Fragrant Flower Review – One of my Favorite Romance Shows

Article at a glance:

• Fragrant Flower has easily been my favorite show of the season—so good that I even went ahead and read ahead in the manga (don’t worry, no spoilers here).
• It may look like your typical romance on the surface, but the way the story, characters, and emotions are handled makes it anything but generic.
• Between strong character arcs, heartfelt relationships, and CloverWorks’ top-notch production, this anime delivers pure sweetness every single week.

You know what, I have been absolutely itching to write this review. Fragrant Flower has been my favorite show this season, by far. So much so that I just gave up and read the manga for the upcoming chapters to write this review LOL. Don’t worry, none of that will be spoiled here, and I only read till the part where I think the anime will end. And yeah, Fragrant Flower is amazing, you can already tell how this review is going to go.

So yeah, welcome back to my review for The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity. I’ve been so Elden Ring brained recently, man. I keep thinking of The Poisoned Flower Blooms Twice whenever I write the name of this anime in English. But that’s neither here nor there, so let’s get started with the review. I don’t think I need to give a spoiler warning for this; no manga spoilers ahead, don’t worry.

Plot

The setting is a very stereotypical romance setting, I’d almost call it Romeo-Juliet, were it not for the fact that Kaoruko isn’t really a rich lady or anything. But you are not watching this show for a deep narrative or anything. But the story is very consistent. It is a typical slice-of-life story, following our core cast of characters through their daily lives, nothing too complex. But it is executed extremely well. It is well-paced, big developments in the story are well-developed, and big moments are given room to breathe.

I know the anime skipped over some of the minor stuff from the manga, but that is not terribly important. As far as I am aware, nothing of value was lost. The only flaw with the story is how “generic” it is, but the thing is, it is executed so perfectly that it doesn’t even feel generic. Other than that, the story accomplishes everything it sets out to do perfectly. The backstory segments are well-timed and make sense, the pacing remains strong, and not a single episode feels “pointless” in the whole season.

Characters

Let’s split this up into further sections:

Subaru

At the moment, I think Subaru is the best-written character in the show. Because of her rough childhood, her dependence on Kaoruko and her aversion to guys make sense. But even then, she works up the courage to speak to Rintaro because of how much she cares for Kaoruko. But that’s not all, she understands what Kaoruko sees in Rintaro and grows to become friends with him over time. I like the fact that she was willing to be open about her thoughts, even though she cornered herself into thinking that she’s “betraying” Kaoruko.

But it doesn’t stop there; she even accepts the fact that she was wrong and, over time, grows closer to RIntaro’s friend group as a whole. Everything from her backstory to her development has been handled so damn well. The park episode with her and Kaoruko remains the “best presented” episode of the anime so far. She has so many good character developments throughout the Season, it is not even fair.

Kaoruko and Rintaro

Rintaro, once again, is really well-written. He has been through a lot in his life because of his appearance, so his whole character arc is about learning to accept himself and learning that it is okay to rely on his friends. I adore his relationship with his parents and friends. I love how they genuinely get happy whenever Rintaro smiles because they have seen him go through some really rough patches. And yeah, the way he gradually opens up to his friends, and at some point, he just doesn’t want to keep secrets from them anymore. It is really cute and wholesome.

I wish Kaoruko got some more development, though. Yeah, she’s a well-written character, it makes sense why she falls in love with Rintaro, and their relationship growth is quite well-paced. But when you look at the deep character arcs Rintaro and Subaru went through, Kaoruko doesn’t really have that. I know that her side of the development comes later on, but in this season, she doesn’t get much.

The Others

The supporting cast deserves a massive shout-out, though. Even some of the side characters, like Saku, go through their own arcs. Rintaro’s relationship with his friends and parents will always be a highlight of this show for me. So much of his character development happens because of them, and I love seeing his mother happy whenever she sees that RIntaro has found a place to belong. Usami and Saku are pretty fleshed out. I just wish Yorita got the same level of attention, too. But still, the friend group as a whole is such a massive positive.

I do find it weird that we don’t see Rintaro’s dad at all outside of flashbacks till Episode 11, but man, his dad is awesome. He’s very supportive of Rintaro, just like his mother. He’s such a fun character that I wish we got to see more of him before Episode 11 lol.

production

We are once again at the obvious part of the review: Fragrant Flower is produced by CloverWorks. I don’t think I need to even say anything further. It’s like CloverWorks has somehow mastered the art of making good romance shows at this point. It was the same in Horimiy, and this trend continues here too; they present the long, introspective monologue scenes so damn well.

One of the best episodes of Fragrant Flower is literally just a long conversation between Subaru and Kaoruko, but you’ll never even stop to think about it because of how well the emotions are presented. The animation quality may not always be consistent, but the whole thing is just presented really well. The voice actors do a fantastic job, the soundtracks are nice, and yeah, man, nothing to hate here.

Summing Up

Here are my final review scores for The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity:

• Plot – 8/10
• Characters – 10/10
• Production – 10/10
• Enjoyment – 10/10
• Overall – 9.5/10

As expected, high scores across the board, and I am not really surprised. As I said, I adore this show. I have been watching this every week with my mother, and it is the most wholesome show I have watched in a while. If anything, Fragrant Flower should be sued for delivering highly concentrated doses of sugar to the audience every week. But yeah, let me know what you guys think in the comments. I will take my leave here. See ya!

Also, check out my thoughts on Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 here!