Aku no Hana Chapter 46 Discussion

Sorayin said:
Just wait for it. Next chapter he's going to fuck it all up again.

Armin-Arlelt said:
Also, am I the only one who thinks Takao got 300% better after the time skip. He's still not a great protagonist, but he has his moments and he's calmed down and become less annoying. He's not the stereotypical "freaks out every time a girl does something the 50th time" protagonist anymore (like Yuuki Rito from To Love-Ru).

Lylaaz said:
I hope he never meets nakamura ever again. that girl ruined his life -_- quite sure she will appear at some time, though.. poor guy.

All she did was to drove him into a psychological corner.. he's healing from it..

MaxVdub said:
i think my problem with this manga as it stands currently is that it can't seem to make up its mind w/r/t its main themes, what it's really trying to say

initially, i'd say it seems to have a decidedly "anti-establishment" theme. kasuga's classmates are shown to be petty jerks. when he sticks up for the "weird kid" he is immediately shut out and outcast himself. when saeki (the popular girl. she represents the establishment/status quo) favors him publically, he is suddenly in everyone's graces again. basically they're a herd of sheep. even kasuga's "friends" aren't immune to this force.

meanwhile, nakamura sees through all of this and it disgusts, depresses, isolates her. when she sees kasuga steal saeki's gym clothes despite such a thing being incredibly taboo she is overjoyed at having found another person who is apparently not bound 100% by peer pressure. she calls him a deviant, which is the highest praise she could give. yet he still is horrified at the thought of anyone finding out. thus, he has these walls that need tearing down. eventually he more or less comes around to her side completely. he no longer feels shame.

at this point i think the author wasn't sure where to take the story. after all, kasuga's metamorphosis is complete, right? he is now an unabashed deviant with nakamura-san. from there all that's left is to make their crimes bigger and bolder, and i guess that could get old pretty fast. so instead, they decide to commit suicide. why? nakamura was happier than she'd ever been not too long ago. i guess it's because saeki fucked their plans up royally but why not just run away from home? i think that might have been an interesting plot to pursue, but oh well. as an aside, that's what i initially thought would happen when they went on that bike ride to see what's on the "other side". here again they were foiled by saeki.

speaking of saeki, i think the author purposely made her the most evil character in the story. she embodies the establishment. she lived her life being the perfect little pet to her family and society, doing exactly as she's told. making her a villain of sorts fits with this anti-establishment narrative.

ANYWAY, that brings us to the timeskip. this is where the story shifts dramatically in tone and substance. however not only does that happen but it seems to shift in message as well. as best as i can tell, that black flower has represented anarchy, chaos, being against the establishment. i don't think it's truly an evil flower, as the title of the manga suggests. it might be ugly and frightening, but it's not evil.

however, when kasuga smashes the flower in some kind of sudden epiphany it suggests that maybe the flower truly was evil all along and now he is freed from its tyrannical liberation. the manga has been building up to this too, as kasuga has been (however weakly) trying to reintegrate himself into society. he's been trying to make friends and said yes to the karaoke invite. he went with them to the hangout in the warehouse and ate pizza. he asked out another popular girl (now that i think about it, she looks like nakamura, but isn't she closer in character to saeki? just purely in terms of being normal/accepted/idolized. she's certainly no deviant) he's trying to blend in and be a normal person now. he's back where he was at the beginning of the manga. in a sense it feels like all that character development has been undone. it also seems like the author is now promoting a pro-establishment message.

then again, it's not a finished work and maybe nakamura will re-enter the scene and bring kasuga back toward freedom. i really hope so. i hope his "epiphany" in the last chapter was really a false epiphany. because it felt really cheap and hollow to me and if that's really what we're supposed to take away from this manga, after the spectacular ride we've had up till the timeskip... idk. i really didn't mean for this to be this long. sorry for all the words.

MaxVdub said:

i disagree, i think she made him happy. i think she made him truly open up his eyes and live

if anything, saeki's the one who fucked him up, i think

she literally raped him. if anyone wronged kasuga, it's her

SomeDeadGuy said:


Yeah, made him happy. Made him open his eyes and live. Sure. Okay.

By bribing him, forcibly stripping him repeatedly, forcing him to do things that made him uncomfortable, beating the shit out of him, clawing open his chest, ruining his relationship with Saeki (not that his relationship with Saeki was a good thing considering what she became), threatening to kill him, ruining his life, future, and relationship with his parents, smashing his dad's kneecap with a baseball bat, and then DRIVING HIM TO SUICIDE, she made him happy.

Bull. Shit.

Your life philosophy is hilariously shallow. Jesus Christ, who let the 7th grader post here?

Sorayin said:
Just wait for it. Next chapter he's going to fuck it all up again.

Misiakk said:
... is it really going to for happy ending? I don't like it, and this whole chapter was like "oh im so happy, yes i agree to whatever you say, write your novel I want to read it". I hope something will change and the depressing mood will come back. Nakamura where are you!?

MaxVdub said:
i think my problem with this manga as it stands currently is that it can't seem to make up its mind w/r/t its main themes, what it's really trying to say

initially, i'd say it seems to have a decidedly "anti-establishment" theme. kasuga's classmates are shown to be petty jerks. when he sticks up for the "weird kid" he is immediately shut out and outcast himself. when saeki (the popular girl. she represents the establishment/status quo) favors him publically, he is suddenly in everyone's graces again. basically they're a herd of sheep. even kasuga's "friends" aren't immune to this force.

meanwhile, nakamura sees through all of this and it disgusts, depresses, isolates her. when she sees kasuga steal saeki's gym clothes despite such a thing being incredibly taboo she is overjoyed at having found another person who is apparently not bound 100% by peer pressure. she calls him a deviant, which is the highest praise she could give. yet he still is horrified at the thought of anyone finding out. thus, he has these walls that need tearing down. eventually he more or less comes around to her side completely. he no longer feels shame.

at this point i think the author wasn't sure where to take the story. after all, kasuga's metamorphosis is complete, right? he is now an unabashed deviant with nakamura-san. from there all that's left is to make their crimes bigger and bolder, and i guess that could get old pretty fast. so instead, they decide to commit suicide. why? nakamura was happier than she'd ever been not too long ago. i guess it's because saeki fucked their plans up royally but why not just run away from home? i think that might have been an interesting plot to pursue, but oh well. as an aside, that's what i initially thought would happen when they went on that bike ride to see what's on the "other side". here again they were foiled by saeki.

speaking of saeki, i think the author purposely made her the most evil character in the story. she embodies the establishment. she lived her life being the perfect little pet to her family and society, doing exactly as she's told. making her a villain of sorts fits with this anti-establishment narrative.

ANYWAY, that brings us to the timeskip. this is where the story shifts dramatically in tone and substance. however not only does that happen but it seems to shift in message as well. as best as i can tell, that black flower has represented anarchy, chaos, being against the establishment. i don't think it's truly an evil flower, as the title of the manga suggests. it might be ugly and frightening, but it's not evil.

however, when kasuga smashes the flower in some kind of sudden epiphany it suggests that maybe the flower truly was evil all along and now he is freed from its tyrannical liberation. the manga has been building up to this too, as kasuga has been (however weakly) trying to reintegrate himself into society. he's been trying to make friends and said yes to the karaoke invite. he went with them to the hangout in the warehouse and ate pizza. he asked out another popular girl (now that i think about it, she looks like nakamura, but isn't she closer in character to saeki? just purely in terms of being normal/accepted/idolized. she's certainly no deviant) he's trying to blend in and be a normal person now. he's back where he was at the beginning of the manga. in a sense it feels like all that character development has been undone. it also seems like the author is now promoting a pro-establishment message.

then again, it's not a finished work and maybe nakamura will re-enter the scene and bring kasuga back toward freedom. i really hope so. i hope his "epiphany" in the last chapter was really a false epiphany. because it felt really cheap and hollow to me and if that's really what we're supposed to take away from this manga, after the spectacular ride we've had up till the timeskip... idk. i really didn't mean for this to be this long. sorry for all the words.

Tamura said:
Finally.

Dont look at the past again please Kasuga.

Just look at the future

Stark700 said:
"Welcome home".

What a happy chapter.