Closing thoughts on
Aku no Hana:
At its core, it was a show about a bunch of awkward teens going through a phase (of shiteaters/perverted nonsense). I loved that. After all, being a teen is hard since nobody understands you. But at the same time, I felt that Aku no Hana took things a bit too far in regards to "nobody understanding you" It was difficult to emphasize with the protagonist at a certain point in the narrative. I get the feeling of being indecisive and hopeless, but he had to make a choice between "choosing to be happy" or "throwing away his hope." The protagonist rejects the girl of his dreams, his friends, and his family. And for what?
Nakamura?
"Saeki will find someone else, but Nakamura will always be alone! I have to be with her"
Let me make one thing clear here: Nakamura was the
devil. I was hoping the last episode would shed light on her nature and give us a reason for her madness, but we didn't get much of anything. All we get is a journal entry with some light info: "She was sicko, alone in the world. Rotting away until she found a fellow
sicko." I can't think of a character in recent memory that disgusted me as much as Nakamura. She spends most of the story raving on about Kasuga is a sicko that needs to take his mask off, but let's look at the facts:
She forced her toxic values on him.
She blackmailed him.
She pushed him into a corner.
She constantly abused him until her initial claim became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Of course he'd be a "sicko" after she did those things,
she set it up that way. It was disappointing to see Kasuga lose completely himself to despair when he had so many other people trying to reach out to him. (And keep in mind, he's just goddamn
teenager). Don't get me wrong, I didn't
hate their relationship. Episodes 7 and 8 collectively are probably my favorite 2 anime episodes in recent memory, and Kasuga confessing that he's actually a pretentious loser in episode 11 was probably my favorite scene in the entire series. It was just legitimately just hard to watch the anime at times.
TL;DR: Aku no Hana was enjoyable and frustrating to watch at the same time. The atmosphere, OST and art direction were amazing. Really powerful stuff.
Going to read through the manga soon.
