The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity – Episodes 1-2

What’s it about? Chidori High is a boys’ school for the lowest of society’s socioeconomically disadvantaged. Kikyo Girls’ High is a garden for the wealthy elite’s precious daughters. So when Chidori boy unknowingly meets Kikyo girl, love blooms—but is class and status enough to rot this tender bloom at its roots?

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I was almost clear of Summer reviews until I remembered this darling gem of a late entry: The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity, a latecomer to the very large Summer 2025 roster. A romantic comedy, this show promises a romance that crosses class boundaries and gives a classic look into a romance across the proverbial tracks.

Question is, will this romance bloom into a beautiful garden, or is this premiere just another weed to be plucked? Gotta read on to find out!

Episode 1 starts with a look into Rintaro, a Chidori High Boys’ student, and Kaoruko, a Kikyo Girls’ student, lives. What we immediately learn is that they fit a series of social stereotypes: Rintaro is tall, soft spoken, and by proxy, intimidating despite being quite soft-hearted and sensitive. Kaoruko is something of a delicate bloom, a refined young woman with a penchant for cake who’s a bit of a nervous mess. When their lives collide at Rintaro’s family bakery, it becomes clear that even though they’re from two very different economic situations, there’s a friendship blooming between them.

What becomes apparent is that despite the rumor mill surrounding them both, Rintaro and Kaoruko are their own people. When they allow themselves the tender beginnings of a friendship across economic lines, Rintaro discovers he’s not so scary, and Kaoroku reveals who she really is, and how both of them can find comfort in being who they want to be rather than how society expects them to behave.

I always like to mention it when I’m watching a simuldub because I think it’s an additional texture to what a story is trying to convey. In this case, Netflix has released a dub alongside the Japanese sub, and it defaulted to the dub, which is how I enjoyed this premiere. And I did enjoy it: I’m at a place in life where I’m falling back in love with high school romances, not because of any distinct nostalgia, but because I think they’re actually doing some interesting things these days. Plus, they’re really comforting too.

Here, the dub adds a bit of realism: the characters feel like high school students, speak like them, sound like young people balancing on the knife’s edge of social stratification. The Kikyo girls we meet, outside of Kaoruko, are stuck up and immediately freeze out any boys from their neighboring poorer school. It’s reflected in the stiffness of their voices, in the tension in what feels like a direct snub. Conversely, the dubbing highlights the more free nature of the Chidori Boys, but also accents male lead Rintaro’s softness and how out of place he is, to a degree, in his surroundings.

I will admit that at times the directing is a bit stiff, but overall, the dub adds to the tapestry that is Fragrant Flower. But voice acting isn’t the only thing in an anime: characterization plays a huge role too, and I’m happy to say that the Romeo and Juliet-esque tension here provides the perfect platform for Fragrant Flower to examine two character’s lived experience. So far, it’s surface level: Rintaro spends his evenings rushing home to work the family bakery counter. I do hope that this show delves beneath the surface to really examine what a romance between two characters from opposite sides of the tracks could look like. 

Honestly, ending my Summer reviews on The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity feels like the last bite of cake: perfectly sweet and a combination of everything I like about romance. It’s tender, it’s sweet, and there’s an authenticity between Rintaro and Kaoruko that feels like two actual students in separate lived experiences meeting in the middle. Rather than feeling trite, I felt like these first two episodes were subtly enticing. I already want more of Fragrant Flower: I want to see Rintaro and Kaoruko become their own people. I want to see them cross the boundary of their academic situations and fall in love. I already know they’re endgame, but I didn’t think I’d automatically be so incredibly happy about watching it all come together.

If it’s not obvious, I definitely think you should be watching this series, especially now that we’ve finally gotten it outside of Japan. It’s definitely worth it, whether dubbed or subbed, and promises a really rewarding romance. Plus, the manga is already localized, so you can double dip for extra indulgence. So give this a try: I think it’s the perfect heartwarming series to quietly open up a conversation on dismantling our perceptions of each other and instead, letting friendship and love bloom where it can.