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Flowers of Evil Volumes 1 & 2 Review: A Disturbing Page-Turner
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Guilt and shame are strange emotions, they’re grey areas, and no one can decisively say which situations deserve them. Sometimes, guilt is as simple as feeling regret for taking a short nap after an exhausting day at work, even though those same minutes might have been spent watching cat videos online.
Shuzo Oshimi, in his manga ‘Flowers of Evil‘, explores the slightly more complex guilt and shame of being a teenager with a secret – of doing something on a whim without realizing the consequences. The manga dives into teen anxiety, moral dilemmas, and the dark side of adolescent desire.
Protagonist Takao Kasuga is a middle school student with struggling grades who loves reading Baudelaire and daydreaming about classmate Nanaki Saeki, the class topper. One day, when he impulsively “takes” something that belongs to Saeki, class bully Nakagawa sees it and threatens to expose him as a perverted thief, unless he agrees to a “contract” with her. This contract essentially means doing her bidding if he wants to keep his secret safe.
Despite its simple school setting, Flowers of Evil unfolds like a horror manga, with the primary focus on how Nakagawa, an asocial student, bullies Kasuga in twisted ways, despite the two also spending hours together like regular friends. But whenever Nakagawa sees Saeki around, she finds sick ways to humiliate Kasuga, a timid bookworm who doesn’t know how to escape her clutches.
Of course, the simple way out for Kasuga would be to destroy the evidence and label Nakagawa a liar if she ever decides to expose him. But despite that one aberrant act of stealing, he is an idealistic boy who deeply regrets his actions, even before realizing there was a witness. He also brands his own act a ‘sin’, with Shuzo Oshimi subtly (or perhaps deliberately) displaying how religious fear can be tormenting. Kasuga is primarily shackled by his own shame, Nakagawa simply is able to take advantage of his vulnerabilities.
Volume 2 of Flowers of Evil offers a big twist in the tale, with Saeki turning out to be a sweet, shy girl who appreciates Kasuga’s bibliophile side and even agrees to hang out with him. While Kasuga is over the moon to be spending time with his crush, this only gives Nakagawa more ammunition to bully him. She is foul-mouthed, short-tempered, and disturbingly adult in the way she manipulates Kasuga, tainting his worldview with her distorted notions of “perversion,” relationships, and sex.
While the artwork isn’t to my liking, it’s on the simpler side, and sometimes the drawings are just weird, but the story is quite the page turner. I was only planning on reading and reviewing volume one at first, but couldn’t stop myself from getting volume two immediately. This is a binge-worthy manga, and volume 2 ends in total chaos.
Rating: 4 on 5. ‘Flowers of Evil’ is available on Kindle Unlimited.
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