The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity

Episode 9

While the Hall of Shame for anime parents is lengthy and storied, the Hall of Fame is much less packed. In large part, we can attribute the disparity to a variation on the “orphan fantasy” from children's literature, i.e., that if competent and caring parents are present, it's harder to send the kids off on a potentially dangerous adventure. But The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity isn't that kind of story. It doesn't need Rintaro and Kaoruko to be left alone for plot reasons, and it's certainly not going to send them heading off to another world for a dangerous escapade. In fact, given Rintaro's self-esteem issues, it's important that he has supportive parents, and I am pleased to say that his mom is more than up to the task. I don't say this lightly, but she's easily a match for Satoru's mom in ERASED.

The plot has made no secret of the fact that Rintaro was picked on for his “scary” appearance, with few, if any, kids making the effort to get to know him as a person. At some point, he just glumly accepted that this was his life, and the show has been largely content to let us assume that his pierced ears and bleached hair were him leaning into the stereotype. But this week, we learn the truth: it wasn't him leaning into the idea of his own scariness; it was Rintaro trying to become stronger by looking like a person he admired. That person was a foreign pastry chef who helped ignite Rintaro's own interest in baking because he looked so happy making cakes in his bakery. He was “scary looking” in that he appeared “foreign,” but it didn't get him down. Little Rintaro might not have been able to articulate that (and bigger Rintaro still has some trouble), but what it represented to him was someone who didn't care what others thought of him and was still happy. It's an aspiration that Rintaro can't quite bring himself to voice, but is clear nonetheless.

But what's even more important is that his mother understands. She always has – from when he came home sobbing about how other kids treated him, she's been doing her best to make Rintaro feel safe, secure, and happy. In fact, her hair is also bleached because she did it in solidarity with her son, and she pierced her ears for the same reason. She wanted him not to feel alone, and she went out of her way to show him that. And she's still doing it – sure, it may be a bit of a teenage nightmare to have your mom insist on inviting friends over for you, but bringing Kaoruko and Subaru upstairs when Rintaro's already got his school buddies over is just another way for her to show that she's proud of him. He's gone from no friends to five, and you'd better believe she's aware that he and Kaoruko also share a mutual crush. Bringing the girls up isn't her micromanaging his social life, it's her basking in her son's happiness – a happiness that her tears indicate she wasn't sure would ever come.

It helps that the other guys are so easygoing. (Well, maybe not Saku.) Now that they've met Subaru and Kaoruko, they're perfectly happy to welcome them into their circle, even if Usami has all the tact and dignity of an orange cat. They understand that Subaru isn't comfortable, but they just let her be her, much in the same way they've come to realize that Rintaro will tell them what's going on when he's ready to. Rintaro's going to be okay – from his friends to his mom, everyone's got his back. All he has to do is realize it and understand that he'll never be alone and ostracized again.

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