The Story of Aku no Hana
Aku no Hana centers on a boy named Kasuga Takao. He is in love with a near-perfect girl called Nanako Saeki. Unfortunately he gets caught up in a web of intrigue sown by Sawa Nakamura who is another girl in his class. Sawa blackmails Kasuga when she finds out he stole Nanako’s gym outfit. From there the three are caught in a crazy situation where they explore relationships, sexuality and grow up along the way.
Aku no Hana is a “Sleeper” Hit
That is because it puts me to sleep. I read the manga and was completely unimpressed despite some serious praise it has gotten. The anime plods along at a much slower pace than the manga. As such both I and Pink Prinny were bored to tears watching it.
Why Aku no Hana Does Not Deserve Praise
While it certainly has many connections to events while people up all the suspense comes from overdone blackmail. The situations the characters are placed in have been done better many times, in many other mediums. As such the base story itself is not so good. Aku no Hana will still be considered a sleeper hit by many.
But let us get serious here people. Sympathizing with a character is all well and good, but that is all Aku no Hana has going for it. It isn’t original and it isn’t thought provoking unless you sympathize so hard with the characters that you see yourselves as them. And that’s not good writing that is you creating your own story. You can do that without relying on an anime or manga.
The Depth of Aku no Hana
As far as the depth of symbolism? It centers around the growing darkness and confusion that people of that age face inside themselves. The story has been told hundreds of times in the modern era alone from books to movies. In my opinion while people still love that story and it speaks to the human condition Aku no Hana does barely anything to switch up the formula. Nor does it add any depth to it.
The Overrated Show of the Season Award First Winner
The only depth comes from people reading too much into the manga and anime. Some of them read so much into it that they see their own life in it. This combined with atrocious art makes it my pick for #1 overrated show of the season. I thought I was going to hand that to “Titan” but it has legitimately beautiful art. You may be asking if the manga was better and the answer is no. It follows the manga rather closes and the original Aku no Hana manga was not so good.
Status: Not Watching. The manga was overrated and the show is actually significantly worse. Comments are welcome as long as they are not comments of “too deep for you” as I will not respond here. I’d be more than happy to explain the myriad of ways in which this show is not too deep for anyone in a future piece.
The Aku no Hana Final Verdict: 2/5 Overly wrought introspection among the characters has led many to believe this series is “deep” and “amazing.” The suspense has also been done better in other shows. In truth it is a fairly typical slice of life with a heavy emphasis on relationships. Everything good this show does other shows like Kids on the Slope and D Gray Man do better.
