"I don't really understand 'Les Fleur Du Mal'.. I was just... intoxicated by the act of reading it!"
This hits home really hard. Even though the way of telling the story through middle schoolers is not something I like a lot, the themes and message is very relateable. Although, perhaps middle-schoolers is not a bad choice. I can see how someone just hitting puberty fits the required characterization.
By the way, "Saeki-san, I've always had this one-sided love for her... She was my muse, ans I worshipped her like an angel... I wanted her to remain as an angel forever... I didn't want to face the actual person..." this line, this confession to his self is my favorite thing so far.
It made me remember an old film named "Time to Love" (Sevmek Zamanı) by Metin Erksan and also a song by Massive Attack called "Spoils" which both deal with the same thing: The act of loving someone or something you idealised and idolized in your mind rather than the actual thing or person. I feel like Aku no Hana could be the Japanese equivalent of these, but I have a feeling it will diverse in the next volumes and not focus on that aspect, which would be a shame because it lays down the perfect frame for a story like that if it just continues on this path. But my guess is it'll focus more on the flowers of evil and inner darkness and emotions rather than that. Nevertheless, I like this manga.
