Anime: Hanasaku Iroha (1-26)

[laceblade]

I went home ill today, & fear this is disjointed. BUT IF I DON'T POST NOW I NEVER WILL?!

Finally, an anime with a curly-haired protagonist! (idk that Kotobuki Ran counts, b/c her hair was definitely permed, right??)

Anyway, so Ohana lives in Tokyo with her irresponsible mother.
Ohana's longtime friend, Ko, confesses his love for her, & then her mom runs off with a boyfriend, so Ohana has to move to a small town to live with her grandmother, who owns a hot springs inn.
Ohana works in the inn as a waitress to earn her keep.

I just...KIND OF LOVE EVERYTHING?!
I love series lately that are about...people preparing food and eating together & working hard together, & in this case cleaning together.
This is another show where I don't really understand why it's classified as "shonen."

Ohana has a pretty dynamic personality. Her presence changes the people & places around her. While she can be pretty inspiring, she's not a always upbeat.
She defends herself when other characters are mean to her, and doesn't let them step on her.

She gets pretty introspective, & feels sad, too.
She feels so real to me.
She even mixes Coke with black tea when getting drinks from restaurants.

Like Tari Tari, this series was produced by P.A. Works. The art direction is BEAUTIFUL.

I also discovered a new band through this anime! nano.RIPE's music is featured heavily, & I really love them. Their singer sounds like YUKI.

As a content warning, people do slap each other in this anime during moments of high drama. Sometimes these people are family members. It was fine for me, but I can see how it might be a little jarring.
Episode 3 has a lot of fanservice, but it pretty much stops there.

I'm interested in the manga series based on this, particularly the Minko-spinoff, hohoho.
I'm also very keen on seeing the movie.

The ending made me very emotional, :*)
I kind of ship everyone/everyone. I REALLY LIKE KO?! But also Ohana/Yuina, Ohana/Minko, Nanko/Minko, etc. etc.

Lately I seem to be very much in the mood for shows like this & Tari Tari. Various things have me a little anxious & upset, so it's really nice to just have shows that focus on the mundane and the dramatic simultaneously.

Comments

[wrdnrd]

OMG, this write-up makes it sound really interesting to me. I shall direct the_andy to procure it for us. Thanks for this post!!

[laceblade]

IDK HOW TO FEEL ABOUT THIS COMMENT D/T YOUR ICON?!

I offer this icon with Hedwig in it to mollify you.

[wrdnrd]

I just don't have any anime icons and this seemed like the next best thing.

OMG, HEDWIG! \o/

[littlebutfierce]

Lol, I will be curious as to your opinion -- both Phredd & I liked it a lot initially, then it started dragging & by the end we were just like, WE'RE JUST GOING TO FINISH B/C WE'VE COME THIS FAR. (eta: an opinion exchangediary shared, for another data point!)

[wrdnrd]

OMG, but now i don't know where to put this on my list of "whether to mention i liked it or not". E.g., only mention "Natsume" if i DO like it. (Still feel guilty for mentioning i didn't like "Ouran Host Club". /o\)

[laceblade]

As for me, I don't mind hearing if you disliked it!

[laceblade]

I wonder if it helped that I watched episodes 7-26 in a huge binge??

[littlebutfierce]

I've actually been finding it hard to watch Tari Tari b/c so much of the character design looks identical, hee. I think there are some of the same voice actors, too?!?

I thought I heard a while ago there was supposed to be a second series -- or wait, maybe that's included in what you saw? I can't remember how many eps I have actually seen. ^^;;