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Old 2011-06-12, 19:06   Link #1201
blakstealth
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lololololol yes.
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Old 2011-06-12, 19:14   Link #1202
Kagayaki
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Originally Posted by blakstealth View Post
Hmmm, that's really interesting. I wonder if in the future we'll start to see anime series that are sponsored by the places that they're set in. That would be weird. (Unless this already happens and I just haven't heard of it )
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Old 2011-06-13, 05:35   Link #1203
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Ko? Eh, I don't really care for that guy atm lol.

Pretty interesting read.
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Old 2011-07-27, 17:05   Link #1204
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Five voice actresses from the Hana-Saku Iroha television anime have lent their voices to a railroad line in Ishikawa prefecture, where the anime takes place.

There's a video in the link too. Haha, must ... resist ... urge ... to become tourist.
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Old 2011-07-27, 19:57   Link #1205
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I squealed so hard man.

so hard
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Old 2011-07-29, 01:28   Link #1206
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As cool as it is, the train driver is probably going to become insane because of that :X
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Old 2011-08-02, 22:17   Link #1207
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Moving my response to the discussion that is happening in HSI ep 18 over here, because I think it's offtopic to the episode analysis itself.

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Originally Posted by Reckoner View Post
I still contend that this show has an identity crisis, don't know if people see what I was saying earlier on, but I believe this to be the case.

This show never knows what it wants to be at times.
Lol, the identity crisis argument again. At this point in time, I can't really argue against it since I don't really know what HSI's purpose is (other maybe the literal definition of "loving your work").

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Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo View Post
I'm hard-pressed to recall a show where the delta between the best and worst episodes is so great, and that's often an indicator of a series with too much time on its hands.

I disagree about the vast majority of the eps being good to great though, unless I were to define "good" pretty liberally. Of 18 episodes, I would class 7-8 as mediocre to poor - and that's in a vacuum, not in context. I'm no mathematician but that's nearly half.
The disparity between the best and worst episodes are pretty big I agree, but I disagree with your disagreement about the majority of the episodes being at least good. IIRC, episodes 3, 7 and 13 come out as being terrible with the first two opening episodes and episodes 8-13 being fantastic. The episodes in between ranged between mediocre to good. That's more 2/3 than half to me, so at the very least HSI is an above average slice of life/comedy series with a few great dramatic episodes here and there.

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Originally Posted by Archon_Wing View Post
Hmm, I decided to enter my episode ratings into a spreadsheet, and while I will say there's quite a notable episode, the more offensive ones tend to leave a worst impact in the memory. It does seem that for every good episode, a rather annoying thing tends to happen

Spoiler for results:

LOL. +1 to you sir. Loved the disparity between "Sparkling" and "Minkoface" in your ratings :P.

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Originally Posted by Arabesque View Post
Anyway being someone who has been enjoying this show from the start (and never quite having a strong negative reaction except at 17th and the 8th episode really, and that changed in retrospect when episode 9 came along) I always thought I saw what the other side who had been disappointed in the show. Be it the expectation that the show would maintain the same level of visual quality (it still looks great, though not at the same level as the first episode, and I haven't heard anything but praise for the visual side anyway) or that the writing would take a better turn (is still can be clever, but I can never call it superb) and really, at this point I can attribute it to people being jaded in how ADD Okada's writing can be.

I was never a fan of Okada (last week TJR nailed exactly what I thought of her), maybe that's why I've been more accepting of how this show had developed writing wise (since I was expecting much worse) and had been more focused on the cast that I liked and other positives of the show to really be annoyed.

Which, as long as this show gives me those sort of episodes, I'll be happy with. It's what I've come to expect from this show at this point, and I'm pretty content, since this isn't what I consider a bad show by any stretch, just one that is easily distracted.That's because PA Works has to yet get a good writer on board any of their shows.

Between Jun and Okada, it's like asking for your shows to not really be that great.
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Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
I guess that, for some of us at least, we hold one or both in high esteem (for Jun, Clannad: After Story did this for me; for Okada, True Tears did), so when coming into a Maeda or Okada-wrote anime, I expect something truly a cut above.
If we were to just compare Angel Beats and Hanasaku Iroha for Jun and Okada respectively, then I would totally agree with Arabesque in regards to bad writing and pace. It turns out that on top of Triple R's two examples, I would also add Kanon (2006) and Hourou Musuko to Jun's and Okada's repertoire as well (contrary to popular belief, I would personally not add Anohana as an piece of excellent writing on Okada's behalf, because Anohana seems like Okada trying to mimick Key. Not saying I didn't enjoy it though). I think a lot of people liked Toradora too, even though personally I didn't - but that's just my personal taste in disliking romcoms in general.

So fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you see it, I already have high expectations of both writers (moreso Okada these days, because I am getting a bit tired of Jun's slapstick comedy --> heavy melodrama style). Okada in particular has a level of subtlety in her writing (True Tears and her involvement in Hourou Musuko) that I really adore that the vast majority of modern anime do not possess. It's too bad she decided to abandon that in both HSI and Anohana.
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Old 2011-08-06, 12:55   Link #1208
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You know, considering the terrible male characters, I think Mari Okada would be great for writing movies on the Lifetime Channel.
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Old 2011-08-08, 11:43   Link #1209
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Interestingly, Totoum pointed out that Urahata Tatsuhiko had written episode 19, and that put me in mind of a trend in this series that was nagging at me but I hadn't quite put my finger on. In some ways, it seems to have morphed into one of those endless 4-koma "four schoolgirls" series. So many of the elements are there - males absent, or acting like morons. Chaste but slightly exploitative underage fanservice. Lots of little projects and festas to occupy time. Long, loving shots of the girls frolicking.

I don't think HanaIro started out that way - or if it did, it was so artfully disguised that it slipped past me.
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Old 2011-08-08, 13:11   Link #1210
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It always felt to me like Hanasaku Iroha looked to schoolgirl slice of lifes for its flavour the same way that AnoHana looked to Key (and Air in particular) for its flavour. This influence was particularly notable to me in Ohana's character. While more complex than the norm (one of the things I've always praised about this show), she doesn't stray far from the "straightforward everygirl" archetype - which is probably the most common archetype for lead characters in schoolgirl SoLs.

But its never been more than a flavouring, even now. In schoolgirl SoLs where the charm and heartwarming are the point, conflict is general fluff, easily glazed over. That's certainly not the case here. Ohana's personality flaws are taken more seriously here, and well, just look at Minchi's blunders in episode 19. If I had to pick one series that recent episodes of this show have been similar to, I'd look to Toradora rather than something 4koma based.

THe only episode where the conflicts felt like fluff for me were 5(because the ending felt like a cop out) to 7. And to be honest, seven did such a good job humanizing a gag character archetype (not to mention making a adult female as charming and appealing as her younger counterparts, which is rare in this genre) I have trouble considering it truly fluff.

Overall, I do think the Ohana/Nako/Minko/Yuina group resembling a four schoolgirl band was intentional... but I also think that the seriousness of the personality conflicts within was intentional. Their friendship in spite of those issues i more poignant and meaningful than in other shows.

BTW, as a fan of schoolgirl slice of lifes, I find that the "fluff conflict" is a bit of a pet peeve, even in series I enjoy. Which probably explains a lot of why I love HSI so very, very much.
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Old 2011-08-08, 13:20   Link #1211
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I wonder if episode 7 wasn't, in hindsight, the canary in the coal mine in terms of predicting how viewers would feel about the rest of the series. Opinions of that ep were very, very polarized and it seems that viewers who liked it are much more favorable towards where the show has trended than those of us that disliked it.
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Old 2011-08-08, 20:04   Link #1212
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo View Post
I wonder if episode 7 wasn't, in hindsight, the canary in the coal mine in terms of predicting how viewers would feel about the rest of the series. Opinions of that ep were very, very polarized and it seems that viewers who liked it are much more favorable towards where the show has trended than those of us that disliked it.
I think that there's some validity to your viewpoint here.

One approach that Hanasaku Iroha takes, perhaps more than any other anime that I've watched, is devoting substantial amounts of time to focusing on supporting cast characters.

In retrospect, Episode 7 was actually the second "Character Episode" of this anime. The first, though we didn't really know it at the time, was Episode 3. Perhaps its no coincidence that the same people who tended to dislike Episodes 3 and/or 7 also are not fond of the recent string of episodes.

So far, this is what we've had for character arcs and episodes:

Jiromaru - 1 Episode
Tomoe - 1 Episode
Yuina (and her fiance) - 2 Episodes
Enishi (and Takako) - 2 Episodes
Nako - 1 Episode
Minko - 1 Episode (so far)

That gives us a total of 8 episodes that are devoted to one or more supporting cast characters. 8 out of 19 - That's nearly half.

To varying degrees, Ohana tends to dominate the remaining episodes (although often sharing the spotlight with Satsuki, Sui, and/or Ko).


At the end of the day, I think that people's views on this anime will be largely based on:

1) If they felt that this was a smart use of Hanasaku's episodes.

2) If they felt that the character-focused episodes and arcs achieved their job or not.

So far, I'd personally have to give it a mixed review. The idea of having a bunch of secondary character focused episodes and arcs isn't a bad one, really. But the problem might be that they're too heavily concentrated in the 2nd half of the anime, so it can leave viewers wanting to get back to Ohana's story.
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Old 2011-08-08, 21:10   Link #1213
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To be honest, I think that at least some side episodes were necessary in this show. Ohana's character and the drama surrounding her are so intense that I think they could actually get a bit fatiguing if they were all the show focused on. Ohana's a great character, but even I found it a bit much when she saved the day again in episode 15, I'm glad to see them back off a bit.
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Old 2011-08-09, 12:44   Link #1214
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I for one think those character mini-arcs were a welcome change, as I was getting bored to tears with the romantic drama that was going nowhere. The only episodes I disliked are the ones focused on Enishi, really. I enjoyed all the others to varrying degrees (some a lot more than episode 11-12).
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Old 2011-08-18, 13:47   Link #1215
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So.. I'm just coming back to check. I rage quit the series after becoming absolutely disillusioned with ep 5. I think it was one of those instances when I felt a series was playing around with me. Has it gotten better since then?
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Old 2011-08-18, 13:59   Link #1216
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Yes, and no. It does very well in certain parts, but other parts are equally as bad. PA works seems to be experts at doing something very well, and then doing something almost equally as retarded to cancel most of it out.

If you ragequit the series at episode 5, I really can't urge you to continue on. It's stayed at 6-7/10 for most of its run for me, which isn't bad, but since you are only at episode 5, I'd recommend you check out some of the better shows lying around 2011 first.
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Old 2011-08-18, 14:40   Link #1217
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So.. I'm just coming back to check. I rage quit the series after becoming absolutely disillusioned with ep 5. I think it was one of those instances when I felt a series was playing around with me. Has it gotten better since then?
Hmm ... well, I've been following the series all the way through, and for me there has really only been one disappointing mini-arc. And even that was only somewhat disappointing for me personally.

The general summary of the series (afaict) is that when Hanasaku is "on" it is stupendous. But many people seem to think that the series seems to be plagued with really bad pacing and has "too much time on it's hands" episode number wise.

For me the common criticisms (which I can certainly see and understand for others) that has not been as much an issue, but I am admittedly kinda biased toward the "slice of life" genre in general and tend to go into "pleased pig" mode by default: I can forgive a LOT - moreso than other people, it seems. For me the problem with the mini arc I was disappointed in had very little to do with bad pacing, though - I just did not like the story proper.

I am also "holding back" on a criticism of individual eps until the series is finished. Seemingly "non-sensical" eps may make more sense when the series is finally over.

Still - that is just my take. For general consensus probably the common criticisms above may be more helpful to you (particularly if you "rage-quit" by ep 5).
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Old 2011-08-18, 14:47   Link #1218
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So.. I'm just coming back to check. I rage quit the series after becoming absolutely disillusioned with ep 5. I think it was one of those instances when I felt a series was playing around with me. Has it gotten better since then?
This goes against my generally completionist approach to anime shows, but I'd honestly suggest that you skip episodes 6 and 7 (for now), and watch episodes 8 through 13.

8 through 13 was a very strong run for Hanasaku Iroha, in my opinion, and included at least half of their best episodes (and only one episode that I think a large percentage of viewers would consider a bit weak - Episode 10).

If Episodes 8 through 13 manage to win you over - great, then you can delve into more episodes if you want (maybe even going back to watch Episodes 6 and 7). But if that run doesn't win you over, then Hanasaku probably never will, imo.
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Old 2011-08-18, 15:00   Link #1219
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It's just that this was the same series that made me drop my jaw with episodes 1 and 2. And after that it just felt so trite... sigh... I guess I'll give it a second chance, but most of the opinions are of the kind you guys presented. The series cheats you over and over again.
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Old 2011-08-19, 01:56   Link #1220
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This show drives me crazy. One moment it's fantastic, another moment's it's really medicore. At least I have pretty animation to look at. I should make that as the baseline to the reason why I continue to follow the show, and if an ep turns out amazing, then it's a treat.
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