Prepare to see this a lot.

Recap: Saeki does not want to break up with Kasuga despite the truths that have been revealed to her. More confused than ever, Kasuga takes a day off school, providing Nakamura with ample opportunity to toy with Saeki.

One of the things I love about The Flowers of Evil is how it sparks discussion. With that I am not necessarily talking about defenders and detractors discussing the merits and downsides of rotoscoping, but also about how it is one of the very few anime provoking people into putting some actual thought into their perception of its characters. I regularly browse through the anime’s associated tag on Tumblr, which might seem like a terribly ill-advised idea, but to my pleasant surprise I very often find material of much longer lasting value than animated GIFs or unsourced fan art in there. For a work of fiction to linger on in spoken and written word when it is not being explicitly consumed is a blessing, and one that The Flowers of Evil most certainly deserves.

“Are you thinking what I am thinking, Kasuga?” – “I hope not.”

For example, I recently read some very interesting thoughts on how Kasuga’s love for romantic poetry actually taints his vision of the target of his affections. He may be an well-read boy, but his idealistic image of Saeki eventually boils down to a form of objectification just as much as the ones his perverted classmates preach. He desperately clings to Saeki’s perceived purity and lashes out as soon as someone dares to make any mention of sex, as if any form of sexuality would defile her. Yet as such he refuses to acknowledge’s Saeki’s individuality just as much. Instead of an object of desire, she becomes an object of worship, an angelic holy virgin who must never be soiled. In this regard, Kasuga is oddly reminiscent of the stereotypical “Nice Guy”, the self-proclaimed “romantic gentleman” who wallows in his inherently sexist beliefs that women are poor little lambs that must not be begrimed by the foul grip of sexuality, or at least not sexuality with anyone but them.

This particular brand of objectification is rarely ever addressed, because it has the authoritative word of famous romantic poets and writers to back itself up with, but the truth is that Kasuga is so sexually repressed he knows what love really means just as little as his chauvinist, perverted peers. The Flowers of Evil, most certainly acknowledges it. In Nakamura, it gives flesh to its jabs at Kasuga’s perceived notion that sex is an unthinkable atrocity. Nakamura is the exact opposite of Kasuga. She can see right through him, knowing some coarse language is all she needs to knock him off his flimsy pedestal, but at the same time, her self-indulgent obsession with the notion of perversion is equally unhealthy. What terrifies so many people in The Flowers of Evil is that is seemingly has no message, aside from its constant nihilism and misanthropy. All of this, does however serve a purpose, if only to warn viewers to maintain a healthy balance between sexual liberty and modesty, not only in our teenage years, but in our adult lives as well.

I know which book he is reading.

Where does that put Saeki, though? Up until now, the central conflict between Kasuga and Nakamura has always been about her, or a perception of her at the very least. If anything, her actions seem to contradict what I just elaborated on. When she finds out it was Kasuga who stole her gym clothes, all she thinks is that he did it because he loves her; because that’s what guys do. It seems as if, just like Kasuga, Saeki refuses to acknowledge that his actions were driven by lust. When Nakamura tells her she told Kasuga that Saeki wanted to sleep with him, she reacts in a similar way, even outright stating that Kasuga cannot possibly have any sort of sexual attraction towards her.

It might show that Saeki is just as repressed as Kasuga is, clinging to the cherubic image Kasuga has bestowed upon her. Her yelling at Kasuga that she knows all of his secrets right where his mother and the entire neighbourhood can hear it even hints at narcissism. Kasuga will take her back, because she is the ideal girl for him. It is the only thing that matters. As an avid reader of the Flowers of Evil manga I can say for a fact that there is much yet to come to support my theories about Saeki’s sexual repression and tragic narcissism, only as a result of how Kasuga, probably the only person to have ever shown affection for her in a non-sexual way, perceives her.

“Get on the bike, Shinji.”

As such, with this episode the “arc” of the stolen gym clothes comes to an end, as the focus moves to Kasuga and Nakamura attempting to escape the town that is rejecting them and reaching the almost certainly metaphorical “other side of the mountains”. With Saeki first asking Nakamura just what the hell Kasuga and she are up to, and afterwards seeing his mother cycling around town looking for hem, it is safe to say she will not just let our dynamic duo walk free any longer. Then, there remains the question of the ending, that big elephant in the room. With just three more episodes to go and a second season not exactly something the staff can take for granted, it remains to be seen if studio Zexcs will call it quits when their time is up, or deviate from the source material at the very last minute. In any case, I am  already preparing my plea to those who have not read the manga yet.