Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku

The all-girls Kikyo Private Academy and Chidori Public High School are polar opposites. With its prestigious history, Kikyo is attended by noble young ladies from distinguished families, while Chidori is infamously full of simple-minded delinquents. It is no surprise that their students clash with their differences.

Having a tall stature and fierce appearance, Chidori student Rintarou Tsumugi is often avoided by others despite his gentle heart. One day, while helping out at his family's patisserie, he meets a customer who, after a brief moment, runs away from him. The next day, the customer returns to apologize to Rintarou, introducing herself as the cheerful Kaoruko Waguri.

After spending time with Kaoruko, Rintarou appreciates that she does not judge him based on his appearance and looks forward to when they will meet again. However, when Rintarou discovers Kaoruko attends Kikyo, their relationship will challenge the social expectations and dynamics around them.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Waguri, Kaoruko Main

Inoue, Honoka Japanese

Tsumugi, Rintarou Main

Nakayama, Yoshinori Japanese

Hoshina, Subaru Supporting

Yamane, Aya Japanese

Natsusawa, Saku Supporting

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Yuzuhara, Madoka Supporting

Tsuchiya, Rio Japanese

Tsumugi, Kyouko Supporting

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Usami, Shouhei Supporting

Toya, Kikunosuke Japanese

Yorita, Ayato Supporting

Ishibashi, Hiiro Japanese

Sawatari, Ayumi Supporting

Mizuno, Saku Japanese

Tsukada, Shin Supporting

Kobayashi, Chikahiro Japanese

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Nagamine, Rieko Producer

Tanaka, Kengo Producer

Hori, Shouko Producer

Reviews

Jul 19, 2025

ame

Recommended

Preliminary (3/13 eps)

The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity AND WE SURE ARE ENJOYING ITS FRAGRANCE !!!!

a story about a guy who looks like he eat kids for lunch or something like that and a soft spoken insanely gorgeous girl who study in two different schools, that are seen as water and oil or idk like those Romeo & Juliet families - always at each other's throat....
anyways you guys already know this all, what's beautiful about this is how subtle and soft everything in the show
the characters are somewhat fresh for a romance anime, there is this tension - THE GOOD KIND !!!
the budding romance that ... they do not see makes you really feel things >_<

what i love most though? there’s dignity in the way they treat each other.
it’s about mutual respect, being seen by someone who actually gets you, and learning how to stand tall in your own weirdness.

the art is gorgeous, the art style too, it is tender and soft like young love. i did cringe sometimes because of how unloved i am perhaps.
but falling in love is supposed to be weird, naive, tender, beautiful and enchanting and THE SHOW CAPTURES ALL OF THAT.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Aug 24, 2025

Plato930

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (4/13 eps)

The first 4 episodes feel like a parody of Dhar Mann videos.

Seriously, the inter-school conflict is so over the top and has received 0 sufficient explanation for it beyond a simple "they hate each other, that's just how it is".

Rintaro is drawn as a regular tall male yet the people that come across him act like they just saw Darth Vader. The way in which the Kikyo girls (Subaru in particular) talk about the boys is so ridiculous it's hard to even take seriously. "Barbarians", "savages".. really?

Another frustrating thing for me so far is how slow the conversations between the main characters are. ... Every other second is filled with a blush and apology — an annoyingly abundant gimmick in romance shows.

Due to the aforementioned points of criticism, the drama feels cheap and hence even the "beautiful" moments feel manufactured.

I'll delete this review if the rest of the season manages to improve upon the above points. But 1/3rd of the season has passed by now and it feels rather disappointing to me.

EDIT:
Forgot to mention, I genuinely love the character designs and their fashion choices. Art quality is top notch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jul 30, 2025

tenntenn

Not Recommended

Preliminary (4/13 eps)

The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity?
More like The Male Gaze Blooms with Obsession.

So, you thought this anime was going to be a touching romance – maybe something with actual tension, passion, or god forbid, personality? Think again.

1. The way the camera pans over the female lead? It’s not animation – it’s devotion. Every blink, every sigh, every single time she breathes, the frame slows down like we’re witnessing a miracle.

2. Let’s talk emotional stakes. Oh wait, there aren’t any. She could be insulted, publicly humiliated - and she’d still just nod demurely and say “I understand.” Girl, blink twice if you’ve ever been allowed ... to get angry.

3. “Rival Schools” Plotline – Are You Kidding Me? The two-school divide is played like Romeo and Juliet, but in reality it's just posh uniform vs louder uniform. That’s it. The social conflict is so exaggerated it borders on satire. The way the show frames it, you’d think these kids were born on opposite sides of a bloody war. But no. THAT’S the conflict.

4. Fake Shy Girls ≠ Tsundere Queens
For the record: I love tsundere girls. The Silent Witch protagonist? Icon. Chihaya from Chihayafuru? Absolutely adorable. But this girl? She’s not shy because of actual character depth – she’s shy in that deliberately performative way. The “I’ll look down and stutter and blush while batting my lashes like I trained for it in front of a mirror” kind of shy. There’s a difference between genuine awkwardness and whatever this constructed coyness is supposed to be.

Final Verdict: You might learn a thing or two from the way she shows interest – textbook bashfulness, textbook helplessness. I’m giving this a generous 5/10, and that’s only because it’s pretty.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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