Aku no Hana – 12-13 [END]

Kasuga gazed proudly upon his MLP fanfiction and knew that this was the best damn thing he had ever written.

…Nakamura was less than impressed though.

Aku no Hana was an interesting experiment to say the least. Opinions definitely differ, and I can’t say that I feel strongly either way about this anime. Free! of all things seems to have taken over in the summer season as the controversy anime, but before that, let’s take one last look at Aku no Hana. …Especially since I missed episode 12 a couple of weeks ago.

…Maybe this is just an effect of Kasuga reading pretentious literature for his hobby, but an essay seems like a pretty terrible way to make up with someone. I know no middle school child who would bother reading an essay outside of school. He really expected Nakamura to read the thing? It’s like he hasn’t seen her mood swings the entire season. Of course she’s not going to read it. I happy that Kasuga has decided to do something for once, but this action wasn’t the best. …But really, it’s all he knows. After reading for so long and stuttering so much in the beginning in the series, he’s probably better with written words than spoken ones (minus what he was shouting on the mountain a couple episodes ago).

The other half of the episode was the trip to Nakamura’s house. …And finding out that minus a divorce, her family is pretty damn normal. So how did Nakamura end up like that? Who knows. Divorce screws up anime characters all the time, but Nakamura seems both better and worse than a lot of them. She’s twisted yes, but other than swearing and being uncooperative, she doesn’t do much else. Though considering the problems that Kasuga and her seemed to be feeling, maybe it’s because they’re so normal that Nakamura acts how she does. If anything, she hates complacency, so having her father treat her like she’s just a small problem while she acts out just makes her more angry. He obviously has a place in society and is perfectly okay with it, but that’s the last thing Nakamura seems to want.

Episode 13 was basically a wrap up one. Nakamura’s feelings were finally plain to see (and actually really simple), and Kasuga feels correct in his decision to make Nakamura happy instead of Saeki. These two were pretty much the only characters in the episode (minus the future event flashes) and it was basically those two in a chase scene, but I guess that’s just the accumulation of what went on in this series. Has Kasuga caught what he was chasing after? Maybe not what he was originally going for, but he seems to be content with being Nakamura’s pervert. At the very least, he’s at least graduated from idolizing Saeki.

…Then we get an episode of flashbacks. Well actually, I didn’t mind it that much since it just showed how Kasuga managed to find a place for himself with Nakamura’s er, guidance. Much like how Dansai Bunri ended with a bunch of flashes to the future, Aku no Hana did that as well. …And I think I’m more fond of the technique than I thought I’d be. Especially here, since there is just SO MUCH that Aku no Hana never got around to that I would have liked to have seen. Long story short though, Kasuga and Nakamura continue causing destruction, Saeki becomes relevant again since she still can’t get over Kasuga, and it’s all pretty interesting. I really suggest reading the manga, since I’m not entirely sure that this will be getting a season 2 due to all of the controversy.

So what can I say? Aku no Hana just did whatever the hell it wanted the entire way through and screw conventions. Of course, this obviously pissed people off, but it certainly stayed true to whatever it was aiming for until the end. Unfortunately, some things were a hit and a miss with me. I didn’t mind the rotoscoping at all, but no matter how symbolic and artsy half an episode of walking is, it still seems like a little much. Sometimes Aku no Hana’s slow pacing felt really nice, and other times, I just wanted the story to get on with the next event already. …Though I think a lot of that had to do with my mindset whenever I was watching this. I guess the lesson there is that Aku no Hana isn’t easy for everyone (especially if the initial reactions are anything to go by) to get into and even when things were actually happening, they were really painful to watch. I mean look how pathetic Kasuga was 90% of the anime and then he kept digging himself deeper. Not that he was a terrible character and he needed to be like this for the storyline to progress, but his actions certainly weren’t the easiest to watch. Especially since you had a fairly good idea of what kind of thing would come next (or at least that some things were inevitable… like Saeki finding out about her gym uniform). Like the manga, I can’t say that I particularly -enjoyed- this anime, but I can say that I kind of admire it for not giving a damn about what everybody else wanted.

As for this final episode, I’m okay with how they wrapped things up. It feels like it ended a bit too early, but that’s probably because they ended the story in the beginning of the first half. Plus the slow pacing getting to this point. I guess I’m just content with the fact that Kasuga has finally made a decision about chasing Nakamura. We should just assume that every continues as normal from here. …Until the story hits the events it showed at the end, but that’s part 2 I guess.

Forget Nakamura and Kasuga. These two are my OTP. 

About Karakuri

University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.