The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity

Episode 12

At long last, one of my favorite scenes from the manga has been animated. Well, that's sort of a disingenuous way to phrase that; the pacing for this series has been excellent, and the show is on track to end where I thought it would, which means that the aforementioned scene is right on time. But it's still wonderful to reach it and see it done right.

The scene in question is, of course, Subaru asking the boys if they can be friends. It's poignant not just because of the question itself, but rather because it takes so much courage for Subaru to ask it at all. During the entire beach trip, she's at least four steps behind everyone, hovering at the back of the group like she's not sure she's welcome. Having been in that position throughout high school, I know what she's thinking: she's a pity inclusion, they don't really like her, Kaoruko asked them to bring her along, they wouldn't notice or care if she just vanished. It's a horrible, anxious place to be, and because it's all in her head, she has no way to escape from it.

It's also not unremarked upon by the boys. Already as Chidori students, they're aware of how frightening they might appear to a Kikyo girl like Subaru, which makes it awkward for them to do much about it. They call her forward to look at the sandwiches, and it's clear to viewers that they want to include her, but they're also afraid of scaring her off. It takes the most socially uncomfortable of their group to do something – Natsusawa, who can't bring himself to buy doughnuts because he wants them, is perfectly happy to get them for someone else. And that “someone else” is Subaru is all the better, because it gives him an excuse to show her that he cares…even if she can't quite wrap her head around that.

We still don't know much about what caused Subaru's fear of men, although I'm sure most of us can guess. That doesn't really matter in the long run, because just knowing about it is enough to make it clear how difficult it is for her to ask them to be her friends at all. It says a great deal about her state of mind that she feels she has to ask at all; as the boys all say, they assumed they were friends anyway. Natsusawa alone seems to get it – yes, his words are preceded by a jerk move (splashing her), but that's because he's not comfortable with what he's about to say, which indicates that he understands where Subaru's coming from. His blunt statement that he wouldn't have bothered to come if they weren't friends is what she needs to hear. Kind words wouldn't have gotten through as well, because a piece of Subaru's anxious brain would have been able to twist them into “oh, they're just being nice.” It's impossible to mistake Natsusawa's meaning, especially since he bought her doughnuts.

There's some nice symbolism in having Subaru's speech take place at the beach, as well. The water, which Natsusawa splashes her with and Kaoruko accidentally pushes her into, is an analogy for her leaving her comfort zone – she has to submerge herself in the discomfort of speaking her worries in order to understand that they don't need to hold her back. Kaoruko has been the lead instigator of Subaru's relationship with the boys, so having her shove her into the sea is a natural extension of that, and that Subaru can embrace it rather than getting mad is a mark of how far she's come. She's not all the way there yet, but she's moving forward.

Rintaro and Kaoruko are getting ready to take a similarly big step as well – or at least, Rintaro is. Will Kaoruko join him? We'll have to wait until the final episode next week to find out.

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The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity is currently streaming on Netflix.