Every fucking week Aku no Hana’s just sitting there, waving sinisterly from the middle of my Sunday afternoon. I’mtired, Aku no Hana. It’s been a long freaking week – do I really need to visit your nightmare world of embarrassment and despair again? I mean, yes, I do love you in the abstract, and you are certainly a very good show, but…

Well, alright. At least I’ll have some Gargantian happiness therapy later today. Act like a champion. No regrets.

Episode 7

1:45 – Kasuga always seems to surprise me by showing some real spine. He gets ridiculously worked up internally, but when push comes to shove he’ll yell at Nakamura, confess to Saeki, or ask her what’s wrong and what he can do to help. I think he would actually grow up and get over himself pretty quickly in the absence of Nakamura’s psychological attacks

2:58 – Aw yeah, OP #3. Let’s have it

5:42 – Man, Saeki’s displaying some crazy-ass emotional honesty for a middle schooler

Also, please, Kasuga 

6:30 – Man, he’s really writing the book on making shit worse for yourself

8:10 – “Gotten rid of another wall in your heart?” Gah, she’s so pathetic. She gets me with this mix of understanding and revulsion, in that her own narcissistic reasons for doing all this stuff are obvious, but her own damage doesn’t make the damage she’s causing any more justifiable. And then of course the show constantly trolls with her silly grins and stalking routines. Aku no Hana, you are an asshole

9:50 – Yep, ya broke him. Laugh it up

12:35 – Oh jeez these characters are so hideous  herp derp

17:14 – Nice to see Nakamura’s indifference broken when Kasuga refuses to play along. Also, that flashback to Kasuga’s haughty Baudelaire speech – it’s looking like they really are going to bond over the worst indulgences in each of their personalities, despite having nothing else in common. Enablers, yay!

And Done

Dear god you guys. That last sequence was so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so good. My lord. The direction, the beauty of the cascading, slow-motion class materials, the song, the pacing, the buildup to that one moment of Kasuga snapping, then Nakamura pushing him even further, then… I’m not sure I remembered to breathe during that. Incredible stuff – I already really liked this show, but that scene alone knocked it substantially upwards in my estimation. Man. I don’t know how they’ll ever be able to top that.

Well, it can’t be more uncomfortable than last week.

Episode 6

0:10 – The lilting school bell fills me with unearthly dread. Uuuugh…

0:25 – Now there’s an appropriate freeze-frame

1:17 – Oh man those classmate reaction shots. This show can be really funny when it wants to – Kasuga’s screaming derp-run, Nakamura’s airplane-noises stalking…

2:06 – What a lovely song this is

3:20 – It’s a great show in its own right, but every part of this really does play like a cruel perversion of a classic romcom, even down to the demented OP sung by the MCs

3:46 – Yamada’s definitely got a spine – he’s gone against Nakamura’s wishes plenty of times now, and here he’s immediately calling out his asshole friend for abandoning him when the class turned against him. This makes me both more aware of his frank dim view of people and more inclined to think he’s putting up with Nakamura’s bullshit at all because he likes the romantic tragedy of being abused like this

4:38 – Another great moment – Kasuga pausing mid-prance in horror

6:30 – Jeez, middle schoolers are dicks. I like how they just resort to make weird bird noises at them as they leave the room

7:59 – “Are you and Nakamura friends?” “WHY WOULD YOU ASK THAT, PRAY TELL?!?” God, this show doesn’t need the soundtrack to create an uncomfortable atmosphere – Kasuga’s perfectly capable of doing it all by himself

9:23 – “It’s a bit embarrassing to hear someone say that, huh?” Oh, Saeki. Saeki Saeki Saeki. That’s embarrassing?

11:27 – I like how you just get the shots of the desks being put together – “That’s right, shitheads, it’s time for an awkward lunch scene”

15:24 – “If you really loved her, you’d want to look at the whole picture” – Holy shit, Nakamura’s totally right for once! Kasuga is creating a fabricated version of Saeki to fit his own warped delusions of idealized platonic love. Unfortunately, her proving him wrong on this obvious truth will probably make him start thinking some of the othercrazy things she says are true, and then we’re gonna have a problem

16:45 – C’mon, who wouldn’t trust that face? [RES ignored duplicate image][1]

17:41 – “…spend eternity bound in noble and sublime love…” It’s like Nakamura is making Kasuga even more stuck in his delusions, since he has to articulate them all the more fervently to counteract her influence. Healthy!

18:32 – “I sure hope it wasn’t you… here are today’s printouts. You should take them to her.” After six straight episodes of middle schoolers being terrible to each other, it’s nice to get a brief glimpse of someone actually worried about their friend in an honest way

19:00 – This is it Kasuga! This is the moment. Walk in there, explain that you took her gym clothes, and it was stupid, and you regret it, and since then Nakamura has been abusing you, and that yesterday didn’t mean anything, and that you wish none of it had ever happened, and you hope she can forgive you! And she likes you, so she will, and the show will end at 6 episodes and we’ll all live happily ever after and I won’t have to live in this nightmare world of insecure middle schoolers any more

And Done

Man, Nakamura just makes this show. Well, I actually think both her and Kasuga are playing their roles to perfection, but her bouncy, silly enthusiasm for all of her cruel pranks is just great, and keeps the show from ever feeling dreary. She’s definitely one of the most entertaining villains I’ve seen

Why am I watching this. I hate uncomfortable things. I generally watch painful-looking scenes through my fingers, and empathize too much with well-written characters to ever enjoy seeing them squirm. And this is probably gonna be the least comfortable half hour of television I’ve ever endured.

…fuck it. Let’s go on a date.

Episode 5

1:00 – Nothing’s even happened and it’s already so uncomfortable I hate this I hate you people Why am I watching this Nooo…

2:05 – I was about to type, “Wow, these distant shots really increase the sense of creepy voyeurism here,” and then Nakamura’s head actually pops into the frame

2:42 – I also really like the way the limited features and fill-ins of more distant characters dehumanizes them, making this world feel even more dead and lonely

3:24 – Wow, never thought I’d describe Nakamura as adorable, but her airplane-secret agent run here is great

4:04 – You’re both middle schoolers, Kasuga. You don’t understand yourselves, much less each other

6:44 – I had to pause and go back to confirm the bookseller did indeed have two mustaches. Badass

7:50 – Was all this dialogue in the original? It’s fantastic – it’s really conveying his passion as a laudable, fully articulated thing. It’s almost improbable that someone so young could articulate the way they love something in a way that makes it so understandable to an outside audience

8:59 – Oh shit, his mustache is just so intense that it curls back over itself. Double badass

11:30 – “Admit you’re a crazy deviant… or I’ll fuck stuff up for you.” Yeah, that’s not exactly how this works, Nakamura. It’s a shame Kasuga only reads poetry, or he might have learned a thing or two about projection

12:32 – That’s quite an evil smile[1]  

15:10 – THIS SCENE AH GOD FUCK I CANT WATCH THIS. I was actually saying, “No, don’t, stop, nooo” at the screen. Gah this show

15:45 – Nakamura is killing it this episode. Her “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me” face is great as well

And Done

AHHHHH FUCK FUCKING FUCK IT. GodDAMNIT, this show is bad for my heart. Jesus that episode was intense, and uncomfortable, and just… well, just really fucking fantastic, actually. I was worried last episode that more overt plot would weaken the atmosphere – this episode demolished those concerns with the most focused and uncomfortable set of unbearable minutes yet. The concept of a classic “spiral into temptation” story where the antagonist is just a screwed-up, confused, very malicious teenager who wants to either destroy someone or at least prove she’s not alone is a great one, Kasuga has a rich and painful interior life that carries a lot of weight on its own, and all the aesthetic stuff is still ridiculously effective. I think this was the best episode yet, and probably my favorite episode of any show this week.

Welp, I guess I better take a break from drinking the tears  of disappointed moe lovers to fester in our inherently wretched and filthy human nature for a while. Buckle up kids, it’s Aku no Hana.

Episode 4

0:42 – Man, screw those dumb, dirty Alaskan seals. You never needed them anyway!

1:40 – God, those “their faces are hideous” comments were so freakin’ off-base. If they want a character to come across as attractive, they definitely have that power, as Saeki demonstrates here – most of the discomfort this show likes so much is in the framing, not the actual physical design

2:43 – Oh man, a whole new, also wildly tonally inappropriate OP? I like it – it’s got a great “circus funhouse of demented horrors” feel that does indeed describe this show

5:05 – Nakamura’s wise to his bravado. We can’t have him going and developing any self-worth on us here!

6:08 – That same argument with mom, that same wistful shrug from dad.

I think the formal structure of this show works really well for its goals as a mood piece. The way it settles into these rhythms of specific establishing shots, specific points in Kasuga’s day, specific repeated conversations – not only does it very sharply illustrate Kasuga’s changing mental state (since it’s contrasted against a situation where all the other variables remain familiar), but it also works almost like a slowly building song, where the melody remains the same but new elements frame it in harsher and harsher context as the tension rises. I wish more shows gave few enough fucks to attempt structural tricks like this

7:09 – Oh man, Kasuga’s flailing, derpy-armed happy run. That guy

8:18 – See, now it wants these characters to look awful. These weird, off-kilter closeups highlight the style, making them more like abstract animals with shining teeth. Because to Kasuga they’re just a bunch of uncomprehending animals anyways

12:55 – Omigod her faaaaace. They picked a really damn good Nakamura – her smile is terrifying

17:23 – Kasuga nooo. God, he lets her have so much power over him.

20:20 – He’s not you, Nakamura. Even if you get him to think he is, he still won’t be you.

I was actually very impressed by Kasuga’s defense of himself here – not only did he make a strong guess at Nakamura’s motivations, he also displayed the kind of honesty even his interior monologue tends to avoid when he asked her to let him enjoy a normal date. But Nakamura’s psychological issues are far worse than his (in fact, his aren’t even really issues, he just has the pompous faux-intellectual superiority of precocious, introverted teenagers), and her personality is far stronger as well. She’s gonna do some damage to this kid

And Done

Whew! Survived another one.

I think the direction wasn’t quite as powerful in this one, and the variety of necessary plot-advancing conversations kinda made the claustrophic mood a bit less pervasive (partially because it meant we couldn’t get as much of Kasuga’s painful inner monologue, and partially because they had to cut back on the incredibly creepy music), but even a not-incredibly-uncomfortable episode of Aku no Hana is pretty damn great.

I get the feeling next week’s will be perhaps the most uncomfortable one yet – they’ve set up the episode so it starts precisely as Kasuga would begin to panic about this date situation. I’m very much looking forward to it, in that way you look forward to things which will be horrifically painful. What’s that called again?

Oh right.

Masochism.

Well, shit.

Welp, time to feel a little bit worse about our fundamental human nature, I guess.

Aku no Hana can make twenty-three minutes seem like an awfully long, uncomfortable time. Can you imagine watching this show straight through? Hell, can you imagine owning the DVDs, and then just casually suggesting you and some friends sit down for a little anime? This show is a dangerous commodity.

But also a great one. That first episode rode perfectly on creeping tension and atmosphere, and the second one dragged us uncomfortably far into Our Hero’s tortured, claustrophobic, adolescent mind. Now he’s formed some kind of hellish contract with Nakamura, and has possibly ruined his social life and chances with his Muse regardless. Kasuga now lives in a nightmare realm of fear and shame, his last threads of dignity held in the grasp of an inscrutable demon-girl. Why this isn’t the breakout romcom of the season, I’ll never know.

Episode 3

0:30 – Maybe they do break with the tone of everything else, but I fucking love Kasuga’s wild-man screams. They’re obviously funny, but I think they also kind of point to the inherent disconnect between his florid, romanticized inner monologue and the actual world he’s living in and experiences he’s living through. You can frame your problems as the last cries of a tortured soul all you want, but you’re still just a kid wailing because people are gonna make fun of you

0:54 – Also probably good to leave the humor at the beginning, so it doesn’t break the tone elsewhere – I think the intro does something pretty similar. So far, the tone has been maintained so well that I hadn’t really considered the show might be thinking on a level above that tone and that world, but I’ll be keeping an eye out for it

4:30 – Couple things. First, the background art for this show continues to be spectacular. Beautiful in a tired, semi-decrepit kind of way – much like the rotoscoping, it’s just realistic enough to outline all the faults and ugliness of the real world to a level approaching the grotesque. Second, now I’m a bit more confident the show is playing with the protagonist’s perception of his conflicts – the disconnect between his panic and all the oblivious people around him seems to be directly indicating the distance between his mental state and the real world

6:10 – Nakamura’s actress has a fantastic “inspecting a strange and mildly interesting insect” default expression

6:52 – Still loving how the show uses that tower shot of the school as a kind of chapter title page

7:02 – Here’s a great example of what they’ve done with the backgrounds – virtually every element of this building has been reproduced perfectly, but then painted over with what looks almost like a watercolor speckling of mud. Like the whole world’s been neglected and has started to decay

12:00 – Goddamn, he was so close! But now it’s easier to fall in with her enabling influence – easier for him to believe his interior world really has some relation to the real world, that he is something truly different from everyone else.

Now he be fucked

13:38 – Why worry if they see, Kasuga? You’re better than them. You’re different

I was worried the writing wouldn’t be good enough, but so far this show’s thematic darkness is doing pretty well to hold up to the incredible aesthetics

16:21 – Ugh, this is brutal. They each want such fucked up forms of affirmation from the other. This show

And Done

I really love that trick with the ED over the fading final scene, and I think it’s a good example of the very distinct and difficult line the show walks regarding drama versus melodrama. While the tone virtually always absolutely supportive of Kasuga’s interior world, the show seems aware he’s living in a very personal, heightened reality, and that the actual reality is a quite different place. Not sinking entirely into his world while still respecting it and making you empathize uncomfortably with it is a ridiculous tough balance to strike, and I don’t think it’s always perfect, but I think it’s still doing an incredibly good job. Plus, all the visuals, the music, the voice acting, the non-voice acting… everything else remains stellar. The only question left is whether this story is worthy of all this meticulous artistic prep work – sure, it’s already an incredibly strong tone piece, but I’m excited to find out what this story really has to say

-edit- I didn’t comment on it at the time, but since finishing this episode, I’ve kept mulling over that multi-second frozen pause around 19:40. What effect is that supposed to create? Calling it animator laziness is lazy criticism – this show’s direction is too purposeful for that, and even if they wanted to cut corners, they could easily do it in less obvious ways, or just frame the shot differently. So what’s the actual intent of that frozen shot? I’m still unsure