Hanako’s Flower Shop – Cute visual novel focusing on themes like growth and grief

• DEVELOPER: FantaJI Games
• PUBLISHER: FantaJI Games
• PLATFORMS: PC
• GENRE: Visual Novel
• RELEASE DATE: April 25, 2025
• STARTING PRICE: 14,79€
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

Hanako’s Flower Shop is a cozy visual novel with resource management elements, centered on Hanako, a young woman taking over her grandfather’s beloved flower shop. Set in a cute, anime-inspired village, the game blends heartfelt storytelling, bouquet-crafting puzzles, and light farming mechanics, focusing on themes of growth, grief, and connection through the language of flowers.

The main feature of the game is its bouquet-building system, a puzzle-like task where you create arrangements based on the symbolic meanings of flowers, like red roses for love, white lilies for modesty, or amaryllis for regret. Customers share their personal stories, and key phrases in their dialogue, which are highlighted via a transcript system reveal emotions like joy, grief, or kinship, guiding your flower choices.

Blending multiple genres while staying cozy and forgiving

There are no strict timers or penalties for wrong bouquets; instead, customers gently suggest alternatives if your arrangement misses the mark, keeping the game cozy. The June 2025 update introduced a “Flower Codex”, a journal tracking flower meanings and customer preferences, which helps new players by cutting down on guesswork.

On the other side, resource management in the game involves gathering flowers in three ways: planting them in your garden, foraging in the forest (limited to seven flowers per trip), or buying seeds and flowers for next-day delivery. Gardening is straightforward, you plant seeds, water them, and harvest once they grow, though some flowers take longer to grow than others.

Hanako’s Flower Shop also features a “Neighbor Assistance” option, where characters like the twins Aya and Sayuri can collect flowers for a small fee, meaning this feature really is simplifying resource gathering in a good way. Not everything here is about gameplay though, you can take breaks to listen to the radio or enjoy snacks, which boosts Hanako’s happiness, a small stat that influences your dialogue choices and improves your shop’s performance.

“Resource management in the game involves gathering flowers in three ways.”

Your choices slightly shape the story outcome

The story isn’t truly linear; your choices shape Hanako’s journey and the outcomes for customers. What you say during customer conversations or nightly chats with Grandpa (through flashbacks) impacts relationships and story paths, although major plot points remain consistent. For example, giving a “good” bouquet that matches a customer’s feelings can lead to positive follow-up letters or happy endings, while “non-fitting” bouquets might result in neutral or bittersweet outcomes. The launch version featured multiple endings based on Hanako’s growth and relationships, and the June 2025 update added two new endings.

Cute animations, like sheep jumping over Hanako’s bed at night, add a charming touch while community festivals, such as the Flower Festival, let you sell bouquets, play mini-games like flower-matching puzzles, and unlock unique decor items. The bouquet-building puzzles are forgiving, letting you retry without penalty as long as you listen carefully to customer stories. Also, the resource system is well-balanced, offering plenty of flowers.

A Hint System for these puzzles provides subtle clues if you struggle with flower meanings, while the game’s emotional depth explores themes of grief and self-discovery. For example, helping a customer process loss with a thoughtful bouquet feels truly meaningful. The absence of “wrong” choices reinforces the game’s message that growth comes from good intentions, not perfection.

“Your choices shape Hanako’s journey and the outcomes for customers.”

Best enjoyed in several sessions

Hanako’s Flower Shop features lush, hand-drawn 2D anime-style art, showcasing flower designs and cozy environments like the shop, forest, and village. Characters have distinct designs, and charming animations, though they lack variety. While the art shines, the UI’s text-heavy design feels dated compared to modern visual novels, and some animations, like customer movements, can seem stiff. Still, performance remains solid with no major graphical glitches.

In the end, Hanako’s Flower Shop is a heartwarming visual novel with no major issues, though it’s not for everyone. I believe visual novels need something truly special to draw you in and keep you playing, and while this game suits fans of Coffee Talk or Strange Horticulture, its overly forgiving gameplay might feel too easy. It’s best enjoyed in several sessions rather than one long sitting and perfect for fans of Visual Novels.

Review copy provided by the publisher

4