Hana Saku Iroha -04 Grey Heron Rapsody

A very welcomed return to form after the sheer silliness of last week’s episode. Though this episode did end on a discovery, through not as dramatic, I certainly hope it can be resolved without resorting to the innfolk having to mad chase someone down.

The story moves into a new environment, one we all knew was coming as Ohana begins to attend the local school alongside Minko and Nako. Here Ohana is able to glimpse Minko outside her job and basically she is the same stick-up-her-butt bitch as she is at home. This however seems to make her the coolest girl in the class. Apparently bitchiness is considered cool in Japan, go figure. I feel as through I’m done giving Minko the benefit of the doubt, she is an obnoxious character, one who might find Ohana annoying, but has little valid reason to continuous treat her coldly. After all she did get bitchslapped by her own Grandmother after trying to defend Minko. The last week she was kidnapped and held hostage by a peedo. I mean, Minko give the girl a break already!

On track, Ohana is immediately bombarded with Minko’s fanboys only to be saved by Yuina, the daughter of the rival inn’s owners. Yuina seems the friendly, happy-go-lucky type, a completely opposite to Minko’s character, who now appear to be love rivals, so it will be interesting to see whether Ohana gets caught in the crossfire. The romance element between Minko and Tohru came as bit of a surprise, through it probably shouldn’t have. Minko has a one sided, school girl crush on her primary male handler. Ohana puts two and two together and while attempting to speak to Minko gets strangled for all her efforts. Yeah, Minko, this is probably why you don’t have any friends…

Verdict: Good