With the anime adaptation set to air in 2025, I figure it is time for me to discuss what this series means to me and what you need to know if you're interested in reading it. This review may contain mild spoilers, but I will do my best to keep it as spoiler-free as possible.
Saka Mikami released chapter 1 of The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity in October of 2021. This comes only 6 months after the ending of the Attack on Titan manga, which Mikami cites as inspiration for the series. They got into and caught up to Attack on Titan in the final chapters and thought the series was very sad, so they set out to create a "pure love"-type manga that would ease the pain that readers get from other series. That "pure love" manga is The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity.
The story revolves around Rintaro Tsumugi, a tall, delinquent-looking high schooler whose family owns a cake shop. Rintaro has given up on everything. He has no dreams, he has no plan for after high school, and he spends his time living moment to moment with his friends. He attends Chidori High School, an all-male school that has a reputation for the delinquents that attend the school. It is right next door to the prestigious Kikyo All-Girls Academy. Kikyo and Chidori students do not get along, but that barrier is broken when Kikyo student Kaoruko Waguri finds herself at Rintaro's cake shop and the two meet.
What follows is a twist on the usual "Romeo and Juliet" plot that seeks not to emulate a Shakesperean tragedy in a modern setting, but to subvert that tragedy and expand upon it. These schools may not like each other, but I would not call these two "star-crossed lovers". The two find ways to overcome their personal challenges, whether because they find the strength within themselves or borrow that strength from others and the end result is a feeling of hope and warmth that you get from reading.
Another thing with this manga is that, as of writing, there are 131 chapters available and all of them are consistent in quality. There's nothing that feels like filler. There's nothing that feels drawn-out. There's no drop in art quality (though some individual panels may look wonky from time to time). The quality of each chapter is consistent in it's execution from plot to art to themes.
The story mainly follows Rintaro and Kaoruko, though Mikami does not ignore their friends. There's Kaoruko's best friend Subaru Hoshina, who struggles with her self-image and how others perceive her. There's Rintaro's friend group consisting of Usami Shouhei (who is lovably dense and is always a high-energy ball of chaos), Ayato Yorita (who acts as a babysitter for Shouhei and is probably the most mature of the group), and Saku Natsuzawa (who is tall, smart, intimidating, and has a short temper). There's also brief attention drawn to the families of Rintaro and Kaoruko, making sure that they are also fleshed out characters. There is a lot of variation in the cast and more get introduced later on, so there will be at least one character you'll be excited to see show up (mine is Subaru).
I've seen a lot of people ask "Does this manga ever get sad? It totally feels like there's gonna be a rug-pull moment and the series will get really sad for no reason" and to that I say "No". This story is about growth, the relationships you build (not just romantic, in fact there's also focus on platonic relationships), and how those you care about can also care about you. I once had a friend tell me that friendship is about building each other up to be the best people we can possibly be, and I think those words can best describe what the core message of this manga is. It does get sad at times, but that's because these are challenges for the characters to help lift each other up high enough to overcome and it does not get dragged out too long.
Another thing about this manga is the importance of communication. There is not a single miscommunication in the entire series. Any problems are talked about almost immediately and resolved in a way that allows characters to understand each other better. Because of this, readers will be able to understand the many layers to Mikami's characters and how they push their own personal themes presented by their backstories.
There's also a way that Mikami brings things full circle with these themes. Things that happen at one point come back later in a different form, and these moments serve to show that these characters are influencing each other and they are all growing as characters to become the best that they can possibly be.
The art is absolutely stunning. Mikami has a habit of doing a lot of head-and-shoulders shots to show off some of the more detailed panels, but even then there is still a uniqueness to every single one of those shots and the amount of detail that can go into some of them are breathtaking. Here's a couple of panels taken from chapter 1 (any text has been omitted) just to give examples of what I'm talking about:
There's plenty more shots like these, and most of them are absolutely adorable. There's also plenty of times where characters are drawn in a chibi style and that really just depends on the tone of the scene but the variation really kept me engaged.
This manga is not without it's flaws, and for me there's really only one: these characters are far more emotionally intelligent than any high schooler should ever be. I'm 23, I've been a high schooler and had plenty of time to reflect. I would have acted a lot differently in a lot of these situations and caused unnecessary drama. I fully believe that these high schoolers are more emotionally intelligent than I am now. This could understandably pull readers out of the narrative, but this emotional intelligence from everyone is what drives the "no miscommunication" aspect of the story.
This manga is an amazing read for anyone going through a rough time, anyone that is hurt, anyone that is looking for a distraction from other media, because that is what Mikami set out to do when they wrote the series and they overachieved with that goal. The themes all seek to create a sense of "home". Reading this, to me, feels like coming back home after being out in the winter cold. The fireplace is crackling, the blanket is wrapped around you, and the cocoa is in your hands. That's The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity to me, and to me that is the greatest feeling in the world.
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