Forget 'Kimi ni Todoke', This New Anime With 8.8 on IMDb Is the Best Romantic Title of 2025
The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet story, but instead of feuding families, there's a feud between two schools. Here's why it is a must-see for all romance fans.
On July 6, The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity was released. It did not generate much excitement, but it definitely deserves the attention of all fans of romantic stories.
Miyuki Kuroki, one of the directors of Your Lie in April, worked on the title. If you haven't started watching the romantic anime about a formidable high school student and a charming lover of cakes, now is the time.
What Is 'The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity' About?
The anime introduces us to two schools whose students hate each other. Chidori High School for boys is home to loud, troubled teenagers. Nearby stands the prestigious Kikyo school for girls, whose students despise the Chidori boys.
Despite his menacing appearance, Rintaro from Chidori is kind and sympathetic, but, like many of his fellow students, he is the subject of unflattering rumors.
However, these rumors bypassed a cake lover named Kaoruko. After meeting Rintaro at a cake shop where he helps his parents, she decides to get to know him better. But the feud between the two schools prevents them from being together.
'The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity' Is Perfect for 'My Love Story!!' Fans
Rintaro and Kaoruko are similar to the main characters of the 2015 anime My Love Story!!. The romantic relationship between Takeo and Rinko is built on the contrast between a frightening high school student and a charming girl who loves sweets and studies at a girls' academy.
To other people, their relationship seems strange and impossible, but the two see something more in each other than is visible to outsiders.
Ten years later, we see a similar story, but with less hyperbolic character portrayals, more relatable problems, and a larger-scale conflict.
Unlike Many Other School Romance Anime, This One Is Much More Dynamic
The series is perfect for fans of school love stories filled with the awkwardness of first love. I particularly loved how the characters' relationship develops at a good pace without dragging on.
If you don't like titles like Kimi ni Todoke, you won't be disappointed here – the relationship between the main characters develops much more quickly.
What Did Viewers Think of 'The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity'?
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The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity has a score of 8.8/10 on IMDb.
"Cloverworks did this manga so much justice and it’s only the first episode. It’s beautiful to look at. The VAs are perfect. You can already feel their chemistry firing on all cylinders. And they even got the goofy faces right," said Redditor dagreenman18.
Even despite the lack of promotion by Netflix (which annoys me, too), fans are ready to commit.
"OMG, I was skeptical of the voice casting originally, but the voices do really fit the characters. The scenes from the manga were animated beautifully, and overall I'm feeling quite excited for the actual anime itself," Redditor unprocurable noted.
Where to Watch 'The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity'?
The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity is available to stream on BiliBili. 13 episodes of the anime will be released on Netflix once a week starting September 7.
