Ten volumes of Flowers of Evil have already shocked, scared, titillated, challenged readers (in translation) over the last two years. The series comes to a close with this, the final volume ...
Open this penultimate volume, and the belly begins flip-flopping over how it might – must? – end. Creator Shuzo Oshimi has clearly shown himself to be one scary manipulator, so already I'm trying to prepare for the inevitably shattering shock this October when that final installment comes out. Oh, but the agony of...
While he's not exactly Mr. Popularity at his new school, Takao Kasuga is gingerly settling into his uprooted life far from the small town of Gunma where he was involved in so many shameful, difficult, frustrating, violent experiences. His favorite book, Baudelaire's The Flowers of Evil,...
