I was immediately intrigued when I started watching Aku no Hana. The rotoscoping adds to the atmospheric nature of the show and further gives a much more chilling influence. The ED builds on to the already heavy tone the episode ends on hence it creates quite an impact to the otherwise mundane life of our MC. This is a rollercoaster of a ride, which has shaken me in ways I didn't think possible. Dark and gritty, with depravity and morality going hand-in-hand, this remarkable coming-of-age story will hook you in. You'll either love it or hate it but you will not come out as a
...
winner, that's for sure.
I'd gone through a range of emotions every episode. I was excited, sad, angry, depressed, happy, shocked, but I was mostly livid. The entire runtime of this anime, I was on my toes, sitting at the edge of my seat. It is that emotionally engaging and TAXING because of how invested you are with each character. I felt incredible heaviess at the end of every episode; I felt exhausted because of the psychological and emotional turmoil.
This anime is the perfect example of the saying "a person is the company he keeps" and, sadly, puberty is a difficult place to be in when emotions run rampant and confusion is evident within every action. Hormones play a villainous role and it is the age when cringe is common and mistakes are made. However, that is also when we learn and find ourselves. At one point I just threw the towel in because character development be damned, we’ve full-blown hit delusion valley.
Be careful, kids. Reading books can turn you in to a sociopath. This show has made me understand why the ancestors have been burning and banning books since eons. Understanding the text is different but pretending to understand something really wreaks havoc within us, mind and soul, and sometimes in order to fully understand certain context or concepts, it's important to have empathy and a degree of relatability. When you have neither, you won't have it easy.
I now feel for parents when they say “we’ve raised our child wrong” because the older we get, we forget it’s more about outside influences than anything else. It’s one click, one tick, one trigger. Provocation amplifies something already within us and not always for the better. It’s worse for those who have lived sheltered lives and are set on a predetermined path instead of choosing it for themselves, like Saeki.
Now that Nakamura’s family life has been shown, I’m not surprised she comes from a broken home. However, does she blame her father for the divorce? If so, that’s highly unfair. I’m sure her mother chose to leave and that is who she might be emulating by wanting to leave the town. I don’t want to assume but we don’t have the full backstory yet but her father and grandmother seem decent enough. Maybe she has misunderstood how the divorce happened and who’s at fault since she was just 5 but she seems to think everyone is lying behind a guise of normalcy and respect. I’m intrigued by Nakamura’s character and what goes on in her head. She’s, by far, the most complex out of everyone in this show just because we haven’t delved in to her life to fully understand her psyche.
Every episode was brilliant, full of raw energy and pent-up emotions, especially in the last-half. Beautiful, heart-wrenching, with such heavy atmosphere that lightens your soul at the end, surprisingly. The voice acting, especially Nakamura’s, is first-class. The entire show feels so natural, and real, that I kept forgetting I was watching an anime. I’d been captivated with the eyes throughout the show. I’m in love with the rotoscoping effect; it just pulls at your heartstrings. I love the animation style and it makes me mad how underrated this show is!The complexity of the characters’ emotions and the growth in their personalities is relatable and brings so much depth to the entire premise of the show.
The ED is brilliant, as is the OP, since the tone of both changes with every episode.
This is not a light watch but it is worth it and anime being open-ended was a good decision. I can’t wait to read the manga now since the show basically covers about 40% of the manga.
An innocent boy makes a mistake because he is frightened and his mind was flustered, a girl aids this boy because of her own twisted and convoluted mindscape of despair and depravity and forced him to become someone much more sinister than he actually is, in turn further ruining this boy’s reputation when he simply could’ve listened to his conscience and confessed early on.
I’m livid about Takao being such a coward and running away when Saeki deserves to know the truth; I’m livid for Saeki being such a sweetheart but her apologising for an idiot’s actions when she has nothing to do with it I understand but I don’t have to approve of this unwarranted validation from a male. She deserves better. She did nothing wrong except try to be there for someone who wasn’t even there for her when she needed him to be. I am equally distraught over Nakamura’s intentions and the direction she decided to help Takao towards.
I’m just glad Takao finally made a decision and evolved from a weak, spineless, wanna-be deviant to someone who now truly understands who they are and what they want.
At the same time, sweet Saeki's downward spiral just caused havoc in my brain and heart and I wish things could've turned out a bit differently for all of them and I keep coming to the one who pushed everyone's buttons: Sawa Nakamura.
I was ready to hate someone but I feel for them all and understand them, in more ways than one.
This anime showcases the worst of human nature and how even the kindest, most compassionate of people are forced to look at themselves in a negative light while losing what makes them special but regaining a semblance of digity and honesty as they grow up and learn from mistakes. Just as Takao mentions horror and laughter being two sides of the same coin as they warrant an element of surprise, love and deviance come out to be two sides of the same coin. We're surprised but understand that in order to gain something, we must lose something precious; in this case it is innocense. All three MCs lose their innocense, chipping away at the illusion of decency, to come face to face with life's a well as their own perverse selves.
Feb 7, 2022
Aku no Hana
(Anime)
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I was immediately intrigued when I started watching Aku no Hana. The rotoscoping adds to the atmospheric nature of the show and further gives a much more chilling influence. The ED builds on to the already heavy tone the episode ends on hence it creates quite an impact to the otherwise mundane life of our MC. This is a rollercoaster of a ride, which has shaken me in ways I didn't think possible. Dark and gritty, with depravity and morality going hand-in-hand, this remarkable coming-of-age story will hook you in. You'll either love it or hate it but you will not come out as a
...
Feb 25, 2010
Nijigahara Holograph
(Manga)
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This is one of those stories you tend to read over and over again just so you could make more sense out of it and no matter how many times you read it, you find something different about it, something you never noticed was right there. That is the beauty of Nijigahara Holograph, and the gift which comes from the genius mind of Inio Asano, the creator of the beautiful manga, Solanin.
It's funny how the name, Rainbow Field Holograph, is somewhat of a contrast to the theme of the manga. Where the title gives the reader the feeling that the manga will be full of ... |
