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Vertical Adds Flowers of Evil School Romance Manga
posted on by Egan Loo
The North American manga publisher Vertical announced at its Anime Weekend Atlanta panel on Friday that it licensed the school romance manga Flowers of Evil (Aku no Hana) by Hyōryū Net Cafe creator Shūzō Oshimi. Vertical will ship the first volume next May for US$10.99, and future volumes are expected to follow every other month.
The "corrupt pure-love story" revolves around Takao Kasuga, a literary-minded boy who loves the poems of Charles Baudelaire (the original author of the poetry collection Les Fleurs du mal or Flowers of Evil). One day after school, he discovers and steals the gym clothes of Nanako Saeki, the girl he has a crush on. However, he learns that Sawa Nakamura, a girl he loathes, happens to catch him in the act. Nakamura blackmails Kasuga into a "contract," or else she will reveal his secret.
Oshimi launched the manga in the inaugural issue of Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in 2009, and Kodansha shipped the fourth volume in August. Kodansha posted the first chapter of the manga (and other titles from the first Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine issue) for free, and JManga offers the first volume of Oshimi's earlier Hyōryū Net Cafe manga under the name Drifting Net Café.
