Will this flower whither or bloom?
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Shuzo Oshimi
Translation: Paul Starr
What They Say
Bookworm Takao falls in love with Nanako, but he cannot express his feelings through words. Instead he secretively acts out in a heat of passion which creates a huge scandal in his school. There is one person who knows his true nature, and this girl will do anything to nurture what this Charles Baudelaire hides.
Technical:
The cover used here is a black and white image displaying half of Nakamura sneering over a blank background. The title of the book is contained in a speech bubble, which is a neat little effect, and overall the cover does a decent job of standing out. The back contains the other half of her body and a summary, but what’s really impressive is the spine of the book. Due to the way Nakamura wraps around the book, the spine perfectly contains her eye, which stares out as though judging the reader.
The paper used here is a tad weak, and no extras are included outside of a few author notes. Text reads smoothly, honorifics are not maintained, and sound effects are left in their original form and subtitled. The artwork here doesn’t really stand out, but characters are definitely expressive and distinct. Backgrounds appear quite frequently and are rather detailed, which helps add a bit of visual flair to the book.
Content:
Takao Kasuga is an unremarkable student. He doesn’t do very well in class and he’s not the type to stand out. Still, he’s at least a little unique in that he’s always reading. When tests are being handed back in class one day, Nakamura, the girl who sits behind him, is chewed out by the teacher for leaving her test blank, and responds by calling him a “shit-bug.” Certainly, she isn’t the type of girl Takao is interested in, completely unlike his crush Nanako Saeki.
When walking home from school that day, Takao realizes that he forgot the book he was reading, “The Flowers of Evil.” Upon finding it, though, something else catches his eye: Nanako’s unattended gym clothes. In a spur of the moment act of perversion, he steals the clothes and flees back to his house. The next day he hopes to sneak them back when nobody is looking, but that plan falls apart when a distraught Nanako appears and the teacher announces the theft of the uniform. As he flees home once again at the end of the school day, he unexpectedly bumps into Nakamura. They start talking, and it isn’t long before she admits that she saw him steal the clothes and tells him that he’s now essentially her slave.
Nakamura begins harassing Takao nonstop and calling him a pervert, and he continues to grow more and more paranoid. Eventually he reaches a breaking point and confronts her, but she shoves him to the ground and forces him into Nanako’s uniform. Later on, a girl’s lunch money goes missing, and suspicions quickly turn towards Nakamura. Takao stands up for Nakamura, but this only causes the class to speculate that he must be in love with her. Though this casts Takao further into depression, things take a turn for the better when Nanako meets up with him and tells him how cool he was. He starts to get closer to Nanako, and even works up the nerve to ask if she wants to go with him to the bookstore on Sunday. Unfortunately, Nakamura overhears and forces Takao to wear Nanako’s outfit under his clothes for the duration of the date. Will Takao be able to hold onto his dignity under these humiliating circumstances, or will he really end up a pervert?
In Summary:
With plenty of intrigue and perversion, this is certainly an interesting start to the series. However, while it’s definitely intentional, the main character feels like he may be a tad too slimy and pathetic. Really, there’s not much to like about him, so it’s hard to really feel sympathetic for him throughout. On the other hand, Nakamura’s cruelty really steals the show, and she feels like a character with some real depth. Hopefully the other characters start to flesh out in further volumes, as this book seems like it has the makings of a very intriguing series.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Rating: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Vertical
Release Date: May 8, 2012
MSRP: $10.95
