The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity is romance anime that begins with a “love-at-first-sight” meeting with GLUTTONY and ends with the feelings of recapturing that special moment once again. However, a big class divide gets in the way and so, the MC Rintaro Tsumugi and deuteragonist Kaoruko Waguri attempt to close that gap.
Video Review
What Stands Out About This Episode?
A Worthy Foundation for the Story
The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity is one of those animes that I got recommended to after I finished covering Blue Box S1. Feel free to check out my other blog posts and the videos regarding Blue Box here. What do these two animes have in common? A big giant box filled with WHOLESOME! While there are some dark elements involved like a couple of real delinquents trying to take advantage of our star waifu in Kaoruko by the use of force, it is actually a modern day classic romantic fairy-tale of a low class teenager falling in love at the same time with someone perceived as “higher-class.”
The MC, Rintaro Tsumugi, is a teenage boy with the swag of a delinquent that scares off anyone. However, he actually has a sweet heart himself and has to deal with the constant prejudice that he is a big bad scary guy. It does have its uses in some cases, but it becomes quite the hindrance in others like being constantly avoided. He attends the lowly Chidori Public High School, where low-performing students end up.
On the other hand, our deuteragonist is a Kaoruko Waguri. She attends the highly touted Kikyo Private Academy. In the next few episodes it will explain her background a bit more, but by all counts and purposes, she is a representative of a school where only the elites attend. And of course, they HATE THOSE LOSERS next door at Chidori Public High School.
This episode sets up that very idea of a class divide. In any society, hierarchy naturally follows suit and that is something both Kaoruko and Rintaro will have to navigate around, which leads to the heart of this entire story, the romantic tension building between the both of them. They both have reputations, and even Rintaro holds prejudices against others without realizing it.. This episode lays the foundation of that theme of class divide.
Start Off the Romance Right!
First episodes are the hook, right? First, show Rintaro’s biggest issue as a good guy, stuck in total badassery aura. Next, have him meet the waifu that we will all fall in love with that is easy to cheer for. How? Give that waifu some lovable quirky traits and show how good her heart is — that she can see right through to the real Rintaro. Both have a heart of gold—set up by Rintaro’s mommy cakes. Now, we just need a tense and dramatic plot to solidify how these two characters will win the hearts of the audience over.. That is with the attempted assault by a couple of easy-to-hate assailants, just so both Kaoruko and Rintaro show exactly why they will make the perfect couple!
This episode very quickly explained the themes, the character arcs, the plot, and how immediately we would fall for both characters. The girl that stole the show is Kaoruko Waguri. Having a lovable & quirky trait like loving Rintaro’s mommy cakes and emoting the sincerity into the wholesomeness of our hearts, episode one is an instant buy-in to seeing it through—that both Kaoruko and Rintaro make it to the end as the ultimate ship. However, that is not without some bumps, bruises and pools of blood along the way. Hopefully, the story strikes that necessary balance like it did this episode.
OTAKU SINH 