Hanasaku Iroha - Episode 18 Discussion / Poll
 

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HSI 18 - Under the Sea

Good to have Nako in the spotlight. Of all the families seen thus far in the show, her family looks to be the happiest. A little busy, and with her parenting her own parents at times, but it's happy. The episode had a pretty simple "be yourself" message, but I could tell it was coming as soon as Yuina got into the picture. Her freewheeling style and Nako's reserved caretaking just don't mesh. Having Ohana as a side character was another curious flip of perspective - and when viewed from outside, her ability to get easily aggravated is thrown further into contrast.

Still, a very sweet episode, aside from the casual drowning of a Prince Eric lookalike.

Now that was short and sweet. Nicely paced, nice ending. :)

But damn that underwater dream sequence, now I can't look at the regular cast the same way ever again. :heh:

Nako is a sweet character. :) In some ways she is the "easiest" all of the characters in the show for me to relate to - although I definitely like many of the characters; like and easiness to relate being two diff things.

It's kinda nice to also see the "strengths" of both Yuina and the Landlady brought to light as well in their encouragement of Nako. I know it's been said before, but showing the characters good and bad points together throughout the episodes as a whole is one of the things I like about this series.

The beginning scenes of the guys "dramatically" asking the girls to tea and the Inn guest filming the flowers growing made me chuckle quite a bit. :heh:

I would never have thought about ginger pudding as a thing to eat, though. The Japanese never fail to surprise me with their culinary creativity.... At least it was not served with mayonnaise or natto. -_-

Wont be to watch the episode for a while, but from reading the early impressions, I'm really glad that this episode seems to be great. Being a Nako fan, it makes me relieved, since I was worried seeing Okada's actually having a hand in this episode, but then again she doesn't need to be credited for her crazy antics to show up

Really glad that the show is getting back on track after last week. I didn't think 17 was up to par to the standard of this show, so I'm happy to see that it's not letting up again.How about with chicken?

-_-

I know it is a little off topic here, but yesterday I was told that the folks in Okinawa are fond of a curious combination of fresh cucumber eaten on top of a slice of spam. :twitch:

Could be because of that I have been a thinking about that that the ginger pudding in this ep caught my attention.... :heh:

My reaction to the majority of the "attempted" comedy in this episode:

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...ko_lolface.jpg

In all seriousness, it's pretty lame and isn't very funny tbh. The worst offender were those loser guys trying to pick up the Iroha 4-girl ensemble. Maaaan... was that really lame. :heh: ArchonWing's statement about the male characters being fail in this show is totally correct. Now we have even more loser male characters :heh:. Guess all the Nako fanservice was decent enough I guess...

At the very least this was better than the previous ep as there wasn't anything offensive. Otherwise, was pretty meh.

http://i.imgur.com/TGioUl.jpg

This image perfectly mirrors my feelings toward this episode, just like Minko's face last week. That was such a sweet and adorable episode. I feel a bit cheated my Nako only gets only one episode for herself whereas a pathetic idiot like Enishi got two, but that single epi was so much more enjoyable than any other episode of the second cour that I don't mind.

I had been looking forward to seeing how Nako acts around family (I'm quite shy myself, so I know how different shy people can be at home), and it didn't disappoint one bit. I didn't really expect her to "wear the pants", even her parents obey her :D

The outfit she brought was very sexy (on her at least... the result on Ohana wasn't as convincing :heh: ), but that didn't really suit her. I like the message of the episode, "you shouldn't force yourself to change, being yourself is enough". Even though she is shy and nervous at the inn, she is still herself and she can manage to help the customers in her own way.

Yeah, i get a bit annoyed at all the loser male characters as well but it was otherwise a nice Nako-centered episode. Even though having such single episodes this late in the series is getting a tad bit irritating...

I'm guessing that's the appetizer. Start with Spam cucumbers, end with Mango chicken yogurt for desert.

I'm afraid to know what happens in between :uhoh:That smile killed me and then resurrected me simultaneously. God is she awesome ...

I'm not Nako lover especially but I think this is one of the best episodes of Iroha, definitely.I love the scene in the sea of Nako's fantasy.:D

And I realized that Nako is the character like Kuroneko in this episode.

Meh. Didn't particularly like that one. Except for the bit where the prince drowned. (the original little mermaid has a Bad End, after all.)

Anyone else recognize who the prince was?

Pretty much agreed with this assessment, I wasn't a Nako fan before this episode nor am I one after this episode.

All male characters being losers archtype is really frustrating at the moment, can we get a decent male character in this show? I wonder if Okada got dumped by her boyfriend recently because that would explain a lot.

Looked like Jiromaru to me. She let him drown this time.

An episode like this would have worked a lot better back in the first half of the anime, imo.

At this point, seeing Nako's "real" personality be so profoundly different from the Nako we've known for 17 episodes now is a bit jarring to me. It also makes me reinterpret what she said to Ohana back in the episode where Ohana was lying in bed sick. Maybe Nako really did mean that Ohana is useless. She certainly seems to think very little of Ohana in this episode. :heh:

I also have to echo DemiSoda and Blaat as it pertains to how male characters are portrayed in this anime. I'd love nothing more than to see a genuinely admirable and successful male character show up in this anime... but such a dream is probably less realistic than Nako's was, at this juncture.


I will say that the artwork and animation for this anime remains a joy to behold. Facial expressiveness in particular is very well done by this anime. I did like the Nako dream sequences, primarily for these reasons.

How could Nako's mom maintain that figure after having so many kids? :confused:

LOL Ohana is green eyed monster when it comes to money.

Well, they're doing the same job, but it looks like Nako's being paid 44000 yen to Ohana's 5000. I'd be jealous too.

Nakochi ep! Finally got to see her interact at home. Like how she handled her siblings and her parents. The underwater sequences were funny but i can't look at the others the same now. Good thing Yuina was there to let them know they were getting hit on. Like how she told Ren straight on his funky jacket. That face at the end was the best part.