Dahlias in Bloom: Creating a New Beginning with Magical Tools – Episode 5

©︎Amagishi Hisaya/MF Books/DB PROJECT

Now that Dahlia has cut all ties with Tobias and set up her own company, it’s time for her new life as an independent artisan to begin…finally. I suppose. But for this episode, it’s more important that Dahlia gets a full introduction to a new love interest that isn’t exactly a new love interest. The second half of the episode will finally push forward Dahlia’s journey as a craftswoman. But first, we have to take some time for some early 2000s Hugh Grant romantic comedy.

It's funny how the tailor-made Wolf is an idealized love interest, as if he were straight out of a romance novel. He's tall, handsome, and hides his toned muscles under his loosely tied shirts. He's so attractive that he has to hide under a cloak or go into Clark Kent mode to keep random women from hounding him—though he's embarrassed by it and isn't arrogant. He comes from a noble family but is humble enough to be detached enough to speak frankly and intimately with Dahlia. He only throws out his family name when necessary to embarrass Dahlia's failed ex. Dude is probably the most traditional boyfriend I've seen in anime in years. All he lacks is a tragic backstory that needs to be healed by the gentle kindness of a beautiful but selfless and independent woman.

That’s not entirely bad, though it does push Dahlia’s story further into its own genre of power fantasy. The Wolf suddenly entering our heroine’s life, ready to literally wipe her out, is just a little much, especially when the show is trying to build more grounded rapport between them before any romance begins. Unfortunately, the main way to do that is to use dialogue to build chemistry, and this episode fails to deliver that properly. The content of Dahlia and Wolf’s conversations and shared meals is solid—they have an easy rapport that makes for some interesting world-building points, like the noble etiquette that requires men to start with compliments when talking to women—but the direction and character animation struggle to keep up. There's an art to editing long dialogue scenes that's absent here, and as a result their conversations come across as stilted and awkward despite the strong voice acting. It helps that you can understand on an intellectual level why these two characters get along, but you can't feel that spark with them.

The second half of this episode is much stronger, as we finally get to see Dahlia return to her element. We see her dabbling with all sorts of high-level magical inventions in Oswald's shop. Firstly, it's great to see that Dahlia isn't the only one capable of creating things that resemble our technology. Whether they're harnessing magic or electricity, people are naturally going to want something cool in the summer, so it makes sense that someone would come up with this idea, as they did in our history. On the other hand, it's great to see her apply her knowledge and ingenuity to these various inventions and ideas. It allows Dahlia to become a character in her own right, rather than a character who is always praised and supported by everyone around her.

Likewise, learning about her father from Oswald helps bring us back to the emotional core of Dahlia's character. I'm pretty sure this is the first time we've seen her cry outright since Carlo's death, and it feels right. After all the stages and months of dying over a failed engagement, she's finally comfortable enough to let herself grieve. It makes for an unbalanced episode that's still stretched thin by the production, but still manages to deliver in the important places.

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Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start With Magical Tools is now streaming on Crunchyroll.