Aku no Hana (may contain manga spoilers under tags)

Yeah, I can kinda see some kind of attractive qualities, but "cute"?

I can't even see any attractive qualities.

That's because we're talking about the manga.

Stuff◊ like◊ this◊, or◊ this◊ or even◊ fanart◊ is what I'm talking about.

Checked out the first chapter of the manga.

It was...a bit unsettling. Does it get worse, from here?

Yes.

Nakamura really is hell bent on breaking our "hero"...

Maybe there's a perfectly reasonable justification with her bitchiness and obsession??

Protagonist whose name I forget, all is forgiven. At least you weren't broken within the span of 20 pages...

edited 8th May '13 10:01:23 AM by eternalNoob

Kasuga's not a hero. Just keep that in mind. For the record, the worst parts of the manga are the art in the beginning and Kasuga, who can't help but to do the worst thing at any given time. The art gets better, Kasuga... kinda doesn't.

It's only going to get more disturbing from here on, too. You've been warned.

He effortlessly digs his own grave; pretty damn inpressive if you ask me.

Oh, from what I've seen (Chapter 22) even his yolk somehow cracked.

Oh god, chapter 45 finally came out.

Incredibly, going beyond all expectations, somehow... holy shit, it actually worked out, Tokiwa broke up with Kouji, Kasuga didn't get punched or anything.

Is this actually happening?? Are they actually going to enter a mostly healthy relationship with one another? And they hug in a completely heartwarming way?!

I'm speechless. Wait, does this mean that my earlier prediction was right?

It's amazing how cringe-inducing this entire manga is, on the whole. It's incredible how well the author understands human interactions.

Also, unrelated, but would I be correct in assuming that Aku no Hana and Shingeki no Kyojin came out mostly at the same time, considering that they're in the same magazine and that they have the same amount of chapters?

Just read chapter 30.

Please this is setting up our "hero" finally reaching a huge epiphany. That it's not what it looks like, and that things won't escalate even further. That he will realize the consequences of his actions and finally stop running.

edited 12th May '13 12:20:38 PM by Eternalnoob

An episode will be in a conventional anime style

If the manga has/had a "happy" ending, the anime will have a bad ending (and vice versa)

Oshimi Shuuzou: "What I'm trying to say in this manga is that ugliness is everywhere in our society, you know, it's like, even in breakfast cereals, man."

edited 13th May '13 1:53:15 AM by truteal

Bullseye

I'll post here my response to a post over at MAL that Takao Kasuga 'overthinks' every time he has to decide...Remember as well that I have not read the manga, but is quite familiar with the...relevant...literature.

Kasuga has not done any overthinking at all.

On the contrary, his train of thought is very simple, premised on literary thought in Europe in the 18th Century and continuing to the 19th.

In his case, he's actually reliving the actual evolution of literary thought. Even though what he's reading at the start is from the 19th (and of the 'symbolist' and 'modernist' mold), at that point he's still at the ideal state of Romanticism (which also coincided with the emergence of 'liberal' political thought) which flourished during the 18th Century. Once the 19th Century came though Romanticism 'made way' to the Symbolist and Modernist movements (and in this case 'modernity' in general was brought about mostly by the Industrial Revolution - politically as well the start of socialism was during this period).

And what historians also call the 'early' Modern period, when talking about the 19th Century, is notoriously dirty in different ways. The 'class struggle' comes into the fore, very bad working conditions in factories, detachment of the 'haves' from the 'have-nots', slavery, the 'Imperialism' of the European powers on the rest of the world...and even Jack the Ripper, quite representative of one of the 'evils' Kasuga is reading about.

Oh yeah forgot to mention that erotic literature also encountered a boom of sorts, LOL. Most of the books were censored until the 1950s, iirc.

Even now though he's still hanging on to his ideals, for better or for worse...even though all the 'dirt' around him is covering him up already. LOL

EDIT: I'll be adding some more, lol

The titular collection of poems of which the anime (and by extension the manga) shares its name with is really quite significant to the story. Although you don't really have to read Baudelaire's works, just knowing the context of his works (i.e. the time period) helps in understanding the events, the characters, their interactions, their decisions.

In terms of the romance, well my familiarity with 19th Century literature is mostly limited to 'less dark' works like Wuthering Heights (although Heathcliff is very cynical that he sort of channels the 'evils' that Baudelaire talks about LOL) and um...'baudy' literature that I won't mention here LOL. Takao is essentially the opposite of (later) Heathcliff though, as his ideas of love is still pretty much from Romanticism and not from the darker 'Gothic' romance and the cynical romance of some later, Victorian novels.

edited 13th May '13 9:47:51 AM by entropy13

Spot on.

As a matter of fact, in this latest chapter, when Kasuga reaches out to Tokiwa, I can't help but be reminded of Nakamura reaching out to Kasuga in chapter 30. It's ironic that he's imitating Nakamura, but doing it in a decidedly better way than she did. Subtle, huh?

edited 13th May '13 12:52:10 PM by Crinias

Just read the chapter. No way this is ending well. No way. Still way too many loose ends.

edited 13th May '13 1:40:31 PM by Arilou

Newest chapter was probably the most normal chapter in a while

And that's saying something

Hmm, this thread has been dead for nearly a year.

Anyway... Chapter 55 is out, and it seems clear that things will wrap up soon. The flower that once bloomed will wilt soon, or something. Insert pretentious flower-related line here.

After the confrontation and reconciliation of sorts with Nakamura, it seems a decidedly good thing that Kasuga is now living a normal life with Tokiwa, even if a vocal part of the fandom would have preferred for Nakamura to stay for good. If I had to place a bet on how things will go next chapter, it'd probably be another Time Skip with Kasuga and Tokiwa as older (maybe even married). Since we already re-encountered Nakamura, I think it unlikely that we'll see her again.

I feel bad I haven't actually watched the series after episode two or three. Really need to catch up.

Chapter 56 was uploaded earlier than usual because it had only one bit of text. Everything ends next chapter.

I'm not entirely certain about this, but since it seems disingenuous for everything in this chapter to be a dream, some it must be real. Either way, I'm happy. Oshimi seems the kind of writer to know how to end things without stretching them out or doing unnecessary things.

Unrelated, but Nakamura definitely looks better with short hair.

Well, that's it. The manga is over. I wasn't expecting a Perspective Flip of the first chapter, but that was pretty nice. It serves as a good Bookend, although you can just tell it's going to generate more fractures in the fanbase.

As a final note, I must say that I'm satisfied. Oshimi did a good job at exploring some dark story elements that are part of human nature without really overdoing it. If there's anything I'm really unsatisfied about it or that I dislike, it would be the anime, but I've already made my thoughts clear on that.

Overall, it was a good series.

Christ; I remember dropping the manga because everything seemed so happy with Kasuga and Tokiwa getting together, and I didn't wanna see the trainwreck, but...Apparently, everything worked out? Kasuga recieved some closure with Nakamura, and they even skipped ahead to him attending college, and getting some.

edited 6th May '14 7:54:05 PM by mrsunshinesprinkles