Kasuga’s attentions turn toward Nakamura, but does her disappointment in him signal the end of their contract?
What They Say
FLOWERS OF EVIL revolves around Takao Kasuga, who is caught stealing Nanako Saeki’s gym clothes by Sawa Nakamura whose cold attitude makes her generally disliked by everyone. In exchange for her silence, he makes a “contract” with her, in which he must abide by all of her unreasonable demands. Initially torturous, Kasuga wants out until one day when things start to change between them…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Flowers of Evil has almost run its course, and looks to end right about where I expected it would with its pacing. Whether the final episode will stick to the manga or introduce an original ending will have to wait until next week, but this episode sets up the conclusion with another slow-paced episode that ends with a cliffhanger.
After having been awoken from his nightmare, Kasuga decides to write the essay on his perversion that Nakamura had requested back in episode two. In the third episode, he had tried to pass of les Fleurs du Mal as the true expression of his dark soul, but Nakamura wouldn’t have any of that. He hopes that a true, honest essay expressing his regret at abandoning her at the mountain road and his hope to become a true pervert will be enough to win her affections back.
But Nakamura doesn’t seem to be having any of it. In class she ignores him, and when he tries to give the essay to her after school, she walks on by. Kasuga follows Nakamura and reads his essay aloud, but she begins to run. Undeterred, Kasuga begins running while desperately screaming his apology, and the animation in this sequence just has great vitality. It’s hard to imagine how it would look using the manga designs, and if they’d be able to pull off having the backgrounds moving at such a fast pace.
Because he’s not looking where he’s going, Kasuga is almost hit by a car, allowing Nakamura to escape. Kasuga runs home to find Nakamura’s address on the class roster, and runs to her home to deliver the essay. There, he unexpectedly runs into Nakamura’s father, who notes he is the first person to ever come to visit Nakamura, and so invites Kasuga inside.
Those expecting an easy answer of abuse to explain Nakamura’s personality will be disappointed here, as Nakamura’s father and grandmother seem more sad and perplexed at Sawa Nakamura’s behavior than angry. Perhaps it’s a front they’re putting up, but the best explanation the father can come up with is that as a man, he can’t understand her feelings as a girl, and that she hasn’t had a female role model since her mother divorced him when she was only five. Seeking further understanding of Nakamura, Kasuga approaches her room, and is surprised to see “stay out shitbugs” written in large symbols on the door. He moves to open it, and that’s where the episode ends.
In Summary
The show’s deliberate pacing continues with an episode that has no major development and only teases the biggest revelation about Nakamura’s character. The finale should be quite explosive, and the show will clearly have been the Spring Season’s strongest. Still, I can’t help but be frustrated by how slowly it moved overall. It’s hard to know how far in the manga’s story it could have reached, or if it would have been able to stop at a satisfying place, but there still have not been any hints or signs of a second season. What we have may be all we’re ever going to get. I feel I’ve done little more than repeat myself over the series of reviews, but Flowers of Evil has been fairly consistent over the season, without any major twists or turns that permanently damaged the show’s pacing or narrative. It’s daring, it’s atmospheric, and it’s very slow, as much now as it was in the first episode. Without knowing the ending, it’s hard to say more than that, but if for some reason you’re still not watching, now would be a fine time to marathon the series before its conclusion.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment: Sony VAIO 17″ HD screen
