Hanasaku Iroha (generic discussion thread)

[Xacual]

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

You do know how a loan shark operates, right? A loan shark wouldn't care that you didn't specifically cosign for a loan, only that you were connected closely enough to the individual who owed them money to go after.

Also didn't they say that the boyfriend gave their address to the loan people?

[Roger Rambo]

Originally Posted by Xacual

Also didn't they say that the boyfriend gave their address to the loan people?

Yes. And the fact that they would even try to coerce him into revealing that kind of information suggests that he did NOT take a loan from nice people.

I'm wondering if this will become an issue later.



edit

Crack: Perhaps Grandma has Yakuza connections, and Mom is planning to keep Ohana safe by tossing her over there. Renji could even be a retired assassin.

[HandofFate]

The scene kind of got to me, when Ohana served her mom the dinner with "I hate you mom" and her angry face.

Mom really let her down

[mysterious]

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

Spoiler:

We get more context in the 2nd episode, where her mom had promised to come to school for career day, but skipped out. She then didn't offer so much an apology, instead giving Ohana a lecture about how she shouldn't try to rely on other people (including her mom) because other people are unreliable. Ohana obviously didn't take kindly to her moms attitude, considering what she got for dinner that night. And Ohana theorizing out of the blue about not really being her moms daughter suggests her mom hasn't changed much.

I think you're being a bit to kind to say Ohana has absolutely no ill feelings to her mom. It's not outright loathing, but I'm not sure she holds any feelings of affection towards her. By the end of this series, I'm guessing she'll be closer to her Grandma.

You do know how a loan shark operates, right? A loan shark wouldn't care that you didn't specifically cosign for a loan, only that you were connected closely enough to the individual who owed them money to go after.

I kind of understand how loan shark works. But They are not blood related to that guy at all. So what the worse they can do? I mean are they actually kidnapping Ohana and her mother, then selling them in the black market or the like? Really, I just dont understand why the mother has to run away in this case.

[Pocari_Sweat]

A tad, slightly worse than episode 1 (but this was due to it being one of the best openers I've seen in anime), but still a very solid episode. I thought it would take a slightly more serious tone, but as this is a transitional episode and with 24 episodes still left, there is plenty of room for drama.

I can really see Mari Okada's script take action in this episode as the dialogue and monlogues are of top notch quality, at least in anime standards, which tends to have pretty subpar standards. I also can't enough of Ohana's "wit" sometimes, which I hopefully will continue to see. Some memorable scenes/lines include:

Spoiler for Ep2 Moments:

1. When the grandmother asks Mako to help Ohana in training to become a waitress, Ohana was ecstatic and mentioned "she isn't old enough to drink alcohol yet". This gave me a chuckle.

2. Ohana taking the initiative to cook for the staff when Minko stuffed up.

3. Ohana covering Nako's ass by denying that Nako forgot to tell her that she wasn't to enter the Wave room without Tarou's permission.

4. Ohana pulling one of Minko's lines to Tooru by telling him to "die" when he started being rude to her. This made me lol.

5. Ohana making a "brocooli omlet" for her mother with "I hate you" written on it. The mother eats it without complaint portraying consideration for her daughter, regardless of how irresponsible she is.

6. Ohana being upfront about being annoyed at Minko's bitchy attitude and Nako's evasive "I better not get involved with this" stance.

I'm also supporting the eventual Tooru/Minko shipping, which I'm 99% sure will develop. Minko could seriously use some "dere" .

I'm also eagerly waiting for the introduction of the 4th character that appears on the OP/ED. I guess she'll come around when the cast starts going to school. I noticed that she wears a different coloured uniform compared to Ohana, Minko and Mako, so I'm going to assume shes the "senpai" to the other three.

EDIT: I just realised this show is going to use a "4-girl ensemble". However, instead of the light and fluffy slice of comedies that are used with this (e.g. K-on, Lucky Star, Railgun etc), it's going to be drama oriented which is very refreshing to see. Variations on commonly used tropes/settings is always a plus.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

Spoiler:

I think you're being a bit to kind to say Ohana has absolutely no ill feelings to her mom. It's not outright loathing, but I'm not sure she holds any feelings of affection towards her. By the end of this series, I'm guessing she'll be closer to her Grandma.

Spoiler for Ep 2:

I think we're seeing that already: if Sui thought Ohana was truly a waste of space there's no way she'd waste valuable staff time on training her - there would be plenty of menial out-of-sight jobs to keep Ohana busy until she finished highschool and Sui's obligation (such as it is) was discharged.

Like Haak said a few pages back, I think Sui knew quite well that Ohana was covering for Nako, and that Ohana went up in her estimation for it. Ohana has a lot to learn, both professionally and as a person, but a businesswoman like her grandmother doesn't succeed without being a good judge of character. We saw something similar with Renji the head chef, too - he might have a scary crew cut, but the way he hauled Tōru into line shows he's fair as well as firm.

Beside from developing a work ethic and learning to trust others, Ohana's unexpected move is a chance for her to connect to her extended family. I wouldn't be surprised if we all have a different view of Satsuki (Ohana's mother) once we learn about her own childhood. We already know that she rebelled and flirted wildly, but there must be more to why she was disowned - at least we know it wasn't teen pregnancy, since if Satsuki is 38 she would have had Ohana at 22.

Spoiler for Speculation about how it might end:

Ohana earns her grandmother's respect through hard work, learns the truth about why her mother is the way she is, and all three generations finally reconcile. Either that or those kitchen knives get put to use and she kills them all.

tl;dr - this show is great, can it be episode 3 time now please?

[Triple_R]

PA Works has just about mastered slice of life anime, imo.

Episode 2 was very fun and colorful and dynamic, while still being firmly grounded in reality.

At the same time, it was thoughtful and showed very good and precise thematic and character development.

Ohana makes for a great lead protagonist for a slice of life show like this one, and the supporting cast is diverse and zany, almost unpredictable, but never surreal.

I'll give an easy 9/10 for this 2nd episode.

Really looking forward to more.

[Pocari_Sweat]

Originally Posted by Simon

Spoiler for Speculation about how it might end:

Ohana earns her grandmother's respect through hard work, learns the truth about why her mother is the way she is, and all three generations finally reconcile. Either that or those kitchen knives get put to use and she kills them all.

lol... I'm 101% sure that the latter would not happen . If it did, this series would be a contender to have the worst anime ending in history

[Archon_Wing]

First half of the episode I saw as pretty dull and the OP did nothing for me. However, it took off greatly, after she was writing "I hate you" about her mom; that was pretty awesome. I also liked how she broke with the ownage and finally confronted that annoying bitch that could only say "Die". Obviously a pure heart and the power of friendship will break their shells.

Ohana's mom is a failure. When your young daughter purposedly serves food you hate and spells out I hate you, you have epically failed. The ending... wtf? Oh, it sucks to be you Ohana.

This episode gets a 7/10

[Triple_R]

Oh, I forgot to comment on the OP and ED.

OP is Ok. Good and solid.

I loved the ED, though. That was a treat to watch and the music was harmonious, going well with the imagery.

[Pocari_Sweat]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

First half of the episode I saw as pretty dull and the OP did nothing for me. However, it took off greatly, after she was writing "I hate you"; that was pretty awesome. I also liked how she broke with the ownage and finally confronted that annoying bitch that could only say "Die". Obviously a pure heart and the power of friendship will break their shells.

I see what you did there. Minko is actually reminding me a lot of Fate Testarossa. Someone should do a parody comic strip of Ohana "befriending" Minko when the episode finally comes

Ohana's mom is a failure. When your young daughter purposedly serves food you hate and spells out I hate you, you have epically failed. The ending... wtf? Oh, it sucks to be you Ohana.

Nomination for "Most Fail Female Character" 2011 - Matsumae, Satsuki (Hanasaku Iroha)

/submit

In all honesty though, I don't think Satsuki is a bad mother at heart. I think she's the product of what happens when someone turns out wrong in a strict, conservative setting. I'm fairly sure she just went "To hell with this" and just went off and lived her own style.

EDIT: As for the OP/ED, ED is pretty good, but I agree that the OP is kinda annoying with that high pitched girly/emo "pop-punk" voice. However, I think it fits well with the show. If this was a TV drama series, it would definitely be one that is aimed at teenage girls, and the OP song would fit that demography. Unfortunately, as this is anime, is more aimed at late adolescent males.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by acejem

I see what you did there. Minko is actually reminding me a lot of Fate Testarossa. Someone should do a parody comic strip of Ohana "befriending" Minko when the episode finally comes

Fate told Nanoha to "die" four or five separate times in Episodes 4 and 5 of the original Nanoha anime?

Wow, I never knew that Fate was that bad ass.


Still, I'd be quite happy to see Ohana "befriend" Minko...

Nomination for "Most Fail Female Character" 2011 - Matsumae, Satsuki (Hanasaku Iroha)

/submit

Yeah, she's pretty awful, lol. I have to say that, on the whole, I like the grandmother more than the mother now.

Edit: Funny, first I thought we agreed. Now it looks like we disagree.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by Simon

Spoiler for Speculation about how it might end:

Ohana earns her grandmother's respect through hard work, learns the truth about why her mother is the way she is, and all three generations finally reconcile.

Either that or those kitchen knives get put to use and she kills them all.

I'll be highly amused if her mother ends up having some reason good enough for the viewers to forgive her.
Well, as it is an anime, and not something made by Ov... *cough* anyways, I wouldn't be surprised if she was forgiven by the characters in the anime.
So let's go with the latter. Now that's epi-...

[Archon_Wing]

Acejem, Triple_R:

Hmm, well I suppose Fate may not be the best idea, since she was never necessarily that hostile in an aggressive way. Well, at least it was on a business level rather than any outright hatred towards Nanoha.

But befriending is fine... it's already happening as she already pushed them down to the floor at an effort at a peace treaty.

Of course, Fate is sacred, so comparisons will be met with great skepticism! /fanboy

[OceanBlue]

You know the characters are good when, within a day, there's a a lot of discussion about how bad they are.

Ohana's interesting. I was somewhat surprised at how spiteful she was this episode, since I was expecting a full-on happy-go-lucky optimistic character, despite the first episode. She comes off more as a quirky, oblivious [Using Sackett's word, since it's oh-so-appropriate], somewhat more realistic girl. At the same time, deciding to take initiative was a bad idea to me, considering how that went the last time. Did I mention how oblivious she is? That's the only way I can explain how exaggerated she is with everything.

Someone mentioned this already, but I'm happy seeing how the characters act. The characters who would find Ohana's presence an inconvenience [Minko] act accordingly, and there are characters who act friendly [the head waitress] and those who don't really think anything of it [Tohru]. Nako's a bit strange, but considering we haven't seen much of her, it's not a big deal.

Tohru and Minko's dynamic may have something to do with Minko and Ohana's dynamic. They seem somewhat similar, except Minko has someone there to tell Tohru to lay off.

Also, why did Nako tell Ohana that she shouldn't step on something? Does the door opening mean something? I can't tell if it's a urban/rural thing or an inn thing or something else.

Wow, I can tell the characters are interesting when I'm looking for motivations and reserving judgement because I don't know enough about them.

[germanturkey]

There's very obviously a reason why Ohana's mom is like that. making judgements after 2 eps is a little premature. they do have 26 eps to work with.

[Triple_R]

No doubt there are some extenuating circumstances that help lead to Ohana's mom being such a terrible mom.

But that doesn't make it undeserving of criticism. Ohana herself clearly felt it was deserving of harsh criticism.


And there's nothing wrong with viewers assessing characters based on the facts that they currently have in front of them, and adjust as necessary as later reveals require. To say otherwise is to say that we can't have an opinion at all on these characters until the entire anime is finished.


Anyway, it's not like my personal dislike of a character or two is a major issue with my enjoyment level for this show as a whole, or my assessment of its quality. I still like the show a lot, because it does have a lot of good/great characters to its credit.

[kk2extreme]

Some thoughts and observation:

Grandma is showing tough love, and she is probably a better guardian then Ohana's mom.

I get the vide that Minko has a crush on the asistant chef.

So far so good, I need some good drama after all the unrealistic shows that I watched last season

[Riga92]

Another solid episode. Art and animation is still top-notch and the drama was interesting and not overexaggerated.

I'm really liking Ohana. She's got great character and she is a very strong lead protagonist.

[ReddyRedWolf]

Well if Minko does like Toru could be another reason not to like Ohana. Ohana saying maybe she should flirt around like he mom then Toru shows up. That's foreshadowing to me.

As for the author Ohana certainly has him by the balls with blackmail material next ep. Catching him red handed sexualizing her in his writing. Whatever sort of relationship they would have its this dirty little secret would be what connects them. (Taking note of Keima Katsuragi lessons)