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View Poll Results: Hanasaku Iroha - Episode 7 Rating
Perfect 10 18 23.38%
9 out of 10 : Excellent 17 22.08%
8 out of 10 : Very Good 17 22.08%
7 out of 10 : Good 13 16.88%
6 out of 10 : Average 9 11.69%
5 out of 10 : Below Average 2 2.60%
4 out of 10 : Poor 1 1.30%
3 out of 10 : Bad 0 0%
2 out of 10 : Very Bad 0 0%
1 out of 10 : Painful 0 0%
Voters: 77. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 2011-05-16, 02:33   Link #81
totoum
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I shouldn't feel like I'm watching a different show.

I guess that's where the disagreement comes from,I completely understand where your coming from,but never once while watching this show have I felt like I'm watching a different show.Though I guess there's not much use debating the issue since that's pretty subjective.

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but then again shouldn't we aim a bit higher?
Considering this is PA work's 10 year anniversary project,I'm pretty sure they're aiming high.

From applejuice's blog

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Kishida Mel says that the animation of Hana-saku Iroha is already completed until 10th episode. PA work's team never disappoints me (unlike certain studio starting with 's' that finishes episode one day before its airing). Also 10th episode is supposed to be godly according to that same person, so we will see.
Which makes me curious about what will happen in that episode.Unless Kishida Mel was just talking about the animation.
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Old 2011-05-16, 02:41   Link #82
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Seriously, now we're calling it an 'identity crisis'? From our eyes, maybe, but don't you think that the producers have had this in mind from the beginning?

"We want a show about drama that doesn't take things too heavily."

Look at the first episode. Ohana's mom eloping scene was probably the first where everyone thought: "Whut?...Ohana just took it in without any drama?" Also further in that episode with Minko was also a part where drama is supposed to play, but it had comedy mixed in instead. Of course, there were also true drama scenes in the episode with Ko confessing and grandma slapping.

Again, the people who are disappointed are the people who expected too much or something else than what it is, myself included. Episode 1 and 2 were too promising to not to. Come down to reality guys, this is a 26 episode show. That's a lot of episodes to fill with serious and fast paced story telling. You'll be at the end of your carefully made story before you know it.
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Old 2011-05-16, 02:59   Link #83
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Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo View Post
That's certainly fine if you felt it was heartwarming - to me it was a hackneyed and totally false moment. If you're going to dedicate the bulk of the episode to utterly preposterous physical comedy, it's hard to throw in what's supposed to be a heart-tugger at the end and expect it to be anything but jarring. I'm fine with mixing drama and humor - I think this show has done it in every episode (which some folks clearly don't). The problem lies in trying to buy emotional impact without doing the grunt work in earning it. Humor can quite effectively be used to build an ep to an emotional crescendo - I just didn't feel this episode was remotely effective in doing so.

Would it have worked marginally better if the comedy was actually funny? Sure, a little. But other than the "Drop your cocks!" moment it all fell flat for me - broad in the worst sense of the term. Clumsy, artificial and totally discordant with the rest of the series. And the gag about the employee trying to get themselves fired has been done to death, and often much more creatively than this.

I'm not going to stop enjoying the show - at it's best I think it achieves greatness, and I really love it at those times. I'm just at the point of accepting that there are going to be clunkers thrown in every few weeks.
I did find a couple scenes and directorial decisions felt a bit off, but for the most part I didn't find this episode discordant or lacking in buildup. And I give the credit for that to the fact that pretty much everything we saw was consistent with what I've grown to expect from Tomoe as a character. From previous episodes, I had basically pegged her as a) a bit of a romanticist and b) a little imp hiding behind the facade of a traditional Japanese beauty. So I could totally see her enjoying blasting LARPers with a pressure washer and squealing inside when her juniors call her "sis". Hearing this was going to be a Tomoe episode meant I wanted to see her "sparkle", and she did. It's not gut-bustingly hilarious, but it is certainly one hell of a feel good episode.

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Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
But there is a certain constant shifting in mood and tone that I see in this anime, and it can be a bit jarring and leave you wondering what exactly the anime is aiming for overall.
I hate to belabour the point, but I think I know what the show is trying to do overall thus far...

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Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
To use a comparison that you'll probably get, 0utf0xZer0, and which acejem recently shared with me, I see Hana-Saku Iroha starting to have identity issues approaching what Angel Beats! suffered from.


My own view is that there's kind of a sliding scale of drama and comedy, and that this is most pronounced in a slice of life or romance anime.

From my perspective, this anime has ran the full gamut of that sliding scale, with episodes that felt much more dramatic than comedic to me (Episodes 1 and 2), episodes that felt almost entirely comedic to me (Episodes 3 and 7), and episodes right smack dab in the middle (Episodes 4 through 6).
Well, the thing you have to remember is that I never saw episodes 1 and 2 as "much more dramatic than comedic". From my perspective, what Hana-Saku Iroha is trying to do at this point (and I expect it will shift gears later on) is make a comedy that is also emotionally poignant (and drop dead gorgeous looking). And at least from where I stand its been succeeding at that with flying colours.

It's very much a heartfelt show, and hence what makes it great is actually the exact same thing that makes K-On! season 2 better than season 1. It just happens to do it much better than K-On's second season because its not just doing it as a way of applying a new coat of paint to an existing franchise. Plus, Hana-Saku has been building a storyline in a "mosiac" fashion each episode, likely setting up some decent drama later on.

It someone were to extract the best elements of K-On! and True Tears and combine them into one work, I imagine the result would look a lot like Hana-Saku Iroha.

(Yes, I did just bring K-On! into this... I can feel the laser sights on my back as I type.)

As for the comparison with Angel Beats - in my opinion, all of the elements in Angel Beats belonged there and it was time allocation that created so many issues. They needed to spend more time doing more stories like the one in episode 10 before moving on to the finale, and also building Otanashi's relationship with Kanade. Hana-Saku, by contrast, is a 26 episode show and is fleshing out Ohana's relationship with the inn and its other workers practically every episode.
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Old 2011-05-16, 03:31   Link #84
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Exactly, I don't know where this "identity crisis" but the aiming of this show has be quite clear to me since episode 1.

The simple fact that Ohana took things away it is without much drama, shows that this show was never intend to be the type of show that is conflict-filled emotional roller-coaster. And the tags & synopsis of the show as well as the manga adaption has always been stated as Ohana's work/grow-up experiences and the colorful characters around her.

0utf0xZer0's description of "sentimental" anime is probably a better description than my "healing" anime, and so far this is exactly what this show is and have been, in fact it has been textbook of those types so far. It's a show that has more similarities with K-On than say Angel Beat or Kanon. I best description would be a comedy version of Maria-sama ge Miteru without the yuri-goodness.

The way I see it right now, at most there will be 2 "maybe" 3 dramatic event that will impact Ohana, other than that it's just going to be about the simple daily lives of everyone in the hotel and the show ends with a happy, life-goes on type ending. Nothing overly-dramatic.

As for Kou, I really don't see how he'll impact the story. Is this is a romantic love show and Kou is the main character, then sure. But as someone pointed out he is way back in Tokyo and Ohana never seem to sees him more than childhood friend. The most I can see is that his visit causes someone to start to act on advancement toward Ohana and that could end up be one of the central conflict of the show.

Another potential drama point might be grandma's illness. Depends on how severe it is, it could lead to reconciliation between grandma and mom and flashes out exactly what causes them to grow apart in the first place.

But that'll pretty much be it and I expect more light-hearted, character-based episodes to the rest of cast in between.
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Old 2011-05-16, 03:34   Link #85
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Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0 View Post
I hate to belabour the point, but I think I know what the show is trying to do overall thus far...
You might, but I don't.

Just to be clear, I was using the term "you" in a general sense when I wrote "It can be a bit jarring and leave you wondering what exactly the anime is aiming for overall."

I wasn't referring to you specifically there.


Quote:
Well, the thing you have to remember is that I never saw episodes 1 and 2 as "much more dramatic than comedic".
And yet some of us did see those episodes that way. I haven't really been convinced by you, by totoum, or by anybody else that my take on those first two episodes is any less legitimate than different takes are.


Reckoner earlier provided one good reason why some of us viewed it that way. Ohana was hit pretty hard by disappointment after meeting everybody at the Inn. She took Minchi's "Die!" comments pretty seriously, and she took everything kind of seriously, in my opinion. In my view, that gives everything a very serious and dramatic feel. I mean, Ohana is the main character, and so her reactions can and often will go a long way in determining how viewers will take what's shown on screen.


Quote:
From my perspective, what Hana-Saku Iroha is trying to do at this point (and I expect it will shift gears later on) is make a comedy that is also emotionally poignant (and drop dead gorgeous looking). And at least from where I stand its been succeeding at that with flying colours.
Well, for some of us, when Hana-Saku Iroha tries to be both comedic and "emotionally poignant" at the same time, it often ends up half-assing both, as Archon alluded to.


Quote:
Plus, Hana-Saku has been building a storyline in a "mosiac" fashion each episode, likely setting up some decent drama later on.
You write that as though that's the only way Hana-Saku could possibly go. There's more than one way to set up drama later on.

Anohana's approach, for example, is much less "mosaic" in nature, and much more consistent and methodical, with every episode tying into the last and the one before it.

The same was also true of how Madoka Magica approached its drama.


Quote:
As for the comparison with Angel Beats - in my opinion, all of the elements in Angel Beats belonged there and it was time allocation that created so many issues.
I don't think that time allocation was the only issue. Angel Beats! kept switching back and forth, and then back and forth again, between its various elements. It started to lose a sense of identity through doing so, in my opinion.
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Old 2011-05-16, 03:41   Link #86
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Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0 View Post
It someone were to extract the best elements of K-On! and True Tears and combine them into one work, I imagine the result would look a lot like Hana-Saku Iroha.

(Yes, I did just bring K-On! into this... I can feel the laser sights on my back as I type.)
It's not me, mine does not have laser sight....
If only we can set up a poll to settle this. But i can't see Hanasaku Iroha a slice-of-life series. It can be drama, romantic, comedy, but no way that it's a slice of life. As i found an excellent point on how slice-of-life support to/should not have any conflicts, expositions, or denouements, on top of its "cut-out sequences" format


On Ko... maybe he comes here to finish his own role in this anime... the poor bastard gonna see his unrequited love being crushed to pieces *insert evil laugh*
But seriously, Ohana should not end up with one guy out of sympathy. She never notice him, and only started to concern after seeing his sympathetic self and realised the hardship on unrequited love (after looking at Minko). When she is accepted by everyone else in recent episodes, she surely did not concern much about Ko and his current state. But who know, PA showed their ability to pull pairing out from nowhere *coughangelbeatscough*. I won't be surprised if they just go out of logic to pull up some random romance
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Old 2011-05-16, 04:00   Link #87
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Alot of people are awfully harsh on Ko. He seems to be independent and quick witted young man.
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Old 2011-05-16, 04:03   Link #88
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Speaking of K-on, Nakochi's VA is doing a pretty good job, giving a nice 'please tease me' vibe with her voice.

(Which, in turn, reminds be of Clannad's Kotomi's (incidentally, voiced by Noto IIRC) patented 'Are you a bully?'.... Ahhhh.....*shudders*)
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Old 2011-05-16, 04:13   Link #89
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Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
Reckoner earlier provided one good reason why some of us viewed it that way. Ohana was hit pretty hard by disappointment after meeting everybody at the Inn. She took Minchi's "Die!" comments pretty seriously, and she took everything kind of seriously, in my opinion. In my view, that gives everything a very serious and dramatic feel. I mean, Ohana is the main character, and so her reactions can and often will go a long way in determining how viewers will take what's shown on screen.
I never really saw the scene as serious, Ohana's narration of her first encounter with Minko kind of killed the possibility of that for me. It did kind of make me feel for Ohana and want to give an "Ohana fight-o!" kind of cheer though. This anime throws a lot at her - especially that first arc - but she's always struck me as plucky enough to deal with it. She did get pretty upset at the end of episode one but she's the "get mad, get even" type.

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Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
You write that as though that's the only way Hana-Saku could possibly go. There's more than one way to set up drama later on.

Anohana's approach, for example, is much less "mosaic" in nature, and much more consistent and methodical, with every episode tying into the last and the one before it.

The same was also true of how Madoka Magica approached its drama.
It could have gone a different way (Kotomi's arc in Clannad is an excellent example of a story that combines poignant and comedic before taking a dramatic turn), but I feel that the mosaic approach fits nicely with the setting - working at an inn shouldn't be too predictable day to day. And it gives the show a nice "what will Ohana face next?!" quality.

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Originally Posted by Triple_R View Post
I don't think that time allocation was the only issue. Angel Beats! kept switching back and forth, and then back and forth again, between its various elements. It started to lose a sense of identity through doing so, in my opinion.
Twenty six episodes would have allowed them to spread the changes in tone out.

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But who know, PA showed their ability to pull pairing out from nowhere *coughangelbeatscough*. I won't be surprised if they just go out of logic to pull up some random romance
It may be PA Works, but Mari Okada is no Jun Maeda - she's generally pretty good about laying and following groundwork for things like romances. Thankfully, since I think that its only the music and Kana Hanazawa's voice that makes that scene work in Angel Beats - I could see it blowing up in the face of most directors who try something like that.
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Old 2011-05-16, 04:27   Link #90
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Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0 View Post
It may be PA Works, but Mari Okada is no Jun Maeda - she's generally pretty good about laying and following groundwork for things like romances. Thankfully, since I think that its only the music and Kana Hanazawa's voice that makes that scene work in Angel Beats - I could see it blowing up in the face of most directors who try something like that.
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.
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Old 2011-05-16, 04:40   Link #91
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Not to mention Mari Okada actually has pretty good track record with her script works (Rozen Maiden, Fate/Stay, ToraDora, ARIA, The Book of Bantorra, True Tears, Kuroshitsuji,etc.) which led her to unusually heavy workload this year.

This year was not even half-way and she had already involved in script with GOSICK, Fracles, Hourou Musuko, AnoHana, and HanaIro and is the in charge of Series composition for all but AnoHana. Not to mention so far all of the series she involves in have received mostly positive feedbacks and acclimations from fans and critics alike.
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Old 2011-05-16, 04:46   Link #92
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I'd just like to echo the earlier sentiment that this show is a different beast than True Tears or Ano Hana. It doesn't "have" to be like those shows to achieve "greatness". This show attempts an approach that showcases the mixtures of comedy and drama in its setting that, for me, is actually closer to real life than the two aforementioned shows have managed in their current states.

Yes this show isn't consistent in it's setting and it's tone, but that's exactly why I love it: it's not straight up drama or comedy all the time, instead showing that the lives of people isn't in a stagnant world of daily tribulations or daily wackiness. What it lacks in consistency it more than makes up for in dynamism, giving us human lives and the very varying events in it, which isn't only always sadness of gut-busting laughter. One of the reasons why I loved Toradora was because both the source material and Okada Mari knew how to blend both together and not getting trapped and pigeonholed into a specific genre.
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Old 2011-05-16, 04:52   Link #93
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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.

Episode 1

The show opens up with a scene of the daily apartment life of Ohana and her mother. We're shown from the getgo that Ohana has an irresponsible mother and that Ohana has to take care of the house work. Now often times this sort of thing is played to either a dramatic or comedic effect. A good example of it being more comedic would be something like Toradora.

What does Hanasaku do? Not overly dramatic, but it portrays it in a seemingly natural way, as if this is supposed to be the way Ohana's life is. Ohana doesn't necessarily seem happy with it, but there doesn't seem like much she can do to change the situation. We the viewers look at the situation and think, "Oh, her mother kind of sucks, she's irresponsible." Again, Ohana doesn't make a big deal of it, but does express visible dissatisfaction with her current home life.

From the very beginning, the show was presented in a lively manner, but also a pretty down to earth. Will it be more comedic? Will it be more dramatic?

These questions seem to be answered later on in the episode. We transfer from Ohana's house life to her life in school with her friend Kou. There is a moment of two of silliness (Corn at bottom of can scene), but nothing overly extreme in comedy. It was around here that Ohana gave a speech about how she finds her current life dull, how she'll probably follow a pretty pragmatic lifestyle without much else. She expresses a liking for something a bit more dramatic.

What happens almost directly after? Well Ohana's mother decides she wants to run away without her and sends Ohana to live with her grandmother. Now again, with Ohana's reaction to the matter, the drama of such a scene is played down quite a bit, but Ohana doesn't certainly approve. We're supposed to feel for her and her situation, but Okada does her best here to not let the emotions weigh down too heavily. OK, so they aren't going for flat break neck speed drama. But so far the show hasn't been all that comedic in nature, though it's a bit charming and funny at times. It's a rather down to earth, coming of age story as far as I can tell.

So then Ohana precedes to notify Kou of the development and then a confession scene happens. Unlike the scene before, there is a bit more emotion put into this and it leaves Ohana something to think about as she goes on her new life's journey. Now Ohana isn't constantly worried to death about these issues, but it seems like it's starting to build up as evident in her train scene.

However, with the birth of a new world before her, and the shining sun, she holds hope for the new life she's about to receive. Could it be that dazzling sparkling life she has imagined? When she gets to the hotspring inn, this seems to be anything but the case. The first thing that happens is she comes to the inn is get a death threat from a girl for pulling out her plants. Now this wasn't a highly dramatic scene again, but it was yet another obstacle emotionally speaking for Ohana. From the beginning of her new life, she wasn't welcomed.

She then meets with her less than friendly grandmother who treats her pretty harshly, by putting her to immediate work. The rest of the staff doesn't treat her that well either. She continues to try her best and well this leads to the slapping scene which doesn't really need an explanation.

Overall, the first episode wasn't overly serious, but it seemed like a very well grounded, coming of age story. What exactly about these other episodes (3 and 7 specifically) seems to be well grounded?

Last edited by Reckoner; 2011-05-16 at 05:02.
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Old 2011-05-16, 04:54   Link #94
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One of the reasons why I loved Toradora was because both the source material and Okada Mari knew how to blend both together and not getting trapped and pigeonholed into a specific genre.
Whilst I personally (only my opinion) consider Toradora to be one of Okada's weaker involvements (of the slice-of-life orientated genre), it did what it perceived to do well because in essence it was a romantic comedy first with some drama elements splashed in. This anime? After another episode-3 like episode, I really don't know what's going on anymore, which is why I half-jokingly called it the "Angel Beats" treatment to a friend of mine. If the anime stuck with the mid-ground that was episodes 4 to 6 I would have a fair idea of what was going on. Now, I might as well be expecting an episodic sitcom episode from now on.

EDIT: You know, despite me still liking HanaIro overall and my changed reception that HanaIro was going to be relatively a relatively down-to-earth serious coming of age story to a light-hearted comedy with some dramatic elements, I still think the premise of the first two episodes was totally wasted. Imo, Okada should pick this up the elements from the 2 episodes, change the setting/characters a bit, sign a contract with Production I.G or A-1 Pictures, find a notaminA timeslot and try again.
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Old 2011-05-16, 05:02   Link #95
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Whilst I personally (only my opinion) consider Toradora to be one of Okada's weaker involvements (of the slice-of-life orientated genre), it did what it perceived to do well because it essence it was a romantic comedy first with some drama elements splashed in. This anime? After another episode-3 like episode, I really don't know what's going on anymore, which is why I half-jokingly called it the "Angel Beats" syndrome to a friend of mine. If the anime stuck with the mid-ground that was episodes 4 to 6 I would have a fair idea of what was going on. Now, I might as well be expecting an episodic sitcom episode from now on.
Angel Beats was cursed with having to stuff everything it wanted to do in 13 episodes. This show runs at twice that, and we're just at halfway of the run that Angel Beats had, or 1/4 of this show's entire run. I'd say that's much too short to make a convincingly all-encompassing conclusion to the show, and would likely be only premature.

And again I'd like to echo one of our sentiments that life isn't always hell on earth, nor is it always sugar raindrops and sunshine. I favor a life full of it's ups and downs, shifting from the middle of the spectrum and back and forth through its ends, rather than one that's always running through life's gauntlets or life's sunny fields. What I see from this show is a girl experiencing the multitude of things it has to offer, the good things, the bad things, and even the absurd. That's good enough for me.
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Old 2011-05-16, 05:08   Link #96
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Angel Beats was cursed with having to stuff everything it wanted to do in 13 episodes. This show runs at twice that, and we're just at halfway of the run that Angel Beats had, or 1/4 of this show's entire run. I'd say that's much too short to make a convincingly all-encompassing conclusion to the show, and would likely be only premature.
7 episodes is PLENTY of time to set-up a premise of show. That's 7 weeks worth of airing. Is it fair that you're average Joe still doesn't what the direction of the series is 7 weeks from when the series started? That's practically 60% of a 1-cour series. In my opinion, it's a significant amount of time.
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Old 2011-05-16, 06:00   Link #97
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I feel at this point like HanaIro knows what it wants to be, after a schizophrenic start. It's strongly character-driven, and presents absurd hijinks as framing devices for character development. This probably wouldn't work if they didn't close out each episode with a kind of stone-faced sincerity that turns all the utter nonsense into a vehicle for a fairly standard coming-of-age life lesson. Life at the inn returns to normal, and you can almost feel the characters resisting the urge to turn to the camera and say "You know, I learned something today..."

Honestly, I could do without the goofiness, but it works in it's own way, and it no longer feels like the series is steering off-course. This clearly is the course, and the formula is being followed pretty exactly, whether it's what I wanted from the start or not.
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Old 2011-05-16, 06:20   Link #98
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Overall, the first episode wasn't overly serious, but it seemed like a very well grounded, coming of age story. What exactly about these other episodes (3 and 7 specifically) seems to be well grounded?
I see your problem, but to be fair, the point for these 2 episodes are to flush out the minor characters. Were they more comedic than they should have being? perhaps. But I personally I don't feel the tempo and the feeling of those to episodes to be any different that the rest for the series.

Even in the 2 episodes you mentioned all of the characters are acting to their set personalities. Ohana isn't too disturb on finding out adult novel, Minko becoming overly sensitive when it comes to cooking. If anything the only inconsistency I can find was Nako instinctively dive in the sea to save the writer (forgot his name), but that was explained by having swimming being the only thing Nako has confidence on herself.

Other than that I don't really see deviates the other episodes. If you want to argue that the Servival Gamers and adult-novel freeloader is too out of whack. Well, Episode 4 introduces quirky Yuina who likes to imitating different dialog, Episode 5 has this unrealistic setting where a large hotel needs to barrow staff from smaller hotel (granted things like that do happen but usually in reverse). Takako from Episode 6 is as out of park character as anyone else in the series. As for Episode 2, it was an episode that sets up the personality of every characters and directly impacts how they reacted to events in 3 and 7.


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Originally Posted by acejem View Post
7 episodes is PLENTY of time to set-up a premise of show. That's 7 weeks worth of airing. Is it fair that you're average Joe still doesn't what the direction of the series is 7 weeks from when the series started? That's practically 60% of a 1-cour series. In my opinion, it's a significant amount of time.

And I think it's fairly clear on the direction of the show to be in. The premise of the show from the beginning have been exactly the same. And using the famous line from Seinfield, it a show about nothing.


Just like the majority of American sitcoms...



Quote:
Originally Posted by MeoTwister5 View Post
And again I'd like to echo one of our sentiments that life isn't always hell on earth, nor is it always sugar raindrops and sunshine. I favor a life full of it's ups and downs, shifting from the middle of the spectrum and back and forth through its ends, rather than one that's always running through life's gauntlets or life's sunny fields. What I see from this show is a girl experiencing the multitude of things it has to offer, the good things, the bad things, and even the absurd. That's good enough for me.
That was debate from last week, you can check the general discussion thread. I pretty much blame the whole "slice of life" usage on cultural difference. I'm just going to call this show as it is, a stereotypical "healing" "sentimental" "heart-warming" type anime.
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Old 2011-05-16, 07:05   Link #99
Kanon
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Join Date: Jun 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ThereminVox View Post
I feel at this point like HanaIro knows what it wants to be, after a schizophrenic start. It's strongly character-driven, and presents absurd hijinks as framing devices for character development. This probably wouldn't work if they didn't close out each episode with a kind of stone-faced sincerity that turns all the utter nonsense into a vehicle for a fairly standard coming-of-age life lesson. Life at the inn returns to normal, and you can almost feel the characters resisting the urge to turn to the camera and say "You know, I learned something today..."

Honestly, I could do without the goofiness, but it works in it's own way, and it no longer feels like the series is steering off-course. This clearly is the course, and the formula is being followed pretty exactly, whether it's what I wanted from the start or not.
The show knew what it wanted to be from the start. It seems to me that the problem here is simply that a part of the audience thought they knew what it wanted to be, and are very disappointed it's turning out to be something totally different.

The main difference between this episode and the first one is that the balance between the comedy scenes and the drama was overturned (more than overturned in episode 3 and 7, but the drama and character development is still there). The end result is exactly the same: what's in front of us is a heartwarming character driven slice of life anime with a few dramatic elements, whose main purpose is to be relaxing. And so far, it's doing it masterfully.
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Old 2011-05-16, 07:12   Link #100
risingstar3110
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Australia
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kanon View Post
The show knew what it wanted to be from the start. It seems to me that the problem here is simply that a part of the audience thought they knew what it wanted to be, and are very disappointed it's turning out to be something totally different.

The main difference between this episode and the first one is that the balance between the comedy scenes and the drama was overturned (more than overturned in episode 3 and 7, but the drama and character development is still there). The end result is exactly the same: what's in front of us is a heartwarming character driven slice of life anime with a few dramatic elements, whose main purpose is to be relaxing. And so far, it's doing it masterfully.
You can't really blame the audience through. Even the grandma went from dramatically smacking young girls in ep 1/2 to throwing Ohana out of her room in a comedic manner in ep 6(when she suggested to heighten the Chinese slits)
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