rusalkaeienni 's review for:

薫る花は凛と咲く 1 [Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku 1] by Saka Mikami

5.0

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

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I’ve written a post about this manga in Japanese on my blog before but I decided I write another post in English so I can better explain my thoughts and perhaps introduce this manga that I love so much to people in the English-speaking sphere. And don’t worry, I’ll keep this review spoiler-free.

The story of The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity (薫る花は凛と咲く) starts with two schools situated right next to each, Chidori Public High School and Kikyo Private Academy Girls’ High School. The two schools are complete opposites of each other. Chidori is infamous for having delinquent boys with low scores, while Kikyo is well-known as a prestigious and reputable school for well-educated and respectable girls. Unsurprisingly, these two schools get along like cats and dogs.

Our main character is Rintarou Tsumugi, a highschool student from Chidori. Blonde dyed hair, piercings, paired with his intimidating height, Rintarō strikes the average onlooker as a stereotypical delinquent. Not unusual for Chidori. But hidden behind his rough exterior is a gentle heart of gold. A little known fact is that his parents run a bakery where Rintarou often pitches in to help.

One day, while helping at the bakery as usual, Rintarou meets a girl named Kaoruko Waguri. A frequent customer of the bakery, Kaoruko adores cakes. Their first meeting gets off with a rough start, with Rintarou thinking he scared the girl when she ran away out of the bakery. But they soon overcome the misunderstanding, becoming friends, and the story goes on from there.

You know, I’ve never once thought of Rintaro as “scary”
— Kaoruko Waguri (my own English translation)

The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity is one of my top five favorite manga series. I first discovered the series through a Youtube video some time back and, since the first volume was available for free, I decided to pick the series up. I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t often read romance manga with a male protagonist, gravitating more to shoujo1, but I was pleasantly surprised by the sweet romance between Rintaro and Kaoruko. Rarely do shounen2, in my opinion, develop romance plot lines well. There are a few exceptions and in those cases the romance development easily rank as my favorites.

I think one of the most compelling parts of this series is its characters and how well-developed they are. While the majority of the cast are high-schoolers they are written with a refreshing balance of maturity. The character growth and development is surprisingly well-written for a story set around high-schoolers.

And the fact that the cast’s family actually play an active role in the story is incredibly refreshing. Most stories centered around high-schoolers focus inclusively on school-life, rarely ever mentioning their family and home-life. And if they do, it’s mostly to tell the audience how their parents are rarely home, or that the main character’s an only child.

But one of my favorite parts of this manga is when the characters start thinking about and discussing their futures, which comes up later in the series. The author keeps a careful balance of youth and maturity in the characters. You can clearly see each individual character’s personality shine through in what they chose and how they make their decisions

I also greatly appreciate the way in which the author portrays the romantic relationships between the characters. How the author slowly builds up and executes the romance between the main characters, and even between side characters, is incredibly satisfying. Even platonic relationships between characters are well done.

You probably can tell just how much I adore this series by now, so it’s no surprise that I am bouncing with excitement for the upcoming anime adaptation by CloverWorks.

CloverWorks has worked on many different anime projects. Some recent major titles include SPY×FAMILY and Bocchi the Rock. Although they have a history with of having a couple anime adaptation flops like Season 2 of The Promised Neverland, they have managed to make some really good anime adaptations like SPY×FAMILY. And the PV for The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity looks gorgeous, so I have high hopes for the project.

I highly recommend reading the manga or watching the anime when it comes out.