The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity is the story of Rintaro Tsumugi, a boy who grew up shunned by everyone else. He values himself so little that he doesn't see himself as worthy of friendship, let alone love. However, after experiencing genuine kindness, Rintaro's eyes are opened to the world around him, to the relationships that mean more than he ever thought, and to his own value as a person. Oh, and he likes a girl.
High school romance stories are a dime a dozen, but this show's feels like it wouldn't even cost a penny. After meeting Kaoruko Waguri, Rintaro struggles to understand and accept his romantic feelings for her. This is only made worse by the fact that their two schools have animosity towards each other. That is the core premise of the show, and it feels very much like the writer wanted a Romeo and Juliet type premise but didn't think further than that. The animosity between the schools is so present that students from one openly despise the other, but we never once get an idea of why there's animosity. There's the slightest inkling of an allusion to class disparity, but that just raises the question of why a prestigious all-girls school is right next to an apparent delinquent boy high school. But, that's the setup, and it doesn't even really factor into Rintaro and Kauruko's drama -- in fact, it ends up being more about Kaoruko's friend and said friend's history of being bullied by boys. The problem is that means Kaoruko's friend could have been the barrier to their romance to begin with without any of the school rivalry nonsense, making it come off even more pointless than it already is. All it ends up contributing is that the two need to meet in secret away from prying eyes. The boys we meet aren't even especially bad, they're just every day teenage boys. But the writing would have you believe this is the school from Windbreaker. (Though the show does have a really out of place moment when they basically become that for a bit.)
Where The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity shines is when it explores characters' self-worth and the effect that kindness can have on people. Rintaro's delinquent design (by real world standards) ends up being relevant later when his mother gets some spotlight, in a truly touching episode that shows just how far Rintaro has come while fleshing out his parents in a very realistic way. Kaoruko's friend Subaru faces a very realistic form of bullying in her past from boys that she internalises into a misandrist worldview she needs to overcome for the sake of allowing Kaoruko to seek her own happiness. Rintaro's friend Saku needs to learn to not be so defensive and be more accepting so that he can deepen his friendship with Rintaro. All of this is much better than the cookie cutter love story.
One of the biggest problems with the love story is Kaoruko herself. For almost the entire run of the show, Kaoruko barely has a character beyond being generically sweet and cute. Her defining trait is that she is selflessly kind to a fault, but there's little else to her. The way she's written, the only barrier to Rintaro getting with her is that he won't confess -- it's made extremely clear early on that she doesn't care about the vague school feud. This means the love story ends up being more about Rintaro developing self-worth and becoming more open, and Kaoruko just happens to be his "reward" for doing so. It isn't until the last episode when we learn more about Kaoruko, in a contrived story that feels almost like a retcon in an attempt to flesh out her character to give her more agency. The love story is so shallow that Saku and Subaru's potential romance was infinitely more interesting to me, and those two spoke probably five times tops. But there's actually something for both of them to overcome in that situation, so the mutual kindness and respect they display for each other has more meaning than the millionth time Rintaro is nice to Kaoruko and she smiles. Saku and Subaru is both climbing a hill to meet at the top; Rintaro and Kaoruko is Rintaro climbing a hill with Kaoruko waiting for him at the top.
At the very least, The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity excels at presentation. Barring the occasional cursed CGI car, the show is animated beautifully, with a subtlety for the non-romantic character moments that helps to downplay some of the melodrama of the show. Expressions are incredibly well done too, though there are times when it becomes a bit... much. The music knows just when to swell and highlight a touching moment, and just when to stop and let a scene breathe. The cast is also excellent, with highlights being Youko Hisawa's gruff but kind Kyouko Tsumugi, and Yoshinori Nakayama's performance as Rintaro Tsumugi, which demonstrates a quiet strength and vulnerability that fleshes the character out better than some of the writing does.
The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity feels like a show that changed what it wanted to be midway through. What starts as a generic teen romance shifts into being about kindness and self-worth. But because it needs to resolve its generic love story, it can only touch on its more interesting themes and characters for a while before we're pulled back into waiting for Rintaro to confess to an obviously interested Kaoruko. The school feud is so pointless that we learn nothing more about it by the end of episode thirteen, despite it being the central premise of the show -- it doesn't even tie into the themes of the show. What we're left with is an anime that has some truly amazing character writing when it ignores its central premise. The definition of a gem in the rough, but that's fitting for Rintaro.
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