Hana Saku Iroha - Review

Hana Saku Iroha was somewhat of a bumpy ride, producing varying reactions along the way. In the end it had a wonderfully well written arc that result in a solid and satisfying climax that shined over prior calamities. I think the main problem was that it was good at what it promised, a slice of life, coming of age, the daily on-goings of a traditional Japanese Inn and appallingly bad at the unexpected – the outlandish comedy and romance triangle.  In both these areas characters and situations didn’t feel natural and interrupted the general flow – for example the perverted writer who writes explicit porn involving the underage girls at the inn, when discovered he kidnaps Ohana and later attempts suicide. Giving him a job at the inn is obvious the workings of a rational, sane mind. Yet this character becomes the perverted comic relief for the remaining series. Despite the fact I can’t imagine any teenage girl finding this situation comfortable. 

As for the romance section, the Minko-Trohu-Ohana triangle is expectedly, but even so the latter part appears almost out of nowhere. It certainly doesn’t come across as a genuine love interest, more or less like a plot device to create tension between Minko and Ohana. It does serve one good purpose, with Minko unjustly on the war path with Ohana; the ever-annoying Ohana is given a sympathetic light and thus becomes more endearing. As for Ohana, the primary protagonist the series did a fantastic job overall of making an overtly optimistic teenager, likable and compelling. In context this is a girl who quite literally has her life turned upside down and placed into a familiar environment, but what makes her relatable is the moment she begins to challenge her mother in favour of the inn. This is when Ohana stops being the archetypal heroine and becomes an average teenager.

 Rating: 7/10 

Hana Saku Iroha - 06 & 07

To be honest, I haven’t got a lot to say about either episode. They’re certainly not as bad as others have been and yet Hana Saku Iroha seems to have hit a lacklustre patch. It is becoming more prominent that the Inn not doing well and the love triangle between already rivals Ohana and Minko will be major themes later on, something of which I’m looking forward to. Unfortunately this does little to improve the shows current predicament and the simple truth that 7 episodes in and it’s starting to go stale. I’m not sure how the story is going to be able to stretch to 26 episodes…

Verdict: Average

Hana Saku Iroha 05 - Tearful Chef Romance

Initially I thought Minko must have come from a background different to Ohana, one that had led her to be resentful of her new roommate. That was the only reason I could surmise for Minko’s abrasive attitude. As it happens this is not the case, the worse crime her parents committed was to put their foot down against their daughters request to drop out of high school, yet they seem more then willing to let Minko pursue her chef dream by working and living at the inn. You would have thought Minko might have sympathised with Ohana, after all her mother basically pawned her off. In all Minko still hasn’t managed to redeem herself, I can’t stand her personality.

The major dilemma was a fairly obvious mistake and it was a little surprising to see how quickly everyone lapped it up despite only circumstantial evidence. In essence the plot suffered the same problem as episode three only no where near as drastic. It was unable to resolve the current situation without blowing it out of proportion, escalating in Ohana acting like an ass. Well on her own head be it, all anyone had to do was simply ask Tohru, nothing taxing.

Verdict: Fine

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

Hana Saku Iroha 03 – Balut

After the previous episode ended on a very sudden and dramatic high, I was all set to applaud Hana Saku Iroha for its brilliant delivery and creativity. Regrettably I can no longer do so. It’s almost as if the writing staff wanted to end on something quite shocking but didn’t have the balls to carry suit in the next episode. If the premise had been taken even half seriously, episode three would have been a tough act to follow. Instead they went for some light-hearted romp.

Ohana finds herself taken hostage and tied bondage style by the potential rapist/paedophile novelist of whom porn she stumbled upon at the end of the last episode. However as it transpires he is neither, just a failed writer trying to put together a porn novel in order to pay his bill. Ohana gets a case of Stockholm syndrome and decides to read his sex story about her and the other hostesses. Seriously did this child get dropped on the head repeatedly? Last week I discussed how genuine I felt her character was, this week Ohana relapsed.

Does it end there? Does it feck! As if this situation wasn’t bad enough, the creepy novelist attempts to make a quick get away after being discovered, only to have the inns entire staff in hot pursue. Hang about hasn’t the old battleaxe spend most of her screen time banging on about the importance of customer service? I mean, who is supposed to be running the inn? Or is this guy the only customer they have? Is this why they need his money so badly? As it happens, no, they don’t. Once they have the creepy freeloader cornered, he immediately threatens suicide and the inn staff respond with a little powwow, ultimately letting him out of his debt. Excuse me Madam Manager, did you miss the part where this geezer kidnapped your own grandchild?

Then they all proceed to have a group meal. Screw the paying, law-abiding customers.

Verdict: Average/borderline stupid

Hana Saku Iroha - 02 Vengeance is a Staff Meal

The drama continues at a surprisingly fast pace as Ohana’s good natured, can do spirit gets a complete overhaul, through no fault of her own, as we are treated to another glimpse of bad parenting. Trust is obviously going to be a strong theme throughout Hanasaku Iroha, starting with Ohana as she vows to be more willing to rely on others. By recognizing that its main character has faults, the show crafts a complex heroine, as oppose to an unrealistically pure one.

The relationship between Ohana and Minko took a step towards their enviable friendship. As nothing she does seems to be right, Ohana obviously reached her limits with Minko, taking her out verbally and physically. As for her sense of revenge, well its’ pure genius!

The cliff-hanger ending was without a doubt something unexpected. I never thought that Hanasaku Iroha would put Ohana in that level of peril, especially so early on in the series. Hanasaku continues to impress me with its wonderful sense of timing and fantastic delivery. Seriously, keep it coming!

Verdict: Very Good.

First Impressions: Hana Saku Iroha & Sengoku Otome

Hana Saku Iroha

Hana Saku Iroha stood up and delivered. The story introduces our heroine, Matsumae Ohana, an overly good-natured and optimistic girl, in the bud of her life. Just as Ohana starts to think about her future, her world is suddenly turned upside down, when her flaky mother decides to move away with her boyfriend while sending her daughter to live with her Grandmother, a woman Ohana has never met. Of course when I say live, I meant to say work for in her Grandmothers Inn. And when I say Grandmother I meant to say battleaxe who doesn’t think twice about smacking her granddaughter around (literally). In essence this is what happens, yet Hanasaku Iroha has such a cheerful demeanour that you could almost be forgiven for overlooking Ohana’s mothers irresponsible behaviour. For such a limited amount of time, we already know a lot about Ohana, her personality, her life prior to moving, her wiliness to adapt to her new situation, this really is a strong and very beautiful beginning for any character. Obviously there are family dynamics at play that go beyond Ohana that it’s certainly going to be interesting to see if her presence will unravel them.

Initial Rating: 8/10

Sengoku Otome ~ Momoiro Paradox~ / Battle Girls ~Time Paradox~

Sometimes an anime is bad but there is a glimmer of potential, other times an anime is so bad that it’s like watching a car crash, no matter how hard you try you just can’t look away. Unfortunately Sengoku Otome or Battle Girls (your first clue is in the name) is neither. It’s just plain bad. The premise revolves around a teenage girl, Hide Yoshino, inexpiably being transported to 16^th Century Japan. Not exactly a new or original concept, so it falls to Sengoku Otome to pull something quite interesting out of the bag in order to be worth the watch. Or they could go with boobs, one or the other. Of course they went with boobs. Sengoku Otome decides to do a gender-bender on historical Japanese figures, an excuse to have the primary female cast strutting around in impractical warrior underwear. Its second mistake is to make its heroine into a shallow, clumsy, blithering airhead, who is such a retard that she still hasn’t worked out where she is. And here I was concerned there would be too many animes to watch this season!

Initial Rating: 3/10

Spring Anime 2011 - Part 2

A Channel

Synopsis: The story revolves around the everyday life of four high school girls: the flighty Run, the reckless Tōru, the timid Yūko, and the level-headed Nagi.

First Reaction: They look kawaii.

Ao no Exorcist

Synopsis: Based on a supernatural manga. It focuses on Rin Okumura, a boy raised by a famous exorcist named Father Fujimoto. After an argument between the two, Rin discovers he is the son of Satan. Rin decides to fight his fate by joining the True Cross Academy to become an exorcist and defeat demons. However, when he draws his father’s sword, it releases a dark power within him.

First Reaction: *Drool*

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shirana

Synopsis: Six childhood friends grew apart in high school. One of them is Jintan, now a shut-in. He gets a request to fulfill a wish for Menma, the only one of their friends to have stayed the same over the years. In order to grant her wish, he will have to find and reunite their old friends.

First Reaction: Hmmm, not sure.

[ C ] THE MONEY OF SOUL AND POSSIBILITY CONTROL

Synopsis: The Japanese government was rescued from the brink of financial collapse by the Sovereign Wealth Fund. For its citizens, however, life has not improved, and unemployment, crime, suicide, and despair are rampant. Kimimaro, raised by his maternal grandmother after the disappearance of his father and the death of his mother, is a scholarship student whose only dream is to avoid all this and live a stable life. One day, however, he meets a man who offers him a large sum of money if he’ll agree to pay it back. From then on his fate is radically altered as he’s drawn into a mysterious area known as “The Financial District.

First Reaction: Sounds intriguing, not overly interested through.

Deadman Wonderland

Synopsis: Ganta Igarashi has been convicted of a crime that he hasn’t committed, and sent to a new, privately owned and operated prison, where the inmates are the main attraction in a modern day twist to the gladiatorial coliseums of ancient times. Throw in a healthy dose of weird little girl, some new-found super powers, and a little conspiracy theory, and you have Deadman Wonderland.

First Reaction: Looks 100% awesome.

Gintama 2

Synopsis:

Edo-period at Japan suffers a big cultural shock. First, the aliens invaded the earth, overpowered the nation’s government, disbanded carrying swords for the once proud samurais. moreover; these aliens took the people’s jobs and are currently running a sweatshop using them as laborers. going with the flow, Sakata Gintoki, an enigmatic vagrant samurai whose personal trademark is not only his naturally permed silver hair but also his love of anything sweet and addiction to Shonen Jump is making a life out of this chaotic era. He is self employed in a do-it-all shop named Yoruzuya Gin-chan who offers any job for any amount of money. Their jobs range from searching lost kittens and saving the world

First reaction: HELL YES!

Hana-Saku Iroha

Synopsis: The story centers around Ohana Matsumae, a 16-year-old Tokyo native who ended up working at a onsen ryokan (hot spring inn). Matsumae has yet to decide her future.

First Reaction: I bet this one will be interesting.

Hen Zemi

Synopsis: Nanako Matsutaka is an innocent university student who is participating in a sexual perversion seminar led by the deviant professor Kenji Meshiya. She desperately tries to keep her morals as well as her sanity while amidst the strange group of students in the study group.

First Reaction: Pah!