It’s been a little while since I have reviewed anything I watched and with all of the craziness of the last couple months. I never heard of Flowers of Evil until a friend told me to check out the first episode since it had an interesting art style and he wasn’t sure why it looked the way it did. So I checked it out and I loved seeing the rotoscoping technique in action so I wanted to check it out on a weekly basis, but was so busy I ended up marathoning it a week or so ago.

First off, this has been probably one of the most debated series I have ever seen in recent memory. In the anime fandom world, it seems to be a title you hate or you love for various reasons. Flowers of Evil was produced by Zexcs, and is licensed in the US by Sentai Filmworks.

The first reason is the art style, the rotoscoping technique isn’t for everyone. There are films that use similar techniques that I hated, A Scanner Darkly for one. While it employs a slightly different visual, it is using the same technique.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY5PpGQ2OWY&w=560&h=315]

Here is a screenshot of the style of Flowers of Evil.

Flowers of Evil uses less shading when compared to A Scanner Darkly, which is why I think it appeals to me more. The rotoscoping allows for them to get some really great details in the close up facial expressions.

While the characters are rotoscoped, the backgrounds are very beautifully painted. There were times in the series, that I was in awe over some of the painted backgrounds. And if you watch the series, there is a beautiful sequence in episode 7 that is artwork. Several amazing sequences of animation that are some of the best things I have seen in a long time. I wish I could post up just that sequence, it was that good.

If you aren’t turned off by the artwork, the story itself is very unique and is not something for everyone. The story revolves around the main character Kasuga, who likes one of the popular girls in school. Also getting involved in this story is the “creepy” girl in the class, Nakamura, who sees a way to start to manipulate Kasuga for her amusement and other motivations.

The first season is 13 episodes, and showcases the growing escalation between the three characters relationships towards one another. While part of Kasuga wants a normal relationship with the girl Saeki, Kasuga also reveals a potential darkside which likes Nakamura. All of this is set in a small town and not a giant city like Tokyo which adds to some of the characters motivations.

The music in the series is great. The ending theme is rather creepy, while the opening theme seems a little ironic with its tone and also artwork. This was a series that I would watch one episode and feel like I needed to watch the other right away. I am not sure if the series will get a season 2, but if not I will be buying the manga to finish up. If you have seen Flowers of Evil feel free to comment below and let me know what you thought. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can view it on Crunchyroll.