Hanasaku Iroha (generic discussion thread)

[flying ^]

ok i just got into watching this...

whoever sang the first 10 seconds the the opening song should be shot!
terribad!

[Archon_Wing]

lol, well at least I sometimes can sit through the OP, unlike say Denpa Onna.

[VentAileron]

I listen to animeNFO's radio and when Denpa Onna's song comes by (it has happened too many times) I just shut it down, full stop! Haven't heard HanaIro's OP yet though. Then again, trying to shut it down before the first few seconds is impossible, unless I saw it coming.

[risingstar3110]

Originally Posted by flying ^

ok i just got into watching this...

whoever sang the first 10 seconds the the opening song should be shot!
terribad!

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

lol, well at least I sometimes can sit through the OP, unlike say Denpa Onna.

I actually like the OP, of both this and Denpa... even when i used to dislike them both at first heard...

The OP of Denpa actually quite meaningful to say the truth

[Pocari_Sweat]

Originally Posted by risingstar3110

I actually like the OP, of both this and Denpa... even when i used to dislike them both at first heard...

The OP of Denpa actually quite meaningful to say the truth

No offense but although the lyrics may be meaningful (I haven't read them seriously so I don't know to be honest" but the vocals of the Denpa Onna song is absolutely horrid and I wouldn't even classify it as singing. I would argue that rapping is more singing than that...

HanaIro OP, if I was say 15 or 16, I probably would have liked it because that was the time I was indulging in pop-punk music and teen dramas (mainly Western ones). The OP really gives a teen drama feel to it which makes it fitting with the atmosphere of the show (or use to at least). Too bad I'm 23 now, and I've grown out of pop-punk music so it's kinda of ear-grinding for me atm, but I still hold it as suitable for the shows former atmosphere.

[risingstar3110]

Originally Posted by acejem

No offense but although the lyrics may be meaningful (I haven't read them seriously so I don't know to be honest" but the vocals of the Denpa Onna song is absolutely horrid and I wouldn't even classify it as singing. I would argue that rapping is more singing than that...

HanaIro OP, if I was say 15 or 16, I probably would have liked it because that was the time I was indulging in pop-punk music and teen dramas (mainly Western ones). The OP really gives a teen drama feel to it which makes it fitting with the atmosphere of the show (or use to at least). Too bad I'm 23 now, and I've grown out of pop-punk music so it's kinda of ear-grinding for me atm, but I still hold it as suitable for the shows former atmosphere.

Well don't want to extend too far on this, but it was a good call of you there since Denpa Onna OP does not really sounds like a "song" (I for one won't put it in my itune to listen to). But still that OP fit the series like gloves

[Undertaker]

agree, as for the pop-style, fortunately or unfortunately that is the back-bone of Japanese music. Just the sole fact that a lot of last 90s' pop singers are still popular and sings pop music as they approachs 30 and its original boy band group SMAP is now considered as super group legend and have being on top of of Japanese music industry for 20 years now and still sings pop music in their mid-to-late 30s is a testament to that.

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by acejem

No offense but although the lyrics may be meaningful (I haven't read them seriously so I don't know to be honest" but the vocals of the Denpa Onna song is absolutely horrid and I wouldn't even classify it as singing. I would argue that rapping is more singing than that...

Obviously no experience with late 90s northern european extreme metal scene

[Archon_Wing]

Actually I'd rather both OPs be rapping.

[Undertaker]

I just replied out of reflex and haven't really listen to Denpo's OP. (I was queuing it up for viewing later beause I heard that the LN is very good and never was interested in it and thought to give anime a chance once I got more time)

Well, I'll second that the song s@#ked. But to be fair, that "thing" is not J-pop and HanaIro's OP is light-years better.

[Triple_R]

Moving this here to comply with Pell's request on the Episode 7 thread...

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

It is why although I gave Angel Beats a pass on certain aspects, "13 episodes" is little more than an excuse. If feature length movies can have a proper story, a 13 episode anime can do it.

Not only that, but I've seen a 7-episode anime (El Hazard: The Magnificent World), a 6-episode anime (FLCL), and other 12/13-episode anime (Madoka Magica, Nanoha, and True Tears) do quite well with smartly handling its limited time allotment.

That being said, I can see limited time allotment being an issue for adaptation work, as you sometimes have to cram loads and loads of source material into a relatively small time-frame of anime episodes.

But that's not an excuse for an anime original like Angel Beats! or Hana-Saku Iroha, of course.

It is just my feeling that someone on the PA works editing/directing team needs to be fired.

Possibly.

Yes, I don't think it's reasonable to project another show's expectations onto another. I didn't like Hana Saku Iroha vs Ano Hana because these two shows are diff rent things. We don't need H-S I to be True Tears, or EF, or Eva, or w/e.

Well, in fairness, Hana-Saku Iroha and Anohana are wrote by the same writer, and airing at the same time.

Imagine, if you will, that Stephen King released two new and different horror novels at the same time. They'd inevitably be compared with each other (especially by Stephen King fans), and I think that it's just human nature for people to do so.

I see Hana-Saku Iroha and Anohana has being much like that, only on a smaller scale.

True Tears, by the way, was also wrote by Okada and also produced by PA Works. So, again, comparing Hana-Saku Iroha to True Tears is kind of like comparing a new Stephen King novel to an older one.

But the reason why I (and others) bring up other examples that work, is because they are examples of good storytelling. Is that not a reasonable expectation? You can still succeed within your own flavor, but that doesn't allow one to shirk these things like nothing

That's a fair point too.

So I'd like to repeat:
1.) Drama and comedy are not mutually exclusive.

I agree. However, I do think that, generally speaking, the more you have of one the less you can have of the other. There are exceptions to this, but it takes a very skillful writer to pull it off, imo. This is why I put forward the idea of a sliding scale of drama/comedy.

2.) Time management is one's own damned fault, if they bite off more they can chew.

With anime originals, I agree.

3.) Judgement is of course, on what you've already seen, not on what could happen. Thinking of things you have no idea about are useless, but I think it's useful to be critical of something throughout the entire viewing.

I totally agree.

If I was more of a gambling man, I'd bet that Hana-Saku Iroha will have a very nice ending. But even so, I'm not going to just assume that, and hence go easier on what we have to watch and judge right now.

4.) Disappointment (?) Hey, I don't think any of us here actually hate the show. If it just ends up some average slice of life, I won't be shedding any tears. But you know what? I refuse to accept the bare minimum. The "If you don't like it, then gtfo" mentality simply doesn't really help the matter of people who like the show, but have a number of issues.

Very good points.

I like Hana-Saku Iroha too.

Indeed, that's what gives the show its slight edge over your generic mess. But honestly, I think I only think that due to this seasons' rather tough competition. The edge would be significantly higher last season, or especially one before last.

In fairness, if Hana-Saku Iroha had aired during Fall 2010, with Ore no Imouto being its primary competitor, I may have been less hard on it.

But in a class with Anohana, Steins;Gate, Tiger and Bunny, Denpa Onna, and the list can go on and on, the competition is pretty fierce.

[Tu101uk]

I think someone (or some people?) on the Episode 7 thread said it best and it mirrors my own sentiments regarding HanaIro at the moment - the series is not necessarily having an identity crisis per se, and it's not necessarily about any perceived expectations that people may have placed on the series based on the first two episodes (which were actually strong). What seems to be getting a few people is the manner in which the writing makes its transitions from funny to serious (and back again), which has been jarring to say the least.

A series can have bouts of comedy with drama (and vice versa), that's pretty standard in all forms of fiction, but it has to "flow" from one state to the next to make the overall "feel" of the series clear and consistent. A predominantly-comedy series shouldn't take sharp dramatic turns purely to dampen the mood. Likewise, a predominantly-dramatic series should take a more light-hearted approach to the funnies instead of a sudden bout of slapstick silly.

As I said in my post for Episode 7, the Tomoe episode is the right way to do light-hearted side character development (as opposed to Episode 3), though to appreciate that you'd have to see that Episode 6 was also a turn towards the lighter-hearted side of things after the relatively-heavy Episodes 4 and 5, with Episode 7 following on.

Nonetheless, Episode 7 will keep me watching methinks (at least for a few more episodes XD). It's still definitely a good series with potential (and the story seems to be taking big steps in upcoming episodes), and we have a long way to go before we can really judge. I just hope it obtains a bit more consistency in the long-run... ^_^;;;

O-O~

[0utf0xZer0]

Responding to some off topic points in the episode 7 thread:

Originally Posted by Reckoner

Why do I say Hanasaku has an identity crisis? I'll add a lot more stuff later, but I'll describe episode 1 to you, and then I want people to try and link this episode with episodes 3 and 7. If this doesn't seem like a different show, well hopefully the rest of what I'll add will.

(Edited for space)

Your "play by play" of episode 1 helps me understand a little more where the "episode 1 and 2 suggested this would be more dramatic" crowd is coming from, but I still have to disagree with the interpretation. I can't help but note you skip over the introductions of Tomoe and the uncle, both of which I though were comical. And I feel that the narration in Minko's intro was purposely designed to inject comedy as well.

While I agree that Ohana is played sympathetically, I'm not sure how this precludes her misfortune being a source of comedy. In fact, I'd say her comical misfortune is endearing.

This is also why I don't see episode 3 as such a dramatic break from the first two. To me, the first three episodes form an introductory arc about Ohana arriving at the inn and settling in. Episodes one and two constantly escalated the challenges for Ohana, and then episode 3 provided a "mini climax" of sorts. The end of episode 2 certainly hinted that something crazy was about to occur. Granted, it was a bit crazier than I expected - I was expecting something more along the lines of Tomoe beating Jiromaru into submission with the broom, but it didn't feel particularly out of place.

After that, we spent two episode dealing with the most notable of the plot threads the early episode dangled in front of the audience - that of Ohana's relationship to Minko - and then spent two episodes concentrating on humour before (judging by next week's preview), hitting the drama button, presumably as a bit of a breather. Nowhere did I find this progression of events jarring - the fact Ohana's misfortune was played for laughs told me we would likely be getting some pretty off the wall scenarios from time to time.

Originally Posted by acejem

What this series is proving to me, is that Mari Okada is just not good at portraying comedy when "she's trying too hard". I'm a firm believer that the best kind of comedy is when it just happens or when it's not really intended to be in the first place. Take the "I hate you Mom omelet" in episode 2. That was supposed to be relatively dramatic but many people like myself laughed at it because it was also kind of funny.

Forced comedy, tropes, exaggeration or slapstick comedy seems to be much better handled by Jun Maeda, I actually laugh at some of it.

Granted, I perfectly agree that Okada is better at laying groundwork for social commentary issues including relationships and romance than Maeda is. True Tears, Wandering Son, AnoHana and even Toradora to an extent all show this.

Eh, I always thought that the omelet was intended to be amusing if not outright funny. It really helped established that unlike most "high spirits moe" girls, Ohana can be... vindictive.

I've never actually found most of Mari's more exaggerated comedy all that bad... the way Zakuro's attraction to Agemaki was played up shoujo style in episode 1 of Otome Youkai Zakuro was one of the early hooks that series had for me. Maeda... well, some of his comedy is great (loved the episode where they tried to help Kotomi make friends in Clannad), but seriously... VERBAL TICS. And while I totally laughed at the bit with Tenshi eating spicy tofu all alone in Angel Beats, I'm kind of hoping that it was intentional self parody.

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

It is just my feeling that someone on the PA works editing/directing team needs to be fired.

While I do agree that an anime original shouldn't really suffer pacing issues, I'm willing to cut PA Works a bit of slack on this for one reason: the story wasn't really an "in house" production. If you're given 13 episodes of budget and a script by Jun Maeda, what option do you have? Kyoto's 13 episode Air adaptation also suffered due to lack of episodes, and I wouldn't exactly call Maeda's ideas for Angel Beats lacking in ambition.

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

Indeed, that's what gives the show its slight edge over your generic mess.

With all due respect, if you think this show is only slightly better than a generic mess, you need to watch a lot more mind-numbingly generic anime.

[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

Your "play by play" of episode 1 helps me understand a little more where the "episode 1 and 2 suggested this would be more dramatic" crowd is coming from, but I still have to disagree with the interpretation. I can't help but note you skip over the introductions of Tomoe and the uncle, both of which I though were comical. And I feel that the narration in Minko's intro was purposely designed to inject comedy as well.

Well in my defense I simply got tired as I was writing that post .

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

While I agree that Ohana is played sympathetically, I'm not sure how this precludes her misfortune being a source of comedy. In fact, I'd say her comical misfortune is endearing.

I'm not saying it wasn't funny, in fact I acknowledged that the show was often charming about it in this regard. But it never went to the extremes of episodes 3 and 7 to throw blatant comedy in your face. It was executed with a deft of touch IMO.

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

This is also why I don't see episode 3 as such a dramatic break from the first two. To me, the first three episodes form an introductory arc about Ohana arriving at the inn and settling in. Episodes one and two constantly escalated the challenges for Ohana, and then episode 3 provided a "mini climax" of sorts. The end of episode 2 certainly hinted that something crazy was about to occur. Granted, it was a bit crazier than I expected - I was expecting something more along the lines of Tomoe beating Jiromaru into submission with the broom, but it didn't feel particularly out of place.

Well that's the thing, I kind of personally thought that episode 2 already had its "climax" to these issues when she pushed down Minko and Nako. Episode 3 then suddenly pushed these plot threads to the side in favor of our writer bafoon Jiromaru. I found it jarring because the whole first two episodes didn't naturally lead into this sort of zaniness.

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

After that, we spent two episode dealing with the most notable of the plot threads the early episode dangled in front of the audience - that of Ohana's relationship to Minko - and then spent two episodes concentrating on humour before (judging by next week's preview), hitting the drama button, presumably as a bit of a breather. Nowhere did I find this progression of events jarring - the fact Ohana's misfortune was played for laughs told me we would likely be getting some pretty off the wall scenarios from time to time.

I'm sure breathers for the eventual drama are very nice to have. I just thought, that the manner in which they went about it broke the spirit of the show. Rather than the charmingly cute, and funny scenes of episodes 1 and 2, we received more wacky and zany humor in episodes 3 and 7, which more often I didn't personally find very charming (Though I do like the heron ).

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Not only that, but I've seen a 7-episode anime (El Hazard: The Magnificent World), a 6-episode anime (FLCL), and other 12/13-episode anime (Madoka Magica, Nanoha, and True Tears) do quite well with smartly handling its limited time allotment.

That being said, I can see limited time allotment being an issue for adaptation work, as you sometimes have to cram loads and loads of source material into a relatively small time-frame of anime episodes.

But that's not an excuse for an anime original like Angel Beats! or Hana-Saku Iroha, of course.

Pretty much. I use Serial Experiments Lain as an example of how not to waste time and get your point across. That's what you call storytelling. It's hard, no doubt.

Well, in fairness, Hana-Saku Iroha and Anohana are wrote by the same writer, and airing at the same time.

Imagine, if you will, that Stephen King released two new and different horror novels at the same time. They'd inevitably be compared with each other (especially by Stephen King fans), and I think that it's just human nature for people to do so.

I see Hana-Saku Iroha and Anohana has being much like that, only on a smaller scale.

It makes sense, but when the writer has different goals in mind, you simply cannot make direct comparisons. Apples and oranges, of course. I feel that Ano Hana's more serious premise gives it a advantage for drama.

However, the fact that the humor is also weaker then Ano Hana is something to be conerened about.

I agree. However, I do think that, generally speaking, the more you have of one the less you can have of the other. There are exceptions to this, but it takes a very skillful writer to pull it off, imo. This is why I put forward the idea of a sliding scale of drama/comedy.

I suppose, but many folks seem to have a very rigid expectation of this. Too much drama can strain believability, too much comedy prevents you from taking it seriously. When you half ass both, you get the worst of both worlds! >.>

If I was more of a gambling man, I'd bet that Hana-Saku Iroha will have a very nice ending. But even so, I'm not going to just assume that, and hence go easier on what we have to watch and judge right now.

Of course not, I'd expect no less. One can still laugh at funny things, and go hngggg over moe stuff, but it doesn't mean we can't be critical.

In fairness, if Hana-Saku Iroha had aired during Fall 2010, with Ore no Imouto being its primary competitor, I may have been less hard on it.

But in a class with Anohana, Steins;Gate, Tiger and Bunny, Denpa Onna, and the list can go on and on, the competition is pretty fierce.

Indeed, Fall's 2010 cream of the crop included The world only God knows, an anime that made fun of incest, and incest softcore porn. Mind you, Yosuga no Sora was pretty good for anime porn, but still....

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

Responding to some off topic points in the episode 7 thread:
While I do agree that an anime original shouldn't really suffer pacing issues, I'm willing to cut PA Works a bit of slack on this for one reason: the story wasn't really an "in house" production. If you're given 13 episodes of budget and a script by Jun Maeda, what option do you have? Kyoto's 13 episode Air adaptation also suffered due to lack of episodes, and I wouldn't exactly call Maeda's ideas for Angel Beats lacking in ambition.

It's not just the writer that creates a show, it's also the directing, and also editing to cut out the waste. Angel Beats had a lot of stuff that should just have never been there in the first place. It's possible to render a decent idea useless through terrible execution.

Because I see what I perceive to be issues among both shows, and they have different writers, there's gotta be something else up. I mean, I've seen Mari Okada praised to the high heavens often, so naturally expectations were high.

So if whatever issues they have aren't resolved, it'll hurt this and later works.

With all due respect, if you think this show is only slightly better than a generic mess, you need to watch a lot more mind-numbingly generic anime.

I've had enough. This season has given me a break from that. Right now, I can say that Hana Saku Iroha has good production values and a fun female lead. I can't think of anything else, really. But if I were to drop the anime right now, I can't say I've missed out on that much other. It is worth watching though which is why it's a step above something average.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

It's not just the writer that creates a show, it's also the directing, and also editing to cut out the waste. Angel Beats had a lot of stuff that should just have never been there in the first place. It's possible to render a decent idea useless through terrible execution.

Because I see what I perceive to be issues among both shows, and they have different writers, there's gotta be something else up. I mean, I've seen Mari Okada praised to the high heavens often, so naturally expectations were high.

But both shows not only had different writers,they also had different directors as for the editing,in anime does the editor have a real influence?
In live action there's lots of different takes as well scenes that are left in the cutting room,but in anime I'm not sure that's the case,woudn't there be "deleted scenes" bonuses if they animated more than what they aired?

I still feel It's better to compare the critisism of Hanasaku Iroha to the ones of Canaan,since for both the staff is nearly identical

It took me 2 minutes to find these:

The problems in this series come from the fact that it can’t seem to decide whether it wants to be taken seriously or not.(...)these characters are so ridiculously over the top that it becomes really hard to take them seriously, especially among the rest of the series that does want to be taken seriously.

Honestly I wasn't too happy with Canaan. Don't get me wrong, it was good for what it was, but it could've been much better. It had more of an identity crisis than anything else.

The problem this anime ran into is it couldn't decide what it was. serious action drama.. or over the top action comedy... or fanciful scifi future social-drama....

I’m not sure that the story is bad so much as it is badly executed.

I've heard all this in critism of Hanasaku Iroha

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by totoum

But both shows not only had different writers,they also had different directors as for the editing,in anime does the editor have a real influence?
In live action there's lots of different takes as well scenes that are left in the cutting room,but in anime I'm not sure that's the case,woudn't there be "deleted scenes" bonuses if they animated more than what they aired?

I would sure hope so! Instead of being unable to find shit to put in and just putting in whatever. In any case, any scene that takes up too much time should be cut.

My point is that it is possible to screw up a good story through execution. I obviously don't know who exactly to blame, so the studio gets the flak. And it's anime original, so we can't blame a source.

I still feel It's better to compare the critisism of Hanasaku Iroha to the ones of Canaan,since for both the staff is nearly identical
I've heard all this in critism of Hanasaku Iroha

Personally, I feel that all 3 series have the same problem (lack of focus and no vision), so my argument doesn't change much. I acutally found Canaan to be worse since it was utterly forgettable so there's little to talk about there from me. I just find it weird that series with different staff can have similar problems.

Angel Beats was not bad and I enjoyed it, but it's not really something I'd want to rewatch. I can't even remember half the characters. I'd rather Hana Saku Iroha be more than that.

[Undertaker]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

Indeed, Fall's 2010 cream of the crop included The world only God knows, an anime that made fun of incest, and incest softcore porn. Mind you, Yosuga no Sora was pretty good for anime porn, but still....

I wasn't going to post anything originally since Ive already made my points on the subject and I know this is off-topic but I just can't ignore it after seeing this.

When did KamiNomi (The world only God knows) ever made fun of incest and made it soft-core porn? It only made reference of stereotypical anime imouto in episode one and the rest of series is more about poking fun on bishojo game character types (non-eroge, as matter of fact) and actually has a main plot (as shown in S2 and Manga). Yosuga no Sora was the only anime dealt with incest directly and can be considered as "incest soft-porn" and the other borderline one that you "might" be able to make a case is Oreimo (incest maybe, soft-porn no) and Hyakka Ryouran (definitely soft-porn, arguable incest)

As far as Fall 2010 v.s. Spring 2011 line-up that's up to each's opinion. But 2 Ch. and Chinese forum seems to rate both fairly equally, if not that Fall 2010 to be a bit better if you put anticipation actual work to context. The most well regarded anime this season are Aoi no Exorcist, Hana-Iro, Anohana and KamiNomi S2. On the other hand, most considers Aria, Dog Days and Steins Gate to be severely lacking and disappointing adaption and getting flamed for it. And the only real surprise being Tiger & Bunny.

On the other hand, Fall 2010 Anime is headed by KamiNomi S1, To Aru Index, Oreimo, Star Driver, Bakuman, Arakawa under bridge, and Yogusa no Sora. And surprising (better than anticipate) titles from Ika Musume, Soredemo, Panty & Stocking, and Otome Youkai. As well as cult-favorites like To-Love, SRW, Sora no Otoshimono, etc. Almost no series in that season got much flames with exception of M.M. and Hyakka Ryouran, but both were more due to poor adaption and excess censor than anything else.

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Undertaker

I wasn't going to post anything originally since Ive already made my points on the subject and I know this is off-topic but I just can't ignore it after seeing this.

When did KamiNomi (The world only God knows) ever made fun of incest and made it soft-core porn? It only made reference of stereotypical anime imouto in episode one and the rest of series is more about poking fun on bishojo game character types (non-eroge, as matter of fact) and actually has a main plot (as shown in S2 and Manga). Yosuga no Sora was the only anime dealt with incest directly and can be considered as "incest soft-porn" and the other borderline one that you "might" be able to make a case is Oreimo (incest maybe, soft-porn no) and Hyakka Ryouran (definitely soft-porn, arguable incest)

I didn't say The World only God Knows made fun of incest or had softcore porn, I just happened to describe 3 shows and only refer one to by name. In any case, I was joking around; perhaps I need more emoticons next time.

Edit: Oh, that was badly phrased, oops.... I see how it's possible to read it as such

As far as Fall 2010 v.s. Spring 2011 line-up that's up to each's opinion. But 2 Ch. and Chinese forum seems to rate both fairly equally, if not that Fall 2010 to be a bit better if you put anticipation actual work to context. The most well regarded anime this season are Aoi no Exorcist, Hana-Iro, Anohana and KamiNomi S2. On the other hand, most considers Aria, Dog Days and Steins Gate to be severely lacking and disappointing adaption and getting flamed for it. And the only real surprise being Tiger & Bunny.

Dog days is anime original, and I haven't heard of anyone saying Steins;gate was a disappointing adaptation.

Also, despite its flaws, Hana Saku Iroha has satisfied many, there's also Deadman Wonderland. Kaiji season 2 is a good adaptation and I've seen nothing but praise for it.

On the other hand, Fall 2010 Anime is headed by KamiNomi S1, To Aru Index, Oreimo, Star Driver, Bakuman, Arakawa under bridge, and Yogusa no Sora. And surprising (better than anticipate) titles from Ika Musume, Soredemo, Panty & Stocking, and Otome Youkai. As well as cult-favorites like To-Love, SRW, Sora no Otoshimono, etc. Almost no series in that season got much flames with exception of M.M. and Hyakka Ryouran, but both were more due to poor adaption and excess censor than anything else.

There might have been less flames, but I haven't seen that much outstanding praise of them either.

Of course, that's just my opinion, and I really don't give a damn about what 2ch or chinese forums think. But the list of shows for Fall still seems pretty unimpressive to me. My point was that if this show had aired in Fall, it would be been top of the list.

[Pocari_Sweat]

Something I've noticed in this series is that there's a significant amount of BGM and pop-punk insert songs. OP, Episode 1 insert, Episode 6 insert, Episode 8 insert etc. Sure they're a bit overly cutesy and "whiny" and thus is more music aimed at middle or high schoolers (and not something I would listen by itself on my iPod or anything), it does fit in pretty well with the series - gives it a teen drama feel to it. Must compliment the production staff of P.A. Works for it.

Now only if they had a more coherent structure to their episodes...