There are times when the characters in this series don’t have faces. But holy crap: when they do, their facial expressions and nonverbal communication here is just stunning. If I had to pinpoint the thing I like the most about this series, then it would be that: the subtle cues that the characters give each other that say so much more than what mere dialogue could have done.
Nakamura in particular is just brilliant at this. I just love how her mood changed over the course of this episode, from excited, to disappointed, and then back to excited again. The way she just looked down upon Kasuga was really expressive. She, more than anyone else in this series, has presence.
As for Kasuga, it’s always difficult to write a very flawed character. You need to know the difference between being flawed, and just completely stupid for the sake of the plot. The key for that is balance, and believability. And Kasuga indeed is not normal. I suspect very much that he has some sort of autism, or at least I suspect so considering the way he so passionately talks about books, and how he is socially awkward. And for that I too have to congratulate the creators, because for me they managed to make him believable enough to completely draw me in here.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)
The show don’t tell thing along with the atmosphere being alot better/more effective than the manga helps and adds a realism feel yes.
However the use of not normal, the phrasing seems awkward, austism I hadn’t thought of that, thats a very interesting observation though. Being autistic myself I can see what you mean even though I don’t feel as if I’m on Kasuga’s level.
In the end card the author asks viewers if they remember their adolescence, and this show just captures the awkwardness of adolescence in a nutshell.
It’s almost painful to watch Kasuga and Saeki on their ‘date’ as they’re both quite clearly very uncomfortable about everything, and the bit in the bookshop when Kasuga is rambling on about surrealism you can just see how very very uninterested Saeki is by that. It’s the look on her face.
Certainly one thing I pick up from this show is body language.
I think Kasuga’s real problem is that he’s read too many dodgy old French poets and that’s given him this over-romanticised, idealised and unrealistic opinion of girls, and he’s too young to know any better.
I get the feeling that his reading habits are influenced by his father, but he hasn’t got the wisdom of age on his side.
It’s an uncomfortable show to watch in some ways, but I find it compelling, and I can rewatch each episode several times just to wallow in it.
You should try looking up existentialism, since it is pretty much the core of this show.
Kasuga does not have autism…
Just because he likes books doesn’t make him autistic, similarly to how you aren’t autistic just because you like anime.
It would be better to avoid the pop-psych in future reviews.
Couldn’t agree more.
Not sure about him having Autism. Asperger’s syndrome maybe, but even that is fairly hard to diagnose. I think Kasuga’s problem is just that he has a more realistic version of 8th grader’s syndrome where his superiority complex has completely overshadowed his view on life.
Also Nakamura just keeps getting better and better. I can’t help but think her behavior is cute in the sickest of ways. At the same time, she resembles the average bully that is seen in schools though manages to throw her own little twist in it.
I agree with Zoom, it’s not autism. It’s not Asperger either (actually, after checking it out I’ve learnt the later has been recently included within the autism spectrum). Anyway, the point is that Kasuga’s problem to socialize doesn’t seem to come from a lack of empathy, he seems perfectly capable of understanding social rules and how people works emotionally.
If anything, I’d say he has an avoidant personality disorder… although, probably he’s just a timid and inmature teenager that has taken refuge in books to feel he belongs somewhere…
Or even better… he’s just an excuse crafted by the creators to set Nakamura in motion,… after all, she’s the actual star of this show…
By the way, I’ve been lurking around for a while now, but that’s the first message I leave… so, hi everyone! ^^
Nakamura believes she is the only person in her society that is true to herself. She hates everyone around her for being repressed and fake, which is why she becomes so excited when she meets Kasuga, who is, to her belief, the closest to her herself in authenticity. The Flowers of Evil represents the repressed darkness of human nature that people choose to ignore for the sake of living lives rooted in blissful ignorance.
I love this show…
Yeah, I don`t think Kasuga is autist too. I think he is just a repressed guy that only can liberate his trueself through books and fiction. Aku no Hana is certainly about repression, how we fear to show our inner desires when we are adolescent, especially in Japan. So Kasuga desires Saeki, but he can’t deal with his feelings, because japanese society thinks that everything is peverted (gosh, a fucking uniform disappears and it`s a fucking fuss), therefore kasuga creates this holy image of Saeki – this platonic love – to hideaway his desires and not be rejected.
For me this show is the closest to how a japanese really acts. When we read manga and watch anime we usually get a wrong notion about japanese behavior.
Another thing. I have seen a lot of complaints abou the animation style, and the heads withou face. Well, I adore the heads without faces. It have everything to do with the story. Is like everyone is hidind there faces, hiding who they really are, so only when they are close to the camera we see their faces and personallity. A town surrounded by mountains, populated by people without faces. It’s a fantastic scenario and symbolism.
A interesting question to discuss about the show is: Why the purity and evil can`t coexist together? Why the first-in-the-class girl couldn`t love weird things in bed? I don`t see any problem in that.
I’m so sorry Psgels, this is a rare miss on your part. Ignoring the fact that the show is animated in a “lazyscoped” style it continues to reuse and re-reuse assets and backgrounds. Sometimes an a competent series an animator will draw a char without facial features to show that the char is emotionally distant. Here we have no facial features because of laziness or a low budget. The opening and ending theme suck too…
Next we have the issue of the main being a complete fool. Yeah, guys are awkward with women during puberty. We get it. Still, the level of incompetence here kills me. Burn the clothes, fight back against the redhead bully. It’s annoying to watch him struggle with easily fixable minor life problems. The low self esteem thing is just lame and overdone.
Even if this turns in to a horror series (as you mistakenly billed it as psgels) and redhead murders Ms. perfect, or ditz boy murders redhead, or redhead straight up rapes/literally tortures ditz boy I wouldn’t want to watch it happen because it will be animated like poop. I doubt a body count would save things here. This series is dropped, with prejudice.
PS: I’m calling that redhead has a tortured past, an abusive home life, or is/was molested. Cliche city bro.
Whatever floats your boat. To be fair this show isn’t for everyone, it wasn’t intended for a wide audience.