Takao Kasuga is a
2nd year middle school student in a small and secluded town. He spends most of his free time consuming
provocative literature from all over the world.
His favorite book is a collection of taboo poetry by 18th
century French author Charles Baudelaire called…Les Fluer du mal (Flowers of
Evil). Takao has a crush on classmate
Nanako Saeki. One day after school he
ends up inadvertently stealing her gym clothes.
His plans to secretly return them are ruined the next day when word of
the theft spreads and everyone starts talking about a pervert being on the
loose. After school the troubled girl
who sits behind him, Sawa Nakamura, confronts Takao and tells him she knows
that he stole the uniform. She will keep
his secret if he agrees to join in a ‘contract’ with her. For fear of destroying any chance he has of
dating Saeki and being labeled a thief and a pervert, Takao reluctantly agrees
with Nakamura. Just what she wants out
of him in regards to the contract are a mystery and his life is now filled with
anxiety over the truth being leaked and what Nakamura has in store for him.
This is a slow
moving and very heavy drama. Initially I
kept expecting there to be a lot of violence and supernatural elements in the
series, but it’s all psychological and in many ways covertly so. The major themes are isolation, control and
struggles with identity but in one way this is a story about romance…a very
twisted way. The most striking thing is
the artwork, which was done using rotoscope technology. If you are unfamiliar with it, watch the
movie A Scanner Darkly. They take live
footage and using a computer program, turn that live footage into
animation. You get comfortable with it
by about the 2nd or 3rd episode. But it can be a bit jarring. I thought it was fantastic, especially since
they chose to keep the animation as realistic as possible, showing the reality
of what Japan looks like, both its people and its neighborhoods. While pretty much all anime is about bright
colors and unnatural features for the characters, many titles also gloss over
the less tidy aspects of Japan. I don’t
want to say that the country is trashy, there are areas of Tokyo where I have
been and was afraid to toss a finished cigarette on the ground. But in general many buildings in the country
have a somewhat sad look to them. The
city in which the story takes place is run down with plenty of rusty facades
and faded signs. I’ve been in
neighborhoods like that, seen cities like that and it was good to see it so
well portrayed in anime...the real Japan.
OK, the
story. As I said before this is very
slow moving. Through much of it you are
unsure what sort of resolution the story is supposed to reach. The key points are the development of the
three main characters and building on the tension of Takao’s secret. Much of his paranoia is due to the general
nature of peer interactions in adolescence, being such a confusing and
problematic time. From my understanding
of how schools can be in Japan from accounts by foreigners who have taught
there it can be even more daunting to be a teenager there. The level of social acceptance in Japan is
incredibly high, being a normal member of the group is one of the most
important things and any deviation, real or not, can be devastating to the
accused party. There is a reason teen
suicides are so high in Japan. On top of
this the restrictions placed on teachers creates a situation where the children are partially in control of the classrooms. As opposed to America, Japanese teachers are
almost powerless to enforce order in their classroom, with PTA’s being the most
powerful voice in the schools. If a
class decides to ignore and disrespect their teacher things can get out of hand
quickly and could result in little to no punishment for their actions. This is a realistic portrayal of growing up
and dealing with your own identity; whether through your own eyes or those
around you. That being said, I really
enjoyed this show and it is such a breath of fresh air in the land of current
anime. But, it’s not for everyone, it is
dark, moody and not an escape from reality.
More, it’s an escape from fantasy.
I look forward to a second season being produced, hopefully sometime
soon.
The series is
available on Crunchyroll, no word on it being available on DVD/BD anytime
soon. The manga is also being released
in North America and appears to be ongoing in Japan.
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