English Dub Review: The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity “Bewilderment at the Beachside”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Rintaro, Kaoruko, and the gang head to the beach and have a fun and emotionally vulnerable time, leading to a surprise confession!

OUR TAKE

Oooooohhhh shit, we’re at the second to last episode of the season and by the end, we have lit the match for our main love interests to finally take the plunge, if I may mix my metaphors. Of course, there’s more that happened in this episode than the last few minutes. Really, the brunt of this episode was more about the friend group solidifying their friendship and how great it is for everyone involved, which is always nice. Subaru in particular speaks up to address how, at least initially, she was very distrustful of men and cut off a lot of friendships when this occurred, but Rintaro’s kind nature and honesty actually helped her to open up again and start making friends outside of just Kaoruko. In response to this, Saku, the smart one of the guys, speaks up and says that he would never spend time with people like this who he wasn’t close to, which is eventually deciphered into his version of saying they were already friends for a while now. Which, hey, that’s great that everyone who has emotional articulation issues is getting a chance to say they’re glad they made some new friends, though without giving too much away, he and Subaru are also going to find themselves having some evolving feelings down the line. And then I guess Shohei and Ayato will just…find some girls of their own or simply go out with each other, if I had to guess.

So yeah, friend group resolidified, but the major bombshell comes at the very end of the episode, as Rintaro and Kaoruko get some brief alone time while the others are out getting more fireworks after their supply ran out surprisingly fast. One thing leads to another and Rintaro lets slip that he likes Kaoruko, but before she can really react more than blushing so much she looks like a tomato, everyone comes back, none the wiser to what has transpired. With no opportunity to talk about it further, they part ways, but Rintaro decides he can’t leave things like this and calls her directly AND…cliffhanger! So, now it’s time for these two to finally fess up about how they’ve been feeling about the other, all in the season finale of the still oddly titled The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity! Perhaps we will finally have an explanation for why they chose that title, if we’re lucky.