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Aku no Hana
The Flowers of Evil
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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Blossom of Evil

Japanese: 惡の華

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 11

Chapters: 58

Status: Finished

Published: Sep 9, 2009 to May 9, 2014

Genres: Drama, Romance

Themes: Psychological, School

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Bessatsu Shounen Magazine

Authors: Oshimi, Shuuzou (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.21¹ (scored by 76,284 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #435²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #65

Members: 159,349

Favorites: 12,150

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Reviews

Filtered Results: 64 / 78

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Nov 29, 2021

Jean_Marcos

Mixed Feelings

So, I was not really sure why this thing was so damn hyped, but then, I read it.

And I still don't know why, but I guess this is kinda good.

The manga starts in a weird way, I guess I can not relate to any of those "First-world problems" like stealing girls' clothes and etc, however, it starts in a confusing way, the manga makes its finest in making you uncomfortable, with several sexual jokes and really disgusting dialogues.

I hated the art at first, but seeing the artist's evolution was really satisfying, about the chapter 30, everything was really beautiful.

Man, I hated the MC, I hated ...

Dec 2, 2015

murakafkami

Recommended

I'm going to start off with the classic cliche - I don't usually write reviews. I used to. I've written tons of reviews, for everything from music to movies to whatever I could analyze in a somewhat objective manner. However, after a certain point I stopped. I felt like the process of publishing a review was a futile thing - any work of art is bound to inspire a review of sorts inside you - an internal discussion (if it has 'impact' and/or some sort of a 'connect') that you can choose to externalize - but then, why would you? To gain more perspectives? Sure, ... you could add layers to your comprehension by trying to look at said work of art in a different light, but wouldn't it rob you of the intimate first impression the said work left on you? Because after all, there are certain things that you don't really want to talk about with people, even if sheltered by a pseudonym. The reasons might vary - anything from the fear of being misunderstood to wanting to jealously guard your perspective as something personal, letting it be part of what defines you, treasuring it as an anchor which binds you to a time, a place, an experience that helps you stay rooted in the chaotic flow of every day life.

And then there are some things that just shatter all these essentially made up paradigms. Surrealism was one of them - I had fun reading Baudelaire, Lautreamont, Steppenwolfe etc etc. I devoured anything digressive and acidic for the novel ways in which they broke down my filters of perception and subsequently reshaped them. But as with everything, even though I changed (and keep changing), the violent yet delightful experiences which changed me started fading away. This manga, even if only for a few precious hours, made me feel as alive as I did back then, albeit in a completely different way.

Story/Characters: (10/10) (contains mild spoilers)
The title can be a little misleading for those who expect some sort of an adaptation of Baudelaire's work - it does use some themes which recur frequently, but it essentially is a bildungsroman at heart, following the lives of the Baudelaire obsessed protagonist who goes through puberty in a thoroughly singular fashion, thanks to a classmate that brings out his wildest impulses by sheer force of will, showing him a world beyond literature and hooking him on to unhealthy doses of feeling alive. I've come across reviews where the behavior of the teenagers is viewed as 'uncouth' and 'mystifying, unrealistic, or even downright insane'. I beg to differ. Hyperbole is definitely utilized, but it seems more like a very peculiar combination of somewhat unlikely events rather than a lone man's venture into fantasy land (think Bonnie and Clyde) - in short, sensationalization of reality for added impact and a heightened sense of pacing, which drops when the second arc of the story favors a more mature approach. I realize this made a lot of people unhappy, maybe understandably so considering it is never fun getting off a roller coaster. But I feel like it nicely captures the shift in energies and moods - you could even liken Kasuga to a postwar Japanese survivor who wanted to go all out in a blaze of glory but survived while the ideals he fought for were turned to ash around him. The conclusion is very subtly done - you can clearly feel the author struggling to part with the characters he put his soul into, nevertheless realizing the importance of ambiguity as the most 'natural' conclusion to a bildungsroman - now the characters can make the choices - not that they are going to be any less difficult to make, but those struggles demand a completely different treatment - the metaphors driving the story can no longer sustain it.

Art(10/10)
There's none of the typically manga 'weird faces for relief' stuff here. The facial expressions, even when bordering on the unreal, are extremely well done - everything from the body language to the eyes, the slightly surreal sequences - everything fits perfectly. Since I'm not very qualified to make objective judgments in this department (or perhaps any department), I find it unlikely that everyone will like it similarly.

Enjoyment/Overall (10/10)
When I started reading this somewhat late into the night, I did not expect much. I'd been binge reading manga for the last couple of weeks, and even though there were many that were unputdownable, this was much more. Appealing to the intellect and to emotions buried under a veritable pile of rubble wasn't in the menu, but this manga served it. It might be weird to say, but in some ways it healed and brought some unfinished things to conclusion. Unlikely that I'm going to forget about this soon enough, though I won't particularly recommend it for that specific purpose. Read it with an open mind, and you won't regret it.

Mar 7, 2016

Girisajin

Recommended

I'm only writing this review because i can't help but say how goooood this manga is.I just wanna say that if i could give it an 11/10 i would.

Story 9/10 The story is great and i believe many people out there can relate to which is very important in any kind of art.The only reason i don't give a 10 here is because in some turnpoints the reactions are very..."japanese".That makes a few reactions and choices taken in some points look a bit out-of-the-world.But still it's not even close enough to disappoint you like other manga have done.

Art 10/10 This mangaka....All i'm gonna say is ...

Apr 26, 2021

Onani_Master_Ace

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (15/58 chp)

i came into this series with really high hopes. I love punpun and is one of my favorite manga's I've ever read. I found that this series cast seemed unrelatable and did not have the same realism in characters as punpun has. the main characters actions are so unrealistic and stupid. the girls also seem really unlikeable. If you want a coming of age story like this one but actually a good book you should try Onanie Master Kurosawa. i think it tackles the themes of growing up and changing in such a better way and the charicters are likeable. like i said the story ...

Sep 12, 2016

TravisBickle

Recommended

I enjoyed this thing enough to read it in one sitting. At first it was the shock factor that gripped me, then the cringe factor, next 'oh my god, what's going to happen next'- factor, and finally the 'Aww, that's kind of sweet' - factor.

This manga is in two parts. One is the opening, which deals with a weird love triangle and the second is a much more normal love triangle that felt traditional and sweet.

I know that the mature thing to say is the second part is superior, it had real emotional depth, character growth, and admirable moments. One of those admirable moments ...

Jan 29, 2021

Ageshiro

Recommended

I'll try to keep my review brief as I think other reviewers have done this manga quite some justice already.

Aku no Hana is a story of 3 children (Kasuga Takao, Nakamura Sawa and Saeki Nanako) who struggle through puberty and later their teenage years, trying to find meaning in life. Takao doesn't have any sense of self-worth and tries to fill the void in his heart with literature. Sawa is tragically afraid of boredom and loathes normalcy to the point of being violent and rude to others. Saeki craves acceptance and is unsatisfied with the grayness of her everyday life, which she spends adhering to ...

Feb 18, 2024

gingerholic

Not Recommended

Well this manga takes the cake - the epitome of making a mountain out of a molehill. The supposed coming-of-age story with depth somehow ended up being an obnoxious case of bipolar teens suffering from Stockholm syndrome.

Every character in Aku no Hana is unlikable and unrelatable. Aside from the fact that it’s difficult to wrap my head around why stealing gym clothes can turn into such a fiasco, but how does a middle school kid get bullied into succumbing to his fellow classmate and eventually developing an attachment to the said abuser is the main problem. There’s no clear/convincing explanation to Nakamura’s behavior either, ...

Jul 3, 2022

CosmoMcFloso

Recommended

This was the manga I enjoyed the most.I love this manga and it exceeded my expectations by a million. The story is great characters are great and unique and the art is wonderful like some of the best I have ever seen.The setting was very interesting. The symbols are great and the writing is beautiful. If I can give it a 12/10 I would.But while reading you might be bored at act 1 but act 2 is DEFINITELY WORTH IT. I remember sitting down on my couch after finishing it and being so mind-blown away.You should really give it a try if you love stuff ...

Jun 12, 2022

dedekindcut

Recommended

I have to put this out of my mind right now or else I probably won't be able to handle my emotions. Just a short write-up. Not meant as a be-all, end-all about this manga. Might even exaggerate at places.

It's my favorite manga of all time, hell, probably my favorite *story* of all time. An intense, tumultuous, and bittersweet tale about the loss of innocence, the ever-lasting search for kinship and the eternal problem of understanding each other's intentions.

It features a cast that starts off as cartoonish sketches of tropes that gradually gets fleshed out more and more, almost at the same pace as ...

May 31, 2020

winemom

Recommended

When I was a child, my grandfather thought it was fun to hold me down in the pool while I struggled for air, so you can say I learned pretty early the feeling of drowning. Reading this was the closest thing I felt to drowning. I hated every second of it. I felt afraid for every page of every chapter until the very end. But just as I survived drowning, I survived reading this. I do recommending going through the 56 chapters in a single sitting. I tried stopping a few times, but my attempts were as futile as those times when I was a ...

Jan 25, 2018

XxPOPTARTxX

Recommended

I don't have a talent of writting some master reviews, i'm just here to share what i thought after reading this manga.
So, the manga is amazing there is no doubt that in my mind, the one thing that the manga was lacking and thing was the 'Ending'. The ending to me was not that good i don't why but in the chapter 54 where kasuga and nakamura fight each other and she just ends the fight saying "Kasuga don't come back you're a normal person" was just what can i say left me with "WHAT THE HELL SAY SOMETHING ELSE, TELL HIM THE REASON WHY ...

Jun 16, 2020

MrMeruem

Recommended

AMO este manga, si me piden una opinión sobre las flores del mal diría 2 cosas, que deberías leerlo y no verlo (me gusta la animación que tenía pero entre que esta obra se disfruta mas leyendo los 11 tomos de seguido y que el anime no causa absolutamente ninguna emoción mas que jajaja se ven raro pero me gusta por alguna razón, pues como que no merece tanto la pena...) y la segunda es que las emociones que causa leerlo son muy reales al ser un manga que en partes llega a rozar el terror psicológico y tener un desarrollo de personajes tan bueno.

Nov 27, 2019

Curiouswanderer

Recommended

So I read this manga weeks and weeks ago but was unable to review it since college was driving me up the walls with projects and stuff. Anyways I gotta say, this manga was pretty chilling and I'm not always the type of person who always gets chills from the horror genre. Well apparently now that I mention it, I got it from reading this series.

Seriously the girl characters in this man, they definitely have that stalker psycho vibe that leaves you on edge the whole time they appear. You definitely feel sorry for the main protagonist that he is sorta trapped in a ...

Jul 21, 2021

Atsugaruru

Recommended

"This main character... This is me! This town surrounded by the mountains. The countryside with nowhere to go... I can relate to everything that's written here!"

At its core, this manga is about despair, trauma, helplessness, suicide, and what makes life worth living for. Whether or not you will enjoy it depends on if you can relate to the characters and what they're experiencing. The main bulk of the manga is the characters dealing with their inner turmoil and learning to overcome it. It's a psychological drama through and through. It's philosophical, in a dark way.

That being said, it's not for everyone. It's a story about ...

Jul 9, 2016

zaiav

Recommended

This manga, oh my god how do I begin to explain it? It's honestly one of the best manga's I've read.
If you are looking for a good psychological manga with a deep character psyche look no further. There were so many times that the dialogue and characters felt real, it never feels forced. The art, my god the art is some of the most beautiful I've ever seen. I highly suggest buying this manga because the covers on the later ones are so beautiful I had a few people complement me on just the colors!
I seriously enjoyed this manga but do feel that ...

Nov 5, 2016

Ca7chi

Recommended

- This review might contain spoilers -

I never related as much to a story as I related to Aku no Hana.
It is a really sad manga who will leave you with that strange devastation feeling in the end, but you must have something to relate to. Honestly this is the kind of manga that I won't be upset if I hear people talking shit about it because I know it can't be enjoyed by everyone. It also makes you laugh, but once again, only if you relate to the characters.
I lived 18 years in a small village, and I hated it but I only discovered ...

Oct 29, 2017

0ammedict

Recommended

When I write reviews on anything I try to do something outside of the norm. You can have a million people tell you the plot holes, art mistakes, or overall pacing of the story. I am trying to fill a role that is vacant. So I will speak about my personal experience with this manga and what it means to me.

I believe I first read "Aku no Hana" two years ago at the time I was 14 years old, many would say I was far too young to be reading such a graphic work and I have to agree. Something about this manga captivated ... me, I think it was because I was at a point in my life where I just kind of felt stuck. I was a melodramatic teenager who was going through those angsty teenager feelings two years too early. We all realize when we get older than our lives aren't "ending" and that if we make one social mistake that we're screwed, but this manga takes this teenage paranoia to an extreme.

I think the reason "Aku no Hana" works is because we're experiencing it from a teenagers point of view. To someone in their later years they would remember those time with a bit of embarrassment and feel distanced from those feelings, but during the time you experience them, they feel very real. Takao is a character who lives off of these feelings and thrives in them. He thinks he's unique because he considers his feelings of feeling distanced from the others and reading fancy poetry makes him "special" and "outside the norm". The harsh reality is that everyone goes through these messy times and it's how you compose yourself in them that truly shows what kind of person you are.

Without Nakamura, I think our protagonist would've seemed just sort of..." meh". A disgusting guy who is stupid enough to try to steal him crushes gym clothes. Nakamura is the perfect example of a "foil" I think the best foils in writing are the ones who SEEM similar to the protagonist, but actually, have stark differences that bring you to realizations about the lead. Takao isn't truly living in this dark world he's just going through a phase. While Nakamura definitely has some serious issues. It may be the effects of living in a small town, but no one takes Nakamura's issues seriously enough I often wondered why not a single teacher tried to get her issues for her obvious psychological issues, but then I realized. "Nobody gives a shit" all the teachers saw was a disrespectful student who they would love to get rid of and never stopped to think about what she might be feeling.

Finally, we have the "love interests" of our lead. While some may consider Nakamura a love interest I do not. He was devoid of romantic feelings or her it was more like some desperation he had to fill the empty void she was living in. First up we have Nanako who is just might be the biggest bitch in anime/manga history. I despise her so much. Nakamura may have done some batshit crazy things, but they come nothing close to the shit Nanako pulled. Although the manga may brush it aside (I do believe that the author took this issue very seriously, but what trying to show how Takao tried to repress it) Nanako's sexual assault of Takao was one of the grossest things I've ever seen. It was not glorified or brushed off quickly, but it was quick, and Nanako acted like it was just...nothing. She thought it was fun for him. Let me make this clear she raped him and that is a topic that is rarely discussed in manga. A woman raping a man.

When she meets Takao again she acts like he's in the wrong. Like he's some kind of freak who won't move on maybe its because she felt pitiful when her own life was exactly that, obsessed with the past.

Next up we have Aya who is far superior to the previously mentioned...roach. I really liked this character she wasn't just a boring character who our lead was forced to be with because he couldn't get with the two obviously manipulative women. They seemed to have a genuine bond and I loved it. I hear a lot of people complain about the second part of the story being dull, but I loved it. Life moves on. You're not going to always be stuck in the deep pit of depression and feel like your life is over when it's just beginning.

The funny thing is, I think I was a lot like Takao myself when I read this. I thought I was so impressive because I was reading this adult story that only an "intellectual" could understand. Instead, I just ended up being really confused and..upset. It made me feel things that I didn't want to feel because even with the dark stories manga often present they usually feel separate from our own reality. What upset me the most was that I wanted to understand it so bad. I wanted to feel like this angsty main character of her own soap opera, but I wasn't and I'm glad I wasn't.

I do like this manga and even if you don't enjoy it I really do suggest you check it out.

Aug 28, 2021

eeveel

Recommended

definitely gets better as it progresses, especially the art, which is something you take great notice of considering how much it improves. Character development was really interesting, to see good decisions being made and for it to all finally come together made me really happy. Actually seeing communication and understanding in the final chapters really highlights how much has changed from beginning to end. i enjoyed it more than i initially thought i would! My only regret would be not paying enough attention to the early chapters and writing it off thinking that the story was the type to keep throwing bad events at you ...

Aug 24, 2021

Amyquejr

Recommended

This "review" is gonna be a (messy) personal take and more about my experience reading the manga than an actual review, as I have sentiments over this work that had to be put out. this manga is absolutely depression but enjoyable to read, interesting story, good art, good development character, one of my favorite Oshimi Shuuzou manga. Great works should leave a mark. Therefore, if I find that the memory of an anime or manga doesn't stick with me, I have no doubts that I love Flowers of Evil. It’s wickedly terrific. but there also has two time ship and skip. ...

Mar 26, 2021

soumiray

Recommended

I'll be honest Aku no Hana was VERY overhyped and I was expecting a lot more. Nevertheless, the story isn't that bad.

I read Chi no Wadachi by Shuzo Oshimi, the same author, and it was spectacular. It kinda puzzles me that Aku no Hana is more popular than CNW, since I find the art in CNW and the story 10x better.

The story was very confusing for me at first, I didn't understand why anything was happening and it was a pain to read, but around the end, everything kinda comes together neatly.

The character development is pretty good, but the MC is just weak. (trying ...

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