Hmm, Aku no Hana was great. And I do mean, _great_. I kinda see where everyone is coming from complaining about the animation, but then again I really do not and I only lied to be diplomatic. Sorry.
I don't know, I don't think there's anything wrong with bagging on the creative decisions regarding animation (and it's hip to hate rotoscoping nowadays, as far as I've observed) since this is the animation "appreciation" thread. But the complaints come of as superficial as a consequence. Superficial because they're removing things from context, kinda like those cherry picked bad looking frames that are spammed all over /a/ now (I kinda had to shove my head in there and peekk after what 610 posted - I was not "disappointed"). What this is from my POV? Pretty much the reverse of the "classic" Pain fight, or more recently Jun Arai's cuts in Shinsekai Yori which also had people complaining about them (or maybe even some of the stuff in Sacred Star of Milos? since that was brought up some time ago), i.e. it's about confusing craft with art. Those are good craft, but poor creative decisions. This is shit craft, but a fantastic creative decision on the director's part.
Why? Precisely because it's creepy, unsettling, "wrong" to look at. That's exactly what it should look like, because that's what the narrative is supposed to convey. Unease, oppression. Forget about the animation and think about (excuse me going over the line here) the soundscape and music. Same feeling isn't it? Very down, low key. And since I went this much beyond my station, think a little about the MC, and how his perspective is being shown, especially his mood as it comes through the monologues (let's ignore visual elements just for a blink, for the sake of argument). Pretty much in the same ballpark isn't it? Or am I wrong? I'd like to think I'm not. Watching Aku no Hana should make you feel disconcerted, that's what I think. I may be wrong and maybe the director (and production team as a whole) went for something else entirely, but that is what it seems to me to be trying to convey, looked both in detail and as a whole. And I think it does it really well. (it also reminds me of the "Fuyu no Hi" anthology, which also had some pretty shitty segments, craft-wise, but they also fit in due to the nature of the overall work).
Also, the fact that rotoscoping really is saving something (be that the purpose all along, or just a consequence of these decision, and be it only cash or time as well) makes other visual components in the work (or at least in this first episode, so far) shine. The layouts are quite above the norm. It's harder to find cuts that don't have a neat composition than cuts that do. I dare say that if anyone claims the contrary, they're full of shit. Just open it and screen randomly, it's pretty likely you'll find a cut with pleasant arrangements in the image. So is the storyboarding. A nice standout scene happens about half way in, where the 3 guys go home and the whole thing is set up so that you'll only see them reflected in that pole mirror in the last part of the scene. That would be what I'd call interesting storyboarding. But you can say you care about the animation, not its framing and "cinematography". Fine.
Really, this kinda smells of double standard. It all boils down to whether you care about the craft of animation, or the art of animation. Because shitty craft is shitty craft, but shitty craft can make for good art. And with this I guess I'll take 610s lead and see myself out because I obviously do not belong here...