Anime Watcher / Manga Reader

Puberty is tough.  That much can't be denied.  There's hormones, guilt and shame, and even rape.  There's a lot to digest, so let's dive in.  This is Flowers Of Evil. When the manga starts, you are introduced to Kasuga Takao, a seemingly ordinary middle school boy.  You know what that means.  He's going through puberty and (as puberty tends to do) this leads him to do something absurdly stupid.  That thing is stealing the gym clothes of everyone's classroom crush, Nanako Saeki.  It seems like he gets away with it until class reject, Sawa Nakamura, reveals that she saw him do it. This is where Kasuga fucks up... ...and this is where he realizes he's fucked. About Sawa Nakamura.  She is the ultimate crazy bitch.  Seriously, she does a lot of stuff that would normally get one's ass kicked, like calling people shitbugs (her favorite insult).  She's an asshole, she's sadistic, and she's...easily the most likeable charac...

Some people are assholes.  That's a fact that can't be denied.  Do assholes ever get what they deserve?  They do in the manga A Silent Voice.  Let's continue. Shoya Ishida is the aforementioned asshole.  At the start of the manga, he's a bored kid who will do anything for excitement, including jumping off bridges into rivers.  This boredom leads him down the path to become a bully.  Enter Shoko Nishimiya. Shoko is a deaf girl who just wants a normal school life.  What she gets instead is bullied by everyone in her classroom.  Even the teacher talks down about her, though not to her face.  Naturally, Shoya wants to get in on the action.  And does he ever. Shoya goes out of his way to make Shoko's life a living hell.  He yells in her ears, throws her notebook in a pond, and rips out her hearing aids, among other things.  Crap hits the fan when the principal comes storming in angry, wondering who's responsible for t...