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

Tsumugi, Kyouko Supporting

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Yuzuhara, Madoka Supporting

Tsuchiya, Rio Japanese

Usami, Shouhei Supporting

Toya, Kikunosuke Japanese

Yorita, Ayato Supporting

Ishibashi, Hiiro Japanese

Tsumugi, Keiichirou Supporting

Okiayu, Ryoutarou Japanese

Sawatari, Ayumi Supporting

Mizuno, Saku Japanese

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Nagamine, Rieko Producer

Tsuji, Toshikazu Producer

Yamato, Masae Producer

Reviews

Dec 15, 2025

Otaku_Senpai

Recommended

As I started the show some things didn't make sense to me. The girls from Kikyo seem to hate or be scared of Rintarou and it felt a poor choice by not making the guys look like delinquents or scary or ugly. As a matter of fact they were made to look good looking. This did not serve the premise of the anime.

Having said that, rest of the anime looks good and is backed up by good animation. The characters were all likable. Especially Kaoruko, who is almost like the 'perfect girl'. Her personality is almost angelic? At least from Rintarou's perspective she must be. ... I can see her doing good in any Wifu tier list.

The opening and ending are both good. I like the songs.

It surprised me a bit as the story went on as I thought at first this would be a 'Romeo & Juliet' story, and it wasn't.

By the end of the show I thought highly of the show. This is a good romance show. One of the best romance shows of 2025. But I am not giving it a higher score, particularly because romance is not genre I get interested in watching. As a matter of fact I was bore at times in this show.

But the final episodes were solid and uplifted the show in my opinion.

My Rating: 7/10 (Good)

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Otaku_Senpai (68)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Dec 13, 2025

empress_ay

Mixed Feelings

The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity is a nice first watch. The visuals are really pretty, the characters are cute, but it doesn't have enough going for it to be worth rewatching. This will be up your alley if you need a cute romance to put on Saturday mornings and not think about too hard.

The characters are what shine and really bring this anime to life. Honestly, because the characters are the best part, I wish we would have gotten to know them just a little sooner so we could spend more time with them and each of their relationships.

The season opens with the rivalry ... between the adjacent schools. It's a weak source of conflict, because it's never explained or elaborated on, but we move past it quickly. After the first few episodes it focuses on Rintarou's relationship with his family, friends, and himself a lot more, which is great! It's very enjoyable to see how all these people in his life matter to him in different ways. Everyone deals with their feelings in such a healthy way that most conflicts (if you can call them that) are resolved within the episode. It's nice to see male friendships where they're so open with each other, and it's a refreshing change of pace. However, this also means that there's very little conflict! The plot is non-existent! I think it works for only being 13 episodes, but if the season was 24 or more, it would have been much more boring. This anime is very much about enjoying people spending time together.

I wish Kaoruko had some more depth to her, something about going to school on a scholarship or her family would have made her character stronger. With that in mind, it's no surprise that Subaru is the most interesting character because she has the most inner turmoil. I did enjoy watching this and I want to support good romance stories, but it's not fair to let weak writing slide because it's a romance. It is possible to uplift more of the stories we want to see while also holding them to a high standard.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by empress_ay (1)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Dec 14, 2025

PrN_8

Not Recommended

Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku

I’ll be honest—the amount of glaze this anime is getting on social media genuinely confused me. It even made me question whether I’m just getting too old for school romance anime. The characters felt very familiar and overused: the cute heroine, the silent MC, the overprotective best friend. Even the rivalry between the two schools felt a bit corny to me. Overall, it felt like a K-drama turned into an anime.

Maybe this one just isn’t for me—but I can see it working for others.

Characters
Plain and pretty cliché. The characters, their dialogues, and motivations felt a bit off or overly corny, ... at least for me.

Animation
The best part of the show. The animation is solid and clean for a romance anime.

Recommendation
Personally, I wouldn’t really recommend this, as I prefer more mature or comedic romance. But if you’re into school romance, you might enjoy it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by PrN_8 (29)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

🎧Anime with Thai dubs🇹🇭3｜🎧อนิเมะที่มีพากย์ไทย🇹🇭๓

by Adrena

50 Entries · 3 Restacks

Highest Rated Anime of 2025

by Doggo1195

32 Entries · 192 Restacks

Anime of the Year 2025

by SuperShulk

36 Entries · 12 Restacks

Summer 2025 Simulcast List [Update 8/7]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of television anime acquired for simulcast release during the Summer 2025 season. Anime series licensed for hom...read more

Jun 27, 2:20 PM by Snow | Discuss (17 comments)

Summer 2025 Preview

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of Summer 2025 titles with an accompanying promotional video, commercial, teaser, or trailer. This post will be...read more

Jun 18, 12:31 PM by Snow | Discuss (10 comments)

	Poll: Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) IzanaSolos - Aug 30	202 replies	by unusual_act »» 4 hours ago
	What makes this show better than other romance anime? ( 1 2 ) Jsar0 - Sep 28	57 replies	by mo_lave »» Yesterday, 7:25 PM
	The melodrama in this anime doesn't make any sense ( 1 2 ) Ajaxxexx - Jul 7	69 replies	by JaniSIr »» Yesterday, 5:19 AM
	Poll: Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) IzanaSolos - Jun 29	238 replies	by JaniSIr »» Dec 14, 5:46 PM
	Poll: Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Ricky16 - Sep 27	336 replies	by woodyotaku »» Dec 14, 9:49 AM