‘The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity’ Episode 1 Review

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Humans, why does this anime have such a long title?! And going by the first episode (I haven’t read the manga), it doesn’t even sound on brand. ‘The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity‘ makes the show sound like an Edo-era classic about some wronged character fighting against all odds for their honor. But this anime is about the blossoming friendship between an intimidating boy from a public boys’ school known for teen delinquents, and a cute girl studying at an elitist private girls’ school next door. The problem? The schools hate each other. Yes, the classic ‘rich versus poor’ divide, like the high school version of ‘Romeo and Juliet‘, but with warring schools.

Based on the Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Saka Mikami, the anime adaptation of ‘The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity’ is directed by Miyuki Kuroki, with animation by CloverWorks. Titled ‘Rintaro and Kaoruko’, the first episode quickly, cutely, and sentimentally, establishes the personalities of its primary protagonists. The animation is glossy, engaging, and the character designs are a slight improvement on the manga version, or it seems like it due to the bright colors.

Rintaro Tsumigu (voiced by Yoshinori Nakayama) looks tough on the outside, everybody is comically scared of the very sight of him, owing to his towering height and slightly rowdy look. He often helps out in his family-run cake shop after school hours, it’s there that he meets the short, pretty customer Kaoruku Waguri (voiced by Honoka Inoue). Unlike everybody else, Kaoruku isn’t scared of Rintaro, and even shows signs of wanting to befriend him, which really takes the boy aback.

Except for the last few minutes that get overtly sentimental, with Rintaro going on a self-deprecating thread about how everybody judges him based on his looks, the episode is an entertaining start to ‘The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity‘. It swiftly establishes that Kaoruko is a sweet, open-minded, honest teen girl who loves eating cakes, while Rintaro has a similar personality, except that he hides his soft side and is an introvert.

Kaoruko gave me flashbacks to the dessert-loving heroine from ‘Shoshimin: How to Become Ordinary‘, a teen girl with a pastry obsession who’s often seen hopping from one cake shop to another. Kaoruko, however, is more devoted in her dessert habits, sticking loyally to one spot for her sweet fixes: Rintaro’s shop.

If you’re looking for soft-romantic teen comedy, check the show out.

‘The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity’ is streaming on Netflix.

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