This one doesn't try to top the show, it just lets you sit back down next to Lunlun after the journey is over. The TV run had her crossing borders week after week with Cateau and Nouveau bickering in her shadow, Togenishia and Boris sabotaging every lead, the Seven Color Flower always one country further on. Here the stakes drop out entirely, and that's the point: no dying King, no Serge Flora mystery hanging over her, just a short, quiet stretch of screen time and a title that promises cherry blossoms. Fans of the 1979 series know Lunlun was always at her best in the small moments, listening to somebody's problem in a town she'd leave the next morning, and this is forty-odd minutes of exactly that register. If you grew up on the Flower Girl and never got a proper goodbye, this is the postcard.

A sequel film to the Hana no Ko Lunlun TV series, Lunlun travels to Japan to see her friend Midori and enjoy the cherry blossoms. Once there, she notices signs of pollution and comes upon Togenishia and Yabouki as they try to strip the trees of their lovely petals. The movie carries a clear message for Japanese viewers, urging them to pollute less and celebrating the cherry blossoms as a source of national pride.