Welcome to my review of Him, the Smile & Bloom (aka Hanakare)! We have yet another delightful slice-of-life otome game at our fingertips, and I couldn’t be more excited to dive in. This game has quickly become one of my favourites of the year. Let’s get to it!
Disclaimer: The route overview section is NOT spoiler free (sorry I need to yap in FULL for this one) – reader discretion is advised. To skip to the game feature/general experience, click here. To skip to spoiler-free summary, click here.
Contents
Basic information
✿ Dev/pub: MintLip
✿ Platform: Nintendo Switch
✿ Language: Japanese, English
✿ Audio: Japanese
✿ Director: Arai Natsumi
✿ Scenario: Amemiya Uta (Charade Maniacs, TsuiTsui), Asai Yuzuko (DYNAMIC CHORD, Starry Sky)
✿ Character design: Y at (9 R.I.P., Cupid Parasite, Jakou no Lyla)
✿ Genre: Slife-of-life, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Contemporary
✿ Rating: CERO D (17+)
✿ Japanese:花笑む彼と & bloom
Visit the official website here (JP).
Synopsis and setting
From MintLip:
To you, with love as dear as a blooming flower――
Him, who works at a flower shop, and you, his lover.
A romance simulation game that offers healing for the heart, depicting your days with him as he tenderly showers you with sweet, bittersweet love, just like a smiling flower.
We present to you a love story connected by flowers.
General trigger warning (click to reveal)
Dubious or non-con, mature themes, sexual themes, mild language, infidelity, stalking, controlling and obsessive behaviour, confinement, promiscuous behaviour, and implied sexual activities.
Main characters
Wataru Tori
✤ Voice actor: Kimura Ryohei
✤ Same voice actor as Gill (Cupid Parasite), Nicola (Piofiore), Kou (Diabolik Lovers), Shiraishi (Collar x Malice), and many others!
✤ Profile: 21 years old / DOB Jun 14 / 182 cm / blood type O
Tweedia x younger kouhai. A carefree and lively mood-maker, everyone’s “younger brother.
Hokuto Ichige
✤ Voice actor: Furukawa Makoto
✤ Same voice actor as Yoritomo (Birushana), Crius (even if TEMPEST), Kazuma (Lover Pretend), Jack (Tengoku Struggle) and many others!
✤ Profile: 27 years old / DOB Mar 12 / 185 cm / blood type O
Anemone x childhood friend. The manager of the flower shop Fill Flower.
Ginnosuke Sugawa
✤ Voice actor: Suzuki Ryota
✤ Same voice actor as Yona (Tengoku Struggle), Kouyou (9 R.I.P.), Ash (DesperaDrops) and Lucas (Mistonia no Kibou).
✤ Profile: 26 years old / DOB Apr 9 / 179 cm / blood type AB
Mimosa x co-worker. A highly popular and skilled person who is the face of Fill Flower.
Tenya Minami
✤ Voice actor: Tamaru Atsushi
✤ Same voice actor as Kasuga (VariBari), Edward (Mistonia no Kibou), Semi (Dairoku: Ayakashimori), Yuzuru (Utususemi no Meguri), and more!
✤ Profile: 24 years old / DOB Dec 5 / 175 cm / blood type B
Nandina x classmate. He doesn’t express himself much through words. A devoted lover.
Heroines
Serina Aoki
✤ Voice actor: N/A
✤ Pairing: Wataru Tori
She works at Fill Flower, 26 years old. She looks after Wataru who is a part-timer at the shop.
Fuka Haruyoshi
✤ Voice actor: N/A
✤ Pairing: Hokuto Ichige
She works at a major trading company, 23 years old. Hokuto’s childhood friend.
Ami Akashi
✤ Voice actor: N/A
✤ Pairing: Ginnosuke Sugawa
She works at an interior design firm, 23 years old. She met Gin during her rookie year while he’s delivering flowers to her office.
Miku Yukihira
✤ Voice actor: N/A
✤ Pairing: Tenya Minami
She works at a botanical garden, 24 years old. Kind and gentle, she reunites with Tenya after returning from overseas.
Side characters
Rei Karakusa
✤ Voice actor: Eguchi Takuya
A headquarter staff of Fill Flower. He often visits Fill Flowers’ branch, including where the main characters work at.
Kozue Arisawa
✤ Voice actor: Nanami Hiroki
The shop manager at different branch of Fill Flower.
Chikashi Utsugi
✤ Voice actor: Liura
Serina’s cousin, a part-timer at Fill Flower’s other branch.
Route impressions
⚠️ THIS SECTION IS NOT SPOILER FREE!
Sorry but I need to yap without limit for this one. You have been warned.
Wataru
✤ Golden retriever
✤ Tenacious lover
Wataru is a university student and the youngest staff member at Fill Flower. Carefree and sociable, he can be a bit air-headed and klutzy. Despite this, he’s great with people and especially popular with older female customers. However, he often finds himself flustered when it comes to Serina! He began working at Fill Flower after the two met at a festival.
Route trigger warning (click to spoil)
Infidelity and implied sexual activities.
ROUTE IMPRESSION 
Wataru is perfect for those who love the babygirl, puppy-dog type of character. Now, I’m usually not into this kind of love interest, but I couldn’t help but develop a soft spot for him—he’s just too tenacious and adorable! I totally understand Serina’s inevitable affection towards him, wanting to dote on him and show him lots of love because he gives that back 100 times over. He’s so straightforward and full-on about his feelings. The way he princess-carried her after she returned his feelings made me melt!
I also liked that his route includes a time skip, showing the progression of their relationship—not just them getting together, but also how their love matured and how Wataru grew as a person and a romantic partner. I especially enjoyed the moments where Wataru got to show more of his masculine side. I was cheering for him when he pinned her down and asked if they could go further—I nearly had a nosebleed!
Wataru’s route rating: 8/10
Hokuto
✤ “Brother” x childhood friend
✤ Protective lover
Route trigger warning (click to spoil)
Stalking, controlling behaviour, obsessive / possessive behaviours, confinement, and implied sexual activities.
ROUTE IMPRESSION
My love for the childhood friend trope died god knows when, but Hokuto might have just reignited it. I think it’s his overly protective, “brotherly” trait that stole my heart (if you’ve read my reviews, you know I’m a huge oniichan enthusiast). I also adore that he’s kind of a soft yandere and he doesn’t even know it, haha! It probably stems from spending most of his life wanting to protect Fuka and be the dependable figure in her life.
Hokuto has always shown signs of being obsessive, controlling, and even stalkerish throughout the story, so I’m sure he’s not for everyone—but I’m all about these red flags. For me, those traits are as red as they are green—it shows how deeply he cares for her, and how pathetically in love he is with her. Fuka’s unwavering love and tolerance for his antics felt so relatable because I’m a bit like that too when I’m in love with someone. Their dynamic is definitely not the healthiest, but first love runs deep.
Hokuto is also SUPER oblivious to his own feelings—I was practically screaming at my Switch, like, bro, get your sh*t together!! 😂 I also love the fact that none of their families batted an eye when they revealed they were lovers. Literally everyone else but them knows it’s just a matter of time. 😂
Hokuto’s route is more on the dramatic side and doesn’t get too steamy until towards the end. That one scene where they were in bed is still stuck in my mind, especially his hand on her chest—my jaw was on the floor. Plus I can never say no to Makonyan’s kissy and heavy breathing ASMR! I also wasn’t expecting Hokuto’s Wither end to go full-on yandere. It felt like a never-ending rollercoaster; intensely angsty and a lot of fun to experience.
As you can tell, this was a strong route for me. It gave me the kind of childhood friend x sibling-like dynamic I so desperately needed. A bit toxic, very passionate, and hella dramatic. So good!
Hokuto’s route rating: 9/10
Ginnosuke
✤ Princely… or so I thought.
✤ Sensual and flirty lover
Route trigger warning (click to spoil)
Promiscuous behaviour, mild language and implied sexual activities.
ROUTE IMPRESSION
I’ve always had my eyes on Gin, and his shift in personality totally bamboozled me—in the best way possible! Poor Ami, after all her pining and longing, only to be met with SASS. I love the way he toggles between his princely persona and his blunt, aloof self, saying whatever the hell he wants. Plus, his dedication and competence in his job? Chef’s kiss.
Gin is also a complete, unapologetic playboy. The “I learn what it means to love because of you” trope? I’m absolutely here for it. I was on edge when Ami saw him with another girl. I literally screamed “please, no bullshit in this house!!!!!!” Thankfully, it was just him tying up loose ends. I appreciate that they didn’t throw in any unnecessary drama like an ex clinging to him—because that would’ve been a major turn-off for me.
Gin’s love language? 100% physical touch. He is so touchy, and his route was easily the steamiest of the four. I was shook. Suzuki Ryota delivered yet again. Those making out and bed scenes were an absolute treat, and they went on for AGES too—god, I was going crazy.
Overall, Gin’s route was a delight. He is my favourite character, and while I’ll admit a strong seiyuu bias, I genuinely love his personality and duality. He’s a hopeless romantic once he falls in love, and I really enjoyed watching their relationship develop—from strangers with a past connection to lovers. The confession scene was especially cute! I love that Ami just went for it, even though it was because she couldn’t take the heavy feeling in her heart anymore, haha.
One minor oddity I noticed: in one of the chapters where they went to harvest the flowers, there was a scene where it was just the background without his sprite showing. It didn’t seem like an error, but it went on for quite a while, so I just found it a bit strange.
Ginnosuke’s route rating: 9/10
Tenya
✤ Full of surprises!
✤ Passionate lover
Route trigger warning (click to spoil)
Mild language, sexual themes.
ROUTE IMPRESSION
I’ve always found Tenya visually pleasing, and his sleeve paw is especially adorable. But I didn’t think I’d fall for him THIS HARD! He appears devoid of emotion, but he really surprised me because he practically wears his heart on his sleeve once he opens up. He’s a passionate, devoted lover with a mature approach to romance. Tenya is also a consent king, which of course, we love to see. The story’s framing around “are we lovers or friends today” was also super fun.
The biggest twist for me was discovering that Tenya had been crushing on Miku since high school. His dedication was so intense that he practically restructured his life to increase his chances of crossing paths with her again—that is CRAZY WORK, if you ask me. I wholeheartedly approve of this level of devotion. I’m also glad that Miku’s love for flowers, which piqued Tenya’s interest, turned into a fulfilling career for both of them.
Tenya’s route was the least steamy of the four, but I found the blend of innocent and passionate romance refreshing. That said, I have so many screenshots of Tenya saying the craziest things, like how Miku’s neck looks “so appetizing” or that he loves her so much he could “eat her.” Oh, boy. Miku is incredibly strong because if it were me, I’d just turn into puddles.
As for Miku, her shyness and reservations resonated with me, especially her struggles with feeling unworthy and being a people pleaser. She deserves all the love, and I’m so happy that Tenya recognised her worth and patiently waited for her. The yearning and emotional depth in this route were incredibly compelling for me. Amazing stuff!
Tenya’s route rating: 9.5/10
Route order and favourites
There are no locked routes, so you can start with any character you like. It’s probably best to play Wataru’s route first because there’s a minor spoiler about him that keeps on getting mentioned in other routes. But it’s not a life-changing spoiler in my opinion, so it’s fine if you don’t.
I wrote a walkthrough for the game, you can find it here.
✤ Ending types
The game features three endings: Glow, Bloom, and Wither. The Glow end is the best ending, the Bloom end is the standard or normal ending, and the Wither end is the bad ending. All endings include CGs, except for Hokuto’s Bloom end.
Here are my final rankings and favourites!
Vira’s route ranking:
- Tenya
- Hokuto
- Ginnosuke
- Wataru
Vira’s character ranking
- Ginnosuke
- Tenya
- Hokuto
- Wataru
Vira’s favourite ending(s):
- GLOW END – Gin
- BLOOM END – Tenya
- WITHER END – Hokuto and Wataru
Game features & experience
Notable features
✤ Basic features
The game uses fairly standard visual novel mechanics–quick save, quick load, skip read, and auto mode. But the game does not have a love catch system, which I was sad to miss. It also seems to be missing a skip jump feature.
While the game is fully voiced, it’s disappointing that even if you use the heroine’s real name, there’s no name-calling feature. This feels like a missed opportunity, especially with such a stacked cast of seiyuu. I would have loved to hear the heroine’s name rather than being called “kimi” by Hokuto!
✤ Bonus content
All collectibles are stored in Gallery section in Home screen. The Memory section stores unlocked Chapters, Stills (CGs) and Cutscenes. FYI, I didn’t realise you can press ZR / ZL to toggle between the three options in the Memory section—I had a whole ass paragraph written about how annoying it was that the game didn’t have a place to view CGs…until I went to their official website and saw how to do it (LOL). Turns out I was just stupid. 😂 Other collectibles include the Flower Book and Music.
Each love interest gets one bonus story, making a total of four bonus stories to unlock. These are accessible after clearing the character’s Glow ending.
Art and graphics
The aesthetics are clean and overall very pleasing. The backgrounds are richly detailed, and the colours are vibrant without being harsh on the eyes. The game also features mouth and eye animations, which I consider essential for modern otome games!
The CGs are stunning, and Yuuya’s work remains exceptional. I’m particularly enjoying her new art style (circa 9 R.I.P. era), which feels more polished and beautiful. I also love that many of the CGs include subtle variations (some more than 10+), particularly changes in expressions, which helped to bring the scenes to life. It was much more pleasant than having a single static image represent everything.
Another issue I want to whinge about, if I may, is the absence of the heroine’s face in the text box. All that space, especially on the left side, is wasted on the character’s name instead of showcasing their beautiful faces 😫 truly a missed opportunity!
Music
I love the opening song “Lady Flower” by mao. She’s also sung for other otome games before, including the popular game Piofiore. The in-game BGMs are clean and chic, perfectly complementing the modern slice-of-life theme. I especially enjoy the BGMs for Gin and Tenya!
Length
The game is on the shorter side. My Switch hasn’t shown my total playtime yet, but I think it took me around 16-20 hours to complete. This includes reading everything in full and listening to all the voice acting. The game moves along at a brisk pace, which I don’t mind, but I feel there are missed opportunities for deeper character development. Additional background stories or details would have been a nice touch without making the game a drag, which I acknowledge is a real risk with slice-of-life games!
Localisation
I am yet again confused by the level of outrage. From what I’d seen, it seemed like the translations were absolute dogsh*t, incomprehensible mess, so I was bracing for the worst. 😂 It wasn’t that bad, y’all? While it’s definitely not the best I’ve seen, I thought the conversations were translated reasonably well. There were noticeable typos and small errors throughout, and some word choices made me raise an eyebrow, but overall, it wasn’t disastrous. For me, the kind of errors I saw are too inconsistent to suggest it was fully machine-translated—they were more of non-native errors. Regardless, it’s clear that the QA process needs improvement. This is just my view; who knows what actually went behind the scenes!
I always encourage a constructive approach to these issues. Many publishers are improving their localisation efforts, so we should support new ones and encourage them to do better without resorting to negativity. 🩵
I also want to applaud MintLip for their effort to reach out to an international audience! It would be wonderful if the games were also listed digitally in global stores, not just on the Japanese e-Shop. I know how challenging it can be for international players to purchase from the Japanese e-Shop, with the need to buy Nintendo credits and navigate other hurdles. I also hope they will consider more dual or multilingual releases in the future and keep improving the translation quality.
Summary
✤ A true slice-of-life
Him, the Smile & Bloom, also known as Hanakare, is a quintessential slice-of-life otome game. It eschews unnecessary drama in favour of a charming narrative featuring four beautiful couples and their interactions with flowers. As a fan of the slice-of-life genre, I’m very particular about how it’s executed ’cause it can easily feel tedious for me. Fortunately, this game exceeded my expectations! I enjoyed a rollercoaster of emotions—laughter, tears, and even moments of shock.
I also appreciate that the characters are close to my age (early to late 20s), unlike other slice-of-life titles I love e.g., Brothers Conflict, Tokimemo, or Katakoi Contrast, which feature heroines and many male leads that are still in school. If you have played Sympathy Kiss and found it too dramatic, this game might be a more suitable choice for you, as it offers a much more mellow and relaxed experience. That said, the Wither ends can be quite angsty, so be mindful if you’re not fond of bad endings!
✤ Relationships, but in honeymoon phase
✤ “Fan service-y”—mature and saucy!
The game gets quite saucy in parts, which is an absolute treat given the voice actor cast. If you don’t live alone, be sure to use headphones, as the seiyuus went real HARD with the kissing sounds. 🤭 Gin’s route was the most erotic—as a fan of Suzuki Ryota, let me tell you I was SAT. Delicious stuff. The CGs aren’t overly spicy, but I was taken aback by Hokuto’s hand placement in one of them (if you know, you know).
✤ Flowery delight
✤ Characters not as fleshed out as I’d like
Personally, I felt the characters lacked depth, and I didn’t feel like I got to know them very well. Tenya is the exception, as his storyline explores his past, helping me understand and appreciate him more.
That said, there’s a fine line before a slice-of-life game becomes draggy, and I actually appreciated the game’s brisk pace (though I can see how some might feel things are too rushed). If not longer routes, then it would have been nice to see another bonus story or two that delved into the everyday details of the love interests. I am especially curious about the menial things (like their family, hobby, favourite food and other random matters 😅). MintLip, please consider a fandisc or sequel; I’d eat that sh*t up like a Sunday brunch!
Since we’re on the topic of characters, I have to mention how much I enjoyed the side characters in this game! They were a lot of fun and in some routes, they were critical to the narrative. Kozue is my favourite side character—her strong doting sister vibe is so charming! However, Chika barely appears and feels a bit underutilised.
✤ Things to consider
If you’re contemplating whether to get this game, here are a few points to help you decide:
- Do you enjoy narratives that focus on everyday life and relationships?
- Are you looking for a game where the main characters are adults in their early to late 20s?
- Are you looking for a game that’s more romance heavy and playful, with suggestive content?
- Do you prefer a game with more relaxed mood?
If you’ve said yes to questions above, then Him, the Smile & Bloom might be right up your alley.
Do note that some routes employ misunderstanding trope. If this irritates you, proceed with caution! Personally, I didn’t find them too bothersome nor were they plentiful in content (and they’re definitely not on the level of Sympathy Kiss. But then again, I love that game, so maybe I have a higher tolerance for it! 😂).
Also, if you prefer a digital copy, the only option right now is through the Japanese eShop. For those not based in Japan, you’ll need to purchase Nintendo eShop credits. I use PlayAsia—they’ve been reliable but can be quite pricey.
If you require near-perfect, natural localisations, this game might not meet your expectations. There are several typos and errors throughout the game, and some parts did have questionable word choices. However, in my experience, the overall readability is still very good, and the translations are pretty decent!
+
- Quissential slice-of-life
- Flower themes beautifully woven into narrative
- Extremely lovable male leads and heroines
- Beautiful aesthetics and CGs
- Variety of tropes and storylines
- Very high on romance, and gets steamy too!
–
- Short routes = some characters not as fleshed out
- Quality of translated text can be improved, especially the typos and small errors
- Limited availability—digital version only on Japanese e-Shop
