Someone tell Nakamura this is not a thing that people do anymore.

Recap: Kasuga and Nakamura walk home for what seems like forever.

How do you turn two pages of manga into eight minutes of animation? I admit, I am a big fan of decompression. It gives comics a feel of realistic length, creates tension and allows a writer to visually accentuate any crucial points. The Flowers of Evil has always skirted the line that separates remorseful decompression from downright snail-paced slog, but sadly enough it thread right over that line with this episode. While I can see director Nagahama’s desire to stretch out the tension leading up to what is arguably the absolute turning point of the series, I have the feeling he went slightly overboard here. It was a stroke of genius to follow up on last week’s splendid ending with an almost frustratingly padded-out chronicle of the bizarre co-dependency blooming between Nakamura and Kasuga, but I am all the more growing scared the building tension will never get to see its payoff. For a show all about escalation and denouement, it is a rather odd direction to take.

Luckily, this rather bizarre installment of Bian Michael Bendis’ Catcher in the Rye did provide some interesting content, especially in terms of its cliffhanger ending, which at least somewhat justified the languished eight minutes of walking while someone blasts The Disintegration Loops in the background. Nakamura’s reaction to the class witnessing what she did is the complete antithesis of Kasuga’s and it once again serves as a perfect visual nod to their entirely different personalities eventually leading up to the same motives. One of the many things The Flowers of Evil excels at is its mischievous portrayal of corruption; it masterfully manages to make us believe these two entirely conflicting personalities could miraculously get along, and even worse, have a relationship that somehow feels more real than most of the superficial friendships and romances we see on screen nowadays.

Take a sip whenever Kasuga slowly turns his head and dramatically sees Nakamura smiling at him.

Aside from a rather eccentric directorial choice — it’s not as if they need to pad out what material they have because of a concrete lack of source material — this episode was also marred by some budgetary constraints, which are especially grating in a show that already is a budgetary constraint all by itself. The still frames stick out like a sore thumb in a show where subtle movements make up a great part of  its identity, and the footage of Kasuga walking to school is ripped straight from episode 1. Nevertheless, I will gladly stomach some concessions if brilliant scenes like last week’s ending are what we get in return. With an episode that essentially serves to fill up the 22 minutes between one shocking ending and another, The Flowers of Evil has, for the first time, managed to actually disappoint me, but I do not think I can say it was disappointing. While I may not appreciate this directorial choice, I can at least see the logic and good intentions behind it, and on top of that, unlike that other odd case of deliberate padding in anime, there are people who actually loved this one.

Random observations

• Meanwhile, in the real world.
• According to the author of the manga, The Flowers of Evil is semi-autobiographical. The fact that there is some out out these who is truly as despicable and broken as Nakamura is, makes her even more distrubing.
• And to go out with a bang, here’s a tweet from Kyary Pamyu Pamyu in which she tells a fan that she loves The Flowers of Evil. That’s right, the peppy pop singer known for her colourful outfits and quirky antics adores a show about emotional blackmail, perversion, depression and the evils of being human. Sweet!