Hanasaku Iroha (generic discussion thread)

[Ravenblitz]

Spoiler for Animedia:

Spoiler for Dengeki G's Magazine:

Spoiler for Animage:

[Guardian Enzo]

While throwing Kanon into the discussion, it's important to remember that it was Naoki Hisaya's story for the most part. He created the concept and the characters and most of what we think of as "Kanon" is Naoki Hisaya, not Maeda Jun.

That aside, I think this was easily the best of the shows that have premiered so far. Frankly, I think Spring has been close to atrocious for the most part - so far. We still have several potential winners out there, but the early returns are discouraging. That makes the emotionally charged drama and powerful acting in this show all the more starkly obvious. So far, it's damn good.

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

That aside, I think this was easily the best of the shows that have premiered so far. Frankly, I think Spring has been close to atrocious for the most part - so far. We still have several potential winners out there, but the early returns are discouraging. That makes the emotionally charged drama and powerful acting in this show all the more starkly obvious. So far, it's damn good.

Weird, I was thinking this Spring is best season of the last 2 years or so. Well, I guess it depends what you've found. But I will admit, if Hana Saku Iroha was in any previous season for that time period, it would definitely be one of the top shows if not the best of the season.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

Weird, I was thinking this Spring is best season of the last 2 years or so. Well, I guess it depends what you've found. But I will admit, if Hana Saku Iroha was in any previous season for that time period, it would definitely be one of the top shows if not the best of the season.

I'd be curious to know what you think are the shows that make spring so good are - feel free to reply over in the "Spring: Expectations" thread if you don't wsant to hijack this one. It's a serious question - I've been in Japan for two weeks and maybe there have been some gems I missed - but I thought I'd seen all the premieres and frankly, I'm discouraged by what I see. Maybe you can change my mind - nothing would make me happier.

[broken270]

Spoiler:

Ohana decidedly wakes up earlier than Minko to prove to her grandmother that she is just as hard a worker as anyone else is. While Tomoe is backing her up, her grandmother is not the slightest awarding her effort in trying. The grandmother decides for her to be a waitress under Nako's wing, a very quiet and sensitive girl. While Nako is trying to teach her everything, I guess shyness took total control over her. Since Ohana is used to doing things by herself, she decides to clean up the "not supposed to clean" room, which has a famous author in it.

So, everything is done, for now, and Ohana sees Minko getting yelled at by the staff. Ohana overhears the conversation, and manages to create breakfast out of something that they believed they could not have created today. Minko is embarrassed that she let some newcomer create something that she destroyed. When her sempai made a joke about her being a batter waitress, she snaps and lashes out at Ohara. To make matters worse, that famous author appears and starts to get pissed over his missing work, despite the fact that he crumbled most of them and threw them in the trash to begin with.

Ohara gets a ride on that chef's truck, and they have their small chat. Some time during the ride, she understands what it means to get her grandmother's attention and make the correct change. She gets Minko and Nako into her idea, and manage to make both of them say what their least favorite dish was. Tomoe tells Ohana that the trash was suppose to go on a bit seperate from the one she has been putting in the entire time. This makes finding her so called "greatest work" easy for her. Wondering what his great idea was, she decides to take one of his thrown out pages and read it, only to find out that his work was his fantasy with her. And the show left us off with the author saying it is not his fault and approaches her.

[BaKaBaKaOtaKu]

a very good episode!! XD again, ohana showed how admirable of a character she is. XD i'm hoping ohana gets to be friends with minko soon. though XDD

i'm so liking minko btw. XDD

[Qikz]

Woah, what was with that ending! o_o

This show has been really good so far.

[MeoTwister5]

Only managed to catch up with the show I've been looking forward to so far for spring, yet the show has been everything I've been looking for and then some. Ohana is quite the character for a teenager, a test of extremes as a young lady who is both naive and wide eyed of the world around her, but also pragmatic and actually rather mature for her age. Despite experiencing so many things for the first time, she shows signs of being someone who is still able to handle even the things that are far beyond her expectations.

Ohana is by far one of the most interesting female leads I've seen since, say, Akashi from Tatami Galaxy last year. It's so nice to watch a coming-of-age story of someone who is both accepting and understanding rather than someone who is forced to learn of the real world solely through sheer hardship and exasperation. Her introspections and personal analysis of the situation of her new environment gives so much insight to a story rather than just watching a lesser lead simply crawl their way through their hardships.

She is both one of the most excitable yet one of the most mature leading ladies for her age I've seen in a long time. I'll comment on the other characters on my blog later, but Ohana is really making the show for me.

[KiNA]

Dunno if any of you interested in this, but .. real life places used for HanaIro.

http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/Nozomi500...getdate=201101

http://ameblo.jp/t-bunbun/entry-10826307868.html

[MeoTwister5]

A Change of Lifestyle.

Simply put, while we’ve seen a lot of the other characters in this show, Ohana carries everything on her optimistically flawed character. She is herself an active and wide-eyed youth dreaming of the world beyond the confines of her tiny apartment she lives in with her mother, and when her mother decides to move out with her equally loose boyfriend, she gets the shock of her life she is still reeling from. Moving from one place to another is hard no doubt about that, but it’s another thing entirely to have the new place to be an almost 180 turnaround from everything you’ve expected it to be. Even then she takes it with a smile, cries only to herself, and swears her best to go on and try her best.

She is, in fact, still a typical teenager full of dreams and ambitions, but as we’ve seen from her own experiences she’s also a bit world-weary and cynical of her life and circumstances. She possesses that mixed bag of excitable youth with that of a weary and matured adult. She knows how both to be optimistic of her future, yet also be cautious when drawing from life experience. She is still young, but given her mother, forced to grow up faster than her peers. Growing up faster does not equate to maturity obviously, but she still has a good head on her shoulders that is a world away than most people her age. There is a big difference between blind optimism to a well-thought of one. She herself realizes that her current life sucks, but it isn’t one to bitch and moan about, especially when she sees that other people have their own problems compared to herself. This introspective and empathetic ability is a rare gem for characters in her position who would otherwise activate the emo switch and spend the episode whining about why life sucks. Her life may be the suck right now, but she’s making the best of it, even if it is partly for the wrong reasons she had realized at the end of episode 2.

This is one of the reasons why she’s a rare and delightful character to watch, and arguably one of the strongest teenage leads of recent years. She personifies the moderation of extremes and a work in progress. She is neither an immature brat nor impossibly mature for her age. She doesn’t bitch incessantly about her condition, but she doesn’t internalize every damn thing. She tries her best at her new life but doesn’t clash with it head on. She does actually try to understand her situation, adapt to it, and try to learn along the way. She says so herself: she wants to learn. She wants to learn about working at an inn, about relying on others, and living life in a new time. She knows her own faults, knows she isn’t perfect, but still tries to improve herself. In doing so she wants to reach out to other people and make not only a better life for herself, but for the new place that she now must call home.

This is a sense of maturity and wisdom rarely seen in 16 years. How many teenagers can you claim to have this?

[ninryu]

I'm the only one who thinks Nako is a too big nerve-wreck even in anime standard?

[spawnofthejudge]

Originally Posted by ninryu

I'm the only one who thinks Nako is a too big nerve-wreck even in anime standard?

Depends on why she's such a wallflower, I think.

[ninryu]

Originally Posted by spawnofthejudge

Depends on why she's such a wallflower, I think.

I mean, she's too shy for someone who works with others, no?

[spawnofthejudge]

Originally Posted by ninryu

I mean, she's too shy for someone who works with others, no?

Does she? We've really only seen her interact with Minko, and they don't really work together as far as we know. While she certainly works under people (the comment about how she "would be the death of me" was rather telling), she probably received her instructions and then did them. She never really had to deal with other people in her job quite like having Ohana around before.

[ninryu]

Originally Posted by spawnofthejudge

Does she? We've really only seen her interact with Minko, and they don't really work together as far as we know. While she certainly works under people (the comment about how she "would be the death of me" was rather telling), she probably received her instructions and then did them. She never really had to deal with other people in her job quite like having Ohana around before.

I dunno, I still find it very weird. Ohana as a lot of work ahead of her.

[ars89]

Originally Posted by KiNA

Dunno if any of you interested in this, but .. real life places used for HanaIro.

http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/Nozomi500...getdate=201101

http://ameblo.jp/t-bunbun/entry-10826307868.html

thanks for the links, i always enjoy seeing the real life places for the settings

[Last Sinner]

Hmmm, decent second episode. Some solid character relations built. So what actually is the ED is quite nice. OP, I don't think I'll get used to that voice. Despite all that, for it's feeling like one vital element is missing. Ohana certinaly has many traits of an interesting character, but I'm not getting that vibe that she's all I need to carry this series. It's a positive watch, no question, but it feels a couple of sandwiches shy of the picnic basket. Or maybe it's because the grandmother is quite similar to my mother...

Something small but meaningful - I noticed that Ohana has very uneven hair and those little flowers in her hair, while everyone else is very clean and precise. It's the little things like that which help make her stand out.

[revive4563]

Originally Posted by ninryu

I'm the only one who thinks Nako is a too big nerve-wreck even in anime standard?

It's just because, Nako and Minko are two kinds of obstacles that Ohana should surpass.
Though I also felt stress whenever watch her vague attitude.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by ninryu

I'm the only one who thinks Nako is a too big nerve-wreck even in anime standard?

She does come across as pathologically shy, but what makes her more frustrating than Minko for me is that we haven't yet seen anything to explain why she's so nervous around people. At least we've had glimpses of Minko's hard life which give clues to why she acts the way she does.

[Hooves]

Originally Posted by Simon

She does come across as pathologically shy, but what makes her more frustrating than Minko for me is that we haven't yet seen anything to explain why she's so nervous around people. At least we've had glimpses of Minko's hard life which give clues to why she acts the way she does.

They are probably going to feature why Nako is so shy around people in the next episode like how they gave us a good hint on Minko's personality in this episode. But would be good to find out sooner rather then later on why she is so shy. She seems to be perfectly fine with talking around Minko, probably just the thought of getting to know new people gives her a very timid appearance?