Michelle reviews Flowers of Evil, recently released to blu-ray.
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| "Do you like my sexy hair?" |
Flowers of Evil is
one of the most underrated and incredible anime series of 2014. Unfortunately,
the slow pacing and animation style turned off most casual anime fans and it
has received mixed reviews. It was also overshadowed by blockbuster shows like Attack on Titan and Kill la Kill, leaving it to languish in cult status. Viewers who do
take a gamble (like I did), however, will be rewarded with a creepy and
gorgeous tale filled with dark beauty and sinister undertones.
The story follows a high school student named Takao Kasuga,
an introvert who loves reading obscure literature and poetry. He has an
unrequited crush on Nanako Saeki, his pretty and popular classmate. Takao has a
weak moment, and in a fit of love-induced insanity steals one of Nanako’s
belongings—unbeknownst to him, his creepy female classmate Sawa Nakamura
catches him in the act. She then blackmails him with the information and makes
him enter a “contract” with her in exchange for keeping his secret. The
consequences of his acquiescence are far-reaching and devastating.
In a world of giant robots and over-the-top action
sequences, the unhurried and deliberate pacing of Flowers of Evil’s story can seem boring and tedious. There are very
few slow burn style anime series and it’s a hard pill for fans to swallow
sometimes. The director, Hiroshi Nagahama, is known for another delicate and
slow series called Mushishi, and he
is adept at keeping the audience’s attention even with a subtle material. As
this is a coming-of-age tale, the young characters are very emotional and make
irrational decisions, and as is common with Japanese anime, they tend to seem
over-exaggerated and melodramatic. It can be a little distracting at times, but
doesn’t detract from the overall plot.
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| "Do you like my sexy glasses?" |
One of the most polarizing aspects of the show was the
choice to use rotoscoping for the animation style. Rotoscoping is a technique
where they film everything using live actors and draw over the footage to make
it look like a cartoon. The result is realistic looking with a high frame
rate—I cannot recall any other anime that has used this method, as it seems to
be more commonly used in western animation. It has the effect of making it look
more like an actual television show and less like traditional anime.
Some people think it’s lazy, but I feel like it was a
deliberate stylistic choice by the director. Because of the propensity of
rotoscoping to enter the “uncanny valley” it makes the overall atmosphere
creepier and unsettling. Often times, the character designs become less defined
and more abstract, depending on what is going on at the time. It’s minimalist
for the most part, but ends up being effective for a few choice scenes.
One of the most interesting aspects of Flowers of Evil is the musical score. The background music is
constantly foreboding and menacing which makes for a distressing and
uncomfortable feeling throughout the series. The opening theme is a normal
peppy anime theme, but it is sung by various voice actors from the show and
changes slightly every episode. They sing it in a sarcastic manner as if making
fun of the necessity of anime series to have a happy J-pop song. The ending
theme, A Last Flower by Asa-Chang
& Junray, is one of the coolest songs I have ever heard. It’s eerie and
chilling and always starts at weird times at the end of each episode, slowly
creeping into the character’s conversations.
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| "What a couple of idiots?" |
If one were to try to encapsulate the theme of Flowers of Evil in one word, it would be
deconstruction. The entire series is a
breakdown of common anime tropes and fan expectations. It’s ironic that many of the detractors of
this show seem to miss that point entirely.
The main character is obsessed with his ideal version of a girl and he
has to deal the cognitive dissonance associated with discovering her true
personality. Just as the typical otaku
has a narrow mindset of what anime is supposed to be like and cannot come to
terms with something different and unexpected.
That makes this series genius in a way, and it is unfortunate that a lot
of people will skip out on it because of the bad reviews.
Perhaps this series resonated with me more because I am a
fan of meta-style and post-modern storytelling.
It’s definitely pretentious and that can be really off-putting to some
people. If you have a taste for
something different and a little bit surreal, give Flowers of Evil a chance to
blow your mind.
-Michelle Kisner