I love how the friendships in this show are being portrayed! Problems are admitted, solved, and worked past in such emotionally healthy ways.
The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity Episode 7 Review
I absolutely love how self-aware all of the characters are in this show, and that they acknowledge and actually try to deal with their own problems. We went from Subaru selfishly telling Rintaro to stay away from Kaoruko, to Subaru realizing she needs to change, live her own life, and now even being open to apologizing to Rintaro and embracing his friend group.
If that’s not healthy and natural character growth, then I don’t know what is.
Then we got Saku, who acts like the male equivalent of Subaru in the Chidori friend group, calling himself out for his behavior and overreaction when he found Kaoruko’s study notebook in Rintaro’s desk.
After eavesdropping on Rintaro’s conversation with the Kikyo girls, Saku had the courage to honestly tell Rintaro how he truly feels about their friendship, which was great to see. Before, Saku only told Usami and Yorita his feelings in private, so I’m glad Saku and Rintaro could have that heart to heart moment.
Especially since Rintaro completely did not trust his friends after the gate incident and subsequently decided to keep them out of the loop at karaoke. Rintaro has been keeping everything all to himself (including getting ambushed by those weak goons after Kaoruko’s bakery visit in episode one) and we saw how it was affecting him mentally and emotionally during the Sports Festival.
Once he resolved those issues, Rintaro was able to become the classroom hero, hit a literal home run, and enjoy the Sports Festival day with his friends, which was the entire original reason Rintaro even wanted to work so hard to pass his midterms.
Also, although I initially thought it was funny in a typical “male friends don’t really talk they just do things” kind of fashion that Rintaro’s friend group resorted to stalking him to get answers rather than apologizing, now I see it was actually a really good decision.
Despite his “scary” looks, Rintaro is not a fighter. He’s a gentle giant. Rintaro couldn’t take those two cowards on and protect Kaoruko at the same time, and that’s what got him hurt last time.
Could you imagine how bad that would have been with five guys vs just Rintaro? And I don’t know what creepy things they were planning to do to the girls, but Subaru damn near went catatonic when that thug touched her hair.
I know they didn’t get off on the right foot, but I do hope Subaru thanks Usami for saving her. Although Usami also tried to touch Subaru’s hair, it came from a place of curiosity and not forced possession like the random thug in the park.
But, tell me your thoughts: did you expect the episode to turn into Tokyo Revengers near its final moments? Do you think Kaoruko would have tried to hold her own against those thugs better than Subaru would have?
Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, we’d love to hear from you! Also be sure to follow us for more The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity Episode Reviews!
☆ In Asian Spaces
Leave a Reply