainwash. What's wrong with all the characters? (And I really mean ALL of them. Like, seriously, how can EVERYONE in the same class be mentally ill?) Things were so uncomfortable to watch. Not because they were mind-provoking, but because they were far too unrealistic and irritating.

Art (1/10): Don't get me started on this one. Rotoscopy, really? And this low budgeted version too? Not to mention how bad the actors portrayed the characters emotions, and then they made it worse by drawing over it... Really? Is this another attempt to be unique and different? Why does it have to be this way? The story is unique enough without the bad art. I really liked the art of the manga though, so I am quite confused about the choices they made for the anime…

Sound (7/10): The sound wasn't bad. I really liked the mood-lifting music it had. Even though the anime lacked in emotions from the characters... the sound never failed to deliver the right mood where it was needed. And that is exactly what music and sound in movies and series should be like. But whatever mood there was, was ruined by the horrible acting.

Enjoyment (1/10): I'm very sorry. I actually enjoyed the manga from time to time. But sadly, they took away many of the good scenes from the manga, because they were too explict. This made me a lot angrier than I already was. Some of the horrifying scenes were so badly portrayed that they gave a whole other feeling than they were supposed to. I am truly disappointed.

Overall (4/10): The story itself isn't a bad one. Actually, it is very creative and thought out, even though it sometimes just goes over the top. Unfortunately, those over-the-top times goes so far, because of the bad personalities of the characters, that you forget about what really was good with it. It is a shame, after all. I guess it's not my cup of tea. I would love the series more if the characters weren't ruining it all.
As I said first, Aku no Hana is one of a kind. It is unique.
But not anything unique is something good.

Aku no Hana or ''The flowers of evil'' is an absolutely disgusting creation. I did not notice any charachter development whatsoever. The story follows a perverted young boy who steals another girls panties and brings them home to engage in filthy activity with them. This child is obviously very damaged. The child and his father surround themselves with books , so much so that the house overflows with them. This leaves the mother spiraling into a depression that gets progressively worse as the anime continues.
The poetry supposedly adapted from Les Fleurs du mal is quite scarce. Much of it is changed and so ... it gives it not a modern feel , but a fake one. The flowers of evil manga is a much more enjoyable experience than the anime in my opinion as it goes more in depth into issues raised and is obviously absent of rotoscope animation.

How do I put this...

I was disappointed to see this anime was rotoscoped. Rotocoping is not my personal favorite genre of animation, however, I am sure the artistic team chose this style for a reason. I believe that reason to be discomfort. Seeing these moments almost acted out in real time. This then begs the question of why not go completely live action? Aku no Hana certainly has enough dramatic content to create quite a shocking TV series. I personally don't think the animation style suited the story in any way. In fact, I found it alienating.

The anime also pulled some punches, as most anime ... does, when compared to the manga. While I understand some folks just cannot get into reading manga, I always push people to find a way to consume it, otherwise you will never get THE REAL STORY. I'm not saying that animes which soften the blow (see Naruto, plenty of examples in that), are inherently bad or missing the main story beats, it just takes away the real impact of a lot of scenes.

I encourage you even more to read the manga considering the anime never made it past the first incident. It gets even worse from here. This is a story that goes to very dark and believable places. Out of everyone in this story, the character the audience is expected to hate is the one who arguably has done the least offensive things.

This is another one of those FEELS BAD stories. It is uncomfortable and horrible what these kids do to each other. I would not recommend watching this if you are in a bad place mentally. It could potentially make it worse. In regards to the manga... I am still not sure how I feel about the ending...

No I am not going to bash the artstyle! Contrary to most other opinions, I actually liked the artstyle and thought it added to the atmosphere. There are no waifus to be found here tho. You have been warned.

The underlying theme of the show is to be true to one's nature. Not conforming to society's standards but instead giving into you carnal desires and acting without fear of consequences. Sadly the show itself fails the litmus test. The story is told from the perspective from the biggest man-pussy in the world. At every scene, the indecisiveness, uncertainty and unwillingness to stand up from himself ... radiates out like a beacon which sucks all and any hope the series had. His "growth" through the show is his opening up to his masochistic tendencies as he realizes that he loves the person who is essentially making his life a living hell. To pad up the fact that this is all there is to the plot, we have obscure philosophy drone on in the background. This is make people feel that they have seen something deep and original when it really is as shallow as I make it sound. We keep getting quotes from this book "Flowers of evil" like its meant to have a deep, significance when in reality it does nothing to add to the show. The main character at around midway in the series confesses that he is an empty man who reads books to make himself feel special. Oh, Kasuga, you are so right. You are indeed an one dimensional character with absolutely no growth throughout the series (finding yourself to be a masochist is not growth)

Yeah, yeah, we get it, Kasuga was shit! How about the others? Well, they aren't great either. The other mains are Nakamura who is bullying Kasuga as she knows Kasuga's secret and Saeki who is a plot element purely meant to act as love interest. Saeki has absolutely no role apart from confessing her love to Kasuga even though no sane person on this pale. blue dot can physically fall in love with him. Seaki's thought process is to say "Why the fuck not!

"We spoke first one day ago and you want to ask me for a date? Sure why the fuck not" "We just went out on the first date and you want to enter a relationship with me? Sure why the fuck not" "I just saw you in the library being physical with another girl and you want me to trust you? Sure why the fuck not" "You steal my fucking uniform, completely ruin the classroom, make a mockery of my uniform and put it up for the whole fucking class to see? You want me to understand your broken, weak, pathetic excuse of a mind? SURE WHY THE FUCK NOT" Saeki is one fucking dimensional with zero presence but to be a foil. Nakamura is the series' Joker. Evil without a proper explaination why? Oh her parents got divorced. PLEASE UNDERSTAND!! Her character is deep, you just gotta read fucking "Flowers of Evil" and understand the deep subteties.

This show had so much potential. Kasuga idolizes Saeki. It could have explored Kasuga slowly becoming unenamoured as Saeki shows more of her human side. It could have shown real growth by having Kasuga grow a fucking spine and facing his problems instead of being a whiny, fucking biatch. It could have made Saeki less of a "Yes lady" and given her more character. Hell it could have even made Nakamura a tsundere and have her develop feelings for Kasuga (Nvm the last one happens). Nopety, nopety nope. Lets take the most boring path forward and sprinkle it with crappy philosophy to make it seem "deep".

The story, characters and philosophy are all shallow and poorly thought out. The music and the art on the other hand are truly inspired. The art and music meld together gloriously to create a gloomy, oppresive almost claustrophobic atmosphere. There isn't a single joke/light moment in the series. This isn't an easy watch and sadly isn't an engaging nor a worthwhile one either. 3/10 is my final score.

Aku no Hana intrigued me greatly when I saw people calling it a "masterpiece", naturally, I had to watch it.
I never thought I'd be so bothered by something to write a review. This is the first and probably last time I'll write one.

DISCLAIMER: This is written entirely by my interpretation of the story and characters.

For starters, I surprisingly don't have a problem with the animation. Indeed, the lip sync and some facial expressions sometimes do not match with the intensity of the situation but it wasn't actually terrible. I definitely enjoyed seeing a different art style for once. Really looking forward to more of ... this animation. It is quite realistic but minimalistic at the same time, which is why I thought it was stunning.

The backgrounds and scenery were amazing, I have to admit. Everything is done carefully and with much detail. The people walking around, the cars, everything included made it so calming. If we include the soundtrack to those calm moments, you have truly a beautiful thing to look at as a result.

The story. I've seen some call it "generic" but I thought it was quite original at first. That is, until it started to have a ridiculous amount of plot holes. Usually, I'd be okay with only a few but this show left so much blank spaces. I am specially bothered by the vandalism scene, as I believe anyone could have read the text in the board. Maybe it's just the way I interpret the story, but sometimes it felt forced. As if it tries so hard to grasp the viewers attention by being "frightening" but failing at the attempt. The unnecessarily long shots of the characters walking were hard to look at, it made me just want to skip them as much as I enjoy the scenery scenes.

My major problem with Aku no Hana are the characters. I don't see how they are so deep or how they had any development at all. Personally, I thought they were as deep as the background characters. Nothing at all.

Kasuga seemed interesting at first, as he seems to be carried away by what his friends or family think. He is just a normal teenager that likes dark poetry that he, himself can't even understand. Pessimistic and full of discontent with his surroundings. Socially awkward and the typical "quiet" and somewhat intellectual student.

The adorable Saeki, a girl that one day feels nothing and the other feels everything. The relationship between Kasuga and her is the definition of "rushed". There was never an explanation for her sudden feelings for our awkward protagonist. They went in a date in which they barely crossed a word, which makes everything seem even more wrong. She might be the most flat character in Aku no Hana, as there was never a reason for her to overlook how the things Kasuga did, then proceed to insist on wanting to be with him and understand him. Any other person would have either explain their reasons to act this way or run away from Kasuga immediately.

Nakamura, the classic "outcast" that believes the whole world is full of bullshit and wants to see it burn down to ashes. All she ever does is throw temper tantrums and make Kasuga miserable. The boy that wanted to be free, is now stuck with someone that orders him around and humiliates him. Apparently that's "deep". Now, as well as Saeki, her role in the plot is never given any context. There wasn't any explanation for her actions except that she is an angry teenager that wants to run away. A very poor attempt of creating a deep anti-hero.

There wasn't any depth or character development. My expectations were high for Kasuga, as I waited for him to realize how toxic his relationship with his “sidekick” was. When he realized that Saeki can live without him, I obviously hoped for him to think the same with Nakamura. If he grew as a character and became independent that would've been a shocker, but of course not. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't at least expected him to eventually snap due to all the emotional abuse he was put into and commit murder.

To finish. I was surprised by how poorly the writing in Aku no Hana is. It did had much potential. Certainly, it was a failed attempt to create an extravagant, original and full of meaning psychological drama story.
If there is ever part 2, I can only hope that the creators will do a better job with the writing and the attempts for a frightening atmosphere.

Extremely disappointing.

*SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS*
Aku No Hana is rather specific anime, that is different. I mean, very different.

Story:9-great
Meet Kasuga Takao, a boy who loves to read books and is passionate about them. The book that he is reading is (of course) "Flowers of Evil" by Bodlaire aka. Aku No Hana. That book changed his way of looking at things in life (or maybe...). He is living pretty much an ordinary life, until the day that he stoles one of his classmates'(Saeki Nanako's) gym uniform. In the rush of hormones, he runs away with it. Although he thought that he was cut away from world in that very moment, someone ... spotted him. And that was his classmate Nakamura Sawa. She isn't afraid to shove middle finger into anybody; her teacher is no exception. One day, Nakamura told him that she saw him, and they made a contract. No need to say that she will make #$%& with Kasuga in the next 10 or so episodes. And story slowly unfolds. I would say that this was a great plot.

Art:5-mediocre
Meh. But you shouldn't judge the whole anime by the way it's drawn. There is also a whole story that waits for you. Even if 3D like anime isn't your cup of tea, give it a try. For me, three words: not a fan.

Sound:10-outstanding
I love it how OP changes on every three or so episodes. And have you heard the ending song? Although it's somewhat weird, I like it. *hana ga, hana ga saitayo*

Character:8-very good
Of course it's very good! How could you make a good psychological anime without a good character development. Just pay attention to the signs that characters give.

Enjoyment:3-poor
It felt like story was really slow. Maybe it's just me, but I think that something more could have been done. Maybe some fan service? I dunno.

Overall:3-poor
It was sad. The ending. I cried so many tears at the end... 'cause it was bad AF. If you watched the anime and read the manga you will understand me: good input-bad, BAD output. So many things could have been done. But no. You had to put 20 minutes of recap, one minute of understandable ending that was cut out because of the budget and "End of Part One" at the end. Although its ending was bad, I would recommend you to watch it.

P.S. Are you team Saeki or team Nakamura?

This is one of the worst anime I have ever seen. I hated it so much that I decided to read the manga (perfect logic), and I absolutely adored the manga - which is now in my top 3. But this isn't a review of the manga, it's about the anime.

Story
The biggest shame in this anime is how long it was. The 13 episodes can only tell the part of the story which - in my opinion - is the worst part of the manga. If there is a second season, then I would probably enjoy it much more as it would tell the best ... part. The pacing is too slow.

Art
I despise the art style of the anime. The manga was beautiful, but the anime ruined it. I don't care if it's how the original creator wanted it, it's terrible. The art style would be bearable if there was actually a good story however.

Sound
There isn't much to say here. The voice acting was actually pretty good, and I enjoyed the openings (the nakamura version is my favourite). This was one of the only things that helped me complete the anime.

Character
In the anime, I hated all of the characters. Kasuga was a little crybaby for the majority of the show, Nakamura is too pushy and Saeki has no apparent personality. In the manga, I adore all these characters.

Enjoyment
I did not enjoy this show at all. It is one of the only shows (along with clannad) that has pushed my no-drop policy to the limit.

In conclusion, this show is garbage and if anyone wants to watch it I would suggest you read the manga instead.

Aku no Hana - if the pace had been better handled, one could speak of a "Coming of Age"-psycho thriller about inhibited romance in puberty, with an interesting visual approach that gets more and more sinister with each episode. Unfortunately, although the anime manages to create a gloomy, oppressive atmosphere, it can't reach the aura of manga. Although I chose the anime, my review will also reflect my opinion of the manga.

Story: Gloomy and oppressive it lures the viewer into the darkness; Manga (8/10); Anime (4/10)
Kasuga, Takao is a quiet middle schoolboy with a penchant for classical literature and Saeki, Nanako, the prettiest girl ... in his class. He's incapable of confessing his love to her and does something really stupid on top of that. As if that wasn't bad enough, he was observed by his classmate Nakamura, Sawa, who is known for her antisocial behavior. So the delinquent has taken his first step into darkness as well as into his personal psychological hell. A severe point of criticism is the pacing in the anime adaptation, which in contrast to the manga is so slow at some points that the viewer loses focus on the actual climax of the scene. The desired dramaturgy is lost or even reversed. The bad implementation of the original story is the real weakness of the entire show. Basically, the manga defines the story as the strongest aspect and the fact that the adaptation, regardless of its other weaknesses, cannot create the same mood even though, unlike the manga, it has the manifold possibilities of animation techniques and music at its disposal, is the true cardinal error.

Characters: Manga: credible, authentic (8/10); Anime: unfortunately potential left unused (5/10)
Another serious mistake can be seen in the figure portraits. The anime tries to arouse the same impressions and emotions in the viewer as the original. But it fails, because the character traits don't come across properly because of the badly chosen timing and therefore one can't clearly identify with the characters. The portrayal of their character traits seems half-hearted and is therefore perceived as unnatural. The horrible visual realization does the rest, but more about Art and Animation later in "Visuals".
Kasuga, Takao:
He appears in the anime as an ordinary, shy pupil who is blackmailed. At first, the viewer cannot longer grasp of the figure without having prior knowledge of the source. The manga, on the other hand, offers clear character traits that make his behavior and actions comprehensible. Simply put, he is a weakling and submissive. Since he finds no way out for himself, he flees into the poems by Baudelaires, in which he believes that his situation is reflected. All monologues and self-reflexions that Takao expresses are unfortunately only a weak copy in the anime. For this reason, the viewer notices very late that Takao doesn't quite understand the poems, but can't admit it.
Nakamura, Sawa:
Diabolically playful, but in anime only the simply destructive facets of the character remain. The implementation of Sawa was so colourless and half-hearted that it is simply a pity to the wasted potential. She is the actual protagonist of the anime and if you describe Aku no hana, you should immediately think of the somber, but somehow cute, playful, devilish girl. More than half the time you try to grasp her character, but only to realize that you were wrong about your interpretation. Her character is tricky and multi-faceted. If you are wondering what I am talking about, please take a look at the manga.
Saeki, Nanako:
A little light at the end of the tunnel, at least here it was possible to make the character understandable at the beginning. She is pretty and sexy, which could be seen as a plus. On the other hand, according to the original, as a symbol of innocence, she is supposed to be completely devoured, by the darkness of the increasingly gloomy story. Therefore, her outward appearance as very young and innocent is so important. The anime, however, cannot convey this because Nanko seems inexperienced but not uninterested.
One could continue with examples of the other characters and supporting roles, but with the three main characters the intention is already clearly expressed. Isn't it?

Visuals: Not the cardinal error, yet the original was slaughtered (4/10)
The view that the rotoscope technique is the reason that the anime is optically ugly, is not true and therefore I do not want to leave it uncommented. The fault is neither the original story nor the rotoscope technique itself, but the catastrophic visual realization. Rotoscoping was developed and patented by Max Fleischer in the early 1910s. The aim was to achieve a convincing and realistic movement in less time. The method was later used primarily for human figures that perform particularly complex movements such as dance scenes. A beautiful example is Walt Disney's Snow White from 1937, the classic has some dance scenes that were realized with rotoscoping. You can imagine the procedure like tracing. The movie scenes are projected frame by frame onto a frosted glass screen so that the animator can draw them. Basically, it's a matter of effort, budget or both. That it is possible to make a nice rotoscoping film is beyond question. Last month I reviewed an Anime by Toei Animation from 1962 that was created also by using the rotoscoping technique. It hurts to say that "Aku no hana" can't keep up, but from a visual point of view and considering the time of creation, the characters in the 1962 anime look better, although there are more than 50 years in between.
The beautiful and detailed backgrounds are often praised. I will not contradict, but almost always there are still images in which apart from the protagonist nothing moves. No leaf falls to the ground, no cicada runs around, just beautiful stills. That would not be so bad, but the anime is a dark drama. This means that the characters and their emotions are in the foreground and above all, that the viewer is able to understand and empathize with their feelings. In other words, the background could simply be white as long as the characters can credibly convey the emotions they are supposed to express. That's exactly what is missing here. The characters do not convince and even the most beautiful background can't mitigate this.

Music: different, oh good grief, very hard to bear at times (4/10)
The background music is suitable for the series, but the compositions of Fukasawa, Hideyuki, do not convince me. Music arrangements like "Mangetsu to Keikaku" or "Inori no Yuube" are hard to understand. In general I am enthusiastic about many kinds of music and styles, but the fascination for the sound world of Aku no hana has remained hidden to me. The Gothic elements are all too present, one is unfortunately not invited into the darkness and finally completely enveloped by it. The music is more like a gothic shower and the desired effect is lost. On the other hand music themes like "Zankyou no Hana" have an almost melancholic, tender charm, which can hardly attract attention next to the other music influences and thus remains without much resonance with the audience. All in all the music is composed for the series, but exactly for this reason it can't convince by itself and strengthen or even adequately describe the actions of the actors. The music is tragic and bleak, that's just too dominant and that's why it seems so lackluster. This is a bit sad because the composer has already created better works. Many game fans surely know his name and I also like his compositions for FSN-Unlimited Blade Works.
There are different openings and endings and honestly, none of them are in my collection.
The opening "Kasuga Takao" by Noko, the music is good, but the singing is hard to bear.
The title "Nakamura Sawa" by Gotou, Mariko. Oh, good grief, what a terrible mixture of art-punk and noise-pop. >_< skip…
In contrast, Nanba, Shiho interpretation of the title "Saeki Nanako" is almost a typical idol anime pop song, but she reaches high pitches at times not comfortably and ends a little screeching. It feels a little like the melody doesn't fit her or she doesn't master the technique of transition. Many may think that this is part of the show, but unfortunately not.
I listened to the Eds, like "one last flower" and "Hana" and then skipped them. Overall, the music was the Animes' biggest disappointment for me.
The dubbing voices can improve the impression of the sound section a bit. Surprisingly, it's more the supporting roles like Uemura, Ayako as the voice of Kinoshita, Ai. I liked her interpretation of her role very much, as did Doi, Mika as Saeki's mother, although she doesn't have had so many lyrics.

I can't recommend the anime "Aku no hana". It was hard for me to watch the whole series and that is really a pity, because the manga of Oshimi Shūzō is good. The adaptation with its horrible visual realization doesn't do justice to the manga at all. Moreover, the anime lacks the fascinating roller coaster ride in the dark psyche of the protagonists struggling with their youth. The cliffhanger at the end feels like being left out in the rain.

Thanks for reading.

Most people like to shit on this show's animation, but the truth is that its just different and while it took a while to get used to, i still loved the drawings. The story overall starts off interesting and you find yourself sympathizing with the main character, however towards the end we realize how much of a piece of shit he really is based on the decisions he made (somewhat spoiler). This is not an easy show to watch due to the cringe and stupidity of the main character and is exactly what you would expect from an anime listed as psychological. The plot twists ... are interesting and very entertaining, but overall it's just the main character who ends up being a disappointment. Don't expect much of a romance, the story is mainly centered around the main character, and if you will go deep enough, it explores the 3 main types of people depicted in Japanese culture. If youre looking for a romantic story, this is not the show for you, lets just say the ending isn't what we think it will be after we see the dedication saeki has to their relationship. (bit of a spoiler, watch the show to find out what i mean) Therefore in conclusion i wouldn't necessarily recommend this show to anyone but if asked about it i would say: "just watch it".

We usually watch anime under the assumption that a story can't exist for no reason, right? Well come Aku no Hana, and as intriguing as the visuals of the flower of evil, the trailer and the first episode were, it just goes nowhere, it doesn't pick up up, the ratio of psychological tension to the events happening is unbalanced, so you have a bombshell moment that leads nowhere, it defeats the point of watching a show when there is no pay off.

So enduring 12 episodes of a wimpy male lead, the same bit over and over, a ditzy love interest, a sadistic purposeless bully was ... all for nothing, and if you're thinking well maybe the source material has the answers, nope, it only gets more underwhelming after the show is over.

The art isn't worth it, I don't mind the style as much but it definitely caused the show to suffer, all in all, a waste of time, not worth perusing, you can read the entire story summary of off Wikipedia if still you're curious, but you're not missing much.

The Aku no Hana manga is one of greatest coming of age stories I have seen, it is a well written tale of deprivation and redemption set in a small town in Japan inspired by the place Shuuzou Oshimi, the mangaka, grew up in. The anime version of Aku no Hana is a dreadful attempt to capture the feeling of the original manga in shockingly bad animation.

Story: 3/10

The story follows the plot for the first few volumes of the manga. Not much is left out, nor is any filler added. So why is the story rated a 3? It's because holy shit it is boring ... to watch in the anime. It is horribly drawn out to the point where I audibly told the anime to get a bloody move on. Between the snail pace and the other sections of this review, only a shred of the enjoyment from the story of the manga is even possible in the anime. Additionally, the anime has some pretty bad translations of seemingly simple words that really make or break the story. For example, basically the whole motivation of one of the characters is trying to another 'pervert' in the town where she lives, but unfortunately pervert is translated to 'sicko'. This is a seemingly small thing to get upset about but in my opinion it gives the impression that the translators did not even understand the point of the story.

Art: 1/10

I will admit, the backgrounds in this anime are beautiful to the point where they are some of the best I've seen in anime, and for that reason it was tempting to give the art section a slightly higher score. However, the characters, who are the focal point of the anime, are animated so badly that it cancels out any possible credit for the backgrounds. To elaborate, the characters are not animated in a standard anime style. They appear somewhat similar to characters in Devilman: Crybaby and Ping-Pong, which are two anime that I think have fantastic animation. Aku no Hana failed miserably to become like those anime that have somewhat avant-garde art styles and instead became what is without a doubt the ugliest anime I have ever seen. The characters are hard to look at because it's that bad. It doesn't end with just bad art for the characters, the actual animation is also dreadful. The movements of the characters appear unnatural and have the fluidity of a badly drawn paper flip book, not to mention random pauses that made me think my computer was buffering.

Sound: 2/10

Sound? What sound? One of the most important parts of any anime is so scarcely used in Aku no Hana that it gives the impression that there was no-one at the studio who was employed to put music over the animation. The opening song changes several times and each was quite good, hence the 2 instead of a 1. The problem with the opening songs are that none of them even remotely suit the anime. On top of that, the animation part of the openings is the most boring and basic stuff I've ever seen in an anime opening.

Character: 1/10

Complete dogshit. I will be excluding this anime from future 'most hated anime characters' lists that I may write on forums because they would all be from this anime. The characters here are basically unrecognisable compared to their manga counterparts. The terrible animation makes them not even look vaguely similar to the manga and look more like a live action adaptation instead of anime characters. Due to the appalling animation and pacing, the characters have lost all appeal and characterisation that they originally had.

Enjoyment: 1/10

This was the longest 13 episodes I have ever watched. It was incredibly boring and even a little bit insulting. I failed to find even a shred of enjoyment while watching this. The only reason I didn't drop this dumpster fire of an anime was so I could give it a fair chance before I reviewed it.

Overall: 2/10

I'm sure you have a good idea by now of why I hated this anime so in short, if you haven't read the manga, read that instead. If you have, just pretend this anime doesn't exist.

There is no reason for anyone to love the way they’ve been raised in suburbia. It may not be dangerous, but that is not enough to make living there worthwhile. Suburbia is a world without values, where nothing is allowed to be good and worth devoting to. Some things are considered bad and off-limits – like drugs. Anything else though is ‘just a hobby’. No wonder this safe lifestyle doesn’t stop people from killing themselves – why live such a life, anyway?

No wonder, then, that suburbia has its share of ‘rebels’ who take symbols that seem to contradict suburbia. Then again, any person who finds ... something valueable is rebelling against suburbia – that’s why both the happy-go-lucky raver and the skull-laden metalhead are considered rebels of this landscape. Even the truly religious and the intellectual can be rebels in this world. Such passionate people will challenge the status quo since they will value something other than the suburban lifestyle.

Notice the problem, though. Notice what’s the requirements for a true rebellion against suburbia – having values. Aku no Hana is the pseudo-rebel, the person who hates suburbia so much with all its emptiness yet cannot find anything of value to replace it with. It wrecks destruction, says naughty words and perhaps will pay lip-service to sexuality but in the end it has nothing to say. In the end, it is too weak to admit it’s exactly like the suburbia it hates and this lack of self-awareness is its destruction.

The anime fails in the same way the main character, Nakamura, fails. Nakamura hates the boring life she leads. I hate that way of life, too. Yet just because she claims she’s going ‘beyond the hill’, that she will tear down Kasuga’s walls to find something there doesn’t mean she actually will. It doesn’t mean her actions are directed at this venture. Actually, her actions are more like that of a sexual abuser rather than a tough life coach


Imagine if a man stripped a female of clothing, forced her to wear something and said this will somehow psychologically heal her and make her stronger, bring out the ‘real her’ or something equally fancy. Few of us would take it seriously. The moment the man will use force is the moment we will find him villainous, no matter how many rebellious slogans come out of his mouth. So why is it okay when a female does it?

It’s an anime so engrossed in being different, so immersed in wanting to be unique that it doesn’t even try. It goes beyond the art style, which is ugly but not too hard to get used to. The backgrounds are fantastic. They go beyond the emptiness of suburbia, giving everything a rusty look of falling down and crumbling. We see something else besides boredom, that suburbia equals malaise and its lack of values is actually that depressing. As for the character design, it’s merely failed realism. None of them actually look like real people but more like distorted photographs. For a while it’s amusing, but not too much.

At first it starts off interesting with a view into the darkness and weirdness of random people. Quickly, though, it is obvious we’re supposed to side with Nakamura, view her as a tragic person lost in a world of dull people who just cannot realize how special she is. Too bad the creators missed that if anyone actually paid attention to her, they’d realize she should be in jail. No one cares how special you are when you abuse people. Look what happened to Watkins.

True horror is realizing that something that’s horrible is also real, and perhaps more common than we think. Don’t be a pig and act like your mud is special. Show the viewers that what they consider deviant is actually normal. Horrify them with that. Instead, we see a small act of stupidity and teenage horniness being shoved in our faces like the creators just discovered the true darkness that lays at humanity’s heart.

If only they had enough empathy to realize that the true horror is realizing that all our rebelliousness is worth nothing if we’re cruel, that we’re excellent at swallowing our own Kool-Aid as we hide from how we hurt others. From the middle onwards, the series becomes nothing but a carnival of vomit. We see people being mean to each other, some preaching about the nastiness of suburbia and pushing someone to do things they don’t want because you and your rebellious self know what’s best for them. Hating suburbia is a good thing, but it’s the first step. This anime barely takes in, and merely wallows in the pre-packaged cliches of rebellion – like anti-capitalism music that you need to pay to hear.

1.5/5