The first combined edition of The Flowers of Evil features volumes 1-3 of this best-selling and acclaimed series. It follows the adventures of a lonely bookish teen struggling to find his identity through Baudelaire's poetry, until two girls -- a beauty and a bully -- help him find true love and friendship. Edgy, intense, and romantic, this new edition will give fans a chance to reconnect with Kasuga, Saeki, and Nakamura as it explores the issues of bullying, loneliness, individuality, and identity.
Shuzo Oshimi (押見修造, Oshimi Shūzō) is a Japanese manga creator. Drawn in a realistic art style, his comics tend to be psychological dramas exploring the difficulties in human relationships and often touching on disturbing situations and perversions. Oshimi debuted in 2001 with the manga series Avant-Garde Yumeko, appeared in Kodansha's 'Monthly Shōnen Magazine.' Most of his works since then have been published by Kodansha and Futabasha. Among his first successes the single volume manga Sweet Poolside (2004), later adapted into a live-action film, and the series Drifting Net Café (2008–2011), also adapted for TV. Oshimi reached international acclaims with The Flowers of Evil (2009–2014) and Inside Mari (2012–2016), both adapted into successful anime. Other notable works are Blood on the Tracks (2017–2023) and Welcome Back, Alice (2020-2023) .
This gave me the vibes of the Netflix series The End of the F*cking World but way more intense and disgusting.
I enjoy this concept but there are a lot of things this girl does that are beeeeyond the realm of reality. She goes way too far and I can't understand anyone allowing her to act this way. Especially for this boy to find something admirable about it. Not even in a weird way.
I like the concept but it was too far in one direction for it to sit right with me
Kasuga ist ein stiller, in sich gekehrter Schüler, der Bücher & Lesen liebt und Baudelaires DIE BLUMEN DES BÖSEN als sein Lieblingsbuch auserkoren hat. Dabei sind Baudelaires antibürgerlicher Attitude und seine abweichenden Moralvorstellungen Kasuga eigentlich wesensfremd. Als aber die von ihm im Stillen angebetete Klassenkameradin Saeki ihre Sportsachen im Klassenraum liegen lässt, stiehlt Kasuga sie: „The Flowers of Evil for real“, konstatiert er mit Erschütterung, als er mit der Beute zuhause ankommt. Der sexuell=triebhafte Hinter(n)grund seiner Handlung macht ihm furchtbare Angst, vor allem der Selbstvorwurf, ein Perverser zu sein. Er versucht, sein sexuelles Verlangen auszublenden und idealisiert Saeki weiter als seine Muse, die er nur platonisch lieben kann & will. Der eigentliche Motor der Handlung ist Nakamura, eine Klassenkameradin, die eine Außenseiterrolle in der Klasse einnimmt. Sie hat Kasuga beim Diebstahl beobachtet und benutzt ihr Wissen, um Kasuga zu manipulieren und in immer gefährlichere Situationen zu verwickeln. Sie nutzt seine Unschuld aus und beschimpft ihn immer wieder als pervers, ein Vorwurf, den Kasuga auch angstvoll gegen sich selbst erhebt. Erstaunlich, dass Kasuga Baudelaire liest und zugleich fern jeder Selbsterkenntnis von seiner Angst beherrscht wird und auf keine Fall in der Klasse auffallen möchte. So ist es für Nakamura ein einfaches, Kasuga ihren sexuell motivierten Machtspielchen zu unterwerfen. Sich über Konventionen hinwegzusetzen fällt Nakamura leicht, sie agiert berechnend und skrupellos. Aber was genau will sie eigentlich erreichen, wenn sie Kasuga demütigt, ihm seine sexuellen Motive unter die Nase reibt und es schließlich sogar zuwege bringt, dass Kasuga mit der unerreichbar geglaubten Saeki eine Freundschaft zustande zu bringt? Offenbar sind ihre Pläne durchdacht und dienen dem Ziel, Kasuga an sich zu binden. In einer wilden nächtlichen Aktion, in der Kasuga den Diebstahl von Saekis Sportwäsche bekennen und sich als Perverser outen will, um endlich seine Schuldgefühle loszuwerden, verwüsten Nakamura und er den Klassenraum in einer Vandalismusorige, in die Kasuga sich angestachelt durch Nakamura hineinsteigert. Als sie beide schließlich erschöpft und befreit zwischen den umgestürzten Tischen und Bänken liegen, ist der erotische Subtext nicht mehr zu verkennen. Nakamuras Motivation, man ahnte es schon lange, ist es, Kontrolle über Kasuga zu erlangen, weil er der einzige Schüler ist, den sie attraktiv findet. Dabei ist sie baudelairescher Perversion tausendmal näher als Kasuga und agiert skrupellos und ohne moralische Skrupel, um Kasuga zu dominieren.
Nakamura ist für mich die heimliche Hauptfigur in den FLOWERS OF EVIL, vielschichtiger und interessanter als die hübschere Saeki, und auch diejenige, die den Fortgang der Handlung bestimmt und alle Weichen stellt. Sie fürchtet sich nicht davor, verurteilt zu werden. Sie als "Bully" zu beschreiben, wäre meiner Ansicht nach ganz falsch, denn in gewisser Weise hilft sie Kasuga, seine Ängste zu überwinden und Mauern zu durchbrechen.
Kasugas Angst, ein "Perverser" zu sein, wirkt bei seiner Liebe zu Baudelaire schwer fassbar. Aber tatsächlich wird der Begriff ständig als Schimpfwort benutzt und ich musste an ein Panel in einem Supergirl-Comic denken, in dem es heißt: "Stop staring at my ass, pervert!" THE FLOWERS OF EVIL ist zwar reichlich getränkt von pubertärer teen angst, aber die Frage, was "pervers" in einer vermeintlich aufgeklärten Gesellschaft eigentlich genau heißen soll und warum die Bezeichnung als Schimpfwort eine solche Wirkkraft hat, lohnt der Überlegung. Verstöße gegen die bürgerliche Wohlanständigkeit und Ordnung bleiben niemals ungestraft, auch 2021 nicht.
Okay, I found myself unexpectedly riveted by the amped-up psychosexual teen angst in this study of outsiders, bullies and perversion. The writer seems to be constantly writing himself into a corner only to surprise me with weird twists and turns. I don't know how he can maintain this bizarre tightrope act, but I'm eager to see him try.
I was recommended this and at first I didn't know what to make of it or what genre to categorise it under. Never before have I felt so many emotions while reading any book. This is about 540 pages, and I finished it in two days.
It's set in a school, where a young boy becomes obsessed with a girl in his class. It's more than love or lust, he regards her as his angel, his muse, completely pure in heart and in spirit. In his mind, she is the most perfect girl and he deeply respects her. But one day, when everyone has gone home for the day, he finds a bag on the floor with her gym uniform in. He decides to take it home, to keep it safe and possibly return it. But he admires it and even smells it. When he discovers that another fellow girl confronts him, that she saw him take the uniform, she turn his whole world upside down. She constantly tells his that he is a pervert and trash, and instructs he to do what she what's, including wearing the uniform while on a date with his dream girl. She is completely insane, strange and seems to get a sexual satisfaction from doing this. Why is she doing this? Was she sexually abused or assaulted? Does she feel that she has to stand up for her fellow classmates? Even though she seems to enjoy the scent of this other girl. Or does she simply want to what the world burn and dance amongst the destruction? And in this middle of these two girl, is the boy, who isn't a bad person but is experiencing sexual attraction and feeling towards the opposite sex for the first time.
We had an all consuming week while watching the anime of this. Most of what I have to say about the story itself is in my Letterboxd review. We immediately bought the flowers of evil by Baudelaire from a bookstore and I requested all the volumes of the manga from the library. The first volume is what the show covers. Usually my policy is to wait over a year between consuming different mediums/adaptations of the same story, because 1)I don't like spending the whole time comparing them instead of enjoying the work in its own right and 2)if enough time has passed I probably forgot a ton and can still get surprised or shocked at the twists and turns in the story.
But I NEED to know what happens after the events of the show, bc the show ends seeming like it's leading to a second season but there never was one. So I am making an exception.
Beat for beat the show was identical in plot points. The characters in the drawings look much younger than the rotoscoping. The show has a way darker tone because of this, plus the music and the silences. I probably read this too fast because I knew everything that was going to happen, but one major positive about the show is how slow paced it is. The hand holding scene when they walk back home after vandalizing the classroom lasts an ETERNITY in the show. My eyes only glance at the page for a fraction of a second.
This edition contains multiple issues, and I think they assume you've already read it because in between each chapter there is added commentary from the author. I really liked this given I already knew the story. Oshimi talks about all the works of art and books that inspired the manga, and also anecdotes from his hometown and childhood that were used in the story. It may have taken me out of immersion a little bit if I didn't already know everything, but here it really added to the experience.
I lost count of how many times I insulted Kasuga and Nakamura throughout the book, for different reasons.
Kasuga for keeping himself being bullied and manipulated.
Nakamura for being a cold hearted psycho.
That is what makes Oshimi so brilliant. Even though we know how much of a psycho she is, Oshimi knows exactly how to make the reader feel something for her. We tend to let our eyes deceive us from the true nature of what is before us.
Saeki seems to be the only normal decent human being that deserves more than what she is receiving.
But life is exactly like this. Sometimes things are not as clear from the 1st person view as they are from a 3rd person, in this case, the reader.
Definitely a roller coaster of emotions that makes you furiously keep flipping the pages.
Oshimi's art in the panels that have more details is simply beautiful.
I got up to the point where he stole a girls gym clothes and sniffed them and some girl who sits behind him blackmails him as well as shoved him into the girl he stole the clothes from, such that his face hits her breasts. Strong INCEL vibes and just could not care less about the characters or the premise or the art. Another “best of” manga that was completely baffling as to why it makes peoples’ lists.
Volume 1 (2 stars) Original review- I tried reading this like 2 years ago and DNF’d halfway through. After reading and loving Happiness by Shuzo Oshimi, I decided to give this one another chance. I was right to DNF this 2 years ago. This really isn’t for me… at least I finished it this time… I dunno, maybe it gets better?
Volume 2 (2 stars) Original review- The only reason I continued this series and read this volume was because it’s really quick to read and it was free on Kindle Unlimited, apart from that there was almost no fun in reading this one. It did not get better. For some reason Kindle have literally all the volumes EXCEPT volume 3, which is really weird. Anyway I definitely won’t be continuing this series.
A sort of Bildungsroman riff on Bataille’s Story of the Eye, its perversity perhaps all the more striking for being told in the humorous, eminently ordinary manner of young adult fiction. I think I was expecting something a lot darker and more overtly unsettling, but as it is this is still totally engrossing, with an impressively absorbing narrative and some fascinating explorations of sexual “otherness” and conformity. It was also just fun to see typical coming-of-age conflicts blended with highly specific sub/dom fetish scenarios. I’d read the next volume.
Definitely an engaging and engrossing read. A darker take on growing up, wanting to belong, to feel special, to get outa plain ol' boring town with nothing to do or see. But to the detriment of self, of not knowing the first answer isn't always the right one, and giving in to peer pressure. Giving in to what looks special and afraid to be seen as not worth anything. Not yet knowing how to not care about others' opinions. Putting up facades of superiority or perfection. Hiding mistakes until they tumble into bigger and more frightening mistakes. And only 17 out of 58 chapters so far.
Two of the three main leads struggle with anxiety over acceptance (one successfully hidden from the audience until several chapters in), while the third instigates and exacerbates everything. Whether this is on purpose, accidental and only a hint of their deeper problems, or somewhere in between, remains to be seen.
Can all this be but something to laugh at later on, or will it spiral into further despair? Vol. 2 next!
Also, for a point of interest, this 3-in-1 volume is all that the anime covered. There's maybe a missing scene or two of Nakamura that I'm not sure is anime original or in a later vol, but time will tell.
4,5 To jest tak dziwne, tak nietypowe Mimo, że znam anime - które kończy się, z tego co pamiętam, w miejscu zakończenia tego tomu - dalej mnie fascynuje i jestem ciekawa co będzie dalej
High school slice of life, but a psychopath manipulates the boy we follow. The angst gets a bit ridiculous, but I love the fast-paced pannel style, the smooth-lined art and raw emotions on full display. Not my fav by Oshimi, but still curious how cruel and twisted this story can get.
AHAHAHAH TAKE THAT 2024 READING CHALLENGE!!!genuinely one of the best series i’ve ever read. i read the entirety online this year at some point and this first volume i have bought and am currently reading. whilst the first volume does take a little bit to get into, eventually you get used to it and the ideas that the series explored are just so cool to dive into although a bit depressing. anyway GO READ THIS NOW. shuzo oshimi is the goat, and i can say that after reading all his works (apart from his oneshots) i will be rereading this manga in its physical form at some point next year so there will be a “re-read review”.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 💫 Critical Score: B+ Personal Score: B Reading Experience: 📘📘📘📘📘
What a strange little manga. Like a dark and sexual John Green book.
Hard to pin down it’s genre. I was expecting horror, maybe some fantasy. Yeah…didn’t get that. But I was still very engaged the whole through, and I appreciated the increasingly dark tones.
A little male gaze-y, but the curious themes elevate the story considerably (as do the similarly curious afterwards).
Would love to see how this angsty series progresses.
I started reading this with having no idea what is it about. Appareantly it’s just a manga about perverts😀 The protagonist literally allows one girl to bully him🕴Idk i guess it was just stupidly unrealistic at times, but i enjoyed it sometimes.
İsmini Baudelaire'ın kitabından alan seri yazarın özel ilgi alanı olan insanın içinde bir şekilde var olan sapıklıklarla ilgili. Okurken ana karakterin davranışlarını idrak etmekte zorlansam da Oshimi kendini okutturmayı iyi biliyor. Çizimleri de güzel olunca seri bir şekilde kendine bağlıyor.