Aku no Hana

[David75]

Kasuga Takao is a boy who loves reading books, particularly Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal. A girl at his school, Saeki Nanako, is his muse and his Venus, and he admires her from a distance. One day, he forgets his copy of Les Fleurs du Mal in the classroom and runs back alone to pick it up. In the classroom, he finds not only his book, but Saeki's gym uniform. On a mad impulse, he steals it.

Now everyone knows 'some pervert' stole Saeki's uniform, and Kasuga is dying with shame and guilt. Furthermore, the weird, creepy, and friendless girl of the class, Nakamura, saw him take the uniform. Instead of revealing it was him, she recognizes his kindred deviant spirit and uses her knowledge to take control of his life. Will it be possible for Kasuga to get closer to Saeki, despite Nakamura's meddling and his dark secret? What exactly does Nakamura intend to do with him?

So far, I've been watching this for the atmosphere and for the reference to Charles Baudelaire.
I do not expect much, nor I did from the start, so I'm open to good surprises from this show.
Thing is, the rotoscopy just ruins the visuals. It's really unconfortable, awkward and horrendous most of the time. Somehow, that's not a bad idea to induce that in the audience as reading some of Baudelaire's work clearly produces the same reactions... It's just a shame the manga had decent character designs and this is lost on that show.

The ED really did work on me. I also think it integrates well into the subject. Many will be put off by it. But it's one of the very few EDs I've been able to watch from ep1... Usually I just skip OP and ED. But for that one, I've been immediately hooked... when I skipped the OP easilly.

[gg]_Aku_no_Hana_-_01v2_[0F69A819].mkv
[gg]_Aku_no_Hana_-_02_[DF0473DD].mkv

[Inazuma]

Ok so I was curious about this show because of the immense net activity it creates.

Let me tell you what I am refering to:
Number of posts on 2ch

Aku no Hana - 16,368 posts
Shingeki no Kyojin - 12,463
Kakumeiki Valvrave - 11,901
Suisei no Gargantia - 9,982
Hataraku Maou-sama! - 6,790
Devil Survivor 2 - 6,513
Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince - 5,852
Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru. - 5,560
Red Data Girl - 4,620

[enkoujin]

So far, I've been watching this for the atmosphere and for the reference to Charles Baudelaire.
I do not expect much, nor I did from the start, so I'm open to good surprises from this show.
Thing is, the rotoscopy just ruins the visuals. It's really unconfortable, awkward and horrendous most of the time. Somehow, that's not a bad idea to induce that in the audience as reading some of Baudelaire's work clearly produces the same reactions... It's just a shame the manga had decent character designs and this is lost on that show.

I agree wholeheartedly. The visuals in this are awful.

[shinta|hikari]

I love works that try to make a statement or try something new with its animation, especially if it reflects the theme and atmosphere of the story.





datface

[David75]

Rotoscopy is nothing new. Just that it might not have been used for a whole show...

Ok so I was curious about this show because of the immense net activity it creates.

Let me tell you what I am refering to:
Number of posts on 2ch

Aku no Hana - 16,368 posts
Shingeki no Kyojin - 12,463
Kakumeiki Valvrave - 11,901
Suisei no Gargantia - 9,982
Hataraku Maou-sama! - 6,790
Devil Survivor 2 - 6,513
Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince - 5,852
Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru. - 5,560
Red Data Girl - 4,620

Woow. I wonder why so much reactions.

[shinta|hikari]

I was being sarcastic.

Posts are because of datface, which means it was a success essentially.

[David75]

Seems like I start getting bored with that show.
I kept asking myself if I was just sugar coating what I was seeing with past reads/experience instead of actually watching that.
I understand how the strings are pulled and kinda get the context of a young boy who can't free himself from the blunder he made, much like a little brat but with guilt feelings from someone older. It's just that it was not particularly well rendered.
Same with Nakamura and her actions, it felt off. I guess the rotoscopy thing really is ruining the show even more now.

[gg]_Aku_no_Hana_-_03_[1591D8CE].mkv

[Inazuma]

Ok guys. Seriously. I puked.

Lock this thread, take the key, melt it, make a 9mm bullet out of it and shoot the one in charge.

[shinta|hikari]

It is unfortunate because I love the manga.

[David75]

It is unfortunate because I love the manga.

The pages I've seen just make me sad for the poor choice they made on the visuals...

[Buffalobiian]

The pages I've seen just make me sad for the poor choice they made on the visuals...

I just flipped through some of the manga. It's not scary at all. I felt like I could possibly put up with Nakamura.

In the anime version, I just want to hightail the hell out. I guess it depends on whether you think it's a good idea to make this story as creepy as possible or not.

[Inazuma]

So I've taken a look at the mango and I really can't understand how they could fuck that up this badly. There was potential, I mean you have the chance for something truly deep and intelligent and you turn it all into a monstershow.

David you can understand me on this, Les Fleurs du mal didn't deserve that.

[Buffalobiian]

I'm watching this. The discordance makes you watch in horror (but not really). Nakamura's apeshit and I don't like her.

My favourite character has to be the friend with the hair. His typical-bro commentary only serves to highlight how far our MC has drifted from the mainstream.

[David75]

That's it, the artistical choice is awful, yet you have to watch. And that kind of uneasy situation is also a good match for Les fleurs du mal. But I'd rather have nice art...
I'm pretty certain I'll watch it bitterly to till the end and I might try the manga.
I still like the ED a lot.

Last thing, I wonder how the DVD/BR sales will be.

[shinta|hikari]

Apparently, in the Blu Ray, it is properly animated according the manga art style.

[David75]

Apparently, in the Blu Ray, it is properly animated according the manga art style.

So the BR would get another animation?
That'd be expensive to have 2 versions. Or rotoscopy really is cheap...

[shinta|hikari]

Yeah, they are actually working on both versions right now. Rotoscoping actually reduced the budget significantly allowing for this sort of production. I guess they want to offset the costs of doing double the animation work by forcing people to buy the superior manga style animated BR version.

That, or they decided to invest a bit more on another version for the BR knowing this horrendous one would tank.

[David75]

Now the question is:
Should I wait for the BR release...
Damn

[Buffalobiian]

gg - Episode 04



---------------------------------













Guy needs to grow a pair. Find an incinerator, burn the package. If you want, tell Saeki about the the fact that you stole her clothes. Before you tell her the story, ask her to listen to it in full. After you tell her the story, say that you understand she needs time to consider.

Say you'll meet her at a certain place at a certain time tomorrow. Whether she comes to meet you or not will be the only answer you need.

If all goes well, you win. If she dumps you, well at least you'll have a pretty good chance of being on ground zero since she's kinda fond of you right now. Hopefully she'll see that you're a guy with a sense of right and wrong, so she'll really believe in the accident.

[Buffalobiian]

So who's given up and who's still with me?

gg - Episode 05