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First thing I want to say to those who haven’t seen the anime nor read the manga yet: go read the manga. Seeing the anime prior to the manga is a mistake and will spoil your experience with this masterpiece. Now, let’s proceed to the review.

I can’t be unbiased, since I’ve read the manga and absolutely love it. Even if I try, I can’t help but compare. That being said, I was really looking forward to this animation, the teasers looked promising, but sadly the anime didn’t match the expectations.

Starting with the animation itself, I liked that they decide to do it in b&w, so ... it looks more like the manga and it's creepier that way. Ito’s drawings are terrifying and stunning, the shocked faces and the body horror are quite impressive. The first episode captured that well, making it really unnerving. But, as everybody are already saying, the quality drops in the second episode, it's poorly draw and moves in a goofy way, it lacks the smothness that the first ep managed to do so well. So, there goes my hopes about the animation and its potential. I must confess that at first it didn’t bother me that much, but, in the second episode, I didn’t feel scared at all, unlike the first, that made me really uneasy, even if I already knew everything that was going to happen. I’d much rather wait another five years, even more, to have all episodes with the quality of the first. It’s Ito’s Uzumaki, for heaven’s sake. The third episode is nice, but it has a bad pacing, like the second. Btw, I want to talk about the pacing too.

I didn’t like it, it’s so bad. I could still enjoy the anime even with the mid animation if the pacing was fine. I tried to be understanding, once it would not be dynamic to adapt just like it is in the manga, but the first mistake was trying to fit a story that is all about creepy atmosphere e increasing insanity into four episodes. C'mon, it shoud be at least eight. While in the anime everything sort of happens at the same time, like hell broke loose, in the manga it’s way slower, each story is told separately, it takes it’s time to develop and create a feeling of things going out of control little by little – the story is a spiral itself. So, it makes a little more sense that people don’t react as we would expect to the crazy stuff they see. I can’t tell how it felt for anime only viewers, but for me, as a manga reader, it felt like chaos, not in a good way, like the plot was tripping in its own feet. Besides that, it cuts important parts of the stories that would provide context, making it looks even more messy. Some parts are still scary and save the anime from being total garbage, plotwise; I especially like the hospital arc and Shuuichi parent’s arcs. But some of my favorites was ruined because they were rushed and badly told, like the lighthouse and the jack-in-the-box arcs.

I liked what they did in the last episode, I always wanted to see that final spiral animated and hear the sound when it's finished (if you saw, you know what I'm talking about). The only thing I strongly disliked it's the post-credit scene, which doesn't exist in the original story. But overall I think it wraps up well this adaptation, it made me remember why I love the manga so much.

So, well, at summary, it is a disappointment. It has some nice things, like the sound design, the ost and the first and last episodes, they are great and make it somehow enjoyable, but it falls short to be a good adaptation of the masterpiece that Uzumaki is. I really hope that, at least, it motivates the ones who only watched the anime to go read the manga. Seriously. If you liked something about it, go to the manga, you’re not regretting it.

Shoujo Tsubaki is Suehiro Maruo’s nightmarish version of the popular character “Camellia Girl”, but here what actually plays out is a display of hell. Midori is a young orphan girl who’s kidnapped and forced to work in a circus freak show. There, she goes through all kinds of abuse and trauma.

Even though it features heavy themes, Maruo’s drawings are delicate, artistic and beautiful, which causes a grotesque, yet impressive contrast. Maruo is a true artist, a painter (it’s not a surprise that he won a prize for Panorama Toukitan). There are panels like the one in the sunflower field that are just so pretty that ... it is difficult to take your eyes off.

Well, now, about the story, I understand those who doesn’t like it for it’s grotesque nature, but I disagree that this manga is only about pure shocking value. Maruo is an intellectual, who can write horrendous stories, but with purpose, reflection, even poetry. I’m not saying that it’s not for shocking value – because it is! –, but it’s way more than that. And it’s important to mention that there are heavy triggers here that can really disturb the readers. I don’t wanna give spoilers, but it’s not an exaggeration when I say that Midori goes through all kinds of pain. The story shows no mercy and goes far beyond any boundaries.

About the characters, there’s not much to say. Usually, Maruo’s characters are one-dimensional, because the focus is not really their development. They are more like assets to explore the themes that Maruo wants to present. In Shoujo Tsubaki, the characters are just cruel, without many relevant motivations. They are seen as freaks who are not allowed in society and live miserable lives, so they somehow embrace the hell they are living in and become part of it, dragging poor and innocent Midori into it. By the way, Midori herself is a character that impressed me. I was expecting the common scared and naïve little girl, but she shows a lot of attitude, despite her situation, at the same time that she is, indeed, very childish and sweet. She’s one of the keys for the story to work so well.

Shoujo Tsubaki, just like other pieces of eroguro, presents the worst in human nature so we can reflect about it. It’s a study of how far can a person go when there’s nothing much left in life. The story doesn’t endorses or try to justify these attitudes, it only shades a light into the absolute darkness that lurks in the human nature. If we're gonna talk about manga that are written only for shocking value, that only relies in gore, we have Pumpkin Night for example. And if we’re talking about manga that sexualize abuse and violence, with cheap motivation to justify those actions, when the truth is that’s all about feeding perverts, there’s Kaifuku. Suehiro Maruo is not about this. His works have meaning, art, reflection, they are well thought and crafted. It is purposely not for everybody, but it’s definitely needed.