No.1072
Kasuga is connected to Baudelaire not just by his obsession with the latter's primary work, but in a deeper more symbolic sense, he represents Baudelaire himself.
His attraction to Saeki as an "ideal love". The traditional muse, the "angel". In the way he narcissisticaly imposes these preconceived notions onto her, a normal girl. Refusing to see her true self
In his relationship with Nakamura we see Baudelaire's attraction to the darker, perverse love that Baudelaire often wrote about. Mising feelings of desire, passion, fear and annihilation.
"There are women who inspire you with the desire to conquer them and to take your pleasure of them; but this one fills you only with the desire to die slowly beneath her gaze."
-Charles Baudelaire
Kasuga's feelings mirror many of Baudelaire's. The feeling of alienation from his peers, the persistent desire to go someplace far away, the constant, overpowering feeling of guilt and self hatred. But the most meaningful is his connection to the Flower of Evil.
Nakamura is the titular Flower of Evil. For Kasuga, the desire for meaning outside of normalcy. Finding beauty in the perverse and "ugly". Extracting art from sin and suffering. She awakens all of this within Kasuga, mirroring how the Femme Fatale muses of Baudelaire would awaken new eras inside of Baudelaire and his poetry.
How will his Baudelairean journey end? For Baudelaire himself, he felt that he was damned for all eternity the moment he was born. He died an early death, destitute and unaknowledged…
Read the manga to find out.
No.1074
interesting. thanks
No.1076
>>1074so, what do you think of the manga? I thought it was very passionate.
No.1077
>>1076I watched the anime, it was ok
No.1079
>>1077Manga is way better.
No.1085
>>1077shame the rest of the manga never got adapted
No.1088
Spleen et Idéal
Hymne à la Beauté
Viens-tu du ciel profond ou sors-tu de l’abîme,
Ô Beauté ? ton regard infernal et divin,
Verse confusément le bienfait et le crime,
Et l’on peut pour cela te comparer au vin.
Tu contiens dans ton oeil le couchant et l’aurore;
Tu répands des parfums comme un soir orageux;
Tes baisers sont un philtre et ta bouche une amphore
Qui font le héros lâche et l’enfant courageux.
Sors-tu du gouffre noir ou descends-tu des astres ?
Le Destin charmé suit tes jupons comme un chien;
Tu sèmes au hasard la joie et les désastres,
Et tu gouvernes tout et ne réponds de rien.
Tu marches sur des morts, Beauté, dont tu te moques;
De tes bijoux l’Horreur n’est pas le moins charmant,
Et le Meurtre, parmi tes plus chères breloques,
Sur ton ventre orgueilleux danse amoureusement.
L’éphémère ébloui vole vers toi, chandelle,
Crépite, flambe et dit : Bénissons ce flambeau !
L’amoureux pantelant incliné sur sa belle
A l’air d’un moribond caressant son tombeau.
Que tu viennes du ciel ou de l’enfer, qu’importe,
Ô Beauté, monstre énorme, effrayant, ingénu!
Si ton oeil, ton souris, ton pied, m’ouvrent la porte
D’un Infini que j’aime et n’ai jamais connu ?
De Satan ou de Dieu, qu’importe ? Ange ou Sirène,
Qu’importe, si tu rends, – fée aux yeux de velours,
Rythme, parfum, lueur, ô mon unique reine ! –
L’univers moins hideux et les instants moins lourds
No.1090
In the afterword before chapter 15, oshimi recommends some manga that were inspiration for this one. Kinda bummed that none of them have any translations.
