Man this episode was such a disgrace again. At this point they decide to have a fillerish episode like this. 1/10 obv.
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Just kidding.
In this episode of Hana Saku Iroha, Grandma gives Nako a raise in order to push her to save the failing inn (and show). Nako, being such an insignificant being, a mere side character with no personality was a bit insecure given that they only give her a single episode to make this work, while the idiots from last got two!
But it went well. Nako actually has a personality it seems, and her overly shy and quiet personality is merely a work thing. I found it kinda funny since she's never been noticed that much, but generally in the background keeping stuff together, minding together details that people always overlook.
That's because she's spent her life looking after her siblings, because her parents are too busy at work. Now, while half the cast at the inn may or may not have the intelligence of these little kids is up to debate, but the times that Nako has bailed them out because someone loses something is just something to consider.
It's also unfortunate that she has such low self esteem that a screw up makes herself deem unworthy as well as her thinking that spending money will help, but grandma has her ways of getting her words across. Honestly, her character was actually developed in a subtle way unbecoming of this show. Sure, it's not the most original kind of development. But for this show, it's pretty damned good.
The mermaid scenes were pretty lol wut, and I'm not really sure we needed to see mermaid grandma-- anyhow, has someone been watching Penguin lately?
The overblinged mermaid made me lol though.
Ohana was on her game as well, it reminds me of those sitcoms that focus on a minor character but come someone like Ohana, they make a notable appearance that leads to applause.
Yuina is of course that insufferable, inconsiderate dolt she was built up to be, but whatever.
Of course, there were still problems, such as those unfortunate drunks, possibly leading me to think that Hana Saku can be renamed Sexual Harassment: The Anime, and ofc fucking Jinomaru and Tooru show up for all of one scene in which their presence was greatly despised by me.
Overall, a great episode, considering the nature of this episode so late in the series, it did what it really had to do. It should have been the arc with 2 episodes, not the last. Basically it did what the series does when I like it. Keep the camera pointed at the good characters, and make sure that people leave the episode with their dignity intact. In this case, they even left for the better... 9/10