Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Woah, woah, woah… That Nakamura girl is in some serious need of therapy, the kid’s totally sick, twisted, and shows signs of being someone who could turn into a serial killer. For now, she is just an over-confident bully, but the signs are there. I am not going to be surprised if she simply stabs someone to death! (Not yet, not yet, it’s not a spoiler)
Okay, first let’s quickly recap volume 1 & 2 of ‘Flowers of Evil’ by Shuzo Oshimi: Protagonist Takao Kasuga is a voracious reader with a big crush on class topper Nanaki Saeki. One day, he takes home Saeki’s gym clothes on a whim, and is act is seen by Sawa Nakamura, so the latter starts blackmailing and bullying Kasuga. Scared of being branded a perverted thief, Kasuga becomes Nakamura’s puppet, but things get more complicated when Saeki agrees to date Kasuga. What will happen when she learns the truth?
Volume 2 of ‘Flowers of Evil’ had ended with Nakamura forcing Kasuga to write in the classroom board that he is the pervert who stole Saeki’s gym clothes. So volume 3 begins with an anxious Kasuga heading to school, terrified about his secret finally being out. But in a twist, the blackboard doesn’t contain his name, however, Saeki finds out the truth nonetheless. How Saeki reacts to the truth and how Nakamura continues to manipulate and torment Kasuga forms the rest of volume.
These chapters were super intense, emotionally turbulent, and definitely not middle-school level, but then again, this manga isn’t meant for young readers and is targeted at adults. But regardless, I feel like having older protagonists, teens who were at least in their high-school, would’ve made more sense in ‘Flowers of Evil’, because not just the malevolent Nakamura, but even Kasuga and Saeki behave much much older than their age.
Saeki emerges as the biggest surprise in this volume, while she first seems to be a shy, innocent, studious girl with a kind heart, her actions after finding out Kasuga stole her clothes are quite unexpected. While she is forgiving, and that’s all right, the desperation with which she clings to her 2-day old (okay, maybe it’s been more than 2 days) relationship just seems bizarre. Maybe the next few volumes might explain why Saeki is the way she is, but at the current point in the story, her character development seems strange and forced.
All the action in this volume of ‘Flowers of Evil’ takes place during the course of one single night, a rainy one at that, so the artwork is frenzied and bleak. The panels lay strong emphasis on the characters’ faces and bodies, and the atmosphere is sexually charged. The incessant rain, the imposing mountains, and the burgeoning sexuality, confusion, despair of the young characters dominate the chapters.
Nakamura disgustingly degrades and dehumanizes Kasuga in the climactic pages of this volume, and even though her malevolent nature has been as plain as daylight, the author really pushes the character to do despicable things that seem more like a means to shock the reader than to carry the story forward. I am not sure how the story is going to continue, because all the primary protagonists should ideally simply cut ties with each other, given how distorted their dynamics have become. At this point in the story, it honestly feels like Shuzo Oshimi could’ve simply wrapped it up with an emotional confrontation and resolution between the trio.
Rating: 3 on 5. The manga is also on Kindle Unlimited.
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