Spoiler warning.

                                                                                               ...okay?

As we all know, Aku No Hana utilizes rotoscoping. Quite a controversial decision for an anime, as the director intended it to be. The reason being that Aku No Hana isn’t about aesthetics. What matters is what’s on the inside: the character of a person. Wouldn't big glossy eyes and pretty backgrounds mostly distract us from that? Hence, rotoscoping is a smart choice. In this case, it allows the director to communicate to us that this is something special--a unique work of art. It makes everything more real, to the point where we could reach out and touch Aku No Hana , but only to an extent; it’s more realistic, but the oddity of the characters pushes us back. Yes, they may be too strange to ever be relatable.

The plot, when looking at the synopsis, is quite simple and mundane: a boy steals his crush’s gym clothes, the person who witnessed it blackmails him. Of course this psychological thriller is much more than that: it’s about two outcasts— possibly three— who want nothing more than to run away from their mindless, soul-depraving environment, but also seek to be understood. The boy, Takao Kasuga, cannot formulate one thought of his own and looks to the ridiculously depressing (trust me, the real book does reek depression) Les Fleurs Du Mal  to represent his thoughts and who he is as a person. In fact, he can’t describe himself without it. He tells us, the viewers, and his muse Saeki that this book symbolizes everything he is; to understand him, you must read the book, and that’s the only thing he could ever say about himself. Well, there is that lame statement he makes about being an empty person, which in turn is why he looks to the book to make himself whole. Not to mention he’s probably the wimpiest character in all of anime. Being a shonen junkie, that pisses me off.

The girl, Sawa Nakamura, is the class outcast. She completely lacks any social skills whatsoever. She fails to understand others, and hence fails to be understood. It’s only clear by the end of the season that she is bothering Takao so much because she wants to find someone to relate to, and this was her way of trying to do so: "I believed you would drop your mask, and follow me to the other side," she says to him, because after having witnessed Takao stealing Saeki’s clothes, maybe he was hentai, and not like the friends he chose to surround himself with. Maybe there was someone else like her out there. She was trying to “take off his mask” so he could reveal his true inner self to the world, as she had already done for herself.

The other possible outcast, Saeki, gets along with everyone else, but is not quite like them: there’s something slightly off about her which sets her apart from the norm. It’s her longing to understand Kasuga and make friends with Nakamura. I don’t understand her purpose; why she’s so implemented into the story. I don’t understand her way of thinking. Why is she flattered at the fact that Takao stole her clothes, and was forced to wear them while on a date with her? To me, her reasoning isn't clear, and makes her seem desperate.

Speaking of characters, their classmates were probably the worst of all: people who gossip, and love to spread rumors. Just your typical simpletons, n’est ce pas? Their presence was easily overlooked, however, because the lead characters were much more interesting. Their psychological developments only get worse, and its all showcased in some very notable moments.

One of the most memorable moments of Aku No Hana  is the scene where Takao and Sawa vandalize their classroom. At this point, Kasuga is so helpless about his dark secret he hits rock bottom: he wants to get rid of his secret so badly, he entrusts Nakamura to tell Saeki for him, instead of gaining the courage to tell her himself. Silly him doesn't realize by now that she isn't to be trusted. So, after she tells him to confess it on the board, and he refuses, Nakamura gets upset and walks away. He could have been freed from her shackles, but because he’s so afraid of letting her go, he writes his confession on the board. Nakamura thrives off of others’ suffering, and in that moment he gave it all to her. They vandalize the classroom, but Takao isn't acting out of his own rage; because he was sick & tired of himself for stealing Saeki’s clothes. Rather he was expressing Nakamura’s frustrations about the world. She had implanted these seeds into him every time she bullied him. At this point, he’s her puppet to the fullest potential.

Another memorable moment was what followed afterwards: their walk home. It’s a disturbingly peaceful walk. Kasuga and Nakamura walk hand in hand, tainted with the ink that symbolizes their rotten selves. They’re obviously reflecting on what they had just done, bracing for the consequence, all the while settling down from having lashed out all their anger & fears against the world, that the world in turn holds against them.

In the end of the anime, nothing is settled yet. Takao finally learns to think and act for himself by choosing to be Nakamura’s friend. Nakamura still can’t open up, and Saeki goes back to her regular clique. There was foreshadowing of a second series, so I can’t really say much about the conclusion except that it gives us a look at how much more intense this thriller will be, and gory too. I’m also hoping Saeki’s reasoning behind her intrigue for Takao will be revealed.