Aku no hana

On the surface people will look at the story and think they've seen it before; a coming of age drama set in school. A boy dealing with his emotions and puberty. This isn't about maturing or growing up. It's a striking and disturbing look into the mundanity of life. The visuals hint at this. The beauty of the art style is how it contrasts the plain looking characters with the incredibly detailed backgrounds, showing how people go on with their lives, eventually fading away, yet the buildings and mountains persist. Many shots linger on the backgrounds and the ambiance fills the dead air. People you see on the street, each and every one feeling like the world has eyes on them and when the day is over, no one really noticed. The show feels real. It's raw and hard to watch. It attacks your psyche and doesn't care how you feel. The show lets you decide, it lets you perceive and give meaning. The main character goes throughout his days ready to burst with anxiety. In the big picture however, no one notices his plight. The story is claustrophobic, yet open ended. The atmosphere is immense and uncompromising, making the viewer uneasy. When the show is over, it plants a seed in your head, your days drift by and a flower blooms. You wonder if life and everything that has happened so far is actually significant.

Aku no Hana is by far the most controversial Anime of the Spring Season 2013, receiving by far the most hate and still having quite a big fan base that does like it. Which one of the two sides arguing against each other is right?

Story: The story of Aku no Hana takes place in Japan and revolves around Kasuga Takao, a quite normal boy, who goes to school, loves books (especially Baudelaire's "Aku no Hana") and has a crush on what is supposed to be the beauty of the class. One day he finds her sport clothes as he wants to get the book he accidentally forgot in the classroom. He takes them out and hears a sound. In the hurry he just takes them and leaves quickly. Later on the psycho child of the class, being Nakamura Sawa tells him she saw him stealing the clothes. From then on she makes him do things that...well are kind of awkward. The whole story is really well executed and as far as I know follows the Manga quite well (didn't read it). It is really enjoyable to watch and it keeps unfolding in directions that the viewer doesn't expect to go to. It was a good story, but no masterpiece! 8/10

Characters: The characters are the shining point of the show. Even though the only ones that get any focus at all are the three main characters that everything revolves around, they are that good developed that that is no problem at all! Kasuga Takao seems to be one of the most normal students we've seen in a while in Anime. He likes books, has a crush on a girl and doesn't have any powers or things he is really good in. That is until he gets seen by Nakamura stealing the clothes and his life gets more and more messed up, just as his mind. Nakamura Sawa is a psycho. That's what everyone agrees upon. But it is a kind of psycho, that seems more pleasant than the "I'll kill you all" type, and rather is someone that is claims himself to be a deviant and searches for people that are the same as she is. Saeki Nanako is the girl Kasuga has a crush on. She is a kind and good looking girl. I am not gonna talk a lot about her since I'd just end up spoiling. One must be said: The characters aren't likable at all! It is hard to really like them, but that is the point the series wants you to be in. It's a point were you can look down on the show from a spot a lot higher, which makes every single character a lot more human and makes their built up incredibly well done. 10/10

Art: Well....the first thing that comes to your mind while watching Aku no Hana is the character design, which looks to say it in a polite way different. It is not a bad thing to make them look this way, since it is just another point that makes you feel more distant to the characters. The point were the art fails is the animation itself. The characters suffer from either to much movement at the same time and you just can't seem to concentrate because the characters look as if they would tremble without a reason or they don't move at all. The amount of still screens in this show is incredibly high and makes the show feel as if it was something based on an incredibly low budget, which it probably is. Later on the Animation gets a lot better but still not good enough to make up for what they did within the first episodes, which makes the enjoyment go down by far and the hate level rise in the same way. 4/10

Sound: The Soundtrack of Aku no Hana is incredibly simple. It mostly consists of tones getting louder and louder which creates a suspense that really fits the show as something dark and awkward. Aku no Hana has one of the most memorable endings ever created. A song only sung by a computer voice singing about the flowers of evil definitely is really creepy and fits the whole show really well. Just as the 4 Openings do. Every single one of them is weird in it's own way but still it fits the show so well that by now I really enjoy hearing them on their own. The voice acting is nothing that really stands out. While it definitely is not horrible, it is nothing I do love. 8/10

Enjoyment: I have no idea how to score this...honestly! This show is nothing you will enjoy! However it is something that makes you want to shut down your browser and never open it again. At parts I couldn't watch an episode in a single sitting, but had to constantly pause it to calm down a bit, since my nerves were blank, but this is what makes this show so good! 9/10

Aku no Hana is not a show everyone will enjoy, that is for sure. It is hard to watch and if you aren't into thrillers or that kind of stuff you really should stay away from this, but if you like them or if it even interests you a little, go watch this and make your own picture of it.

Overall: 8/10

It is a thought provoking series that leaves you shocked after every episode. Because of the unique artstyle and no usual anime cheesyness it feels almost like you're watching a live action show rather than an animated one, each character has a uniqueness to them which makes you get attached to them no matter how the characted behaves. The ending left me questioning what happened so I will deffinely have to watch the series again.

This show is a masterpiece. Intimate, thoughtful and thought-provoking. It expresses the struggles and reality of an entire generation in a series of achingly beautiful scenes.

It's the story of a teenage boy caught in a perverted situation (the kind of perversion that every teenager goes through as a course of growing up) by a classmate and then becomes beholden to her because of shame. Afraid she'll reveal what a pervert he is. More than that though it's a show designed to make the viewer question the nature of reality and their own psyche, by inevitably identifying with the lead character it raises questions about whether current notions of "perversion" or even relevant. I believe the conclusion is that our cultural view of morality, perversion and deviance is hopelessly out of touch with modern living and causing harm on a wide scale.

If I had to recommend any two shows of my generation it would be The Wire and Aku No Hana.

I am highly satisfied by this anime category.. wow man what an anime. It is masterpiece just go and have a watch.