(L) Aku No Hana (Flowers of Evil)

[justsomeguy]

I read through the first volume of the manga, and found it intriguing, but figured I'd settle for watching the show. I guess I'd better go back to reading.

Aku no Hana (anime) final score: 0/10. Totally unwatchable. What did they use for rotoscoping, male actors?

[MisaoFan]

Spoiler for Episode 1:

I watched the first episode, but I can't say it was good. First of all, the character designs bother me the most, they're pretty mediocre but at the same time are rarely used in anime thanks to its half-decent rotoscoping animation, and seeing them in motion looks pretty nice and realistic. However, they could have used the manga artwork instead, which I didn't mind unlike the anime artwork, which takes for me a while to get used to it. It was not as half-bad, but still bother me. The pacing is very slow as well with some changes, despite not having read the manga at all, but the characters looks very interesting personality-wise. The most intricate aspects however are the detailed backgrounds and the nice music. The opening theme feels a little too lighthearted and unfitting, even though it looks good itself and I feel like I was watching a live-action drama, the ending looks quite creepy in a good way, and the book's mysterious black, flower-shaped with an eye-like thing creature looks great. Too bad I don't think I'll continue watching it after the first episode because it just felt awkward, but doesn't look too bad in most aspects other than the artwork.

[jeroz]

Let's just say that for those fans of the manga, you'll be in for a big surprise.

It's pure art. I need something for my stomach

[totoum]

Originally Posted by ahelo

^ from the comments, I hear faces disappear a lot.

That's my main issue from watching the raw.Makes the whole thing seem unfinished.

That and the fact that if you're gonna go for a realistic art style, you really do need to put noses and lips on your characters, no noses or lips can work in stylized anime art but in something like this it just looks weird.

That being said,I never expected the characters to look attractive since I figured they must have used the avereage highschool student and your average high school girl doesn't look like an idol.

[kuromitsu]

Okay, I watched ep 1, and you know what, this isn't half bad. Not at all.

I haven't read the manga, but the anime is trying to be a live-action drama - with rotoscope because actual live-action is expensive. This whole episode played out like a movie, with the pacing, the general visuals and "camerawork" of a movie, even the voice acting was trying to be realistic instead of what you usually hear in anime (it's a mixed bag, though). In short, this show is a live-action movie disguised as an anime, and once I accepted that everything fell into place and I had no problem at all with how the characters looked and sounded. I don't think they could've achieved the effect they were going after with anime-esque character designs and voice acting.

So, this is enough to keep my attention for now, partly because of the novelty value, and partly because there's actually a very nice tension in the episode and I want to see how it plays out. I'm not sure I'll be able to take this for 12-13 episodes, but I'll keep watching it for now.

So all in all, I think it's pretty good so far. You just have to forget about everything you expected. xD;;

Also, TIL that Baudelaire sounds pretty okay in Japanese. (Unlike Shakespeare.)

[Terrestrial Dream]

Originally Posted by bastek66

kill it with fire

Spoiler for aaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhh:

hahahahahahahahaha , omg this hilarious. The face of Nakamura, omg I am dying inside right now.
Oh boy, well if the anime looks this bad, I don't think I will watch the anime.

[Utsuro no Hako]

After watching the episode, I don't think it's near as bad as those screenshots make it out. The rotoscoping looks weird for the first few minutes because things move in real life that animators never bother to draw, but once you get used to it, it looks fine. The one big problem is faces. I didn't have a problem with Kasuga and his pals since they aren't supposed to be that good looking, but Saeki doesn't come across as nearly beautiful enough and Nakamura ... dear god. If they're going to use the faces of the rotoscoped actors, they should've cast someone better looking for the part.

Now where the show really works is in sound design. I love that most of the seiyuu don't sound like anime characters, and the dialogue was actually recorded on location, with lots of echoes and reverberations that you don't get from sound booths. The BGM is very effective at setting the mood for the series, and the ED is brilliant. My only complaint is the OP sounds so out of place.

One worry I have is the pacing. The slow development is fitting for the story, but this episode only made it twenty pages into the first chapter. From what I've heard this is only a one-cour series and I'm afraid they're going to make drastic changes to the story to fit it into thirteen episodes.

[omimon]

The author is currently of suicide watch.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Terrestrial Dream

hahahahahahahahaha , omg this hilarious. The face of Nakamura, omg I am dying inside right now.

Just want to say that the look in her eyes is because the screenshot is taken while she's blinking her eyes,anyone looks retartded when you take a picture of them while they're blinking

even the voice acting was trying to be realistic instead of what you usually hear in anime (it's a mixed bag, though).

That actually surprised me since most of the cast are seiyuus, generally shows that want to be realistic cast live action actors.

[ahelo]

Oh god I really can't wait to watch this tomorrow. If they were to choose a series to be all weird and experimental on, honestly Aku no Hana is the perfect series for that.

[frubam]

Other than that cheerful(i.e. HORRIBLE) OP, this wasn't that bad at all. In fact, I think I prefer this way to tell the story. I'll admit, the faces are ugly except Saeki's, but the whole 'realism' feel of it really hits home.

The key thing about the way this anime(though I moreso agree with kuro in that it feels more like a live-action in anime clothing) is being told is the mood the sound presents. Well, Hako put it best. In comparison to the manga,

Spoiler for no direct manga spoilers, but just in case:

you can really feel the tension. Because of the way the chars are drawn in the manga, in general, you get a sense of "oh, another lame MC", as you progress through the story, but the way this anime is being told, coupled with the dreary, foreboding music, even with the same events as the manga, the interpretation will be much more different. That feeling of dread is what will make this show hit or miss; I only hope they hit it out of the ballpark.

[Kakkou]

Count me in amongst those who didn't find the whole look of the animation that bad. The disappearing/reappearing faces though, were awful. Like, incredibly bad. Surely someone must've gone "We should probably do something about those vanishing faces" when the staff went over the completed episode.

Spoiler for Exhibit A:

Really, that's my biggest problem. It's already bad enough that their choice of rotoscoping has it seated deep within the uncanny valley, this strange quip along with other smaller issues do not help the anime at all.

Anyway contrary to what i said before, I might just check out one or two more episodes just to see how certain scenes will look. Then I'll drop the anime for good, since the manga isn't really for me. I've been interested in this solely because I was curious how they'd handle the rotoscoping, so there's no more need to stick around once I've satisfied myself.

[aohige]

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

*cough*

Hang on, let me chug this Pina Colada.

......

Ok, resuming laughter.

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[RollingPenguin]

Not only does it not look bad I actually like it.Definitely am going to continue watching this.

[DorkingtonPugsly]

I don't know... I've yet to watch it so I don't have a final say as of now but... it's just creep that style, at least for me. I feel like I'm seeing some experimental trippy horror tale that's supposed to freak the viewer out with the visuals. I don't know man, this 'thing' is just... I just lunch and I'm feeling queasy. I'm gonna watch this tonight and I'll regret it, I know it.

[DmonHiro]

I once said that the character designs for the Aku No Hana manga were horrible. I take it back. Compared to the anime version, those designs are the equivalent of Belldandy and Lum. GODDAMN IS THE ANIME VERSION UGLY!!!

[Kanon]

Oh god, this is hilarious. I seriously can't stop laughing

I've only seen screenshots so maybe this looks better animated (lol, "animated") but... no, just no. Do that for an original series if you want but not a manga adaptation. Does the main heroine really have that face on all the time?

[Archon_Wing]

Zecxs = The retarded brother of Deen

[Westlo]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

Zecxs = The retarded brother of Deen

It was probably the director who wanted to go with this style, considering who he is and what he's done he should get a pass, even if this fails. I'm sure this post won't stop people mindless bashing Zecxs and acting like the director of Mushishi is a hack.

[Reckoner]

Zexcs is on my shitlist now with DEEN. What the flying ****.

Way to ruin an interesting manga with complete shit designs. LOL.

Originally Posted by Westlo

It was probably the director who wanted to go with this style, considering who he is and what he's done he should get a pass, even if this fails. I'm sure this post won't stop people mindless bashing Zecxs and acting like the director of Mushishi is a hack.

Zecxs when they are the sole production studio behind a work have repeatedly churned out complete crap. That's not mindlessly bashing a studio, they soiled their own reputation.

As for the director, that's just disappointing to find out that he screwed up this hard. He doesn't get a free pass from me. Mushishi was great, but doesn't mean I forgive for this. Mushishi came out quite a few years ago now.