This "review" is gonna be a (messy) personal take and more about my experience reading the manga than an actual review, as I have sentiments over this work that had to be put out.

The Flowers of Evil. Aku no Hana, Le Fleurs du Mal, Oshimi Shuzo's work that is quite similar to his other opus Chi no Wadachi yet different. Some people could draw parallels between this work and Ryo Minenami's Boy's Abyss due to the setups of the two: these are stories about people who are tired of the lives they are living, and decide to change it all through destroying these quaint lives they have been set up to live. They could also draw parallels to Chi no Wadachi due to the psychological aspect of both of these works, and the fact that Aku no Hana could have possibly influenced the setups, literary and artistic techniques, and mind games that Chi no Wadachi would take and modify in such a way to tell its story in a masterful way. What I liked the most about Aku no Hana though (despite reading both Chi no Wadachi and Boy's Abyss, which are also both amazing works that you should check out) is that Aku no Hana has a message that resonated with me the most and that is the fact that it's never too late to discover ourselves and change without sacrificing a crucial part of ourselves. The manga itself may be dark, psychologically tormenting in some way, and just screwed up in general, yet under its skin hides a slightly optimistic and somewhat realistic message about how we could choose to live our lives. Despite the depressing yet tangible depiction of society, as well as the contrasting deeds of the deuteragonists that go with it, it's a message that people could hold so dearly. I remember reading the first few chapters the first time around and going "hoo boy, I can't wait for this shitstorm to unfold!" but then finishing the manga stirred something inside me that made me want to believe in myself, the world and the impossible, and it also solidified my hate towards cancel culture (lol). Put simply, it's reverse depression hours. It gets better in a lot of things, namely Shuzo's art style, the story itself, and the themes it wants to put out. The ending chapters truly say "it gets better". From a very wicked story about middle schoolers, their wishes to be seen, and the things they've done to rebel against the status quo rises a message that we don't necessarily need to rebel against everything all the time in order to feel alive. It talks about how even the smallest of things could be an act of rebellion against society in large, and that our identity is something that we will find in ourselves in one way or another. It also conveys that time passes and scars heal, but in order for them to heal you have to face the facts and face your fears in order to move forward. These messages sound very cheesy but for a manga whose setup seems like it's bound to die in a magnificent car crash, it's something that, I imagine, could set a flame of hope to someone who needs it (like me hahaha). Some questions still remain though, like if justice was truly served or if subtle acts of subversion is truly an effective way of becoming oneself, but for the time being I would just like to think about how one's flowers of evil could wilt, die, and transform into the seeds of change for the better.