By Ace Dispo, Web Editor & Loren Echaluse and Skyler Gourley, Staff Writers
Looking for a good animated show to watch? Look no further than Okonomi Animania, bringing you the people’s pick of animation reviews for this month! Edited by Okonome Anime Club president Ace Dispo, we bring you reviews on “The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity,” “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle,” and “Arcane.” If any of these peak your interests, then make sure to give it a watch!
The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity Review
By: Ace Dispo
Would you disapprove of a close friend if they were going out with someone from a rival school? “The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity” confronts this idea head on. The anime, based on the manga by Saka Mikami, follows two students from rival high schools that form a friendship that breaks their school’s norms. The series is currently ongoing with 11 episodes as of September 19, 2025, and can be watched in both English and Japanese with subtitles.
The series, in my opinion, has beautiful animation quality from the brilliant artists of Studio Cloverworks, and has an extremely deep yet realistic plot. I personally can see the events of the series happening in real life, which is rare to see in an anime.
Trust is one of the key ideas of the anime. As mentioned, the two main characters come from rival schools, so their friends are likely to inherently hate each other because of it. Despite that, when their friends hear them out, they are surprisingly supportive. The anime goes to great lengths building the suspense and idea that they wouldn’t be supportive, so it’s refreshing to see the trust the characters have in each other.
Despite the inherent disinterest most people have when they hear something coming from an anime, I would still personally recommend that you should check it out. Most common reasons why people dislike this anime do not apply to this anime. It has a story and topics it wants to tell, and it doesn’t do anything more than that.
If you want to watch a wholesome yet grounded romance story where characters actually develop, then look no further than “The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity.”
Arcane Review
By: Skyler Gourley
“Arcane” is a show on Netflix originally released on November 6, 2021 with season 2, the final season, releasing November 2, 2024. The show is based on the popular game “League of Legends”, created by Riot Games.
The show explores the broken relationship between the sisters Jinx/Powder and Vi/Violet being fixed. It also shows the creation of the Arcane power source, which was created by two inventors from the Piltovers council. As the show progresses, we see the power of the Arcane, its effect on others, and consequences of its creation.
Early in the show, when Vi and Jinx have a sibling fall out, Jinx gets adopted by Silco, the leader of the Undercity. Jinx later becomes an icon in the undercity, due to her stunts and the use of Shimmer, a drug that grants users superhuman abilities. Despite this, we see how Jinx’s mental problems affect her and others within the narrative.
The show also explores the politics of both the Undercity and Piltover. By the end of the show, Piltover and the Undercity join forces to fight and save themselves from an enemy force.
Personally, my favorite characters are Silco and Jinx because they are just very interesting and well made characters. This show also has some amazing side characters like Isha who is a non-verbile orphan that Jinx adopts. Overall I think that this show is amazing and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t watched it.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle Movie Review
By: Loren C. Echaluse
“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle” is a 2025 film originally released on July 18, 2025 in Japan, and September 12, 2025 in the USA. The film is R-rated due to violence, gore, and mature topics, which should be noted. In context, this film is based on the original manga series by Koyoharu Gotouge. “Demon Slayer” follows a boy named Tanjiro Kamado whose sister, Nezuko Kamado, becomes a demon after a powerful demon kills his family. He joins the Demon Slayer Corps in order to cure Nezuko and avenge his family.
In a short summary with no spoilers, the movie leads to the last few arcs of the series, which includes the battles between Demon Slayer masters and members against high ranking demons. To understand this movie better, I recommend either reading the manga or watching the anime beforehand.
As an artist, I’ll say that the animation and artstyle is very impressive, done by Ufotable. This studio is known for having a great animation style. The art goes from anime style, but when transforming serious/nature-like scenes, it transforms to a 3D-realistic artstyle.
Overall, the film was very nice with the back stories. It leaves off in a cliffhanger to continue on with the next part of the story. The film is very impactful about opinions and thoughts of human life. The character’s deaths or backstories built on their wants in the story. It shows empathy towards where and how the character’s goals are to the story and where they led to. One of the main reasons that led to most of the character’s goals was vengeance. Two more movies are planned to come out in 2027. Look out for the last two heartbreaking continuation of the series, Yes, it will be heartbreaking as a manga reader.
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