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[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flowers_of_evil_3862.jpg]]
->''Saeki-san, I'm sorry.''\\
''I'll spend the rest of my life atoning for this crime.''\\
''Even when I'm an old man, I'll still be making up for this.''\\
''But there's nowhere to escape. Not in this town.''\\
''Not for me. The town is surrounded by mountains.''\\
''There's nowhere for me to run.''
''Aku no Hana'' (''The Flowers of Evil'') is a dark tale about gym clothes, blackmail, teenage drama and the desire to do something different.
TheProtagonist of this tale is Takao Kasuga, a [[TheQuietOne keep-your-head-down]] middle schooler from the rural town of Gunma, Japan. [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy He has friends, gets less than average grades, and respects his parents]]. He also a passion for reading books, inherited from his father. Of his many-volumed collection, the crown jewel is the prized first edition of "[[TitleDrop Les Fleurs du Mal]]" by Charles Baudelaire.
On an average day much like any other, Kasuga returns to school after forgetting above mentioned book, when he stumbles across the gym clothes of his crush, Nanako Saeki. In an abnormal fit of lust, he [[PantyThief steals them and takes them home]]. The following day, the school lights up with GossipEvolution as to who the pervert is. Overwhelming shame forces Kasuga to further hide his crime. On his ride home, he is stopped by Sawa Nakamura, residential [[BewareTheQuietOnes evil quiet girl]] and his worst nightmare come true. [[OhCrap She knows about his crime]] and will expose him if he does not fulfill a contract. From there, [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil things get crazy]].
The manga, written by Shūzō Oshimi, ended on May 9, 2014 with 57 chapters.
An anime directed by [[Manga/{{Mushishi}} Hiroshi]] [[Manga/DetroitMetalCity Nagahama]] and produced by {{Creator/ZEXCS}} premiered on April 15, 2013. The manga was adapted into a film in 2019.
Now has a [[Characters/AkuNoHana character page]] under construction.
Not to be confused with [[Manhwa/FlowersOfEvil the Korean manhwa]]. See also ''Manga/InsideMari'', ''Manga/{{Happiness}}'', and ''Manga/BloodOnTheTracks'' for the author's other work.
----
!!This series contains examples of:
* AllMenArePerverts: Nakamura seems to think so. Kasuga's actions aren't exactly making this point seem frivolous.
** The only thing Kasuga's friends in both middle school and high school ever seem to talk about is sex, so the manga itself doesn't exactly put the kibosh on this notion. Of course...
* AllWomenAreLustful: The females aren't exactly squeaky clean either.
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: [[spoiler:Kasuga's reasoning of why he starts looking for "the other side" in town, to the point of going against his classmates, parents, and even the police, is because he wants to help make the lonely and isolated Nakamura happy. In the end, he fails and he makes no one happy. This contributes to his angst post-TimeSkip.]]
* {{Angst}}: Loads of it.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:Kasuga toward Tokiwa. In the middle of her workplace. While she's on her shift. In front of her boyfriend. God ''damn'', Kasuga. What makes it even more surprising is the fact that IT WORKS!]]
* AnimationBump: The rotoscoping used in the anime seems to improve as the series goes on, and the character's facial expressions are more detailed compared to when we first see them in episode 1, particularly with Nakamura.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: As mentioned in the synopsis.
* ArmorPiercingSlap: In Chapter 6, Nakamura delivers one to Kasuga, to the point where he couldn't even talk straight. ''Definitely'' not played for laughs.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: '''Plenty.'''
** One example is in episode 8, [[spoiler:when Saeki asks if Kasuga was the culprit in the the classroom. Although the vandalism covered up his name on the chalkboard, he drew a picture of the flower on his favorite book, which raised her suspicions.]]
* ArtEvolution: Initially the character art had problems with proportions, and everybody was slightly strange looking, until the 12th chapter where everything normalized. Like the characters, the art direction also becomes becomes darker and more mature.
** Compare [[http://www.mangareader.net/aku-no-hana/1/17 this]] to [[http://www.mangareader.net/aku-no-hana/26/21 this]] and [[http://www.mangareader.net/aku-no-hana/44/16 this]]. Spoilers.
* AuthorAppeal: Kasuga can be often seen reading books that are famous for being absolute [[MindScrew Mind Screws]].
* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:Maybe. Kasuga has a dream showing clips of himself and Tokiwa getting married and having a child. He also sees Saeki happily married with a kid. Whether it's prophetic or wishful thinking we'll never know.]]
* BatterUp: Nakamura uses one to [[spoiler: destroy the door on Kasuga's house and smash his father's kneecap]].
* BettyAndVeronica: Classic case. Kasuga must at one point decide between his sweet, wholesome crush Saeki (Betty) and his violent, depraved contract keeper Nakamura. [[spoiler: Though he later finds out the hard way that maybe they aren't so different after all...]]
* BigDamnKiss: [[spoiler: Kasuga and Tokiwa in Chapter 51, proving that she is indeed the one he loves.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Saeki, though it's played with since before Kasuga dumped her she was a genuinely nice girl. But being rejected for a girl like Nakamura pushes her over the edge, exposing a pathetic and needy side to her.]]
* BookDumb: Nakamura, who in her first appearance handed back a test with no answers, and gets called out by her teacher for it.
** Ironically, Kasuga later outright admits [[spoiler:even he doesn't understand ''Les Fleurs du Mal'', and just wanted to feel above his classmates.]]
* BookEnds: The first and final volumes of the manga are the same events told from different perspectives (Kasuga and Nakamura's views).
* BoredWithInsanity:
** [[spoiler: Kasuga]], in the time-skip.
** [[spoiler: When she reappears post time-skip, Nakamura has calmed down a lot as well.]]
* BornUnlucky: Kasuga, full-stop. He doesn't exactly make things better for himself, but that doesn't change the fact that practically every single one of his peers that he trusted [[spoiler:pre TimeSkip]] screwed him over in some way.
* BreakTheCutie: [[GenderFlip Gender-flipped]] with Kasuga. Saeki gets hit with it hard as well.
* BreakThemByTalking: Making Kasuga feel like a "fucking worm" is the only way Nakamura gets some form of pleasure. Though, talking isn't [[{{Sadist}} the only way she breaks him]]...
* BrokenBird:
** Nakamura is later revealed to be a rather dark version of this trope.
** [[spoiler:Kasuga becomes this post-TimeSkip.]]
* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler: Nakamura in Chapter 52.]]
* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler: Kasuga, once. And Nakamura, daily]].
* CannotSpitItOut: One of the main themes behind the manga. None of the characters are good at spitting out their feelings, either because of shyness or social pressure that comes from living in a small town, which leads them to performing depraved acts to express them instead. Kasuga liked Saeki but lacked the courage to approach her on his own, leading him to steal her gym clothes, kick-starting the whole plot. Later he was unable to confess that he has them, fearing the social isolation he would face. This leads to Nakamura blackmailing him into forming a pact with her, with it being implied later that [[spoiler: she also liked him but was unable to say it as well.]] [[spoiler:Post TimeSkip, when he finally does spit it out to Tokiwa (the ''third'' girl he's been interested) he does so while she's at work. In front of her boyfriend. The incredible thing? It ''works''. The act signals his growth as a character, finally able to be honest with his feelings.]]
* {{Catchphrase}}: Nakamura seems to like calling people 'shiteaters'. Or any various combinations of profanity.
* CharacterDevelopment: Kasuga starts out as a pathetic boy, at first afraid to admit his sins...then embracing them too much. He even becomes bold enough to talk back to the police, with [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption predictable results]]. [[spoiler:After the time skip, he continues on this path, even managing to confess his love to his new crush, Tokiwa, and becomes more empathetic to the people surrounding him.]]
** While at first Nakamura seems like evil incarnate, we learn that she feels just as trapped by the town as Kasuga, if not more so, and just wanted a friend who understood her. Later events cause her to realize the damage she's doing to her only friend. [[spoiler: It culminates in her shoving Kasuga off the stage when they're about to commit public suicide, wanting him to live and be normal.]]
** Saeki is drawn to Kasuga for his honesty and eventually [[spoiler: starts dating him]]. When she [[spoiler: finds out about his pact with Nakamura]], she get so [[{{Yandere}} desperate]] that she [[spoiler: rapes Kasuga in order to convince him of her love]].
* ClassicalAntiHero: Kasuga.
* ClusterFBomb: ''"Shit-eating worms!"''
** Nakamura can be rather foul-mouthed while wearing the same emotionless expression on her face.
* CovertPervert: Saeki tells Kasuga [[spoiler:that she actually liked that he wore her uniform, which to her meant he liked her. She was more upset that he didn't tell her.]] [[spoiler:Later on, when trying to win him back, she rapes him.]]
* CreepyChild: Nakamura's clearly got some screws loose...
* CruelMercy: Nakamura decides to ''congratulate'' Kasuga in asking out Saeki. Unfortunately for Kasuga, it's only because she uses the opportunity to [[spoiler: force him to go on the date while wearing Saeki's gym clothes under his clothes.]]
* DatePeepers: Nakamura does this to Kasuga and Saeki in episode 5.
* DestructiveRomance: Kasuga and Nakamura's relationship in a nutshell.
* DiggingHimselfDeeper: The Official Manga of The Trope. Kasuga manages to make things worse for himself [[spoiler:until the TimeSkip.]]
* DissonantSerenity: It is never a good thing when Nakamura smiles, and Kasuga knows it.
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Averted. [[spoiler: When Saeki rapes Kasuga, it's played very serious and disturbing, almost like... well, like a scene from a horror manga.]]
* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Kasuga, during his and Nakamura's search for the other side]]. Included within this example are several variations.
** DragonWithAnAgenda
** NobleTopEnforcer
** RuleOfTwo
** VillainousFriendship
* DroneOfDread: A lot of the music in the anime uses this. A low, toneless rumbling sound also shows up frequently to underscore tense moments.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Both Kasuga and Nakamura. Both are unsuccessful.]]
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide[=/=]EvilFeelsGood: Nakamura certainly fits the profile, but eventually [[spoiler: Kasuga enacts upon the teachings of Nakamura]].
* DysfunctionJunction: All the main characters seem to have serious psychological problems and are fairly broken inside. [[spoiler: Things start getting better at least for Kasuga and his family, after he starts dating Tokiwa.]]
* EvilRedHead:
** Guess who's the only character with red hair. [[spoiler:After the TimeSkip, Nakamura's hair is now black.]]
** {{Subverted}} with Tokiwa, the nicest girl in the series.
* FacelessEye: The Flower of Evil (see page image).
* FlashForward: The second half of episode 13 shows dialogue and scenes from later chapters in the manga and a possible SequelHook for a second season, such as a baseball bat being dragged along the ground, and a knife being pulled while at a festival, as well as a lighter.
* FlowerMotifs: The Flower of Evil reappears throughout the manga, sometimes in visual contrast to [[CherryBlossoms normal]], [[EyesDoNotBelongThere eyeless]] flowers and seems to represent the perniciousness of evil impulses, or temptation in general.
* ForTheEvulz: The stuff Nakamura forces Kasuga to do. [[spoiler:Or so it seems.]] Later, Kasuga [[spoiler: embarks on a campaign of misdeeds to become the "Ultimate Pervert" in order to entertain Nakamura.]]
* FourEyesZeroSoul: Nakamura in spades.
* {{Gonk}}: Kasuga's friends in middle school.
* HesBack: [[spoiler: A very poignant one in Chapter 46.]]
-->'''Kasuga''': [[spoiler: MOM! DAD!]]
-->'''Kasuga''': [[spoiler: ...I'm home.]]
%% Not sure this counts/ HesBack is about a hero returning to action after having a heroic BSOD. Here, he's returning emotionally to his family after realizing he's actually happy, possibly displaying newfound empathy/awareness of others' feelings. It kind of works, but...
* HeIsNotMyBoyfriend: Tokiwa says this a couple of times regarding [[spoiler:Kasuga.]]
* HeroicBSOD: Saeki suffers from one after overhearing Nakamura's WhamLine to Kasuga regarding herself in episode 6. She doesn't come to school the next day, and one of her friends mentions she was crying over the phone.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Kasuga, for obvious reasons.
* HumanityIsInsane[=/=]SexIsGood: Played with. Nakamura lives by the standard that all people are perverts. She believes that people should learn to just accept their animalistic tendencies, making the world a more interesting place. However, she doesn't outright condone insanity or sexual relations. More often, she wants the highs and emotions that come with these actions.
* {{Hypocrite}}: During her TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, Saeki calls out Kasuga for [[spoiler: apparently attempting to use Tokiwa as a ReplacementGoldfish for Nakamura...]] when it's heavily implied that she's done exactly the same thing with Koizumi [[spoiler: due to his resemblance to Kasuga]].
** YouAreWhatYouHate
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Kasuga views Saeki as this, and at first it seems she plays the trope straight. [[spoiler:Later on, this becomes Subverted. ]]
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: How the three main characters describe their actions.
* IJustWantToBeNormal/ IJustWantToBeSpecial: The main conflict in the story.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: [[spoiler: This is entirely the reason why Nakamura blackmailed Kasuga into their pact, feeling that they were kindred deviants.]]
* InLoveWithLove: Kinoshita accuses Saeki of this for why she cares so much for Kasuga.
* InterplayOfSexAndViolence: Nakamura switches wildly between manhandling/hitting Kasuga and sexually harassing him. [[spoiler: And turns out she likes him.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Nakamura seems to enjoy torturing and manipulating Kasuga for no other reason than the fact that it's so damn easy to do so. [[spoiler:And maybe possibly because she can't express her feelings in a healthy way.]]
** Kasuga's friends in middle school are basically just backstabbing assholes.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Kouji is kind of a brash dick who doesn't understand Tokiwa and attempts to embarrass [[spoiler:Kasuga]] in front of his and Tokiwa's friends, but it's shown repeatedly that he means well.
* TheJinx: Kasuga. He certainly is on the receiving end of some bad luck (see DiggingHimselfDeeper and NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished), but he also drags Saeki and maybe the whole town with him as he JumpsOffTheSlipperySlope. More directly, his family [[spoiler: blames him for his grandfather's death, seeing it as a result of his lack of atonement for his evil deeds.]]
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Episode 7, [[spoiler:when Kasuga destroys the classroom with Nakamura. Although he wrote his name on the chalkboard, its covered by paint, so no one aside from Saeki realizes that he was responsible for it, and she only knew because he drew that flower on the book he bought her.]]
* JustAKid: Kasuga's dad uses puberty as an explanation for his son's odd change in behavior.
* KubrickStare: Nakamura, in her first appearance.
* LackOfEmpathy: Nakamura. [[spoiler:Or maybe not completely...]]
* LastGirlWins: [[spoiler: Tokiwa and Kasuga end up dating, and, as shown later, get married.]]
* LeaveTheCameraRunning: Used frequently.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: The series is named after ''Les Fleurs du Mal'' by Charles Baudelaire.
* LoveEpiphany: Kasuga has one in episode 10 [[spoiler:towards Nakamura.]]
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: [[spoiler:Saeki, Saeki, Saeki...]]
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Tokiwa shows some shades of this.
** Nakamura is one played very darkly.
* ManipulativeBastard: Nakamura, who really enjoys psychologically torturing Kasuga.
* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Kasuga [[spoiler: after the TimeSkip]].
* MomentKiller: Nakamura does one to Kasuga and Saeki in episode 5 [[spoiler: by running behind him and dumping a bucket of water on his head after Saeki accepts a RelationshipUpgrade from him.]]
* NiceGirl: Saeki. Probably too nice for her own good. [[spoiler:At first.]]
** Tokiwa fits this, especially to [[spoiler:Kasuga]]. She mocks him playfully, but it's clear from the outset that she really likes and cares about him.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: When Nakamura's wrongfully blamed for stealing Mayu's lunch money, Kasuga sticks up for her. Unfortunately, this just makes Nakamura seem more suspicious, not to mention that he made it seem like he's interested in Nakamura. [[spoiler: It becomes subverted however, when Saeki personally thanks him for standing up for Nakamura, and begins to take an interest in him as a result.]]
* NotSoDifferent: Nakamura isn't the only one who finds the setting of this story uninteresting. Kasuga himself finds the town stifling to live in.
* NotSoStoic: Nakamura, as Kasuga finds out.
* OddCouple: Nakamura and Kasuga.
* OffModel: As a side effect of its rotoscoped nature, characters facial features tend to appear and disappear at random.
* OfficialCouple:
** [[spoiler:Kasuga and Saeki... for all of three or so chapters.]]
** [[spoiler:Kasuga and Nakamura become one, to everyone's chagrin.]]
** [[spoiler:As of his AnguishedDeclarationOfLove in chapter 45, Kasuga and Tokiwa are officially dating.]]
* OhCrap: Kasuga wears this expression so much that one must be afraid that his face might permanently be stuck that way soon.
* OnlySaneMan: Ai Kinoshita tries to be the voice of reason on behalf of Saeki against Kasuga and Nakamura, .
* OutDamnedSpot: Kasuga driven to near madness because of his misdeeds is a non murder-related example.
* PervertedSniffing: Kickstarts the plot. Nakamura catches Kasuga sniffing his crush Saeki's clothes, and proceeds to blackmail him.
* PoisonousFriend: Nakamura towards Kasuga. While they technically aren't friends, her influence on him gradually starts changing him for the worse.
** And yet compared to his other friends, she was his best choice.
* PsychoticLoveTriangle: Eventually gets to this point with Saeki and Nakamura being the [[spoiler: yanderes]].
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Nakamura after the TimeSkip.]]
* RelationshipUpgrade: [[spoiler: In episode 5, Kasuga asks Saeki to enter into a pure relationship with him. Much to his surprise, and probably Nakamura's as well, who's watching nearby, she accepts.]]
** [[spoiler:Interestingly enough, he tries to break it off with her at the end of episode 8/beginning of 9. However, she refuses to do so, and seems to care about him despite all the things that seem to be going on in his life.]]
** [[spoiler: After Kasuga's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove in Chapter 45 of the manga, Kasuga and Tokiwa are now officially dating.]]
* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:Saeki accuses Kasuga of using Tokiwa as a replacement for Nakamura during her TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. But after the events of Chapter 45, it's surprisingly leaning towards a "no".]]
** [[spoiler: It's implied that Saeki has done this with her boyfriend Koizumi, who looks and acts quite a bit like an older version of Kasuga's middle school self.]]
* {{Rotoscoping}}: The type of animation used for its anime adaptation.
* SanitySlippage: At the end of episode 7, [[spoiler: Kasuga seems to be slipping down the morality slope a bit, after he initially refuses to write that he's a pervert and thief on their classroom chalkboard. He then does it largely out of frustration, and seems to be enjoying destroying the classroom with her.]]
** Eventually, [[spoiler: Saeki follows him as well.]]
* SecretDiary: Kasuga finds Nakamura's in episode 13 in her room when he visits her house.
* SelfImmolation: [[spoiler:Kasuga and Nakamura decide to do this at the summer festival. After jumping on a float, they douse themselves with gasoline and grabs two lighters. At the last second, Nakamura pushes Kasuga off the float. Before she commits the deed, her father tackles her]].
* TheShadowKnows[=/=]TalkingToThemself: [[spoiler: Kasuga's epiphany into his dependence on others is personified by a giant shadow]].
* SexIsEvil: Played with, although it's more like Evil is Sex. Nakamura's idea of perversion has as much to do with her hostility and lack of empathy with everyone as with sex; she sees Kasuga's (sexual) interest in Saeki's gym clothes as evidence that he too is depraved like her. [[spoiler: Later, Kasuga and Nakamura embark on an [[SerialEscalation escalating]] campaign of anti-social acts in order to become the "ultimate perverts".]]
* SharedUniverse: With Oshimi's later work Manga/InsideMari.
* SlasherSmile: Nakamura's smile will keep you up at night.
* SlouchOfVillainy: Nakamura manages to pull this off with just a foldable chair, of all things.
* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil: [[spoiler:Starts to happen to Kasuga around episode 7, after he and Nakamura start trashing their classroom. Things aren't the same after that...]]
** [[spoiler:Saeki does this as well, after losing Kasuga to Nakamura. Disturbingly, it seems almost in attempt to appeal to him.]]
* SmallTownBoredom: One of the underlying problems the main characters face. Kasuga's monologues state how the isolated nature of the town disturbs him, the surrounding mountains making it hard to run away, the close-knit community making it hard to hide from people, and the old closed-up buildings making it look like a GhostTown. Nakamura herself is bored and frustrated with the town as well, with how she doesn't fit in due to her isolated nature. This leads to them seeking "the other side" as an escape from the monotony.
** [[spoiler: After leaving the town post time-skip, Kasuga starts recovering from his insanity. Saeki and even Nakamura also seem much more stable after they left.]]
* SnowballLie: Which occurred because Kasuga was unwilling to admit the truth to Saeki about stealing her gym clothes, and Nakamura uses it against him.
* StalkerWithACrush: While he doesn't stalk her, Kasuga's inner monologues of how Saeki is "his muse" and getting unnecessarily angry whenever his friends make harmless jokes about Saeki make him lean towards this trope. And then there's his actions of stealing her clothes...
* StatusQuoIsGod: A big theme of the story is about breaking away from this. Kasuga is caught between not wanting to break down the status quo, but at the same time thinks of himself as different from his peers. It eventually culminates into [[spoiler:his speech about being hollow and empty to Saeki and Nakamura, who represent following society's expectations and breaking away from them respectively.]]
* ThoseTwoGuys: Kasuga's friends, Yamada and a character yet to be named.
* ThreeAmigos: Saeki says to Kasuga that she wants to be this with [[spoiler: him and Nakamura]].
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler: Kasuga, right the fuck outta nowhere]].
* TraumaCongaLine: This '''entire series''' for Kasuga, and to an extent Nakamura and Saeki. Things only get better for them after the [[spoiler:TimeSkip.]]
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Well, no guesses to as who belongs here, but it's not just Nakamura. Kasuga does some really strange things out of his own free will.
** [[spoiler:Saeki rapes Kasuga. Both of them are in middle school. If you can think about that in-depth for more than a second without needing BrainBleach, you have some serious mental fortitude.]]
* VillainProtagonist: Kasuga slowly slips into VillainProtagonist under Nakamura's influence. [[spoiler:He gets better post TimeSkip.]]
%%** Nakamura.
* VitriolicBestBuds: PlayedWith. One can't really say that Nakamura and Kasuga are friends, though it's obvious they're close, and Nakamura spends a good deal of their time together sexually assaulting or violently attacking Kasuga.
* WhamEpisode:
** Episode 5, when Kasuga goes on a date with Saeki, [[spoiler:and asks her to be his girlfriend. She accepts.]]
** In episode 7, [[spoiler:Kasuga destroys the classroom with Nakamura, after initially refusing to.]]
** Episode 10, [[spoiler:when Kasuga essentially says he's just an empty shell, and causes a lot of strife between himself and both Saeki and Nakamura.]]
* WhamLine: Nakamura says this whopper in episode 6 to Kasuga regarding Saeki:
-->[[spoiler: '''Nakamura''': ''She said she wants to have sex with you!'']]
** Kasuga tries to deliver one in episode 8 to Saeki, [[spoiler:when he says they should break up, but he doesn't give her a reason. Instead he just attempts to walk off, but she forces him to stop to ask him an ArmorPiercingQuestion.]]
* WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: Kinoshita basically says this when she finds out that [[spoiler: Saeki is going out with Kasuga]].
-->''"What's so good about that hesitating introverted guy?!"''
** Later when [[spoiler:Kasuga fell in love with Nakamura.]]
* WhatTheHellHero: Kasuga receives this several times whenever his immoral actions are discovered.
* WhatWereYouThinking: Repeated verbatim by Kasuga's parents on several occasions.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: Sure, Kasuga is capable of feats of spinelessness that would make [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji Ikari]] shake his head, but pretty much everyone he's associated with [[spoiler: pre-TimeSkip]] is in no way more likable than him. In fact, all of them are... [[{{Jerkass}} basically even worse]].
** Nakamura goes without saying. She forced him into becoming friends with her, manipulated him, and eventually morphed him into a reflection of her. [[spoiler:Though she at least [[HeelRealization realizes this eventually]] and prevents him from performing double-suicide with her.]]
** His two friends in middle school... aren't much better. One of them is portrayed as a two-faced {{Jerkass}} who turns on him constantly. The other is portrayed as a creepy [[AllMenArePerverts pervert]] with no respect for women.
** Saeki appears to be the kindest, most upstanding person in Kasuga's life, even after [[spoiler: they break up. Then she rapes him.]]
* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler: Saeki]] becomes obsessed with keeping Kasuga to herself, even going so far as to [[spoiler: rape him]].
** Nakamura is also implied to be this to Kasuga. She forcibly strips him and forces him to strip himself repeatedly, gets some kind of sick pleasure out of [[spoiler:watching him wear Saeki's gym clothes while on a date with her]], seems to derive... [[{{Sadist}} enjoyment out of inflicting physical pain on him]], holds his hand [[spoiler:towards the end of their time together]], is said by Saeki to be shaking from shock after she learns from her that [[spoiler:she had sex with Kasuga]], and goes as far as [[spoiler:smashing his dad's kneecap with a metal baseball bat]] when she learns that he's keeping him from her. The [[spoiler:classroom vandalism scene]] also has some sexual overtones and symbolism.
* YankTheDogsChain: It's like everytime it seems like Kasuga's caught a break, Nakamura makes an extra special effort to ruin it.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: [[spoiler: Following Kasuga and Nakamura's public attempted suicide, Kasuga and his family move to another city, and Kasuga is hesitant to even mention his hometown by name.]] This becomes a plot point when [[spoiler: Kasuga's grandfather takes ill and he, in an effort to begin confronting his past, decides to return with his parents.]]
----
[[TheStinger ~Ha]][[AnimeThemeSong -na-ga-sa]][[FlowerMotifs -i]][[LiteraryAllusionTitle -ta]][[TrueArtIsAngsty -yo~]]
----
->''Saeki-san, I'm sorry.''\\
''I'll spend the rest of my life atoning for this crime.''\\
''Even when I'm an old man, I'll still be making up for this.''\\
''But there's nowhere to escape. Not in this town.''\\
''Not for me. The town is surrounded by mountains.''\\
''There's nowhere for me to run.''
''Aku no Hana'' (''The Flowers of Evil'') is a dark tale about gym clothes, blackmail, teenage drama and the desire to do something different.
TheProtagonist of this tale is Takao Kasuga, a [[TheQuietOne keep-your-head-down]] middle schooler from the rural town of Gunma, Japan. [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy He has friends, gets less than average grades, and respects his parents]]. He also a passion for reading books, inherited from his father. Of his many-volumed collection, the crown jewel is the prized first edition of "[[TitleDrop Les Fleurs du Mal]]" by Charles Baudelaire.
On an average day much like any other, Kasuga returns to school after forgetting above mentioned book, when he stumbles across the gym clothes of his crush, Nanako Saeki. In an abnormal fit of lust, he [[PantyThief steals them and takes them home]]. The following day, the school lights up with GossipEvolution as to who the pervert is. Overwhelming shame forces Kasuga to further hide his crime. On his ride home, he is stopped by Sawa Nakamura, residential [[BewareTheQuietOnes evil quiet girl]] and his worst nightmare come true. [[OhCrap She knows about his crime]] and will expose him if he does not fulfill a contract. From there, [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil things get crazy]].
The manga, written by Shūzō Oshimi, ended on May 9, 2014 with 57 chapters.
An anime directed by [[Manga/{{Mushishi}} Hiroshi]] [[Manga/DetroitMetalCity Nagahama]] and produced by {{Creator/ZEXCS}} premiered on April 15, 2013. The manga was adapted into a film in 2019.
Now has a [[Characters/AkuNoHana character page]] under construction.
Not to be confused with [[Manhwa/FlowersOfEvil the Korean manhwa]]. See also ''Manga/InsideMari'', ''Manga/{{Happiness}}'', and ''Manga/BloodOnTheTracks'' for the author's other work.
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!!This series contains examples of:
* AllMenArePerverts: Nakamura seems to think so. Kasuga's actions aren't exactly making this point seem frivolous.
** The only thing Kasuga's friends in both middle school and high school ever seem to talk about is sex, so the manga itself doesn't exactly put the kibosh on this notion. Of course...
* AllWomenAreLustful: The females aren't exactly squeaky clean either.
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: [[spoiler:Kasuga's reasoning of why he starts looking for "the other side" in town, to the point of going against his classmates, parents, and even the police, is because he wants to help make the lonely and isolated Nakamura happy. In the end, he fails and he makes no one happy. This contributes to his angst post-TimeSkip.]]
* {{Angst}}: Loads of it.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:Kasuga toward Tokiwa. In the middle of her workplace. While she's on her shift. In front of her boyfriend. God ''damn'', Kasuga. What makes it even more surprising is the fact that IT WORKS!]]
* AnimationBump: The rotoscoping used in the anime seems to improve as the series goes on, and the character's facial expressions are more detailed compared to when we first see them in episode 1, particularly with Nakamura.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: As mentioned in the synopsis.
* ArmorPiercingSlap: In Chapter 6, Nakamura delivers one to Kasuga, to the point where he couldn't even talk straight. ''Definitely'' not played for laughs.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: '''Plenty.'''
** One example is in episode 8, [[spoiler:when Saeki asks if Kasuga was the culprit in the the classroom. Although the vandalism covered up his name on the chalkboard, he drew a picture of the flower on his favorite book, which raised her suspicions.]]
* ArtEvolution: Initially the character art had problems with proportions, and everybody was slightly strange looking, until the 12th chapter where everything normalized. Like the characters, the art direction also becomes becomes darker and more mature.
** Compare [[http://www.mangareader.net/aku-no-hana/1/17 this]] to [[http://www.mangareader.net/aku-no-hana/26/21 this]] and [[http://www.mangareader.net/aku-no-hana/44/16 this]]. Spoilers.
* AuthorAppeal: Kasuga can be often seen reading books that are famous for being absolute [[MindScrew Mind Screws]].
* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:Maybe. Kasuga has a dream showing clips of himself and Tokiwa getting married and having a child. He also sees Saeki happily married with a kid. Whether it's prophetic or wishful thinking we'll never know.]]
* BatterUp: Nakamura uses one to [[spoiler: destroy the door on Kasuga's house and smash his father's kneecap]].
* BettyAndVeronica: Classic case. Kasuga must at one point decide between his sweet, wholesome crush Saeki (Betty) and his violent, depraved contract keeper Nakamura. [[spoiler: Though he later finds out the hard way that maybe they aren't so different after all...]]
* BigDamnKiss: [[spoiler: Kasuga and Tokiwa in Chapter 51, proving that she is indeed the one he loves.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Saeki, though it's played with since before Kasuga dumped her she was a genuinely nice girl. But being rejected for a girl like Nakamura pushes her over the edge, exposing a pathetic and needy side to her.]]
* BookDumb: Nakamura, who in her first appearance handed back a test with no answers, and gets called out by her teacher for it.
** Ironically, Kasuga later outright admits [[spoiler:even he doesn't understand ''Les Fleurs du Mal'', and just wanted to feel above his classmates.]]
* BookEnds: The first and final volumes of the manga are the same events told from different perspectives (Kasuga and Nakamura's views).
* BoredWithInsanity:
** [[spoiler: Kasuga]], in the time-skip.
** [[spoiler: When she reappears post time-skip, Nakamura has calmed down a lot as well.]]
* BornUnlucky: Kasuga, full-stop. He doesn't exactly make things better for himself, but that doesn't change the fact that practically every single one of his peers that he trusted [[spoiler:pre TimeSkip]] screwed him over in some way.
* BreakTheCutie: [[GenderFlip Gender-flipped]] with Kasuga. Saeki gets hit with it hard as well.
* BreakThemByTalking: Making Kasuga feel like a "fucking worm" is the only way Nakamura gets some form of pleasure. Though, talking isn't [[{{Sadist}} the only way she breaks him]]...
* BrokenBird:
** Nakamura is later revealed to be a rather dark version of this trope.
** [[spoiler:Kasuga becomes this post-TimeSkip.]]
* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler: Nakamura in Chapter 52.]]
* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler: Kasuga, once. And Nakamura, daily]].
* CannotSpitItOut: One of the main themes behind the manga. None of the characters are good at spitting out their feelings, either because of shyness or social pressure that comes from living in a small town, which leads them to performing depraved acts to express them instead. Kasuga liked Saeki but lacked the courage to approach her on his own, leading him to steal her gym clothes, kick-starting the whole plot. Later he was unable to confess that he has them, fearing the social isolation he would face. This leads to Nakamura blackmailing him into forming a pact with her, with it being implied later that [[spoiler: she also liked him but was unable to say it as well.]] [[spoiler:Post TimeSkip, when he finally does spit it out to Tokiwa (the ''third'' girl he's been interested) he does so while she's at work. In front of her boyfriend. The incredible thing? It ''works''. The act signals his growth as a character, finally able to be honest with his feelings.]]
* {{Catchphrase}}: Nakamura seems to like calling people 'shiteaters'. Or any various combinations of profanity.
* CharacterDevelopment: Kasuga starts out as a pathetic boy, at first afraid to admit his sins...then embracing them too much. He even becomes bold enough to talk back to the police, with [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption predictable results]]. [[spoiler:After the time skip, he continues on this path, even managing to confess his love to his new crush, Tokiwa, and becomes more empathetic to the people surrounding him.]]
** While at first Nakamura seems like evil incarnate, we learn that she feels just as trapped by the town as Kasuga, if not more so, and just wanted a friend who understood her. Later events cause her to realize the damage she's doing to her only friend. [[spoiler: It culminates in her shoving Kasuga off the stage when they're about to commit public suicide, wanting him to live and be normal.]]
** Saeki is drawn to Kasuga for his honesty and eventually [[spoiler: starts dating him]]. When she [[spoiler: finds out about his pact with Nakamura]], she get so [[{{Yandere}} desperate]] that she [[spoiler: rapes Kasuga in order to convince him of her love]].
* ClassicalAntiHero: Kasuga.
* ClusterFBomb: ''"Shit-eating worms!"''
** Nakamura can be rather foul-mouthed while wearing the same emotionless expression on her face.
* CovertPervert: Saeki tells Kasuga [[spoiler:that she actually liked that he wore her uniform, which to her meant he liked her. She was more upset that he didn't tell her.]] [[spoiler:Later on, when trying to win him back, she rapes him.]]
* CreepyChild: Nakamura's clearly got some screws loose...
* CruelMercy: Nakamura decides to ''congratulate'' Kasuga in asking out Saeki. Unfortunately for Kasuga, it's only because she uses the opportunity to [[spoiler: force him to go on the date while wearing Saeki's gym clothes under his clothes.]]
* DatePeepers: Nakamura does this to Kasuga and Saeki in episode 5.
* DestructiveRomance: Kasuga and Nakamura's relationship in a nutshell.
* DiggingHimselfDeeper: The Official Manga of The Trope. Kasuga manages to make things worse for himself [[spoiler:until the TimeSkip.]]
* DissonantSerenity: It is never a good thing when Nakamura smiles, and Kasuga knows it.
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Averted. [[spoiler: When Saeki rapes Kasuga, it's played very serious and disturbing, almost like... well, like a scene from a horror manga.]]
* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Kasuga, during his and Nakamura's search for the other side]]. Included within this example are several variations.
** DragonWithAnAgenda
** NobleTopEnforcer
** RuleOfTwo
** VillainousFriendship
* DroneOfDread: A lot of the music in the anime uses this. A low, toneless rumbling sound also shows up frequently to underscore tense moments.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Both Kasuga and Nakamura. Both are unsuccessful.]]
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide[=/=]EvilFeelsGood: Nakamura certainly fits the profile, but eventually [[spoiler: Kasuga enacts upon the teachings of Nakamura]].
* DysfunctionJunction: All the main characters seem to have serious psychological problems and are fairly broken inside. [[spoiler: Things start getting better at least for Kasuga and his family, after he starts dating Tokiwa.]]
* EvilRedHead:
** Guess who's the only character with red hair. [[spoiler:After the TimeSkip, Nakamura's hair is now black.]]
** {{Subverted}} with Tokiwa, the nicest girl in the series.
* FacelessEye: The Flower of Evil (see page image).
* FlashForward: The second half of episode 13 shows dialogue and scenes from later chapters in the manga and a possible SequelHook for a second season, such as a baseball bat being dragged along the ground, and a knife being pulled while at a festival, as well as a lighter.
* FlowerMotifs: The Flower of Evil reappears throughout the manga, sometimes in visual contrast to [[CherryBlossoms normal]], [[EyesDoNotBelongThere eyeless]] flowers and seems to represent the perniciousness of evil impulses, or temptation in general.
* ForTheEvulz: The stuff Nakamura forces Kasuga to do. [[spoiler:Or so it seems.]] Later, Kasuga [[spoiler: embarks on a campaign of misdeeds to become the "Ultimate Pervert" in order to entertain Nakamura.]]
* FourEyesZeroSoul: Nakamura in spades.
* {{Gonk}}: Kasuga's friends in middle school.
* HesBack: [[spoiler: A very poignant one in Chapter 46.]]
-->'''Kasuga''': [[spoiler: MOM! DAD!]]
-->'''Kasuga''': [[spoiler: ...I'm home.]]
%% Not sure this counts/ HesBack is about a hero returning to action after having a heroic BSOD. Here, he's returning emotionally to his family after realizing he's actually happy, possibly displaying newfound empathy/awareness of others' feelings. It kind of works, but...
* HeIsNotMyBoyfriend: Tokiwa says this a couple of times regarding [[spoiler:Kasuga.]]
* HeroicBSOD: Saeki suffers from one after overhearing Nakamura's WhamLine to Kasuga regarding herself in episode 6. She doesn't come to school the next day, and one of her friends mentions she was crying over the phone.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Kasuga, for obvious reasons.
* HumanityIsInsane[=/=]SexIsGood: Played with. Nakamura lives by the standard that all people are perverts. She believes that people should learn to just accept their animalistic tendencies, making the world a more interesting place. However, she doesn't outright condone insanity or sexual relations. More often, she wants the highs and emotions that come with these actions.
* {{Hypocrite}}: During her TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, Saeki calls out Kasuga for [[spoiler: apparently attempting to use Tokiwa as a ReplacementGoldfish for Nakamura...]] when it's heavily implied that she's done exactly the same thing with Koizumi [[spoiler: due to his resemblance to Kasuga]].
** YouAreWhatYouHate
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Kasuga views Saeki as this, and at first it seems she plays the trope straight. [[spoiler:Later on, this becomes Subverted. ]]
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: How the three main characters describe their actions.
* IJustWantToBeNormal/ IJustWantToBeSpecial: The main conflict in the story.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: [[spoiler: This is entirely the reason why Nakamura blackmailed Kasuga into their pact, feeling that they were kindred deviants.]]
* InLoveWithLove: Kinoshita accuses Saeki of this for why she cares so much for Kasuga.
* InterplayOfSexAndViolence: Nakamura switches wildly between manhandling/hitting Kasuga and sexually harassing him. [[spoiler: And turns out she likes him.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Nakamura seems to enjoy torturing and manipulating Kasuga for no other reason than the fact that it's so damn easy to do so. [[spoiler:And maybe possibly because she can't express her feelings in a healthy way.]]
** Kasuga's friends in middle school are basically just backstabbing assholes.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Kouji is kind of a brash dick who doesn't understand Tokiwa and attempts to embarrass [[spoiler:Kasuga]] in front of his and Tokiwa's friends, but it's shown repeatedly that he means well.
* TheJinx: Kasuga. He certainly is on the receiving end of some bad luck (see DiggingHimselfDeeper and NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished), but he also drags Saeki and maybe the whole town with him as he JumpsOffTheSlipperySlope. More directly, his family [[spoiler: blames him for his grandfather's death, seeing it as a result of his lack of atonement for his evil deeds.]]
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Episode 7, [[spoiler:when Kasuga destroys the classroom with Nakamura. Although he wrote his name on the chalkboard, its covered by paint, so no one aside from Saeki realizes that he was responsible for it, and she only knew because he drew that flower on the book he bought her.]]
* JustAKid: Kasuga's dad uses puberty as an explanation for his son's odd change in behavior.
* KubrickStare: Nakamura, in her first appearance.
* LackOfEmpathy: Nakamura. [[spoiler:Or maybe not completely...]]
* LastGirlWins: [[spoiler: Tokiwa and Kasuga end up dating, and, as shown later, get married.]]
* LeaveTheCameraRunning: Used frequently.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: The series is named after ''Les Fleurs du Mal'' by Charles Baudelaire.
* LoveEpiphany: Kasuga has one in episode 10 [[spoiler:towards Nakamura.]]
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: [[spoiler:Saeki, Saeki, Saeki...]]
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Tokiwa shows some shades of this.
** Nakamura is one played very darkly.
* ManipulativeBastard: Nakamura, who really enjoys psychologically torturing Kasuga.
* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Kasuga [[spoiler: after the TimeSkip]].
* MomentKiller: Nakamura does one to Kasuga and Saeki in episode 5 [[spoiler: by running behind him and dumping a bucket of water on his head after Saeki accepts a RelationshipUpgrade from him.]]
* NiceGirl: Saeki. Probably too nice for her own good. [[spoiler:At first.]]
** Tokiwa fits this, especially to [[spoiler:Kasuga]]. She mocks him playfully, but it's clear from the outset that she really likes and cares about him.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: When Nakamura's wrongfully blamed for stealing Mayu's lunch money, Kasuga sticks up for her. Unfortunately, this just makes Nakamura seem more suspicious, not to mention that he made it seem like he's interested in Nakamura. [[spoiler: It becomes subverted however, when Saeki personally thanks him for standing up for Nakamura, and begins to take an interest in him as a result.]]
* NotSoDifferent: Nakamura isn't the only one who finds the setting of this story uninteresting. Kasuga himself finds the town stifling to live in.
* NotSoStoic: Nakamura, as Kasuga finds out.
* OddCouple: Nakamura and Kasuga.
* OffModel: As a side effect of its rotoscoped nature, characters facial features tend to appear and disappear at random.
* OfficialCouple:
** [[spoiler:Kasuga and Saeki... for all of three or so chapters.]]
** [[spoiler:Kasuga and Nakamura become one, to everyone's chagrin.]]
** [[spoiler:As of his AnguishedDeclarationOfLove in chapter 45, Kasuga and Tokiwa are officially dating.]]
* OhCrap: Kasuga wears this expression so much that one must be afraid that his face might permanently be stuck that way soon.
* OnlySaneMan: Ai Kinoshita tries to be the voice of reason on behalf of Saeki against Kasuga and Nakamura, .
* OutDamnedSpot: Kasuga driven to near madness because of his misdeeds is a non murder-related example.
* PervertedSniffing: Kickstarts the plot. Nakamura catches Kasuga sniffing his crush Saeki's clothes, and proceeds to blackmail him.
* PoisonousFriend: Nakamura towards Kasuga. While they technically aren't friends, her influence on him gradually starts changing him for the worse.
** And yet compared to his other friends, she was his best choice.
* PsychoticLoveTriangle: Eventually gets to this point with Saeki and Nakamura being the [[spoiler: yanderes]].
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Nakamura after the TimeSkip.]]
* RelationshipUpgrade: [[spoiler: In episode 5, Kasuga asks Saeki to enter into a pure relationship with him. Much to his surprise, and probably Nakamura's as well, who's watching nearby, she accepts.]]
** [[spoiler:Interestingly enough, he tries to break it off with her at the end of episode 8/beginning of 9. However, she refuses to do so, and seems to care about him despite all the things that seem to be going on in his life.]]
** [[spoiler: After Kasuga's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove in Chapter 45 of the manga, Kasuga and Tokiwa are now officially dating.]]
* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:Saeki accuses Kasuga of using Tokiwa as a replacement for Nakamura during her TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. But after the events of Chapter 45, it's surprisingly leaning towards a "no".]]
** [[spoiler: It's implied that Saeki has done this with her boyfriend Koizumi, who looks and acts quite a bit like an older version of Kasuga's middle school self.]]
* {{Rotoscoping}}: The type of animation used for its anime adaptation.
* SanitySlippage: At the end of episode 7, [[spoiler: Kasuga seems to be slipping down the morality slope a bit, after he initially refuses to write that he's a pervert and thief on their classroom chalkboard. He then does it largely out of frustration, and seems to be enjoying destroying the classroom with her.]]
** Eventually, [[spoiler: Saeki follows him as well.]]
* SecretDiary: Kasuga finds Nakamura's in episode 13 in her room when he visits her house.
* SelfImmolation: [[spoiler:Kasuga and Nakamura decide to do this at the summer festival. After jumping on a float, they douse themselves with gasoline and grabs two lighters. At the last second, Nakamura pushes Kasuga off the float. Before she commits the deed, her father tackles her]].
* TheShadowKnows[=/=]TalkingToThemself: [[spoiler: Kasuga's epiphany into his dependence on others is personified by a giant shadow]].
* SexIsEvil: Played with, although it's more like Evil is Sex. Nakamura's idea of perversion has as much to do with her hostility and lack of empathy with everyone as with sex; she sees Kasuga's (sexual) interest in Saeki's gym clothes as evidence that he too is depraved like her. [[spoiler: Later, Kasuga and Nakamura embark on an [[SerialEscalation escalating]] campaign of anti-social acts in order to become the "ultimate perverts".]]
* SharedUniverse: With Oshimi's later work Manga/InsideMari.
* SlasherSmile: Nakamura's smile will keep you up at night.
* SlouchOfVillainy: Nakamura manages to pull this off with just a foldable chair, of all things.
* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil: [[spoiler:Starts to happen to Kasuga around episode 7, after he and Nakamura start trashing their classroom. Things aren't the same after that...]]
** [[spoiler:Saeki does this as well, after losing Kasuga to Nakamura. Disturbingly, it seems almost in attempt to appeal to him.]]
* SmallTownBoredom: One of the underlying problems the main characters face. Kasuga's monologues state how the isolated nature of the town disturbs him, the surrounding mountains making it hard to run away, the close-knit community making it hard to hide from people, and the old closed-up buildings making it look like a GhostTown. Nakamura herself is bored and frustrated with the town as well, with how she doesn't fit in due to her isolated nature. This leads to them seeking "the other side" as an escape from the monotony.
** [[spoiler: After leaving the town post time-skip, Kasuga starts recovering from his insanity. Saeki and even Nakamura also seem much more stable after they left.]]
* SnowballLie: Which occurred because Kasuga was unwilling to admit the truth to Saeki about stealing her gym clothes, and Nakamura uses it against him.
* StalkerWithACrush: While he doesn't stalk her, Kasuga's inner monologues of how Saeki is "his muse" and getting unnecessarily angry whenever his friends make harmless jokes about Saeki make him lean towards this trope. And then there's his actions of stealing her clothes...
* StatusQuoIsGod: A big theme of the story is about breaking away from this. Kasuga is caught between not wanting to break down the status quo, but at the same time thinks of himself as different from his peers. It eventually culminates into [[spoiler:his speech about being hollow and empty to Saeki and Nakamura, who represent following society's expectations and breaking away from them respectively.]]
* ThoseTwoGuys: Kasuga's friends, Yamada and a character yet to be named.
* ThreeAmigos: Saeki says to Kasuga that she wants to be this with [[spoiler: him and Nakamura]].
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler: Kasuga, right the fuck outta nowhere]].
* TraumaCongaLine: This '''entire series''' for Kasuga, and to an extent Nakamura and Saeki. Things only get better for them after the [[spoiler:TimeSkip.]]
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Well, no guesses to as who belongs here, but it's not just Nakamura. Kasuga does some really strange things out of his own free will.
** [[spoiler:Saeki rapes Kasuga. Both of them are in middle school. If you can think about that in-depth for more than a second without needing BrainBleach, you have some serious mental fortitude.]]
* VillainProtagonist: Kasuga slowly slips into VillainProtagonist under Nakamura's influence. [[spoiler:He gets better post TimeSkip.]]
%%** Nakamura.
* VitriolicBestBuds: PlayedWith. One can't really say that Nakamura and Kasuga are friends, though it's obvious they're close, and Nakamura spends a good deal of their time together sexually assaulting or violently attacking Kasuga.
* WhamEpisode:
** Episode 5, when Kasuga goes on a date with Saeki, [[spoiler:and asks her to be his girlfriend. She accepts.]]
** In episode 7, [[spoiler:Kasuga destroys the classroom with Nakamura, after initially refusing to.]]
** Episode 10, [[spoiler:when Kasuga essentially says he's just an empty shell, and causes a lot of strife between himself and both Saeki and Nakamura.]]
* WhamLine: Nakamura says this whopper in episode 6 to Kasuga regarding Saeki:
-->[[spoiler: '''Nakamura''': ''She said she wants to have sex with you!'']]
** Kasuga tries to deliver one in episode 8 to Saeki, [[spoiler:when he says they should break up, but he doesn't give her a reason. Instead he just attempts to walk off, but she forces him to stop to ask him an ArmorPiercingQuestion.]]
* WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: Kinoshita basically says this when she finds out that [[spoiler: Saeki is going out with Kasuga]].
-->''"What's so good about that hesitating introverted guy?!"''
** Later when [[spoiler:Kasuga fell in love with Nakamura.]]
* WhatTheHellHero: Kasuga receives this several times whenever his immoral actions are discovered.
* WhatWereYouThinking: Repeated verbatim by Kasuga's parents on several occasions.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: Sure, Kasuga is capable of feats of spinelessness that would make [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji Ikari]] shake his head, but pretty much everyone he's associated with [[spoiler: pre-TimeSkip]] is in no way more likable than him. In fact, all of them are... [[{{Jerkass}} basically even worse]].
** Nakamura goes without saying. She forced him into becoming friends with her, manipulated him, and eventually morphed him into a reflection of her. [[spoiler:Though she at least [[HeelRealization realizes this eventually]] and prevents him from performing double-suicide with her.]]
** His two friends in middle school... aren't much better. One of them is portrayed as a two-faced {{Jerkass}} who turns on him constantly. The other is portrayed as a creepy [[AllMenArePerverts pervert]] with no respect for women.
** Saeki appears to be the kindest, most upstanding person in Kasuga's life, even after [[spoiler: they break up. Then she rapes him.]]
* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler: Saeki]] becomes obsessed with keeping Kasuga to herself, even going so far as to [[spoiler: rape him]].
** Nakamura is also implied to be this to Kasuga. She forcibly strips him and forces him to strip himself repeatedly, gets some kind of sick pleasure out of [[spoiler:watching him wear Saeki's gym clothes while on a date with her]], seems to derive... [[{{Sadist}} enjoyment out of inflicting physical pain on him]], holds his hand [[spoiler:towards the end of their time together]], is said by Saeki to be shaking from shock after she learns from her that [[spoiler:she had sex with Kasuga]], and goes as far as [[spoiler:smashing his dad's kneecap with a metal baseball bat]] when she learns that he's keeping him from her. The [[spoiler:classroom vandalism scene]] also has some sexual overtones and symbolism.
* YankTheDogsChain: It's like everytime it seems like Kasuga's caught a break, Nakamura makes an extra special effort to ruin it.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: [[spoiler: Following Kasuga and Nakamura's public attempted suicide, Kasuga and his family move to another city, and Kasuga is hesitant to even mention his hometown by name.]] This becomes a plot point when [[spoiler: Kasuga's grandfather takes ill and he, in an effort to begin confronting his past, decides to return with his parents.]]
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[[TheStinger ~Ha]][[AnimeThemeSong -na-ga-sa]][[FlowerMotifs -i]][[LiteraryAllusionTitle -ta]][[TrueArtIsAngsty -yo~]]
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to:
->''Saeki-san, I'm sorry.''\\
''I'll spend the rest of my life atoning for this crime.''\\
''Even when I'm an old man, I'll still be making up for this.''\\
''But there's nowhere to escape. Not in this town.''\\
''Not for me. The town is surrounded by mountains.''\\
''There's nowhere for me to run.''
''Aku no Hana'' (''The Flowers of Evil'') is a dark tale about gym clothes, blackmail, teenage drama and the desire to do something different.
TheProtagonist of this tale is Takao Kasuga, a [[TheQuietOne keep-your-head-down]] middle schooler from the rural town of Gunma, Japan. [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy He has friends, gets less than average grades, and respects his parents]]. He also a passion for reading books, inherited from his father. Of his many-volumed collection, the crown jewel is the prized first edition of "[[TitleDrop Les Fleurs du Mal]]" by Charles Baudelaire.
On an average day much like any other, Kasuga returns to school after forgetting above mentioned book, when he stumbles across the gym clothes of his crush, Nanako Saeki. In an abnormal fit of lust, he [[PantyThief steals them and takes them home]]. The following day, the school lights up with GossipEvolution as to who the pervert is. Overwhelming shame forces Kasuga to further hide his crime. On his ride home, he is stopped by Sawa Nakamura, residential [[BewareTheQuietOnes evil quiet girl]] and his worst nightmare come true. [[OhCrap She knows about his crime]] and will expose him if he does not fulfill a contract. From there, [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil things get crazy]].
The manga, written by Shūzō Oshimi, ended on May 9, 2014 with 57 chapters.
An anime directed by [[Manga/{{Mushishi}} Hiroshi]] [[Manga/DetroitMetalCity Nagahama]] and produced by {{Creator/ZEXCS}} premiered on April 15, 2013. The manga was adapted into a film in 2019.
Now has a [[Characters/AkuNoHana character page]] under construction.
Not to be confused with [[Manhwa/FlowersOfEvil the Korean manhwa]]. See also ''Manga/InsideMari'', ''Manga/{{Happiness}}'', and ''Manga/BloodOnTheTracks'' for the author's other work.
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!!This series contains examples of:
* AllMenArePerverts: Nakamura seems to think so. Kasuga's actions aren't exactly making this point seem frivolous.
** The only thing Kasuga's friends in both middle school and high school ever seem to talk about is sex, so the manga itself doesn't exactly put the kibosh on this notion. Of course...
* AllWomenAreLustful: The females aren't exactly squeaky clean either.
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: [[spoiler:Kasuga's reasoning of why he starts looking for "the other side" in town, to the point of going against his classmates, parents, and even the police, is because he wants to help make the lonely and isolated Nakamura happy. In the end, he fails and he makes no one happy. This contributes to his angst post-TimeSkip.]]
* {{Angst}}: Loads of it.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:Kasuga toward Tokiwa. In the middle of her workplace. While she's on her shift. In front of her boyfriend. God ''damn'', Kasuga. What makes it even more surprising is the fact that IT WORKS!]]
* AnimationBump: The rotoscoping used in the anime seems to improve as the series goes on, and the character's facial expressions are more detailed compared to when we first see them in episode 1, particularly with Nakamura.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: As mentioned in the synopsis.
* ArmorPiercingSlap: In Chapter 6, Nakamura delivers one to Kasuga, to the point where he couldn't even talk straight. ''Definitely'' not played for laughs.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: '''Plenty.'''
** One example is in episode 8, [[spoiler:when Saeki asks if Kasuga was the culprit in the the classroom. Although the vandalism covered up his name on the chalkboard, he drew a picture of the flower on his favorite book, which raised her suspicions.]]
* ArtEvolution: Initially the character art had problems with proportions, and everybody was slightly strange looking, until the 12th chapter where everything normalized. Like the characters, the art direction also becomes becomes darker and more mature.
** Compare [[http://www.mangareader.net/aku-no-hana/1/17 this]] to [[http://www.mangareader.net/aku-no-hana/26/21 this]] and [[http://www.mangareader.net/aku-no-hana/44/16 this]]. Spoilers.
* AuthorAppeal: Kasuga can be often seen reading books that are famous for being absolute [[MindScrew Mind Screws]].
* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:Maybe. Kasuga has a dream showing clips of himself and Tokiwa getting married and having a child. He also sees Saeki happily married with a kid. Whether it's prophetic or wishful thinking we'll never know.]]
* BatterUp: Nakamura uses one to [[spoiler: destroy the door on Kasuga's house and smash his father's kneecap]].
* BettyAndVeronica: Classic case. Kasuga must at one point decide between his sweet, wholesome crush Saeki (Betty) and his violent, depraved contract keeper Nakamura. [[spoiler: Though he later finds out the hard way that maybe they aren't so different after all...]]
* BigDamnKiss: [[spoiler: Kasuga and Tokiwa in Chapter 51, proving that she is indeed the one he loves.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Saeki, though it's played with since before Kasuga dumped her she was a genuinely nice girl. But being rejected for a girl like Nakamura pushes her over the edge, exposing a pathetic and needy side to her.]]
* BookDumb: Nakamura, who in her first appearance handed back a test with no answers, and gets called out by her teacher for it.
** Ironically, Kasuga later outright admits [[spoiler:even he doesn't understand ''Les Fleurs du Mal'', and just wanted to feel above his classmates.]]
* BookEnds: The first and final volumes of the manga are the same events told from different perspectives (Kasuga and Nakamura's views).
* BoredWithInsanity:
** [[spoiler: Kasuga]], in the time-skip.
** [[spoiler: When she reappears post time-skip, Nakamura has calmed down a lot as well.]]
* BornUnlucky: Kasuga, full-stop. He doesn't exactly make things better for himself, but that doesn't change the fact that practically every single one of his peers that he trusted [[spoiler:pre TimeSkip]] screwed him over in some way.
* BreakTheCutie: [[GenderFlip Gender-flipped]] with Kasuga. Saeki gets hit with it hard as well.
* BreakThemByTalking: Making Kasuga feel like a "fucking worm" is the only way Nakamura gets some form of pleasure. Though, talking isn't [[{{Sadist}} the only way she breaks him]]...
* BrokenBird:
** Nakamura is later revealed to be a rather dark version of this trope.
** [[spoiler:Kasuga becomes this post-TimeSkip.]]
* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler: Nakamura in Chapter 52.]]
* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler: Kasuga, once. And Nakamura, daily]].
* CannotSpitItOut: One of the main themes behind the manga. None of the characters are good at spitting out their feelings, either because of shyness or social pressure that comes from living in a small town, which leads them to performing depraved acts to express them instead. Kasuga liked Saeki but lacked the courage to approach her on his own, leading him to steal her gym clothes, kick-starting the whole plot. Later he was unable to confess that he has them, fearing the social isolation he would face. This leads to Nakamura blackmailing him into forming a pact with her, with it being implied later that [[spoiler: she also liked him but was unable to say it as well.]] [[spoiler:Post TimeSkip, when he finally does spit it out to Tokiwa (the ''third'' girl he's been interested) he does so while she's at work. In front of her boyfriend. The incredible thing? It ''works''. The act signals his growth as a character, finally able to be honest with his feelings.]]
* {{Catchphrase}}: Nakamura seems to like calling people 'shiteaters'. Or any various combinations of profanity.
* CharacterDevelopment: Kasuga starts out as a pathetic boy, at first afraid to admit his sins...then embracing them too much. He even becomes bold enough to talk back to the police, with [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption predictable results]]. [[spoiler:After the time skip, he continues on this path, even managing to confess his love to his new crush, Tokiwa, and becomes more empathetic to the people surrounding him.]]
** While at first Nakamura seems like evil incarnate, we learn that she feels just as trapped by the town as Kasuga, if not more so, and just wanted a friend who understood her. Later events cause her to realize the damage she's doing to her only friend. [[spoiler: It culminates in her shoving Kasuga off the stage when they're about to commit public suicide, wanting him to live and be normal.]]
** Saeki is drawn to Kasuga for his honesty and eventually [[spoiler: starts dating him]]. When she [[spoiler: finds out about his pact with Nakamura]], she get so [[{{Yandere}} desperate]] that she [[spoiler: rapes Kasuga in order to convince him of her love]].
* ClassicalAntiHero: Kasuga.
* ClusterFBomb: ''"Shit-eating worms!"''
** Nakamura can be rather foul-mouthed while wearing the same emotionless expression on her face.
* CovertPervert: Saeki tells Kasuga [[spoiler:that she actually liked that he wore her uniform, which to her meant he liked her. She was more upset that he didn't tell her.]] [[spoiler:Later on, when trying to win him back, she rapes him.]]
* CreepyChild: Nakamura's clearly got some screws loose...
* CruelMercy: Nakamura decides to ''congratulate'' Kasuga in asking out Saeki. Unfortunately for Kasuga, it's only because she uses the opportunity to [[spoiler: force him to go on the date while wearing Saeki's gym clothes under his clothes.]]
* DatePeepers: Nakamura does this to Kasuga and Saeki in episode 5.
* DestructiveRomance: Kasuga and Nakamura's relationship in a nutshell.
* DiggingHimselfDeeper: The Official Manga of The Trope. Kasuga manages to make things worse for himself [[spoiler:until the TimeSkip.]]
* DissonantSerenity: It is never a good thing when Nakamura smiles, and Kasuga knows it.
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Averted. [[spoiler: When Saeki rapes Kasuga, it's played very serious and disturbing, almost like... well, like a scene from a horror manga.]]
* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Kasuga, during his and Nakamura's search for the other side]]. Included within this example are several variations.
** DragonWithAnAgenda
** NobleTopEnforcer
** RuleOfTwo
** VillainousFriendship
* DroneOfDread: A lot of the music in the anime uses this. A low, toneless rumbling sound also shows up frequently to underscore tense moments.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Both Kasuga and Nakamura. Both are unsuccessful.]]
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide[=/=]EvilFeelsGood: Nakamura certainly fits the profile, but eventually [[spoiler: Kasuga enacts upon the teachings of Nakamura]].
* DysfunctionJunction: All the main characters seem to have serious psychological problems and are fairly broken inside. [[spoiler: Things start getting better at least for Kasuga and his family, after he starts dating Tokiwa.]]
* EvilRedHead:
** Guess who's the only character with red hair. [[spoiler:After the TimeSkip, Nakamura's hair is now black.]]
** {{Subverted}} with Tokiwa, the nicest girl in the series.
* FacelessEye: The Flower of Evil (see page image).
* FlashForward: The second half of episode 13 shows dialogue and scenes from later chapters in the manga and a possible SequelHook for a second season, such as a baseball bat being dragged along the ground, and a knife being pulled while at a festival, as well as a lighter.
* FlowerMotifs: The Flower of Evil reappears throughout the manga, sometimes in visual contrast to [[CherryBlossoms normal]], [[EyesDoNotBelongThere eyeless]] flowers and seems to represent the perniciousness of evil impulses, or temptation in general.
* ForTheEvulz: The stuff Nakamura forces Kasuga to do. [[spoiler:Or so it seems.]] Later, Kasuga [[spoiler: embarks on a campaign of misdeeds to become the "Ultimate Pervert" in order to entertain Nakamura.]]
* FourEyesZeroSoul: Nakamura in spades.
* {{Gonk}}: Kasuga's friends in middle school.
* HesBack: [[spoiler: A very poignant one in Chapter 46.]]
-->'''Kasuga''': [[spoiler: MOM! DAD!]]
-->'''Kasuga''': [[spoiler: ...I'm home.]]
%% Not sure this counts/ HesBack is about a hero returning to action after having a heroic BSOD. Here, he's returning emotionally to his family after realizing he's actually happy, possibly displaying newfound empathy/awareness of others' feelings. It kind of works, but...
* HeIsNotMyBoyfriend: Tokiwa says this a couple of times regarding [[spoiler:Kasuga.]]
* HeroicBSOD: Saeki suffers from one after overhearing Nakamura's WhamLine to Kasuga regarding herself in episode 6. She doesn't come to school the next day, and one of her friends mentions she was crying over the phone.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Kasuga, for obvious reasons.
* HumanityIsInsane[=/=]SexIsGood: Played with. Nakamura lives by the standard that all people are perverts. She believes that people should learn to just accept their animalistic tendencies, making the world a more interesting place. However, she doesn't outright condone insanity or sexual relations. More often, she wants the highs and emotions that come with these actions.
* {{Hypocrite}}: During her TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, Saeki calls out Kasuga for [[spoiler: apparently attempting to use Tokiwa as a ReplacementGoldfish for Nakamura...]] when it's heavily implied that she's done exactly the same thing with Koizumi [[spoiler: due to his resemblance to Kasuga]].
** YouAreWhatYouHate
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Kasuga views Saeki as this, and at first it seems she plays the trope straight. [[spoiler:Later on, this becomes Subverted. ]]
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: How the three main characters describe their actions.
* IJustWantToBeNormal/ IJustWantToBeSpecial: The main conflict in the story.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: [[spoiler: This is entirely the reason why Nakamura blackmailed Kasuga into their pact, feeling that they were kindred deviants.]]
* InLoveWithLove: Kinoshita accuses Saeki of this for why she cares so much for Kasuga.
* InterplayOfSexAndViolence: Nakamura switches wildly between manhandling/hitting Kasuga and sexually harassing him. [[spoiler: And turns out she likes him.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Nakamura seems to enjoy torturing and manipulating Kasuga for no other reason than the fact that it's so damn easy to do so. [[spoiler:And maybe possibly because she can't express her feelings in a healthy way.]]
** Kasuga's friends in middle school are basically just backstabbing assholes.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Kouji is kind of a brash dick who doesn't understand Tokiwa and attempts to embarrass [[spoiler:Kasuga]] in front of his and Tokiwa's friends, but it's shown repeatedly that he means well.
* TheJinx: Kasuga. He certainly is on the receiving end of some bad luck (see DiggingHimselfDeeper and NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished), but he also drags Saeki and maybe the whole town with him as he JumpsOffTheSlipperySlope. More directly, his family [[spoiler: blames him for his grandfather's death, seeing it as a result of his lack of atonement for his evil deeds.]]
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Episode 7, [[spoiler:when Kasuga destroys the classroom with Nakamura. Although he wrote his name on the chalkboard, its covered by paint, so no one aside from Saeki realizes that he was responsible for it, and she only knew because he drew that flower on the book he bought her.]]
* JustAKid: Kasuga's dad uses puberty as an explanation for his son's odd change in behavior.
* KubrickStare: Nakamura, in her first appearance.
* LackOfEmpathy: Nakamura. [[spoiler:Or maybe not completely...]]
* LastGirlWins: [[spoiler: Tokiwa and Kasuga end up dating, and, as shown later, get married.]]
* LeaveTheCameraRunning: Used frequently.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: The series is named after ''Les Fleurs du Mal'' by Charles Baudelaire.
* LoveEpiphany: Kasuga has one in episode 10 [[spoiler:towards Nakamura.]]
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: [[spoiler:Saeki, Saeki, Saeki...]]
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Tokiwa shows some shades of this.
** Nakamura is one played very darkly.
* ManipulativeBastard: Nakamura, who really enjoys psychologically torturing Kasuga.
* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Kasuga [[spoiler: after the TimeSkip]].
* MomentKiller: Nakamura does one to Kasuga and Saeki in episode 5 [[spoiler: by running behind him and dumping a bucket of water on his head after Saeki accepts a RelationshipUpgrade from him.]]
* NiceGirl: Saeki. Probably too nice for her own good. [[spoiler:At first.]]
** Tokiwa fits this, especially to [[spoiler:Kasuga]]. She mocks him playfully, but it's clear from the outset that she really likes and cares about him.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: When Nakamura's wrongfully blamed for stealing Mayu's lunch money, Kasuga sticks up for her. Unfortunately, this just makes Nakamura seem more suspicious, not to mention that he made it seem like he's interested in Nakamura. [[spoiler: It becomes subverted however, when Saeki personally thanks him for standing up for Nakamura, and begins to take an interest in him as a result.]]
* NotSoDifferent: Nakamura isn't the only one who finds the setting of this story uninteresting. Kasuga himself finds the town stifling to live in.
* NotSoStoic: Nakamura, as Kasuga finds out.
* OddCouple: Nakamura and Kasuga.
* OffModel: As a side effect of its rotoscoped nature, characters facial features tend to appear and disappear at random.
* OfficialCouple:
** [[spoiler:Kasuga and Saeki... for all of three or so chapters.]]
** [[spoiler:Kasuga and Nakamura become one, to everyone's chagrin.]]
** [[spoiler:As of his AnguishedDeclarationOfLove in chapter 45, Kasuga and Tokiwa are officially dating.]]
* OhCrap: Kasuga wears this expression so much that one must be afraid that his face might permanently be stuck that way soon.
* OnlySaneMan: Ai Kinoshita tries to be the voice of reason on behalf of Saeki against Kasuga and Nakamura, .
* OutDamnedSpot: Kasuga driven to near madness because of his misdeeds is a non murder-related example.
* PervertedSniffing: Kickstarts the plot. Nakamura catches Kasuga sniffing his crush Saeki's clothes, and proceeds to blackmail him.
* PoisonousFriend: Nakamura towards Kasuga. While they technically aren't friends, her influence on him gradually starts changing him for the worse.
** And yet compared to his other friends, she was his best choice.
* PsychoticLoveTriangle: Eventually gets to this point with Saeki and Nakamura being the [[spoiler: yanderes]].
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Nakamura after the TimeSkip.]]
* RelationshipUpgrade: [[spoiler: In episode 5, Kasuga asks Saeki to enter into a pure relationship with him. Much to his surprise, and probably Nakamura's as well, who's watching nearby, she accepts.]]
** [[spoiler:Interestingly enough, he tries to break it off with her at the end of episode 8/beginning of 9. However, she refuses to do so, and seems to care about him despite all the things that seem to be going on in his life.]]
** [[spoiler: After Kasuga's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove in Chapter 45 of the manga, Kasuga and Tokiwa are now officially dating.]]
* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:Saeki accuses Kasuga of using Tokiwa as a replacement for Nakamura during her TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. But after the events of Chapter 45, it's surprisingly leaning towards a "no".]]
** [[spoiler: It's implied that Saeki has done this with her boyfriend Koizumi, who looks and acts quite a bit like an older version of Kasuga's middle school self.]]
* {{Rotoscoping}}: The type of animation used for its anime adaptation.
* SanitySlippage: At the end of episode 7, [[spoiler: Kasuga seems to be slipping down the morality slope a bit, after he initially refuses to write that he's a pervert and thief on their classroom chalkboard. He then does it largely out of frustration, and seems to be enjoying destroying the classroom with her.]]
** Eventually, [[spoiler: Saeki follows him as well.]]
* SecretDiary: Kasuga finds Nakamura's in episode 13 in her room when he visits her house.
* SelfImmolation: [[spoiler:Kasuga and Nakamura decide to do this at the summer festival. After jumping on a float, they douse themselves with gasoline and grabs two lighters. At the last second, Nakamura pushes Kasuga off the float. Before she commits the deed, her father tackles her]].
* TheShadowKnows[=/=]TalkingToThemself: [[spoiler: Kasuga's epiphany into his dependence on others is personified by a giant shadow]].
* SexIsEvil: Played with, although it's more like Evil is Sex. Nakamura's idea of perversion has as much to do with her hostility and lack of empathy with everyone as with sex; she sees Kasuga's (sexual) interest in Saeki's gym clothes as evidence that he too is depraved like her. [[spoiler: Later, Kasuga and Nakamura embark on an [[SerialEscalation escalating]] campaign of anti-social acts in order to become the "ultimate perverts".]]
* SharedUniverse: With Oshimi's later work Manga/InsideMari.
* SlasherSmile: Nakamura's smile will keep you up at night.
* SlouchOfVillainy: Nakamura manages to pull this off with just a foldable chair, of all things.
* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil: [[spoiler:Starts to happen to Kasuga around episode 7, after he and Nakamura start trashing their classroom. Things aren't the same after that...]]
** [[spoiler:Saeki does this as well, after losing Kasuga to Nakamura. Disturbingly, it seems almost in attempt to appeal to him.]]
* SmallTownBoredom: One of the underlying problems the main characters face. Kasuga's monologues state how the isolated nature of the town disturbs him, the surrounding mountains making it hard to run away, the close-knit community making it hard to hide from people, and the old closed-up buildings making it look like a GhostTown. Nakamura herself is bored and frustrated with the town as well, with how she doesn't fit in due to her isolated nature. This leads to them seeking "the other side" as an escape from the monotony.
** [[spoiler: After leaving the town post time-skip, Kasuga starts recovering from his insanity. Saeki and even Nakamura also seem much more stable after they left.]]
* SnowballLie: Which occurred because Kasuga was unwilling to admit the truth to Saeki about stealing her gym clothes, and Nakamura uses it against him.
* StalkerWithACrush: While he doesn't stalk her, Kasuga's inner monologues of how Saeki is "his muse" and getting unnecessarily angry whenever his friends make harmless jokes about Saeki make him lean towards this trope. And then there's his actions of stealing her clothes...
* StatusQuoIsGod: A big theme of the story is about breaking away from this. Kasuga is caught between not wanting to break down the status quo, but at the same time thinks of himself as different from his peers. It eventually culminates into [[spoiler:his speech about being hollow and empty to Saeki and Nakamura, who represent following society's expectations and breaking away from them respectively.]]
* ThoseTwoGuys: Kasuga's friends, Yamada and a character yet to be named.
* ThreeAmigos: Saeki says to Kasuga that she wants to be this with [[spoiler: him and Nakamura]].
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler: Kasuga, right the fuck outta nowhere]].
* TraumaCongaLine: This '''entire series''' for Kasuga, and to an extent Nakamura and Saeki. Things only get better for them after the [[spoiler:TimeSkip.]]
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Well, no guesses to as who belongs here, but it's not just Nakamura. Kasuga does some really strange things out of his own free will.
** [[spoiler:Saeki rapes Kasuga. Both of them are in middle school. If you can think about that in-depth for more than a second without needing BrainBleach, you have some serious mental fortitude.]]
* VillainProtagonist: Kasuga slowly slips into VillainProtagonist under Nakamura's influence. [[spoiler:He gets better post TimeSkip.]]
%%** Nakamura.
* VitriolicBestBuds: PlayedWith. One can't really say that Nakamura and Kasuga are friends, though it's obvious they're close, and Nakamura spends a good deal of their time together sexually assaulting or violently attacking Kasuga.
* WhamEpisode:
** Episode 5, when Kasuga goes on a date with Saeki, [[spoiler:and asks her to be his girlfriend. She accepts.]]
** In episode 7, [[spoiler:Kasuga destroys the classroom with Nakamura, after initially refusing to.]]
** Episode 10, [[spoiler:when Kasuga essentially says he's just an empty shell, and causes a lot of strife between himself and both Saeki and Nakamura.]]
* WhamLine: Nakamura says this whopper in episode 6 to Kasuga regarding Saeki:
-->[[spoiler: '''Nakamura''': ''She said she wants to have sex with you!'']]
** Kasuga tries to deliver one in episode 8 to Saeki, [[spoiler:when he says they should break up, but he doesn't give her a reason. Instead he just attempts to walk off, but she forces him to stop to ask him an ArmorPiercingQuestion.]]
* WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: Kinoshita basically says this when she finds out that [[spoiler: Saeki is going out with Kasuga]].
-->''"What's so good about that hesitating introverted guy?!"''
** Later when [[spoiler:Kasuga fell in love with Nakamura.]]
* WhatTheHellHero: Kasuga receives this several times whenever his immoral actions are discovered.
* WhatWereYouThinking: Repeated verbatim by Kasuga's parents on several occasions.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: Sure, Kasuga is capable of feats of spinelessness that would make [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji Ikari]] shake his head, but pretty much everyone he's associated with [[spoiler: pre-TimeSkip]] is in no way more likable than him. In fact, all of them are... [[{{Jerkass}} basically even worse]].
** Nakamura goes without saying. She forced him into becoming friends with her, manipulated him, and eventually morphed him into a reflection of her. [[spoiler:Though she at least [[HeelRealization realizes this eventually]] and prevents him from performing double-suicide with her.]]
** His two friends in middle school... aren't much better. One of them is portrayed as a two-faced {{Jerkass}} who turns on him constantly. The other is portrayed as a creepy [[AllMenArePerverts pervert]] with no respect for women.
** Saeki appears to be the kindest, most upstanding person in Kasuga's life, even after [[spoiler: they break up. Then she rapes him.]]
* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler: Saeki]] becomes obsessed with keeping Kasuga to herself, even going so far as to [[spoiler: rape him]].
** Nakamura is also implied to be this to Kasuga. She forcibly strips him and forces him to strip himself repeatedly, gets some kind of sick pleasure out of [[spoiler:watching him wear Saeki's gym clothes while on a date with her]], seems to derive... [[{{Sadist}} enjoyment out of inflicting physical pain on him]], holds his hand [[spoiler:towards the end of their time together]], is said by Saeki to be shaking from shock after she learns from her that [[spoiler:she had sex with Kasuga]], and goes as far as [[spoiler:smashing his dad's kneecap with a metal baseball bat]] when she learns that he's keeping him from her. The [[spoiler:classroom vandalism scene]] also has some sexual overtones and symbolism.
* YankTheDogsChain: It's like everytime it seems like Kasuga's caught a break, Nakamura makes an extra special effort to ruin it.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: [[spoiler: Following Kasuga and Nakamura's public attempted suicide, Kasuga and his family move to another city, and Kasuga is hesitant to even mention his hometown by name.]] This becomes a plot point when [[spoiler: Kasuga's grandfather takes ill and he, in an effort to begin confronting his past, decides to return with his parents.]]
----
[[TheStinger ~Ha]][[AnimeThemeSong -na-ga-sa]][[FlowerMotifs -i]][[LiteraryAllusionTitle -ta]][[TrueArtIsAngsty -yo~]]
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Not to be confused with [[Manhwa/FlowersOfEvil the Korean manhwa]]. See also ''Manga/InsideMari'', ''Manga/{{Happiness}}'', and ''Manga/ATrailOfBlood'' for the author's other work.
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Not to be confused with [[Manhwa/FlowersOfEvil the Korean manhwa]]. See also ''Manga/InsideMari'', ''Manga/{{Happiness}}'', and ''Manga/ATrailOfBlood'' ''Manga/BloodOnTheTracks'' for the author's other work.
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** [[spoiler:Saeki rapes Kasuga. Both of them are in middle school. If you can think about that in-depth for more than a second without needing BrainBleach, you have some serious mental fortitude. Or you're just sick.]]
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** [[spoiler:Saeki rapes Kasuga. Both of them are in middle school. If you can think about that in-depth for more than a second without needing BrainBleach, you have some serious mental fortitude. Or you're just sick.]]
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* IJustWantToBeNormal/IJustWantToBeSpecial: The main conflict in the story.
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* IJustWantToBeNormal/IJustWantToBeSpecial: IJustWantToBeNormal/ IJustWantToBeSpecial: The main conflict in the story.
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* [[spoiler: AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Kasuga toward Tokiwa. In the middle of her workplace. While she's on her shift. In front of her boyfriend. God ''damn'', Kasuga.]]
** [[spoiler: What makes it even more surprising is the fact that IT WORKS!]]
** [[spoiler: What makes it even more surprising is the fact that IT WORKS!]]
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** [[spoiler:
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* BoredWithInsanity: [[spoiler: Kasuga]], in the time-skip.
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* BoredWithInsanity: BoredWithInsanity:
** [[spoiler: Kasuga]], in the time-skip.
** [[spoiler: Kasuga]], in the time-skip.
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* BrokenBird: Nakamura is later revealed to be a rather dark version of this trope.
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* BrokenBird: BrokenBird:
** Nakamura is later revealed to be a rather dark version of this trope.
** Nakamura is later revealed to be a rather dark version of this trope.
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* CannotSpitItOut: One of the main themes behind the manga. None of the characters are good at spitting out their feelings, either because of shyness or social pressure that comes from living in a small town, which leads them to performing depraved acts to express them instead. Kasuga, for example, liked Saeki but lacked the courage to approach her on his own, leading him to steal her gym clothes, kick-starting the whole plot.
** Later he was unable to confess that he has them, fearing the social isolation he would face. This leads to Nakamura blackmailing him into forming a pact with her, with it being implied later that [[spoiler: she also liked him but was unable to say it as well.]]
** [[spoiler:Post TimeSkip, when he finally does spit it out to Tokiwa (the ''third'' girl he's been interested) he does so while she's at work. In front of her boyfriend. The incredible thing? It ''works''. The act signals his growth as a character, finally able to be honest with his feelings.]]
** Later he was unable to confess that he has them, fearing the social isolation he would face. This leads to Nakamura blackmailing him into forming a pact with her, with it being implied later that [[spoiler: she also liked him but was unable to say it as well.]]
** [[spoiler:Post TimeSkip, when he finally does spit it out to Tokiwa (the ''third'' girl he's been interested) he does so while she's at work. In front of her boyfriend. The incredible thing? It ''works''. The act signals his growth as a character, finally able to be honest with his feelings.]]
to:
* CannotSpitItOut: One of the main themes behind the manga. None of the characters are good at spitting out their feelings, either because of shyness or social pressure that comes from living in a small town, which leads them to performing depraved acts to express them instead. Kasuga, for example, Kasuga liked Saeki but lacked the courage to approach her on his own, leading him to steal her gym clothes, kick-starting the whole plot.
**plot. Later he was unable to confess that he has them, fearing the social isolation he would face. This leads to Nakamura blackmailing him into forming a pact with her, with it being implied later that [[spoiler: she also liked him but was unable to say it as well.]]
**]] [[spoiler:Post TimeSkip, when he finally does spit it out to Tokiwa (the ''third'' girl he's been interested) he does so while she's at work. In front of her boyfriend. The incredible thing? It ''works''. The act signals his growth as a character, finally able to be honest with his feelings.]]
**
**
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* CovertPervert: Saeki tells Kasuga [[spoiler:that she actually liked that he wore her uniform, which to her meant he liked her. She was more upset that he didn't tell her.]]
** [[spoiler:Later on, when trying to win him back, she rapes him.]]
** [[spoiler:Later on, when trying to win him back, she rapes him.]]
to:
* CovertPervert: Saeki tells Kasuga [[spoiler:that she actually liked that he wore her uniform, which to her meant he liked her. She was more upset that he didn't tell her.]]
**]] [[spoiler:Later on, when trying to win him back, she rapes him.]]
**
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* EvilRedHead: Guess who's the only character with red hair.
** [[spoiler:After the TimeSkip, Nakamura's hair is now black.]]
** [[spoiler:After the TimeSkip, Nakamura's hair is now black.]]
to:
* EvilRedHead: EvilRedHead:
** Guess who's the only character with redhair.
**hair. [[spoiler:After the TimeSkip, Nakamura's hair is now black.]]
** Guess who's the only character with red
**
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* [[JustAKid Just Puberty]]: Kasuga's dad uses this as an explanation for his son's odd change in behavior.
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* [[JustAKid Just Puberty]]: JustAKid: Kasuga's dad uses this puberty as an explanation for his son's odd change in behavior.
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* OfficialCouple: [[spoiler:Kasuga and Saeki... for all of three or so chapters.]]
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* OfficialCouple: OfficialCouple:
** [[spoiler:Kasuga and Saeki... for all of three or so chapters.]]
** [[spoiler:Kasuga and Saeki... for all of three or so chapters.]]
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* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]]: Ai Kinoshita tries to be the voice of reason on behalf of Saeki against Kasuga and Nakamura, .
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* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]]: OnlySaneMan: Ai Kinoshita tries to be the voice of reason on behalf of Saeki against Kasuga and Nakamura, .
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* [[spoiler: PsychoticLoveTriangle]]: Eventually gets to this point with Saeki and Nakamura being the [[spoiler: yanderes]].
* [[spoiler: PutOnABus: Nakamura after the TimeSkip.]]
** [[spoiler: TheBusCameBack: She appears again in chapter 52.]]
* [[spoiler: PutOnABus: Nakamura after the TimeSkip.]]
** [[spoiler: TheBusCameBack: She appears again in chapter 52.]]
to:
* [[spoiler: PsychoticLoveTriangle]]: PsychoticLoveTriangle: Eventually gets to this point with Saeki and Nakamura being the [[spoiler: yanderes]].
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:PutOnABus: Nakamura after the TimeSkip.]]
** [[spoiler: TheBusCameBack: She appears again in chapter 52.]]
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:
** [[spoiler: TheBusCameBack: She appears again in chapter 52.
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* [[VillainProtagonist Villain Deuteragonist]]: Nakamura.
** Kasuga slowly slips into VillainProtagonist under Nakamura's influence. [[spoiler:He gets better post TimeSkip.]]
** Kasuga slowly slips into VillainProtagonist under Nakamura's influence. [[spoiler:He gets better post TimeSkip.]]
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* [[VillainProtagonist Villain Deuteragonist]]: Nakamura.
**VillainProtagonist: Kasuga slowly slips into VillainProtagonist under Nakamura's influence. [[spoiler:He gets better post TimeSkip.]]]]
%%** Nakamura.
**
%%** Nakamura.
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* BookEnds: The first and final volumes of the manga are the same events told from different perspectives (Kasuga and Nakamura's views).
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The manga, written by Shūzō Oshimi, ended on May 9, 2014 with 57 chapters. An anime directed by [[Manga/{{Mushishi}} Hiroshi]] [[Manga/DetroitMetalCity Nagahama]] and produced by {{Creator/ZEXCS}} premiered on April 15, 2013. It is currently streamed on Crunchyroll [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/flowers-of-evil here]] and on hulu [[http://www.hulu.com/flowers-of-evil here]] if you live in the US.
to:
The manga, written by Shūzō Oshimi, ended on May 9, 2014 with 57 chapters.
An anime directed by [[Manga/{{Mushishi}} Hiroshi]] [[Manga/DetroitMetalCity Nagahama]] and produced by {{Creator/ZEXCS}} premiered on April 15, 2013.It is currently streamed on Crunchyroll [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/flowers-of-evil here]] and on hulu [[http://www.hulu.com/flowers-of-evil here]] if you live The manga was adapted into a film in the US.
2019.
An anime directed by [[Manga/{{Mushishi}} Hiroshi]] [[Manga/DetroitMetalCity Nagahama]] and produced by {{Creator/ZEXCS}} premiered on April 15, 2013.
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* PervertedSniffing: Kickstarts the plot. Nakamura catches Kasuga sniffing his crush Saeki's clothes, and proceeds to blackmail him.
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Not to be confused with [[Manhwa/FlowersOfEvil the Korean manhwa]]. See also ''Manga/ATrailOfBlood'' for the authors next work.
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Not to be confused with [[Manhwa/FlowersOfEvil the Korean manhwa]]. See also ''Manga/InsideMari'', ''Manga/{{Happiness}}'', and ''Manga/ATrailOfBlood'' for the authors next author's other work.
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Changed line(s) 20 (click to see context) from:
Not to be confused with [[Manhwa/FlowersOfEvil the Korean manhwa]].
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Not to be confused with [[Manhwa/FlowersOfEvil the Korean manhwa]]. See also ''Manga/ATrailOfBlood'' for the authors next work.
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Changed line(s) 73 (click to see context) from:
* TheDragon: [[spoiler: Kasuga, during his and Nakamura's search for the other side]]. Included within this example are several variations.
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* TheDragon: [[spoiler: Kasuga, [[spoiler:Kasuga, during his and Nakamura's search for the other side]]. Included within this example are several variations.
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* SexIsEvil: Played with, although it's more like Evil is Sex. Nakamura's idea of idea of perversion has as much to do with her hostility and lack of empathy with everyone as with sex; she sees Kasuga's (sexual) interest in Saeki's gym clothes as evidence that he too is depraved like her. [[spoiler: Later, Kasuga and Nakamura embark on an [[SerialEscalation escalating]] campaign of anti-social acts in order to become the "ultimate perverts".]]
to:
* SexIsEvil: Played with, although it's more like Evil is Sex. Nakamura's idea of idea of perversion has as much to do with her hostility and lack of empathy with everyone as with sex; she sees Kasuga's (sexual) interest in Saeki's gym clothes as evidence that he too is depraved like her. [[spoiler: Later, Kasuga and Nakamura embark on an [[SerialEscalation escalating]] campaign of anti-social acts in order to become the "ultimate perverts".]]
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-> ''Saeki-san, I'm sorry.''
-> ''I'll spend the rest of my life atoning for this crime.''
-> ''Even when I'm an old man, I'll still be making up for this.''
-> ''But there's nowhere to escape. Not in this town.''
-> ''Not for me. The town is surrounded by mountains.''
-> ''There's nowhere for me to run.''
-> ''I'll spend the rest of my life atoning for this crime.''
-> ''Even when I'm an old man, I'll still be making up for this.''
-> ''But there's nowhere to escape. Not in this town.''
-> ''Not for me. The town is surrounded by mountains.''
-> ''There's nowhere for me to run.''
to:
->
''I'll spend the rest of my life atoning for this crime.
->
''Even when I'm an old man, I'll still be making up for this.
->
''But there's nowhere to escape. Not in this town.
->
''Not for me. The town is surrounded by mountains.''\\
''There's nowhere for me to run.''
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Now has a [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/AkuNoHana character page]] under construction.
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Now has a [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/AkuNoHana [[Characters/AkuNoHana character page]] under construction.
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Changed line(s) 56 (click to see context) from:
** [[spoiler:Post TimeSkip, when he finally does spit it out to Tokiwa (the ''third'' girl he's been interested) he does so while she's at work. In front of her boyfriend. The incredible thing? It ''works''. The act signals his growth as a character, finally able to be honest with his feelings, unafraid of whatever consequences there be.]]
to:
** [[spoiler:Post TimeSkip, when he finally does spit it out to Tokiwa (the ''third'' girl he's been interested) he does so while she's at work. In front of her boyfriend. The incredible thing? It ''works''. The act signals his growth as a character, finally able to be honest with his feelings, unafraid of whatever consequences there be.feelings.]]
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Changed line(s) 55 (click to see context) from:
** Later he was unable to confess that he has them, fearing the social isolation he would face. This leads to Nakamura blackmailing him into forming a pact with her, with it being implied later that she also liked him but was unable to say it as well.
to:
** Later he was unable to confess that he has them, fearing the social isolation he would face. This leads to Nakamura blackmailing him into forming a pact with her, with it being implied later that [[spoiler: she also liked him but was unable to say it as well.]]
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* BookDumb: Nakamura, who in her first appearance handed back a test with no answers, and getting called out by her teacher for it.
to:
* BookDumb: Nakamura, who in her first appearance handed back a test with no answers, and getting gets called out by her teacher for it.
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Changed line(s) 43,44 (click to see context) from:
* BookDumb: Ironically, Kasuga fits the trope in initial chapters despite the fact that books are his specialty.
** He later outright admits [[spoiler:even he doesn't understand ''Les Fleurs du Mal'', and just wanted to feel above his classmates.]]
** He later outright admits [[spoiler:even he doesn't understand ''Les Fleurs du Mal'', and just wanted to feel above his classmates.]]
to:
* BookDumb: Ironically, Nakamura, who in her first appearance handed back a test with no answers, and getting called out by her teacher for it.
**Ironically, Kasugafits the trope in initial chapters despite the fact that books are his specialty.
** Helater outright admits [[spoiler:even he doesn't understand ''Les Fleurs du Mal'', and just wanted to feel above his classmates.]]
**Ironically, Kasuga
** He
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Changed line(s) 103 (click to see context) from:
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Played with. This is Kasuga's initial goal in the first few chapters, [[EvilFeelsGood though this is quickly changed by Nakamura]]. [[spoiler: Soon after Kasuga's family moves to another city, he begins to feel this way again, but it quickly combines with CantStayNormal when he realizes that his past still continues to haunt him, no matter how he tries to ignore it.]]
to:
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Played with. This is Kasuga's initial goal IJustWantToBeNormal/IJustWantToBeSpecial: The main conflict in the first few chapters, [[EvilFeelsGood though this is quickly changed by Nakamura]]. [[spoiler: Soon after Kasuga's family moves to another city, he begins to feel this way again, but it quickly combines with CantStayNormal when he realizes that his past still continues to haunt him, no matter how he tries to ignore it.]]story.
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Changed line(s) 97 (click to see context) from:
%%* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Kasuga can't seem to stop doing this. Nakamura is just making things worse.
to:
