Aku No Hana episode 1 reminds me of my youth vividly and sympathized with the protagonist.
Some parts of what they presented are what I have ever experienced in my youth :
- Daily routine is boring.
- Most of girls in the class are not pretty and do not have good figure.
- Boys seem to be fool and conversations among them are empty.
- Sexual interest and desire are issues for them.
- A few boys want to be a sophisticated and/or special person or pretend to be so. They go to polite / foreign literature, foreign music, philosophy, avantgarde art and so on even if the guys can't understand them. ( This is what the word " Chunibyo " originally indicates.)
- Such kind of boys tend to be warped and feel an oppression / stress in their life.
- In the heart, students dislike teachers ( and adults ) who are repressive and hypocritical. And a few students rebel against them.
As for " Why in anime, not a live action " issue, I guess :
- As the director said, a taste of Aku No Hana is suitable for a live action drama. However Aku No Hana handles sexual, antisocial and obnoxious behavioir by minors. Japanese majority is comparatively tolerant about such a subject if it is shown in novels, manga, R-15 / R-18 live movies, and late-night anime but intolerant if in live action dramas on TV. So the publisher expects that the regulation will not allow them to broadcast it on TV if it is a live action drama.
- TV anime adaptation gets more people's interest than live action drama adaptation if the latter is not brought to prime time ( or if the latter doesn't get large film distribution ). Making a live action drama on prime time requires a big budget and investment by a major TV station.
- Many anime depend on visually impressive characters ( e.g. moe ) to show and promote themselves. It seems that the director attach weight to a scenario and atmosphere.
In my opinion, if the anime adaptation of Aku No Hana were in traditional style, it wouldn't get people's attention as much as it actually does, and it would be in obscurity like many late-night anime.
By the way, according to the latest interview with the author about the source material, a model of Nakamura's personality is his wife, while her face is modeled on Miu Nakamura ( Image search is NSFW ).
http://news.nicovideo.jp/watch/nw574735