Hanasaku Iroha (generic discussion thread)

[Deconstructor]

Originally Posted by felix

As for the romance, well, personally I don’t buy one bit into “Tohru is some caring bastard in disguise”, yeah right! fat chance.

But Minchi said it... so it has to be true!

Perhaps now, Tohru is an uncaring bastard. But Ohana seems to have already changed Minko and Nako's personalities; I believe she can do the same to everyone else at the inn. Tohru might have some reasons for being so cruel and anti-social (most mean characters have their tragic backstories). Give him a chance to explain himself in the upcoming episodes.

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by Proto

They are both right, acceptable ways of representing double vowels (there's even another one where they put a tilde above the vowel to indicate it's double). they are just switching between different romanization systems, which in itself is bad form I guess.

Not exactly Tooru* and Kou/Kō are 1-1, while Tohru/Koh and Toru/Ko are attempts at phonetic equivalents, ignoring the whole incontestably problem. Also being native a language that is butchered in transliteration, I am somewhat sensitive with this subject.

* I think I did explain some pages back that Touru/Tōru is different from Tooru

[Midonin]

This isn't the only show this season that has an issue with someone named Tōru/Tohru/Tooru.

[Shadow5YA]

I dunno, I never took Tohru's harshness seriously. It seemed like he was trying to stir up a conversation whenever he talked to Ohana.

Anyway, I'm glad that Ko hasn't been forgotten.

[JackALope044]

Well that's certainly an interesting turn of events at the end of today's episode.

Spoiler for Hanasaku Iroha EP4:

You'd think there'd be some sort of conflict of interest if the two are actually dating.

[FlavoryFantasy]

Spoiler for HanaSaku 4:

Great episode, Ohana was sure adorable this ep~

Nako was pretty nice in the ep too~ But lol@Nako for how she nicknamed Minko
Yuina is a...pretty fun character

Feeling a bit bad for Kou, since Ohana sure was a bit too dense. If only he acted faster in confessing! Oh well.

mhmm can't wait for next ep to see what Tooru is up too.

Grandma-Inn managers sure do look mean in this show lol.

[Pellissier]

Originally Posted by Deconstructor

Tohru might have some reasons for being so cruel and anti-social (most mean characters have their tragic backstories).

Do you find Tohru on a such a level of cruelness and anti-sociality already? He's certainly cold and quite grumpy, but I think it's still early to say he's mean to the core. Minchi talks about him with the eyes of love, we (audience) see him all the other way around, through Ohana.
I think both descriptions are used by the authors as a decoy, and as it often happens, the truth will be somewhere in the middle.

Originally Posted by Midonin

This isn't the only show this season that has an issue with someone named Tōru/Tohru/Tooru.

The main difference to me is that while in A Channel I do know the correct name is Tooru, here I find more difficulties orienteering (although I don't deny I like "Tohru" more, the same can be said for "Kou" over "Ko")

[felix]

Originally Posted by Deconstructor

Perhaps now, Tohru is an uncaring bastard. But Ohana seems to have already changed Minko and Nako's personalities; I believe she can do the same to everyone else at the inn. Tohru might have some reasons for being so cruel and anti-social (most mean characters have their tragic backstories). Give him a chance to explain himself in the upcoming episodes.

He’s not really anti-social. For some people that kind of attitude is the norm (ie. you speak your mind if you thing shit is fucked up). Depends from what social circles you come from, or frequent. Note, he’s not pushing people away, just being a hardass (ie. “do what it takes”). Anyway, all I hope for is that he better not have some dere side, or get some personality change.

[.x.crii.x.]

Spoiler for I thought it was kind of obvious:

Am I really the only one that figured out that Minko liked Tohru since episode 1? ....Am I really the only one?

I thought it was pretty obvious because of how she kept blushing and even got angry at Ohana for speaking against Tohru. Idk, I just really think it was really obvious. As for a MinkoxTohru pairing...I can't really see it happening. Idk why, I just can't.

I said this to one of my friends right after watchin Hanasaku ep 1: "Minko is in love with chef assistant guy. Chef assistant guy doesn't know...and he'll probably fall for Ohana somewhere down the road. Ohana´s and Minko´s already sort of unstable relation will go through harsh emo times....How much you wanna bet?"

xD;;

So far, I've got like 20% of my guess right....maybe more % as the series goes on? xD;;

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by Pellissier

The main difference to me is that while in A Channel I do know the correct name is Tooru, here I find more difficulties orienteering (although I don't deny I like "Tohru" more, the same can be said for "Kou" over "Ko")

Just checked, it is indeed Tooru

As I said, of course, it is a matter of preference/ease-of-use versus exactness/correctness

That's the issue when it comes to selling, you have to appeal to the greater audience, whether you're butchering sub/dubs or not

[Kismet-chan]

Interesting episode. Learned a lot about Tohru and Minko I didn't really expect. Well, I knew that deep down, Tohru truly meant well (what he says just comes off in a sharp tone). But I didn't know that Minko saw him a being THAT sincere. Also, just the prospect of Minko having a crush is ridiculously cute. When she blushed as he touched her hands, I was squeeing on the inside. :P

I also like that despite being from the "rival" inn, Yuina isn't a typical bitchy character. She's actually very spunky and friendly (for now?). I like that about her. But oh my, Yuina hopping on the bike with Tohru... Could this just be another misunderstanding, something serious?

The plot thickens!

[ID555]

Fun to watch Mamiko Noto play that sempai with barely any trace of that voice she's known for. Somehow this episode had a bit of a K-on feel to it ^_^

[Deconstructor]

Originally Posted by Pellissier

Do you find Tohru on a such a level of cruelness and anti-sociality already? He's certainly cold and quite grumpy, but I think it's still early to say he's mean to the core. Minchi talks about him with the eyes of love, we (audience) see him all the other way around, through Ohana.
I think both descriptions are used by the authors as a decoy, and as it often happens, the truth will be somewhere in the middle.

Cruel is too strong of a word (and I used it first) but everything the viewers see Tohru say is either an insult or a reprimand. He manages to call Ohana naive, underdeveloped, and strange all in one conversation. Tohru doesn't seem to care about other people's feelings. But no, I don't think he's rotten from the inside.

I think we can accept part of Minko's description - the part about Tohru having a sharp tongue. The part we're unsure about is whether Tohru is a nice guy underneath his tough exterior. So far, there is little evidence to suggest so. I would be disappointed if Tohru falls into the traditional cliche of "not understanding how to express his true feelings in a nice and pleasant manner" because I enjoy the abrasive way Tohru talks. It makes the interactions between him, Ohana, and Minko more interesting.

Tohru's current personality isn't so much a decoy as the starting point by which Tohru can only improve from. I don't think it's so clear-cut as "Tohru's mean now, but he's actually neither mean or kind." Instead, he's probably going to make visible progress toward being a nice person.

Originally Posted by felix

He’s not really anti-social. For some people that kind of attitude is the norm (ie. you speak your mind if you thing shit is fucked up). Depends from what social circles you come from, or frequent. Note, he’s not pushing people away, just being a hardass (ie. “do what it takes”). Anyway, all I hope for is that he better not have some dere side, or get some personality change.

Prepare to be disappointed... I don't think any character will come out of this anime without significant changes to their personality. Even Ohana's harsh grandmother is going to be defrosted; we already saw some signs of empathy in episode 3.

I would consider Tohru anti-social. He doesn't seem to have any interest in being friends with Ohana or Minko. Again, this assumes he avoids the cliche of being unable to express himself nicely.

[ars89]

Spoiler for ep 4:

The school was interesting. Are all rural area schools like that when someone comes from Tokyo? Yuina was a nice character. I liked her happy go lucky personality. Interesting how she's also the granddaughter of an Inn manager.

So now he have Nakochi from Ohana. I wonder if Ohanachi will be coming. I liked how she was so excited to get a nickname. Also she proved how dense Ohana is when she realized instantly who Minko liked.

Of course Minko would get upset at Ohana, but i didn't think she would start choking her out. That ending hit her hard. I wonder how it'll turn out now. Tat grey heron was awesome, it totally freaked out Ohana.

[felix]

Originally Posted by Deconstructor

Prepare to be disappointed... I don't think any character will come out of this anime without significant changes to their personality. Even Ohana's harsh grandmother is going to be defrosted; we already saw some signs of empathy in episode 3.

Defrosting is fine. Change is fine. What I don’t want is gimmicky complete personality rewrites. That would be just lame. To phrase it another way, I would be fine with seeing the current Thoru showing more respect, but having Thoru do a 180 personality turn just so the so called “respect” would come as a consequence would just be cheap. I want to see the respect, happiness and everything earned, not just happen because of some random event or personality flip. It’s all in the execution for me.

Originally Posted by ars89

Spoiler for ep 4:

The school was interesting. Are all rural area schools like that when someone comes from Tokyo?

Statistically and logically speaking, no. There is no evidence to support the notion of all (or even a majority) acting as such. However this is a common theme in manga and anime; just like school uniforms and other details.

[Riga92]

Well I wasn't surprised when it was revealed Minko liked Tohru (I immediately thought so since episode 1), but the new girl Yuina might have some sort of relationship with Tohru?!? I didn't expect that. And the grey heron was pretty funny. Ohana is so scared of it when it probably just wants her to be its friend

[paladinenvec]

Spoiler for Episode 4:

This episode was WAY better than the last one, it was obvious with comedic and cheerful momments but they were well implemented, the romance between Ko and Ohana it's very cute, a long distance one but cute when she remembers him, the drama it's nice and we get to know more about the characters Minko liked Tohru from the begginning which it was implied early,surprised at the end when Tohru and the other new girl at school (forgot her name) were going somewere ...

[FireChick]

Wow! This episode was amazing! I loved every minute of it.

Spoiler:

My favorite parts were when Nako and Ohana were together. I can seriously see that Nako's finally warming up to Ohana and becoming friendlier toward her. We got a little bit into her back story so that helped too. I thought the grey heron was awesome...and surprisingly well animated.

Not only that, FINALLY Ohana gets treated well for once! And at school no less! Who knew she'd suddenly become Mrs. Popular. Usually they make main characters of anime unpopular outcasts. Hooray for cliche avoiding. And I'm growing to like that Yuina girl, since even though she's the daughter of the manager of the rival inn she's nice to Ohana. I'm kind of interested in knowing about her relationship with Tohru and her rivalry with Minko.

And speaking of Minko...she LIKES Tohru!? Jeez! Forgive me if I'm being weird, but if they ever get in a relationship, I suspect it might be an abusive one, with the way Tohru treats her and all (yeah I know he helped her with those shish-ka-bob things, but you never know). Plus...MY GOD SHE IS STILL AN UNGRATEFUL BRAT!!! WHEN THE FREAK is she going to NOT treat Ohana like she's some kind of childhood enemy plotting her death!? Sure Ohana made a careless mistake to mention Tohru in a maligned manner and all, but how the heck was she supposed to know about their relationship!? It's not like she can see into the future or can read minds or anything! And Minko actually helped her a second ago, then she suddenly tried to STRANGLE Ohana right when she apologized to her about the Tohru thing!! Yes, STRANGLE!!! I mean, seriously! Can't she see that Ohana's not a bad person already!? And I thought I was misunderstood!

[FatPianoBoy]

If the show continues what it did in episode four, I can just pretend episode three never happened.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by paladinenvec

Spoiler for Episode 4:

This episode was WAY better than the last one, it was obvious with comedic and cheerful momments but they were well implemented, the romance between Ko and Ohana it's very cute, a long distance one but cute when she remembers him, the drama it's nice and we get to know more about the characters Minko liked Tohru from the begginning which it was implied early,surprised at the end when Tohru and the other new girl at school (forgot her name) were going somewere ...

Spoiler for Episode 4:

I agree with this. I definitely like the pacing this episode had. It had just the right amount of development to give it a calming mood [unlike Anohana where the mood is somewhat more tense] while still having things happen. I also thought the humor was better in this episode compared to the last one.

A good episode overall. I want to see where they're going with the new development, but honestly I would want to see more regardless.