Hanasaku Iroha - Spoilers & Speculation
 

The purpose of this thread is to allow free discussion of theories and speculation of the Hanasaku Iroha anime series, but be warned since it may contain unmarked spoilers. Having a central location may help focus the discussion instead of spreading speculation over the various episode discussion threads.

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We will have Ohana X Tooru I think !!

I can't find a link but there was a comment from the staff that something big happens in episode 10. The statement gave rise to rumors about characters getting pregnant LOL.

To be completely honest, before the series started they also announced something big was going to happen in episode 3...

"~California here we come. Right back where we started from~"...

*hides*

In all seriousness... if I had to guess, it would be Ohana's grandmother passing away.

lovely thing about this show is that there is no source, so everything is speculation. i'll reiterate my theory that someone will get pregnant in the show. after all, one of the first things said in the show was Ohana's belief about the stork theory rather than the cabbage patch theory. and there's always that stork (which is technically a heron, but w/e) flying around.

also, something big did happen in ep 3. EPIC CAR CHASE.

Heh, only one speculation? I love tossing stuff at the wall and watching stuff fall off...

-As Ohana's grandmother foreshadows, the inn goes bankrupt; Fukuya buys out Kissuiso, and everyone works for Yuina now. Her first celebratory action is to get a larger massage chair.
-Ohana is promoted to the position of manager. Then, she picks up a copy of Peter Drucker's Management, and uses business theory in order to make Kissuiso the most popular inn in Japan... wrong anime.
-Ko visits the inn. Yeah! If a car chase in episode 3 is "big" then Ko visiting Ohana is groundbreaking. Bonus points if they lock lips. Mega bonus if they sleep in the same room... SUPER bonus if Ko decides to work at the inn together with Ohana. Long distance relationship, officially over.
-The bonbouri festival happens; Nako leaves (emotionally :upset:) to pursue her dream as a world-class swimmer. AKA: The fans complained too much, enjoy your free bus ride off our show.
-Minko thinks of a better insult for Ohana. That would be huge.
-Jiroumaru wins the Akugatawa prize for his greatest perverted work "Ohana, Minko and Nako: Let's Sparkle Together at the Inn!" which sells over a million copies. His later memoir "How I Nearly Jumped Off A Cliff Because I'm Not Really an Author" releases to far less acclaim.

Hmm, well, I'm going to speculate the big event of episode 10 will be Ohana's mother coming to the inn. She needs to come back into the story at some point. She has issues to straighten out with her mother, and her daughter as well. Ohana has never complained about it, but I bet that deep down, she resents her mother a bit for basically abandoning her and running away with some dude.

Personally if there's anything big happening in Ep10, it's either going to be Ohana's mom or Ko coming to see her at Kissuiso.

Remember a recurring rule of 2 cours anime, which is putting one of the strongest arcs/plot evolutions/revelations in the middle, at the end of the first cour (approx. ep.11-12-13) or right at the beginning of the second cour (approx. ep.14-15-16). If this event is placed in episode 10, then it looks like a set up element for a main arc in the following episodes.

So it would be something with enough relevance to carry a 3-4 episodes arc. In this regard, Kou or Ohana's mother would both seem valid theories. Personally I'd be more inclined towards the Kou theory, as I believe things with Satsuki will be dealt later.

The anime is fairly straightforward, so Kou's arrival is more or less pre-destined and will only be held off as so long as the staff can stretch the anticipation (which depends greatly on how interested they are in showcasing stories concerning the other workers/members of the inn, stories about the village/school, etc), but 5 more episodes until Kou seems reasonable (especially if writers keep dropping little hints as to his arrival).

That being said, I do want a Festival arc, and that seems like a perfect time for a variety of different storylines (Minko confessing to Tohru; Kou arriving; the Grey Heron leading a full assault on the Town; etc) to converge into one gigantic melodrama.

lol pregnancy. Actually that would be a fairly decent topic that is often avoided in anime, since in anime, children come from nowhere. My god, things have consequences?

However, such a topic would take masterful script writing to work. A show of Ano Hana's caliber could handle that. I'm not too sure I'd like it in this show though.

^^ Mate you know AnoHana, and Hanasaku Iroha have the same writer :heh:

As for pregnancy in anime, it was a side-plot in Onegai Sensei, but yeah it is indeed rare outside hentai and shoujo manga.

Lol pregnancy indeed, but I highly doubt teenage pregnancy will be an topic in this anime, or in any popular anime in general. Unless this anime wants to bomb badly, it would make any commercial sense not to explore that or else... you're going to get some otakus to overreact due to their obsession of "purity" and "innocence". See what happened to Kannagi and K-on's Ritsu for example just because it was hinted they had boyfriends in the past... let alone teenage pregnancy.

Not that I would mind it. It would be refreshing to see some slice of life anime not "idealise" its characters.

Btw, Archon Wing why you still watching this? I thought you hated teen dramas :p :D

Yep, which is why it's entirely possible it can be pulled off. But even the same person can vary in quality from work to work.

Sigh... god forbid one use their brain. Sucks for the rest of us.

Because I can. And anime does it better.

I wouldn't say better... but is more tolerable. That's because even if the series sucks, I still have eye-candy to look at. Compare this with TV dramas, where if the series suck, I could careless about the actors or some teen boy/girl band doing the soundtrack :p

Thankfully, Hanasaku Iroha falls within at least the "good" category + it is the best animated anime this season. And no, I don't consider crayon-art Nichijou to be well animated. Sorry Nichijou fans :D

I do guess I am biased towards anime, maybe because of the visuals. ^^ I actually am an even worse hater about live action tv, just so tired of it. :heh:

And yes this anime is gorgeous. I can watch it just for that.

Undoubtedly.
But of course I have no intention to spoil anime by reading manga, though I even don't know whether anime version is preceded by manga or not. (definition of spoiler here means manga's information, right?)

How about we merge our ideas? In episode 10, Satsuki (Ohana's mom) and Ko will both visit the inn to announce to everyone Sachiko is pregnant with Ko's child and that they're planning to marry soon.

^ Is "Sachiko" a result of the merging? Because the name of Ohana's mother would be Satsuki. But then again, most of the girls have their share of "chi" in their nickname (Minchi, Nakochi, Ohana who was leaning towards Hanachi) so it wouldn't even be so wrong. :heh: