Not gonna lie, I'm kind of mad at Netflix. I mean, the anime adaptation of one of the most beloved romance manga in recent years is streaming on your platform, and you wait to license it and cause it to not start streaming until two months after it started airing in Japan? Do you WANT people to pirate it, Netflix?! Well, said anime now has every episode on Netflix, so there's no more reason to be mad, right? I'd say not, as "The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity" is a really cute anime that is good to watch if you want a romance that will make you smile.
The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity, or "Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku" in Japanese, lays its scene in Tokyo, where two completely high schools sit next to each other. Chidori High is a public boys' school that accepts low-class delinquents, while Kikyo High is an elite school attended exclusively by noble ladies; like the Montague and Capulet families before them, these two schools have a long-standing feud against each other. When Chidori student Rintarou Tsumugi meets Kikyo student Kaoruko Waguri at his family's bakery one day, though, he comes to find that this doesn't matter to her; she desires to get to know Rintarou and cares more about how kind he is than his scary appearance or the school he goes to. From there, Rintarou and Kaoruko begin spending more time together despite their schools' ongoing feud, perhaps with some romantic feelings blooming along the way.
Despite Chidori and Kikyo's rivalry initially seeming like a major point in the story, it seems to me like it becomes less relevant as time goes on. Sure, there were tense moments pertaining to this such as the scene where Kaoruko is waiting in front of the gates to Chidori in episode 2, but the rivalry seems to be pushed off to the side more and more as time goes on. Instead, we get a lot of exploration into how communication can improve relationships. Most romance anime would let dumb misunderstandings drag out for far too long for the sake of drama, but The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity is more interested in letting their characters talk things out, apologize for their (perceived) wrongdoings, and become closer than before. Sure, some characters go on monologues that make me think they should just get to the point already, but for the most part, I enjoyed what this anime wanted to offer here. I just wish that, in a potential season 2, the Chidori-Kikyo conflict could be expanded on more. Maybe it is in the manga; I don't know.
Regarding the characters, I really liked all of them, although I don't have much I can really say about most of them. Rintarou is an interesting protagonist who goes through a lot of growth throughout the series. Kaoruko doesn't go through quite as much growth, but she's always a delight to see. The two have pretty cute chemistry, and their relationship to each other actually has a positive effect on each others' other relationships; for example, it is Rintarou's relationship to Kaoruko that leads to him opening up more with his friend group, an action that strengthens his bond with them. The members of Rintarou's friend group are also very likable, with Saku Natusawa being a particularly interesting character. Finally, there's Subaru Hoshina, Kaoruko's best friend; she's a very caring friend, even if her early actions aren't exactly great, and I loved seeing her development as she got more comfortable with Rintarou and his friends.
As expected of CloverWorks, the animation is absolutely gorgeous, with a particular scene in episode 12 being particularly beautiful. (Anyone who's seen this anime might be able to guess what scene I'm talking about.) It may do nothing to beat the common assumption that it's a shoujo anime despite being a shounen, but whatever! It looks great! Now, although I watched the English dub and not the original Japanese version, I might have to recommend that you watch this subbed, as the English dub is....not great. Robbie Daymond, Rintarou's English voice actor, was the only one in the English cast who gave a performance that I wouldn't hesitate to call "good" (and in fact, I didn't even realize it was him at first, which goes to show how talented he is); everyone else has voices that fit their characters (except maybe Kaoruko, but I'm probably the only one who thinks that), but their VAs' performances were pretty rough. Most of the cast seems to have had little to no voice acting experience prior to this; perhaps they should get more practice in before taking on more named roles. Where the voice acting falls, though, the music more than makes up for where the sound is concerned; the opening and ending themes - "Manazashi wa Hikaru" by Tatsuya Kitani and "Hare no Hi ni" by Reira Ushio, respectively - are both great songs that match the anime's vibes well. "Hitohira" by Hitomi Miyahara, the second ending theme (which was only used for the last episode), is a beautiful song that made me slowly wave my pencil around as if it was a glow stick!
Overall, The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity is a very good anime. I'd recommend it if you're looking for a romance anime that depicts a sweet, healthy, drama-free relationship. It definitely didn't deserve the Netflix-jailtime it got; hopefully, Netflix has learned their lesson about licensing anime late!
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