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Shitcom isn't very good. There was no way it was going to be. What really interests me is the intention behind shitcom. Was Takena trying to express his view on modern relationships? Was he simply trying to create something controversial that would put his name out there? Was he trying to create something controversial and use this allegory as a means of getting folks that recognize it to check out his other work? For the quality of Shitcom that doesn't really matter. Shitcom is disgusting. It makes for a terrible viewing experience. No matter how convoluted your phrasing is you can't escape from that. You ... may be thinking "it's one minute long. there's no way it can be THAT bad. shows that most claim are that bad are never that bad". Yet Shitcom manages to be just that, which I guess is an accomplishment in itself. Objectively looking at it as an art work it has a lot mor value than most stuff these days and pretty much any fanservice nonsense. Just......don't watch it. It's not fun. It makes you want to throw up.

My biggest takeaway from watching TK's works has been that his mantra is "love is fake, murder is real". Rest assured-enjoying a nice evening at the park did not go extremely well for the couple depicted here. This desperately needed SOME music as the drawn out drama building mixed with silence simply didn't produce an engaging viewing experience. It featured a mundane and predictable cliche horror story. It was violent enough to earn a decent rating but the poor animation made the main character completely unrelatable and unsympathetic and her naive actions didn't help. It's worth watching if you're into gore and have a few ... spare minutes but it's nothing particularly impressive. It was unexpectedly conventional for a Takena Nagao animation.

Kurayami Santa had a really cool concept behind it-using retro animation and an artistic approach to tell a narrative in several three minute episodes. That sounds great right? It looked good and it sounded good but the realization of the show couldn't live up to the idea of the show. The story of the show focused on the wrongdoings on humanity. The final episode (also the best one) concluded this narrative with a satisfying ending with a cool moral message and a neat one liner from Santa. So how come the show still didn't work? Well-the story wasn't well executed. Most of the dialogues and ... fight scenes were mediocre, Santa seemed like a good character for whom they just didn't manage to write good material. You'll get glimpses of quality but not much more. It's not a very engaging show and it feels like there's an indecision on whether it wants to be wacky or educative and serious. As a pastiche it simply doesn't work.

Society is obsessed with labeling things and producing like-minded offspring, and I can only venture to guess those labels are an even bigger part of culture in Japan from what I've come to "learn" of it (for instance bias against outsiders is a strong motive during the whole series) which makes the main character shitting on all of those labels that much more interesting. Like Aku No Hana (which is something Mushishi fans should enjoy) it's quite subtle in its narration and displays an interesting point of view on morality. Although it uses supernatural forces the outcomes of its stories are somewhat realistic in the ... sense that one side doesn't win all the time and isn't displayed as some kind of morality God-can you really blame a species for wanting to survive (there was a really cool dialogue between Ginko and Mushi on that subject actually) ? As a result every episode feels dramatic yet Ginko's ending speeches always manage to give you a sense of fulfillment no matter what side "wins" because victory is nowhere near the focal point of this anime. Enchanting; one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

I love Aku No Hana.

But I didn't enjoy it very much.

Does it sound like contradiction? Let me explain it.


If you were to ask a stranger what do they associate with Anime, they would either answer with silence or label it as "disturbing japanese stuff". Which, when you think about it, isn't necessarily that far from the truth. No one will be shocked by the fact an anime protagonist is a 14 year old girl with big breasts and pink hair. Japanese culture is different, things like that are just accepted. And Anime takes full advantage of the fact that those who don't watch don't care.


And ... in such wacky world of anime Aku No Hana was created.


The first thing I noticed about Aku No Hana is its pace. It's slow. Instead of constantly pandering to the viewer, Aku No Hana methodically achieves its own pace. If you get annoyed by the fact there's lots of scenery shots instead of more dialogues and monologues, Aku No Hana isn't for you.



ART

One of the strong points of Aku No Hana is definitely the art. It's realistic, somber, simplistic and depressive. You feel like the author wasn't trying very hard but still displayed human beings a lot more realistically than 99% of other animes do. There are not many bright colors, in fact Aku No Hana is dominated by grey, and I found that very fitting. No complaints from me, I can only conclude that the artwork was outstanding.


SOUND

The opening themes were ok, but nothing that you'll remember two weeks after watching the series. The background music is very fitting, ranging from quiet piano pieces to sheer silence. The ending theme however was truly something else and a truly remarkable way to end every episode. If you like the series, you'll like how it sounds.



I quite liked the character development. The main characters face many obstacles throughout the course of the series, and always DO THEIR BEST. I question their morality, but their efforts are impressive. Yet, due to human imperfection most of the time they just flat out fail. And, even when they succeed they often question their decisions and/or feel regret. due to their incompetence. The motives that drive the protagonists are those of disobeying modern society and protecting their friends, which fits their age. You could also interpret it as if their incompetence comes from the lack of experience in life, which is of course due to their age. I didn't especially like any of the characters, but that's probably the last thing you'd want from an anime that deals with the topic of life's boredom.



The story is told not only through the actions of the protagonists, it's also told through the great audio-visual work put into this anime. And with all that said I still have to add that I didn't enjoy it in the traditional sense of the word. I think that you'd have to be disturbed for Aku No Hana to bring you joy, and that a psychological horror is a perfect description for it. Aku No Hana is creepy-and creepiness lies between the known and the unknown. And Aku No Hana walks that line almost perfectly.