When Nakamura smiles, be afraid. Be very afraid.

Recap: Kasuga lets his unhealthy crush on Saeki get the better of him and steals her gym clothes. Things get even worse when Nakamura reveals she caught him in the act, and is planning on exploiting that knowledge with sadistic glee.

One of the reasons why The Flowers of Evil was met with such a dissenting reception is the argument that it barely even resembles the original manga. I thought to have found some differences between the two in this episode as well, but after diving back into the corresponding chapter of the manga, I was surprised to find out that this is almost a frame-by-frame adaptation. Pretty much every panel in the chapter — yes, chapter, as in singular — this episode was based on has its direct animated equivalent, only a tad bit uglier. Nevertheless, I am getting quite used to the rotoscoping. Some admittedly gorgeous backgrounds, great voice acting and splendid direction help me look past the frequent dips into the uncanny valley. It is because of this that blogging The Flowers of Evil will be an interesting endeavour, allowing me to look at a manga I adore coming to life beyond the strictly visual level.

Speaking of adaptations, I like how this anime uses its very slow pace to focus more on Kasuga’s emotional turmoil rather than Nakamura’s sadistic antics. While everything that was in the manga is still there, a lot of what is left of the episode is used on showing Kasuga pondering or silently wallowing in his grief. Combined with the excellent soundtrack, these moments turn him into a fascinating character: human enough to relate to, yet at the same time committing acts so ill-advised and inconsiderate he becomes alienating nonetheless. These moments do come at a price, however. The Flowers of Evil runs at such a slow pace that it, despite creating a very fitting atmosphere, is starting to lose its sense of direction. If they are really planning on adapting only a single chapter per episode, the anime will end right when things really start getting interesting. I was pretty certain up to what point the anime would go, but I am severely starting to doubt that now.

Basically, you are screwed.

The ending of this episode however makes me hope for a somewhat more pragmatic pacing in the show’s future. With the unholy triangle between Takao, Sawa and Nanako now established, the titular flowers of evil can actually start to bloom. In a twisted take on the most overdone scene in anime, Sawa shoves Takao headfirst into Saeki’s chest, yet the usually hilarity associated with this trope is nowhere to be found here. I have to say Saeki is rather vapid for darting out in embarrassment despite it being painfully obvious Takao was not to blame, and for not noticing her missing gym clothes he was quite prominently holding right in front of him, but she deserves to be cut some slack after what happened and will happen to her. Would it be a spoiler to say Saeki isn’t the shining paragon of incorruptible pureness she is portrayed as right now? Oh, who am I kidding, no one is watching this show anyways.

Random observations

• Takao’s voice and mannerisms greatly remind me of Ryotaro Nogami from Kamen Rider Den-O. Let’s just say that’s about where the comparisons between these two shows end. (Zigg’s note: So there’s no hip-hop breakdancing interludes? LAME.)
• The opening credits now give you a little preview of the events that will take place in the episode they precede. Neat if you have no time to watch the whole thing, I suppose?
• Ironically, the extremely fitting ending song was not even written specifically for The Flowers of Evil. The song is more than 10 years old, and you can witness the full, seven-minute long version it in all its otherworldly glory here.
• Unlike Hidamari Sketch and Sasami@Unmotiovated, I won’t be posting screencap galleries for this one, due to the fact that show is not exactly a joy to take screencaps of.