Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re checking back in on The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity, last year’s gentle romance about two would-be lovers from different sides of the tracks. The show’s premiere did a fine job of introducing us to protagonist Rintaro Tsumugi, who suffers from a history of consistent rejection and a resultant sense of disconnect in his current life. Hoping to avoid a repeat of his youthful trauma, Rintaro now studiously maintains an emotional distance from his classmates, and refuses to reveal his home situation to even his closest friends.
Into this buttoned-up world has stumbled Kaoruko Waguri, a diminutive attendee of the esteemed Kikyo Girls’ Academy. Pursuing both cakes and Rintaro with unqualified gusto, Kaoruko has already proven herself an excellent foil for Rintaro, balancing his “big timid guy” energy with lots of “tiny proactive girl” counterpoints. The two are quite charming together, and this production’s detail-rich designs and energetic character acting are realizing their courtship in fine style. Let’s get back to it!
Episode 2
We open on this show’s clear favorite visual subject: Kaoruko’s vivid eyes and hair. Little surprise that these are such common priorities in romance or romance-adjacent anime; one of the crucial things such dramas are attempting to convey is how these characters look in the eyes of those who are falling for them
“I never imagined someone could be so honest and direct.” And again immediately emphasizing the reversal of stereotypes here; the ostensible “bad boy,” who you would naturally assume is never afraid to speak his mind, is astonished by how Kaoruko can so freely admit to her feelings
The designs of their relative schools give a clear indication of what society thinks of them. Rintaro’s school is basically one giant cinder block, like an ill-tended housing project. I somehow doubt this story is going to dig into how civil planning and private schools reify class disparities, but it’s certainly a fertile subject
Rintaro’s best friend is again complaining about the death stares from Kikyo students. A natural character design-as-storytelling choice to make him have loud, red hair compared to the more sedate second and third friends
“It’s not like Chidori was my first choice!” And yet, by being constantly treated as a monster or outcast, he feels compelled to retaliate and “prove them right.” Thus class divisions become a self-fulfilling prophecy
Friends two and three also express their personalities visually – the one with limp, long hair is perpetually downcast, while the younger-looking one with a bowl cut seems peppy and more childlike. Kinda funny how a show about not judging people by appearances still has to accept the inevitability of manga readers judging characters by appearances
His friends bug him about having closed the curtains, incidentally revealing how they actually pay close attention to his actions and feelings. He has better friends than he’s willing to acknowledge – of course, the reasons he can’t trust in them are understandable as well
“I doubt she’ll come to the shop again.” He keeps waiting for his fear of rejection to be validated
Effective composition from outside the classroom as he agrees to join his friends, with our limited view through the doorway emphasizing him embracing the narrow confines of his destiny
And once again, Kaoruko takes a bold step forward, actually waiting for Rintaro outside the school gates. Not only is she pushing their relationship further, she’s immediately declaring her willingness to be publicly seen with Rintaro in the context of both their schools
Of course, our hothead Usami sees this as an opportunity to lash out in retaliation, having grouped all the Kikyo girls into a monolith just like they did with him
He’s not a bad guy, though; he’s more jealous than angry. Lots of tough fronts hiding wounded hearts in this crew
More lovely boneless character acting as Usami throws a tantrum while hanging from Rintaro’s hand
“Good thing Hoshina’s not here to see this!” Kaoruko’s “rescuers” from Kikyo float another name, presumably whoever it is that has taught them all to fear and despise Chidori’s students
“Does that mean she came to see me? No, no, no. She might know someone else from Chidori.” Goddamnit Rintaro. It is extremely funny that we’ve basically got the shy, self-effacing protagonist of something like Kimi ni Todoke, except it’s a six-foot-plus spiky-haired bruiser
Thinking about Kaoruko brings a smile to his face, prompting fear and revulsion from all of his friends
Mopey-hair once again proves his emotional sensitivity, asking Rintaro if there’s something wrong at karaoke
But of course, Rintaro can only imagine that unloading his feelings would result in rejection, and thus he declines to let them in. Like with Kaoruko, it will presumably take some accidental exposure therapy to change his mind, some moment when he cannot avoid revealing his true feelings, but discovers in turn that this crew actually respect and value them
“Sorry for making you worry.” “That’s exactly what I mean, Rintaro. Here, hand me a mic, I’ll join in.” An excellent exchange, with his friend essentially articulating through the shared performance that “even if you’re not comfortable sharing, I’m still here to support you”
Unsurprisingly, Kaoruko is waiting back at the bakery
“She always looks so happy when she’s eating.” An excellent example of one of those quirks you come to love in the people you care for, the secret facets of their identity, all the more precious because they’re so carefully hidden
“By the way, what were you doing at our school gate?” “Well, I wanted to see you, Rintaro.” As always, her confidence swiftly cuts through Rintaro’s tangle of anxieties and alternate explanations. What do you do when you want to see someone? Well, you go over there and see them
“Besides, seeing you there made me really happy.” And of course, Rintaro himself is profoundly ashamed to have admitted that he was happy to see his new friend. How dare you, Rintaro
“Don’t take it back!” Yeah, they are a delightful duo
“Since you’re from Kikyo, I thought you wouldn’t want to see me anymore.” Rintaro articulates the point where his self-preservation techniques actually become hurtful to others. Why would someone want to hang around a friend who always assumes the worst of them, who doesn’t believe them when they say they care?
Thus he actually pushes her to leave, having placed his self-hatred on her shoulders
Fortunately, his mom’s there to set him straight, saying “you’re doing to her exactly what people have done to you all your life.” She is not “a Kikyo student,” she is your friend Kaoruko
Thus Rintaro apologizes by returning her act of bravery, and waiting for her in front of her own school
Nice to see Kaoruko reveal some of her own anxieties in response. Given how straightforward and impulsive she is about expressing her feelings, it makes sense that she’d have some post-outburst anxieties, and be worried that she revealed too much. Any good relationship requires some give-and-take
Classic use of the rising sun’s beams here, illuminating their faces clearly as they wipe away the misunderstandings between them
And Done
Nice work, you two! After the expected acclimation period of Rintaro slowly coming to accept that maybe the girl who keeps talking to him and setting up dates and saying how much she likes him doesn’t actually hate him, our duo at last appear to be on sturdier footing. I joke, but we absolutely needed this period of Rintaro’s anxieties getting in his own way; as anyone who’s suffered from social anxiety well knows, simply being told “stop worrying, I’m on your side” is rarely enough assurance to overcome one’s own well-founded fears of rejection. At this point, I’m most curious about Kaoruko’s school life; we’ve certainly learned why Chidori’s students feel as they do about Kikyo, but what has prompted such fervent disgust on the Kikyo side? Either way, with our couple’s mutual affection now thoroughly affirmed, I’m looking forward to more cavity-inducing sweetness on their next date!
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