Hanayamata

Your first impression of this show is probably spot-on. Yes, it’s a show about cute girls doing cute things. Yes, it’s flowery, adorable, and sweet to the point it makes you cringe. And yes, it’s a typical story about the friendship between five girls in a club setting. On the surface, Hanayamata doesn’t do much to deviate from being the stereotypical anime featuring everyday lives of girls in a school club. Since the anime realm is saturated with these types of anime, you will more or less get what you expected with Hanayamata, especially in terms of the overall plot progression and the character developments.

However, ... Hanayamata is obviously not a show you will love because of all its stereotypical aspects. It’s a show you will love because of how it takes those stereotypical aspects and manages to make them enjoyable. It’s a show that takes the predictable character developments and makes them heartfelt. It’s a show that takes the typical shoujo personas and makes them lovable. And it’s a show that demonstrates a genuine effort to deliver high quality animation and drop-dead gorgeous aesthetics each and every episode. Hanayamata excels at what it does and sets a gleaming example of how the typical story of cute girls in a club setting should be done.

Hanayamata tells the story of five middle school girls who end up joining the Yosakoi club, a club dedicated to performing a modern style of traditional Japanese dance. The story focuses mainly on Naru Sekiya, who is a shy, passive girl that considers herself as “average” in every aspect. Her wish going into middle school is to break out of her shell to become someone dazzling like a heroine found in fairy tales, but that wish is easier said than done, as Naru struggles to do anything out of her comfort zone. However, after the fateful moment she meets the "fairylike" girl named Hana Fontainestand, Naru's life slowly starts to change. After deciding to join the Yosakoi club with Hana, Naru sets out to gather members for the club one at a time, all the while unknowingly developing into someone she's always wished to be. The story follows the five girls that eventually join the Yosakoi club, as they try to understand one another and work together to eventually dance as a team at a local Yosakoi festival.

When I first read up on Hanayamata, I didn’t feel it as anything out of the ordinary from a typical club setting anime. So what exactly does Hanayamata do differently that sets it apart from the rest? Three words: Well-executed character developments. The anime really takes its time to explore the characters’ backstories and makes sure not to rush their developments. As a result, the characters’ backstories and their developments don’t feel forced or “shoehorned” in just for the sake of adding depth. This aspect allows viewers to better immerse themselves into the show since most of it is dedicated to the coming-of-age story of each character. It is generally uncommon for an anime to dedicate so much of itself to the characters, but Hanayamata purposefully focuses less on its main plot in order to focus more on walking the viewers through the gradual process of maturation and self-discovery as experienced by the protagonists as the show goes on.

Therefore, since the character development is the main focus of the show, the main plot undoubtedly loses some of its spotlight. Does this mean that the main plot is negligible? Not in the least. If the plot hadn’t been gradually moving forward in the background, then there wouldn’t have been such an emotionally satisfying resolution. Once Hanayamata painstakingly develops all of its characters, the main plot takes over and leads the characters towards the resolution they’ve been working for throughout the show: to dance together at the Yosakoi festival. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen such a satisfying resolution for a show, and that sentiment is owed to the effort that the show puts into bridging an emotional connection between the characters and the viewers, all the while keeping the focus of the main plot strong.

To top it off, Hanayamata displays a captivating art style and boasts some of the finest quality in animation. The bright color schemes and the vibrant art style really scream out “youthful” and “beautiful,” both adjectives of which are fitting of a story about middle school girls enjoying their youth. The flowery overtones go well with the theme that each of the girls represents some sort of flower, and overall the art style helps to amplify the bright energy given off by the show. Some of the backdrops and sceneries are just downright gorgeous to look at and demonstrate the amount of effort that’s been put into this show in terms of aesthetics. In terms of animation, the quality can most directly be seen whenever the girls are dancing. Although there aren’t a whole lot of scenes in which they dance, the scenes in which they do are smoothly and naturally done. Considering that animating the choreography without resorting to 3D animation takes a significant amount of money and time, I applaud the show for its dedication to deliver such high quality animation.

The music of Hanayamata isn't anything noteworthy, but I did want to point out its opening song, “Hana Ha Odoreya Irohaniho,” which is uniquely sung by the voice actresses of the show. As you get more and more familiar with the show and the characters, you will start to hear the characters’ voices within the opening, thus giving the song a feeling of intimacy nonexistent in most opening songs. It is often the small things that count, and details like this really made me love the show even more.

To end, I did a double take on this show when I realized that the writer for this show, Yoshida Reiko, wrote for shows such as Aria, Girls und Panzer, and K-On! among other famous works. Combine her with the director, Atsuko Ishizuka, who directed shows such as Chihayafuru, Nana, No Game No Life, and Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo, and you have a dynamic duo that knows what it’s doing when it comes to anime like Hanayamata. Although Hanayamata is filled to the brim with stereotypes of the typical anime featuring “cute girls doing cute things,” the duo still manages to evoke a sense of brilliance out of the staleness commonly found in this genre. Hanayamata as a show is nothing too out of the ordinary, but the amount of effort that is put into this show is astounding and the execution of the story and the character developments is one of the finest I’ve seen in awhile. Whether or not you’re a fan of “cute girls doing cute things,” definitely give Hanayamata a try.

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Story: 7/10
Character: 8/10
Art: 10/10
Music: 7/10
Enjoyment: 9/10

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Overall: 8.2/10

There are various rules when one talks about a series related to “Cute Girls Doing Cute Things”. (CGDCT) First, the show must consists of a main female characters cast for at least the core characters. And throughout that series, there are hardly or if any male characters at all. Second, the girls must be doing something cute. This could be anything considered cute whether it’s having a tea party, playing at the beach, singing a song, or planning for a vacation. In the case of Hanayamata, the cute girls performs yosakoi, an unique form of dancing stylized in Japan. And finally, these activities are usually ... random in no precise order. In other words, there usually isn’t a complex or ongoing plot with the girls that connects the story together. However, this doesn’t always apply as a major theme can convey the overall premise of a CGDCT series. Cute might seem an overrated word but Hanayamata brings that out so much more.

Based off the manga of the same name, Hanayamata (or sometimes known as HaNaYaMaTa) is also a portmanteau blending the main character’s names together. Honestly though, the series is about unity as the girls grows close with bonding. That unity is inspired to craft what CGDCT typify for: dancing. Because let’s face it, dancing is an activity and cute girls makes it look like a brilliant piece of art. Art requires development, skill, and perfection to make it become something worth praise though. Thankfully, this show characterizes that at a level that is inspiring.

Meet Naru Sekiya, a young girl with a lack of self-confidence. From her initial introduction, one could easily speculate that she has insecurities about her talents as a person. Throughout the show, she tries to build and climb out of her shell. What Hanaymata does well is show exactly how she develops with her own character. When compared to her best friend Yaya, there’s a big gap to fill with their characteristics. Yaya is the popular girl with talent in music with the intelligence that puts Naru to shame. However, Naru and Yaya gets along quite well that personifies a unique friendship between the duo. Speaking of unique, Hana is perhaps the epitome of this show. Transferring from America, Hana is a girl that I would describe as eccentric. There is no doubt she has skills especially when it comes to yosakoi. It’s just that she takes it to a level that isn’t just hyperactive but also dangerous on occasions with her dancing spotlights of choice.

As with most school settings, there’s also a student council. Two prominent characters from the council also plays intriguing roles. Tami Nishimikado and Machi Tokiwa enters the story that may evoke the viewer’s curiosity. This is fueled by their back stories that is not only realistic but also characterizes their persona as who they became today. But past events aside, the series focuses on what’s happening the present and that’s the yosakoi club.

Essentially, the first episode has an illuminating start. Captured in a spellbound moment, Naru sees a young girl dancing under the blooming skies. The lavishly dancing style almost looks like a fairy tale by Naru’s impressions. In essence, it correlates with the main concept of the show – dancing. The background also shows spring which symbolizes a spiritual sense of growth. There’s also a motif relating to the characters’ choice of flowers. As flowers, they grow and bloom during the Spring. This concept applies to almost all the characters but the most prominently for Naru. She wants a place in life and her destined meeting with Hana is like taking the first steps towards that journey. It’s also implied that Hana grows as a person as she makes friends based on her experiences there. Although not entirely categorized as personal growth, the friends she makes brings out a different side from her. Collectively, the journey focuses on all the girls. We see the best and worst of themselves as they try to put their talents into a unity and show the world what they can do.

Although lacking a complex story, a main focus revolves around Hana’s attempts to form the yakoishi club. The series presents this in an almost experimental format with our characters getting hands-on experience with the context. Even the teacher of the show has a little gag with this. Not directly related to dancing but she is a woman that is a fresh graduate, eager to explore life and her profession at fullest. But for what’s worth, the subplot is merely simple with predictable plot devices. It’s not just predicable though but lacks depth with the way the characters tries to achieve. Sure, we want them to succeed despite the obstacles they face but at the same time, not all of them puts their effort 100% into it. This is what it’s like anyways in the beginning and hard to take serious to heart. Don’t me wrong though. Hanayamata isn’t attempting to craft some CGDCT series out of some basic premise here. Rather, it dives into and characterizes the cast, or in this case the cute girls. In retrospect, the show has the ability to get viewers to appreciate the characters for who they are, what they want, and what they do.

Madhouse is a big name figure. Although they aren’t too well known for producing series with the CGDCT concept, I’d say that they nailed the spot here with artwork. It’s the strength of the performance that highlights the characters extravagantly on the artistic front. Every main character has a feminine appearance supplemented by a flower bundled on their head. It symbolizes not only growth but beauty. This is further enhanced by their school uniforms and yukata that fits with traditional Japanese themes. Additionally, every characters stands out in some way whether it’s Yaya’s mature figure, Machi’s glasses, or Hana’s pettiness. However, what makes the show stands out the most artistically is the backgrounds. The naturalness of the background gives an impression of elegance while the dancing movements evokes sense of freedom. Every movement is captured with cleverly positioned camera angles to bring out the best of the yakoishi style. On a comedic note, the show also likes to make the characters’ eyes go ‘O_O’ during certain circumstances. It highlights the silliness of the show while bringing lighthearted laughter. And no, there isn’t asinine fan service. You will instead be serviced by a typhoon of cuteness.

Soundtrack also has its own way that speaks for itself. The simple lyrics and traditional-like Japanese tones of the soundtrack clearly gets its message across. Fiercely engrossed with the style of the show, soundtrack is coordinated with delicacy to make the dancing moves come to life. The impression it gives off will almost feel dreamlike with the girls doing what they love to do. Otherwise, character voice mannerism can be spawn some mixed feelings. In particular, Hana’s voice often can get irritating with her persistence with others. Naru’s soft voice also hardly stands out; a sharp contrast to her friend Yaya. But speaking of Yaya, she also exhibits a tsundere-like mannerism during certain situations. To make up for this though, the songs in the show are performed by the voice actresses themselves. Talent is the first word that comes to mind when you put those headphones on.

Epitomized with CGDCT context, Hanayamata hinges onto easy ideas but presents them in a way that will allure the audience with memorable moments. It focuses on the girls and how they came together while characterizing them each to make them appreciable. This focus extends to characters both individually and collectively with some even on a persona level. It’s nothing personal though as the show also has business when it comes to performance. The business indeed picks up when the girl steps on the stage and shows the world the fruits of their hard work. You don’t need to embrace the art of yosakoi to enjoy this show though. But watching this show may take you back and evoke that memorable quote of "How about you dance along with me?"

Hanayamata is a slice of life, comedy anime based of the manga Manga Time Kirara Forward by Sou Hamayumiba and was created by Madhouse studio. The anime aired from July to September 2014 and lasted 12 episodes long.

Plot
Hanayamata’s Plot revolves around 14 years old girl, Naru Sekiya, who has a lack of interests except for fairy tales, until she meets Hana N. Fountainstand, one night and watches her dancing Yosakoi. Together, they create a Yosakoi club at school so they can enter the upcoming Yosakoi, but getting new members is not so easy. The story of Hanayamata may sound like some other anime involving music ... and dancing, do not let you think Hanayamata is the nothing new. While the main focus is on Yosakoi, the show doesn't fail in the development of the main characters over the course of the show and how each of the characters support each other with their troubles they find themselves in. While being a sol, the comedy in Hanayamata has been well done as not a lot of jokes get too over used and some of the quirks of each character adding to its enjoyment. Now on to the main characters of Hanayamata:
Naru Sekiya voiced by Reina Ueda(Mikan Akemi from Jitsu wa Watashi wa and Juri Makina from Harmonie) – is a 14 years old girl who lacks interests and confidence to try new things. She dreams to be dazzling like the princesses from the fairy tales she loves reading. That is until one night while walking home, she encounter Hana, who was doing yosakoi and joins in only to run away because she believes she can’t be dazzling as Hana. After being asked and saying no to Hana to create the yosakoi club, she finally agrees to help Hana after telling Naru about her dream of become a professional Yosakoi dancer. While Naru is very clumsy and gets scared preforming in front of people, she is very understanding person and caring of others.
Hana N. Fountainstand voiced by Minami Tanaka (Minami Katayama from Wake Up,Girls! and Game Gear from Hi☆sCoool! SeHa Girls) – is a transfer student from the US who is in Naru’s class. She transfers to Japan after falling in love with Yosakoi while on a trip to Japan a few years ago. While dancing one night, she meets Naru and offers her to dance with her. She decides to make the Yosakoi club at school so she could dance with others. She is bit of a tomboy and is over excited about many things.
Yaya Sasame voiced by Kaya Okuno (Hacka Doll No. 2 from Hacka Doll and Kaya kikuma from Wake Up,Girls!) – is a 14 years old girl and Naru’s best friend. She is part of a band at school and at the start very against doing Yosakoi with Naru and Hana until her dream of being part of a band falls apart and Naru shows her that she has a place in the group, making her join. She is very protective about Naru and becomes jealous when Naru starts to make new friends. While she is very smart and beautiful, she doesn't like people helping her and has very bad handwriting.
Tami Nishimikado voiced by Yuka Ootsubo (Ai from Ai Mai Mii and Kanako Mimura from The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls) – Is the vice-president of the student council and childhood friend of Naru, with Naru calling her big sister. She tries to please her father by trying to be a proper Japanese woman. After she realize that trying to please her father wasn’t making her happy and stopping from doing the things she really want to do, she becomes overcome by worries until Naru helps her other come them and joins the Yosakoi club.
Machi Tokiwa voiced by Manami Numakura (Hibiki Ganaha from The iDOLM@STER and Yurika Toudou from Aikatsu!) – Is the President of the student council and close friend of Tami. She not interest in Yosakoi at first but after sorting a personal problem, she joins the club. She is strict about a lot of things, apart from sweet things and Tami’s requests.

Presentation
Hanayamata uses a beautiful blend of bright colors to bring to show to life to the viewer and to show the beauty of the Yosakoi to them. Each character has been unique look to them to help the viewer recognize and to flesh out their personalities. The Animation of the characters is amazing as it really shine when the girls are dancing. The voice acting is very impressive as every character feels alive and the voice actresses of the main characters also sing the opening song and the final episode ending song.

My Opinion
Hanayamata is an anime that has really surprised me , it has one of the most beautiful art styles I have ever seen In anime the story has been brilliant well written and the dancing is one of the most interesting I ever seen. Hanayamata has a number of messages it give to the viewer, from we should do the things we love doing in our lives to having someone who we can care for, laugh and cry with is nice. Finally, each character really brings Hanayamata to life for me as each have their faults but they help each other to overcome them.

Verdict
Hanayamata is one of those hidden gems of 2014, over looked by bigger named shows, a real treat to watch. From the art to the characters, Hanayamata impresses the viewer with it take on the Sol idea. If you wanted to watch a good story, then if you haven’t already, you should give Hanayamata a go and you find a really anime.

(This has been adapted from my reddit thread)

Dancing is usually seen as something different to many people. For some, it is an art form for the human body. And yet for others it is an expression of the soul. When it comes down to it, dancing is what the dancer makes of it. In Hanayamata, Hana, Naru, Yaya, Machi, and Tami come to learn that yosakoi, to them, is a bond of everlasting friendship and love.

STORY

Hanayamata starts by introducing Naru, a young girl looking to become more "dazzling." One night, she witnesses a young girl, Hana, dancing beautifully in the moonlight. After becoming friends, Hana ... makes it her mission to recruit Naru and a few others into her yosakoi club so they can all have fun together.

When going into this show, it's important to understand that this is a "cute girls doing cute things" type of anime. There is no grandiose plot, intricate characters, or incredible world-building. Instead, much of what goes on is the girls interacting with one another in adorable ways. Whether this be visiting a sauna to practice and relax or them going to a festival to see other teams compete, everything they do is for fun.

This being said, the show does try to inject some drama into the story. Every character has their own arc that follows the same pattern: character gets some back-story, drama unfolds, a solution is found, and then the girl joins the club. This becomes the apparent method of doing things by the second girl, but for the show's purpose, it worked fine. Having a somewhat large main cast and only a particular number of episodes to work with, I felt that the drama wasn't necessarily forced each time. They had proper explanations for the girls apprehensiveness or overall issues they were dealing with, and they were more or less taken care of at a steady pace. It never makes you feel overly emotional, but it never feels melodramatic.

Part of the problem with the show is its handling of yosakoi. It's one of the main portions of the show, but I personally felt as if there wasn't enough behind the subject to get me invested in it. I didn't much care for what yosakoi brought or even what it entailed because I felt that the show didn't really articulate well enough how powerful it can be. Maybe this is a problem with yosakoi itself not being complex or deep, but I think there should have been more focus on it besides just the girls practicing.

ANIMATION

Hanayamata is quite gorgeous. Directed by Atsuko Ishizuka, her style of extremely vibrant colors, beautiful backdrops, and excessive use of purple makes Hanayamata a feast for the eyes. The nighttime portions are captivating in the moonlight and its great use of sunset lighting during many scenes (combined with the aforementioned purple) makes them look stunning.

The animation quality is also very high. The girls general movements are fluid but the animation shines best when the girls are dancing. The show also does its best to include different locations that the girls visit, allowing for other animation opportunities such as with rustling trees, a busy hotel, or the school grounds.

The character designs are nothing amazing like the art style and animation, but I particularly liked Hana's design mostly due to her unique look when compared to the rest of the cast. Being "American" and having blonde hair made her design pretty nice.

As a final note, the character's eyes actually have pretty interesting shapes. They're not really oval but more like diamonds. Just something I thought I should point out!

CHARACTERS

Hanayamata's characters each have their own personality traits, but for the most part, they are each quite adorable in their own respects.

Machi is the school girl, valuing hard-work and dedication over play. She and Tami have both a friend relationship as well as a working one, with Tami always looking to break down Machi's shell just a little bit. I liked her the least among the girls simply because she wasn't as cute as the rest.

Tami represents the doting mother; she is mature for her age and looks out for the other girls' well-being. She especially takes care of Naru since they have known one another for quite a while. I liked her character a lot because, despite her maturity, she loved to tease the others a lot.

Yaya is your classic "tsundere." She is best friends with Naru and even has what appears to be some type of "yuri" feelings towards her. I actually like this trope in anime, so I found her to always be a blast on-screen. Plus, she loved to pick on Hana which never ceased to make me smile.

Above all, the best two characters from the show are Naru and Hana. They define the cuteness that is prevalent throughout all of the series. Their reactions, blushing, smiling, and overall happiness gives you the biggest grin possible. It is extremely hard not to like them because of how freaking adorable they are. This is not an understatement; everything they do screams "moe."

On top of each characters traits, as said before, they do get their own bit of back-story and drama that helps to let them develop. But once the drama subsides, it is mostly forgotten and replaced with their usual cuteness. The characters are not going to be remembered, but they all fit the "cute girls doing cute things" bill to a tee.

SOUND

The OP for Hanayamata is fantastic for two reasons. One, it is very catchy, upbeat, and wonderfully composed. Second, and as discussed elsewhere, it is an actual plot device. Unlike every other OP, it isn't just there to be listened to at the beginning of each episode (as it should), but rather it is incorporated into the girls' actual yosakoi. For this reason, the show gets big points for doing something pretty unique.

The ED is good, and follows the same feeling of happiness that the OP, and for that matter the rest of the show, does. It also pretty catchy in its own way.

The rest of the soundtrack is fine, but there wasn't anything I found to be standout like the OP and ED.

However, shout-outs to Minami Tanaka for her voice acting of Hana and Reina Ueda for her voice acting of Naru. They did a spectacular job in their respective performances. Their voices not only were cute but fit wonderfully with the characters they were playing.

ENJOYMENT

I like cute. I find it fun to watch, smile at, and relax to. And this is something that Hanayamata does quite well. It is filled with cuteness in each episode. You will be hard pressed not to be smiling when you are watching the series. Watching Hana with blank eyes and worrying about her grades makes you laugh. Naru blushing hard over saying something embarrassing will make you smile like a doofus. Tami, Machi, and Yaya acting older yet teasing with one another will fill you with joy. Every episode goes out of its way to just make you happy.

Again, this show is "cute girls doing cute things," and it's awesome. While it isn't a show that I absolutely loved, there is no doubt in my mind that you will walk away from the series having just had a wonderful experience.

SUMMARY

Story: Fine, cute girls with okay drama

Animation: Great, beautiful and colorful

Characters: Good, so cute it's almost a sin

Sound: Great, OP is unique, ED is good, VAs are experts

Enjoyment: Good, non-stop smiling the whole way through

Final Score: 8/10

Hanayamata is something we've all seen before whether you've seen it specifically or if you've seen any other random SoL with a similar plot, unfortunately it could have been greater. The subject is something known as Yosakoi. A Japanese style of dance you've most likely never heard of unless you're into that sort of thing or live in Japan. The show does next to nothing to bring you closer to the subject and barely informs you of anything that has to do with the style of the dance outside of the fact that they use naruko and its done in groups. I could almost forgive ... this if there was actually more to the show though, because I can understand it was intended for a Japanese audience.

Story: 4

Have seen K-On? Have you seen any show like it? If yes then you know the story already. A girl with no after school club somehow ends up in one they know next to nothing about and it is un/partially-formed so they have to get members to have it approved by the school. This time the club is about Yosakoi and only the leader/club founder has any idea what the hell it even is. That would be all fine and dandy IF they actually taught the viewer anything about the style of dance outside of some very minor basics.

This is the traditional story of Kawaii School Girls doing school girl things cutely, and that's rather disappointing because this story has been done a hundred million times and done better. If you love that sort of thing then this might not be a problem, but I'm speaking as someone who is finally sick of it after about 50 shows doing the same.

There's also one other thing I'd like to bring up. Just because your school doesn't recognize you as a club it's not the end of the world. If you have a group of people that enjoy doing something together there is absolutely nothing stopping you from doing it by not being in a club specifically for that thing. I never could understand the drama about these types of things. Especially in this case where you need next to no money to get started. These types of story devices annoy the piss out of me and that's something that's present here, constant worrying about whether or not the club is legit.

Also don't forget the obligatory hot-springs training camp episode, we get some of that too.

Art: 5

The art style is something I'm not fond of personally, but it's not bad just because I don;t like the way it looks. The back drops are Ok to good at best and the characters are very colorful. The designs are nothing impressive, and almost all of them have the same eyes drawn slightly different. Nothing really stands out, but it's not objectively bad so I can't really complain.

However the animation is mediocre as fuck. Which is highly saddening because the scenes with dancing could have been great if nothing else. In itself there is nothing great about the art style I can see and it doesn't even look better then things that are coming out along with it. I was just overall unimpressed.

Sound: 6

Sound is what you would expect from your usual moe SoL. High pitched girls because they are about 13-14 years old. Cute sound effects for their interactions. And honestly not much else. The voice work didn't really do it for me. During the "emotional" scenes of building friendship I did not feel grabbed by the voices in any way.

Music is alright, I rather liked it for what it was. OP and ED are your usual fare of j-pop type songs and not breaking any ground in that regard. I personally enjoyed both though that is subjective to my taste in music and not a reflection of the show itself. The songs are not going to interest you at all unless you like most anime OPs.

Character: 4

If there's one thing I can appreciate it's well written and thought out characters. Hanayamata has none of that. All characters fall into the generic anime tropes that you've seen 400 times over and does not tread new ground with any of them. We have the ditzy/shy girl, the rich girl, the stuck up girl, optimistic happy go-lucky girl, and the tsundere. All crucial parts of any middle school rag-tag club. The small amounts of character development that there is can be seen from about half a planet away and has been done with every trope already. Nothing impressive is to be found and most are completely forgettable if not all of them.

Don't forget that one of the main characters is a native-English speaking transfer student that is supposed to be having trouble learning Japanese, but from what I can tell she speaks pretty damn fluently. There is even a episode about her failing at it and having to study harder for her to participate in the club. Yet not once is her accent (Doesn't have one) ever mentioned or anything. Yes I know the voice actor was Japanese, but just another thing that annoyed me a bit. I mean is it that hard to try for some realism?

Enjoyment/Overview 6/5

This show if done in a more informative fashion could have at least been something a wee bit original that had something going for it. But they took the idea of using a lesser known type of dance (At least in other parts of the world, in the show they treat it as if it's something uncommon in Japan as well though.) as the main plot device and took it a whole five feet before dropping off into the usual moe SoL that we all know and love/hate. I was expecting more only to be let down quickly, but I always hoped for something to change, but guess what; it doesn't.

For what it is I enjoyed it somewhat, but I'm getting sick of the same setting with the same story over and over with no show even trying to break new ground with it. I couldn't help but hope at least initially this would be something akin to Tari Tari. Where we got characters that actually grew over the course of the show and had at least some semblance of a story to tell. Don't be like me and get your hopes up. If you like moe, watch. If you want a good at least semi-original SoL don't, because it will take you nowhere fast.

Jersey Girls aren't trash, trash gets picked up.

That should be the description for Hanayamata. When I first heard that this show would feature a character from the greatest state in union I was incredibly excited. However, that was short lived. I soon realized that like with many shows, the Japanese depiction of a foreign land is far from accurate. Seeing a blonde haired girl who speaks fluent Japanese in Princeton, NJ is rarer than finding one in Japan. Luckily the depiction was not along the lines of a Jersey Shore parody, but at the same time I felt that it would have been a more ... entertaining depiction of the first New Jersey native depicted in anime. What is even more strange is this New Jersey resident's love of “yosakoi”. Now you may be asking: “Ayyy yo Tony – what the hell's a yosakoi”, yet after a dozen episodes I still do not know the answer to it. Is it singing, is it dancing, or is it some weird mix of both that only a small minority of Japanese would even understand or care about? I am guessing it is the last option. It truly is a baffling subject matter for a foreign resident to be infatuated with which only leads to the overall mediocrity of this show. Let me straight with you, Hanayamata is the biggest disappointment of the season for me. A show that could have had terrible, but charming “engrish”, funny character interactions, and a pleasing story failed on all three fronts. If you are a fan of Kiniro Mosaic and were expecting more of the same, you will be in for quite a disappointment. Frankly, this show just comes off as being rather dull. It does not stand out among the many other “cute girls doing X” shows. If anything, it seems to be a cash grab by Madhouse on this popular genre. They have not cashed in on it and had to pump something out in hopes that it will break sales records like the many other shows that have used this formula.

In regards to story, Hanayamata is only unique due to the subject matter. As I have previously stated, the whole idea of Yosakoi is something that isn't explained well in the show and since they hardly focused on it for 12 episodes, I am not sure if the viewer is even supposed to know what it is. The show's formula where several girls do a certain activity has been done and redone dozens of times. For someone to create a story about girls creating a club about some obscure Japanese organized dancing; it really shows that the industry is scraping the bottom of the barrel. Then again, I don't think anything can top girls in a tank driving club so everything else really does pale in comparison. In addition, the show suffered from absolutely terrible pacing. While you cannot expect and you do not really want a show to rush the story along, it has to move at a pace in which the viewer remains entertained. I felt that the pacing for Hanayamata really made the show feel dragged out which added to my overall dissatisfaction. Regardless of the subject matter or pacing, the story itself is rather cut and paste – the girls have issues creating their club, there's drama involving some of the members, and they spend little to no time each episode practicing and instead do other various activities. This is not particularly a problem since this same formula has worked well in many other shows, it's just that Hanayamata lacked the magic of character cohesion. While the characters in the show were not any less generic and cookie cutter than any others, they just lacked chemistry with each other for some reason. There were many cheap attempts at making the viewer feel emotion towards the characters, but since they were not charming enough that ended up being a failure. Even New Jersey's pride and joy could not carry the weight of the show on her back. Don't get me wrong, I genuinely like “cute girls doing X shows” and I mainly watch them for the character interactions since they can be amusing and relaxing, unfortunately for Hanayamata they just either felt forced or just plain boring. I am not sure if it was poor direction or just poor writing, but it did not feel up to par in terms of either story or character interaction.

In regards to art and music, I found yet another problem. Style over substance is common theme in many shows, which can work if properly executed, but unfortunately for Hanayamata this is not the case. The art itself is put through a myriad of filters, much like No Game No Life which aired in Spring 2014. Hanayamata shares a director and she likes doing that to her work so I am not going to really fault her for it, but at the same time it felt off putting for a show like this. It was very out of place for a slow paced slice of life type show. It almost seemed like a distraction so that the viewer would focus on the vibrant colors instead of the dull plot. In regards to music and sound, it was nothing extraordinary. The voice acting was adequate and the singing was also typical and unremarkable. I will repeat my gripes over the lack of English used in the show since it did feature an American main character. They could have done something similar to Kiniro Mosaic was both entertaining and charming with the poorly done English. It could have been a bright spot in a show that was lackluster in many other aspects, but unfortunately I wasted my time watching 12 episodes for nothing.

If I could sum up my entire experience of Hanayamata in one word, it would be “disappointing”. I expected an enjoyable and fun slice of life show. Instead, I got a dull and boring show that quickly became a chore to watch. The cause of this was many different factors which all ended up working against this show. I would personally put the subject matter at the forefront of my disappointment. The actual subject of yosakoi was not thoroughly explained and it seemed to be somewhat of a joke with the characters who were just as baffled by the activity as the viewer. If anything, this show does prove that the “cute girls doing X” formula does have its limits. They have to either be mundane enough to bring a sense of familiarity to the viewer or outlandish enough that you just can't help but want to watch it. Unfortunately, Hanayamata falls in between that and comes off as a half baked and lackluster product that has to be a cash grab by the declining Madhouse. It feels like they had to make something to fit this current trend and went with whatever they could find, which unfortunately turned out to be this show. I expect more out of Madhouse and I expect more out of the staff behind it since their other works have been relatively good for the most part. Hopefully Madhouse either quits attempting this formula if it is going to be mediocre like this or at least picks a subject matter that is interesting and entertaining to the viewer the next time they try it.

Story: 5/10
Hanayamata's story is something you have probably already seen. Naru is an average middleschooler with no defining traits. She meets Hana one night, who was dancing yosakoi, a contemporary Japanese dance. Hana happens to be a foreign transfer student in Naru's school. Hana forcefully convinces Naru into dancing yosakoi, and is successfull. They decide to form a club, but go through the (ever-present) predicament of finding more members and an advisor. They enlist the help of Naru's best friend, the vice president, the student council president, and a part-time teacher who absolutely loves drinking. Working together on choreography and costumes, with some antics in ... between, they enter the local yosakoi festival as dancers.

Sound familiar? Bet it does. Replace "yosakoi" with some other activity and you create another slice-of-life story.

The show has its fair share of drama. In the early part especially, it can be heart warming. The drama deals with a character's issues, and to be honest, is relatively deep for some characters. Towards the end however, the drama could have been toned down. The dialogue tends to be...sparkly and unrealistic. Unhealthily sparkly, that it's kind of awkward to watch.

Hanayamata is not very strong on plot. You can't get anything more out of "cute girls doing cute things". Sure, there are no plot holes or inconsistency. There is progression, conflict, climax, but it doesn't stand out. If there's one thing I'd like to point though, it's the theme: broadening your world.

Art: 7/10
Produced by Madhouse, one of the best studios in the industry, you would expect a lot. However, Hanayamata is not one of their strongest works. The sceneries and effects are very well done. Crisp sparkles, fireworks, rays, fluid, objects. However, it is outweighed by character design and dance choreography, the whole point of the show.

The characters look awkward, sometimes. The style might just be for the cute factor, and is sort of unique too. They have a natural blush, but it gets out of hand at critical moments. For normal scenes, the character design is passable. Dance choreography is another matter. Undoubtedly, the studio has done their research on yosakoi. The steps look great, really, but still frames are used a little more than half the time. It's only on the final episode you get to see the impressive animation for the main dance, which was honestly applaudable.

Sound: 6/10
The soundtrack doesn't stand out, but isn't bad. There are tracks for every situation, comedic, dramatic, etc. Good composition, but not noteworthy. The OPs and EDs are great though. The OP is cute, and the ED has a hint of fantasy, both having a touch of traditional Japanese blended with modern music.

I can't say much on voice acting. The voices are uncomfortably high most of the time, but I don't see how it could have been done another way.

Character: 6/10
The five main characters fit into usual slice-of-life personalities. An average girl, thrown into events that will change her life. The transfer student is the start of it all. The tsundere popular girl helps the average girl reach her dreams. The (cold) student council president and (perfect girl) vice president serve as obstacle and support respectively.

Character development takes place in the form of drama, which was mentioned earlier. Each character's development serves as their motivation to join the yosakoi club.

The two minor characters would have been interesting if they had their own development.

Enjoyment: 5/10
Enjoyment depends on what you expect beforehand.

Yuri factor is at a medium-low level. Since the characters are middle schoolers, they have subconscious gay tendencies e.g. blushing because of what the other said or how good looking the other is. There are no hints to any romantic relationship, but the girls do become close as the series progresses.

If you're looking to expand your slice-of-life library, Hanayamata offers a different premise. Instead of a book club, tea club, idol group, or light music group, it's contemporary Japanese dance. However, there is more emphasis on characters as there is on the technicalities of yosakoi (but I suppose most slice-of-life are like that...).

So maybe you're looking for a possibly different kind of comedy? Not that either. You have character interactions which you've already seen in another anime. Tsundere not being honest with herself. Transfer student being the cheeriest person. There's a lack of creativity.

How about the motivating moments of the show? The show makes you think about your passions and if the things you do in life are worth it. It's just that it's presented in such a sparkly language that you might feel embarrassed watching it. Mileage may vary of course.

Overall: 5/10
While the show has decent drama in the first half, passable music and animation, it suffers from the lack of "crunch" in everything other aspect. It's not half-assed, but it isn't very memorable.

As another slice-of-life ends, you'll wonder how original the next title will be.

I just finished watching Hanayamata and I didn't regret picking up this anime after all.. :3 Why? Let me explain..

Story 7/10
Hanayamata is about 5 middle school girls creating yosakoi (Japanese unique traditional dance, combining traditional with modern music) club. It brings up school club theme commonly used in a lot of anime & manga recently. Despite having light, predictable story, it is still interesting.

It has the goodness of shojo and slice of life anime - cute and girly, light yet with values about life and friendship - and uses it to its fullest. It is not overly dramatic, emotional or patronizing. It feels natural, especially ... if you put yourself as a middle school student, struggling to grow up, make friends and be a better person. There are values I find relatable, even as an adult.

Character 8/10
One of the reason why Hanayamata's simple storyline works: its characters. It may have small number of casts but they are explored well. It may have typical slice of life casts.. we have tsundere Yaya, typical energizer bunny Hana, the disciplined and dedicated Machi, gentle and caring Tami, and our main protagonist the naive and shy Naru. They have their own worries, insecurities, and concerns - with different reasons they come together in this yosakoi club. Problem and conflicts do arise as they have diverse characteristics and interests, just like us in real life. However, with every resolution, they (and we audiences) come to understand the cast and love them even more.

Even though it is mostly about how Naru breaks out from her shy, average self to become a dazzling person she aspires to be, the development in other characters are apparent as well through their interaction and how they open up to each other, working together to fulfill the shared goal of performing yosakoi as a team. It is funny and cute, and inspiring.

The production team is well-planned, they managed to introduce all the casts, touch on their backstories and how they develop in comfortable pace - not rushing too fast nor too slow until it makes you bored and sleepy, however still providing rooms for further development (second season, perhaps?)

Art 9/10
As expected from Madhouse, beautiful and pretty art!! I fell in love with Hanayamata's first episode solely because of its outstanding visual, and continue watching mostly due to this.

The color palette are warm, light colors hued in purple and light pink, giving off feminine, girlish and soft feeling. It is complimented with fluid and gentle animation. The effects (fireworks, flower petals), lighting, and sceneries are great! I especially like to observe the details in its animation e.g strands of hair moving naturally, the fabric movement when dancing or even doing daily activities, moving their hands and walking. I wish Madhouse would show more of their dancing in the last episode though..

The character design is memorable as well.. Not outstanding as in weird, but the design fits their personality. The character line art is very thin, almost invisible, making the characters fuse well with the pastel background. The casts have uniquely shaped eyes, somehow looks like a teardrop shape and they blush a lot, adding the innocent charm.

Sound 8/10
The opening song is cute and catchy, and the ending is my current earworm - I keep playing them again and again.. The OSTs feels very traditional Japanese. It has light tunes, building up the mood for different scenes as a whole, but not especially noteworthy. The seiyuu did good job, the feelings of the characters are delivered well and heartfelt. It may be annoying for audience who doesn't like high-pitched girls voice though...

Enjoyment 9/10
Hanayamata may be stereotypical, cheesy & sappy for some, yet for reasons I cannot explain in words, it is still interesting. Since I tend to stress out in my life after working long hours, watching Hanayamata makes me relax and have fun, reminding me why life is beautiful, and not to waste our youth by stressing yourself. It tugs in my heart.

Overall 8/10
It is short, sweet and beautiful. If you enjoy slice of life anime like K-On, Suzumiya Haruhi, Free, and Kobato, or interested with visually stunning anime, you might like this one as well ^^

U n d e r r a t e d.

Sometimes when you lurk around to find an anime to watch, you hit a jackpot. It's even better if the rating of the series is mediocre but you still enjoy it more than you should be. Well lads. I think I've hit yet another jackpot. Hanayamata is truly a hidden gem that gleams even brighter than multiple of anime which I've given 10/10.

Story : 10/10

The story's simple! Cute girls that blushes 100% of the time forms a yosakoi club and does yosakoi activities as they gather more members and overcome the obstacles of depression! ...

Not trying to be rude or anything. But the Yuri inside this show is more fucking solid than my erection. Uh- no, I think your thoughts are misinterpreting from my exaggeration. What I'm truly trying to say is that this anime is so fucking pure, and the fact that the girls always blushes like a tomato every time they do something with each other makes my Yuri heart pound like crazy. If you're into Yuri then this anime is an absolute win. Like, seriously. Fucking amazing.

Art : 10/10

Madhouse.

Sound : 11/10

The opening is beyond masterpiece. Other than that. Everything else is pretty much pleasant ASMR.

Character : 10/10

This anime has a good formula of Yuri characters. A good example is [spoiler]Yaya being all Tsundere for Naru after she spent more time with Hana. Like. Actual tsundere.[/spoiler]

Enjoyment : 10/10

Overall : 10/10

This anime actually gave me depression as well. Which was unexpected, but it felt right. Y'know, we all have ups and downs in life. So happiness all the time would be cliche af. If this anime was happy all the time then I might've just given it an 8 or 9. But it's not.

My eyes are dry and I'm satisfied. Great anime, I guess. I'm so glad I found this.

Recommended to CGDCT lovers ( <-- I am not one! ) or Yuri fans.

Hanayamata

Anime of ∞.

Ha -na
Na -ru
Ya -ya
Ma -chi
Ta -mi

... These are the 5 girls that make up Hanayamata and this anime is simply amazing. When I was acting a little silly a week ago, Cajun and I were talking when he linked me the OP for this song in it's full glory and I fell in love so hard; I listened to it nonstop for at least 5 hours. I was captivated by the song and going into the anime, I had no idea what I was in store for.

The main girls of Hanayamata are Hana and Naru, though the other three are also mains without a doubt, it's because of Hana and Naru that Hanayamata is what it is. It's a great story about fitting in, about doing something that you want to do because you just want to have fun, not doing things that you're forced into or that you're burdened with. The way it's told really reminds me of myself. Like Naru, I always had/have difficulties fitting in, I'm shy and quiet and it's hard for me to just break out (it's why I say silly things sometimes). I didn't expect a story like this at all and it really touched me; made me very emotional, even though Hanayamata is probably an anime most wouldn't shed a tear for. It's very uplifting, very happy and the struggles that the girls are presented with feel so real.

Naru isn't the only one with these fitting in issues. Hana, our exceptionally pretty and beautiful blonde girl of the show; the one who really sets in motion of getting the yosakoi group together, has had the unfortunate trouble of trying her absolute best to even find people interested in yosakoi, always putting on a brave face and just going for it. Tami, the refined and very wealthy girl has always been faced with trying to please her father, to be the princess she thinks he wants her to be. Yaya also has trouble dealing with the problems of being accepted, she's like "a lone wolf, but is really just lonely" (Not my words, the great Naru said that, the whole scene was absolutely brilliant). Machi has issues dealing with her older sister and the "troubled" past that she was involved with.

The issues feel real and sure, most of them could honestly be anime clichés that everyone has seen a hundred times over, but the way it was presented to me, just really touched me.

Now the issues aren't even important to the story, not really. The entire plot of Hanayamata is to get enough girls interested in yosakoi to then form a club and finally enter a festival that's three months away and perform a dance. We start with Hana and Naru, then Yaya joins, followed by Tami and lastly Machi. I haven't spoken about her yet, but the last important person to Hanayamata is Sari-sensei (Machi's older sister, also sounds like her name is Sally). Without Sari-sensei, Hanayamata would have stopped at a stand still. She's a very pretty young lady who really puts faith into the 5 girls and when everything comes together, it all just works so well.

The story is simple, the issues the girls face aren't important, but the combination of it all works so well, I mean, it really just works. It's also incredible how during the first "festival" the girls entered, it didn't go to plan at all, it shows this realistic view that just because you practice and try your best, you may not nail down the performance for when it comes time to show your stuff; heck this can be an anime cliché too, but again, it just works and makes sense.

The art style used in Hanayamata is gorgeous, incredibly pretty; the type of art that makes people happy and even squeeful by the sight of it. The animation is good too, but I can't say that it's without flaws. I normally don't have much to say about animation quality because I don't know if what I'm looking at is bad or good, due to how I view the anime, but there were a few flaws in how characters were drawn in certain scenes and some of the environment detail too; I won't say it's a detriment to Hanayamata though, it looks so good and with the art style used, it's not a big enough deal for me to knock it down, just an observation. I will say though, the first episode is one of the prettiest in all of anime that I have ever seen, the Sakura petals flying all over the place, the quick dance with Hana and Naru, the way it's all shown is just fantastic. The show itself is also incredibly pretty and once again, red blemishes on the girls to exude this innocent and "pure" feeling, I love that so much.

I also don't normally comment on cinematography, but in Hanayamata, it was really well done; I know in anime you can draw whatever you want to showcase feelings and it's easy to drive a point home, but all the cuts to showcase the emotions the girls were feeling, so well done. The shots of legs/feet showing reserve at times or the withered flowers followed by cuts to the girls themselves, there was a clear cut reason for just about every scene shown in Hanayamata, not a single frame wasted and for that, huge props to the guys that did that, it was amazing.

Sound/Music..... Well as you know, I fell in love with the OP and really that's how I felt about the music in Hanayamata. Throughout the episodes there was great BGM, but what made it so good was the use of the OP in an instrumental variation. Certain scenes would play out like they should and bam, you can hear that amazing OP in the background, really giving weight to what's happening on the screen. I'm purposefully linking the full version of the OP, give it a listen to. It's quite honestly OP of ∞ for me (I'm most definitely hyping this song to hell and back, but I love it). I've been focusing on the OP on purpose too, it's not like the ED is bad, because it's not, it's actually quite good, but nothing like the brilliance of the OP. The rest of the soundtrack is good, but "ahhhhhh"...... that's how I felt everytime I heard the OP come on during an episode.

The yosakoi dance. It takes all 12 episodes before we're shown the dance in it's all glory and my goodness is it worth it. We literally watch a group of girls who know next to nothing about yosakoi start with just the naruko (Clappers), then the recruitment of other girls, followed by creating costumes and training; constant practice to get the choreography down perfectly. When Tami works on the music for their dance, and when we realize that it's the OP that they're performing, tears shed. When we see the girls get recruited and see how the girls all face their issues, tears shed. When we see the dance in it's entirety, especially with how it happened, tears shed. This show is not sad, it's not dramatic, it's not even something to have tears fall for, but my goodness did I love it.

I'm overhyping this show to the moon, but I can't help it. We need more seasons, we need more dancing, we need more music and costumes. I absolutely love it and it could be considered average by everyone in the world, I won't let that stop me from enjoying this at all, ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ~~~~~~~~~ Honestly. (We also need more seasons of a lot of things I've watched lately......)

What am I doing writing this review??. . . . . I have no idea! I'm sick, I'm bored, and I suck at writing reviews. But here goes!

As always when starting a new series you have to know what you're getting into.
For what it is Hanayamata is very charming although it's very basic. Is it bad?? Absolutely not! Could it have been more interesting maybe.

The story:
Our main Naru is a plain girl who doesn't stand out in anything and has no idea what she wants to do in life. She meets the transfer student(big surprise) Hana, who tries to get her to dance Yasakoi with ... her. Yasakoi is some sort of traditional yet free spirited group dance that you use these things called Naruko for. Naru ofc doesn't want to at first, but then gives in. They start a club for it and try to gather more people.

A story like this isn't easy to do anything with, but for what they have they work it pretty well. The pacing can be a bit slow at times, but the focus is where is should be; the characters and the dance. They struggle quite a bit with what girls in this situation would struggle with, which allows the viewer to get pretty into it. Take it from me! I hate school, slice of life series and usually think they're so boring I wanna kill the characters!

The characters:
The characters are your standard female group. You have the shy but very nice and cute one. You have the free spirited and overly happy and positive one. You have the tsundere, the hime chara, and the stubborn megane chara. Thile the stereotypes are a bit boring at first they do get the amount of development they need. Sure the development is pretty obvious and also cliche, but it's heartwarming and needed, so it's fine! I quite enjoy seeing the main character grow. Starting out as a shy airhead with only 1 real friend to becoming the one who pushes everyone forward is always good in a main.

The look and sound:
For every cliche and predictable step the series takes you can not overlook the beautiful animation of madhouse! This studio is my all time favorite studio because of how flowing and smooth their animation is. This one is no different! The colors are great and very warm in tone. The soundtrack doesn't stand out too much, but the theme that the girls also dance to in the series is very catchy and set the perfect tone for the entire series!

Overall:
Having this to bounce back to after watching the slightly dark and depressing Re:_Hamatrora every week made it sorta important for me. It's not something that'll go down in history, but it's something I'll smile at looking back.

Is it a standout among slice of life school anime? No.
Does it have flaws? A couple.
Is it bad or not very enjoyable? Absolutely not!
It's a fun series with a beautiful tone. If you know that, you'll enjoy it!

Imma now go jump of the balcony if this headache and throat pain won't leave me!! See you in the afterlife!

So i'm Dion and i have a condition.I swear a lot and i can't hold back my sarcastic,nihilistic side.So if you're not old enough to know what your willy is for then i suggest you read something else for a bedtime story.

And onto Hanayamata which is just another "cute girls doing cute things" type of anime...Cause we needed one in 5 minutes,right?But then i'm a soulless fuck so what do i know.

The story is about a girl who one day while walking past a shrine at night while on the influence of LSD,she heard rhythmic clacking coming from the shrine grounds.Curious,Naru follows the sounds and ... finds a ferce dragon.The dragon started chasing her and then a fairy came to her aid and with might and a tazer she fought off the bad dragon and then Khaleesi came and some shit went down and the rest is history.What i don't understand is how they took this fantastic premise and made it all about something called yosakoi.

Yosakoi for those of you who don't know is an orgy that takes place every year in China...Nah i'm fucking with you.Yosakoi,is a type of Japanese dance,involving girls wearing yukatas or happy coats while synchronizing the playing of small wooden clappers known as naruko.It's a large event in Japan,with some teams consisting of hundreds of members!An annual festival called the Yosakoi Matsuri even attracts as many as 200.000 participants.In other words it attracts more people than a Bieber concert..And that's good cause we have enough braindead people walking around as it is.

So not to waste your time with many many details,the fairy aka Hana Fontainestand who,to my surprise is American and not German invites the crack addict to the yosakoi club so they can start dancing and clapping the wooden clappers and of course on the way gather more members like Naru's best friend Yaya,Naru's upperclassman Tami and Tami's best friend Machi..

Everything sounds normal so far.You have moe girls,you have yosakoi,you also have a first episode which is as stunning to look at as Jenna Jameson.Honestly when i saw the first episode i was left with my jaw hanging like an 80yrs old testicles.And we have Madhouse to thank for that visual excellence.But all of that was in vain cause what happened next beggars belief.

The whole show somehow became a bad clone of K-On! and Love Live.I mean look at the characters or even the plots that are lifted straight off the aformentioned animes.And it's not like they did such a good job ripping them off,either.And to make matters worse remember the first ep's animation i praised?After the 1st one the quality becomes...Lesser..Don't get me wrong it's not like it's unwatchable it's just that quality drop is noticable.And it's a show about dance so the animation should have been absolutely amasing but every time we are about to see any actual dancing the camera veers off and shows some fluffy kittens instead or it shows stills of dancing.As for the characters themselves they looked kinda weird to me,they had minimal facial characteristics and the eyes were like a monk's bald head....And just as huge.

And if the animation is bad wait till i get to the characters as characters.Well to be honest with ya they're not characters they're a collection of stereotypes.Naru is pretty much spiritless,Hana is an energetic American blonde who reminded me of Barbie before detox,Yaya is the tsundere best friend of Naru's,Tami is the big sister and Machi is a grouch.Then we have Seiri,their woman adviser who's is a rip off of Sawako from K-on! in every way possible..She even has a thing for animal ears...The only character that wasn't in the mix bag is Masaru Oofuna the scary-looking but harmless owner of a yosakoi shop who teaches Naru and Hana the basics of yosakoi.But as a character sadly he's not being used as much as i might have wanted.

So ok,you might think,some stereotypical characters and some not so good animation..That doesn't sound terrible..AHA but wait,i haven't finished.You see it's also how you present the characters as well,it's how you handle the delivery of each plot.And trust me on that the show does nothing at all to seperate itself from the other similar shows.It also fails miserably to make us connect with the girls.It's ok and dandy making us watch every girl's backstory but the way it's done doesn't float my boat.And there's no balance.One minute it's all laughs and this and that and then for no reason at all they switch to drama mode.Every new episode a new "problem" that makes the previous problem look unecessary and childish.It was drama for the shake of drama.It had no real substance to it,it felt totally out of place and ruined whatever good experience i had with it.

Now for the next paragraph i shall go berserk with spoilers so skip to the part where i write with big bold letters "end of spoilers".

START OF SPOILERS

So you see,Yaya is already in another club.A girls only rock group,and if that sounds familiar it's because it is familiar..But nevertheless she is chased around by Naru and Hana and after much following she joins the yosakoi club while still a part of the band.The band later enters a contest but they don't qualify and disband immediately and Yaya has fallen into depression.Naru tries to talk Yaya which ends up in Yaya telling Naru and Hana she hates them and never wants to talk to them again...Ok?!...The next day Naru and Hana start shouting on the rooftop that Yaya is a bakaaaaaa,which gets her to chase them upstairs.Then Naru and Yaya jump at her apologizing and then everyone cries and friendship wins the day.Now Yaya can permanently join the drug addict's club and forgot everything that had to do with a project she spent months on working..Sound legit!

Machi's plotline is just as stupid.Machi and her sister Seiri don't get along because Seiri broke a promise with her when they were little girls.But the whole thing isn't addressed in any way until about episode 9.And another thing.Later on in the series Seiri must step down as the girls' adviser because she isn't a full-time teacher.As for the reason she never spoke of this to anyone?It's a fucking mystery not to be ever solved.

And after that we have the special Love Live rip off plot where Hana has to go back to America to spent more time with her mother and father.Here's the thing though.Hana's father still has some things that need to be done before he leaves as well.And for reasons other than the one "we are out of ideas" her mother wants Hana to leave right before the big festival Naru and the others have been getting ready for all this time.Hana like Seiri didn't bother telling her mother of the yosakoi club she's in or about the festival until she was fucking back to 'Murica.But thank god for capitalistic pigs her mother sent her back in time for her to go to the festival..The moral is that having a big bank account trumps all.

END OF SPOILERS

And now i must conclude this review by saying that i was deeply disappointed by this show.First episode aside it's value drops faster than a pair of drawers falling down a cliff.The characters are walking-breathing cliches,it looks like a war wound,the music's aaaahhhh cheesy there's next to no dancing or even exploring anything to do with it,there's abso-fuckin-lutely nothing going for it and it's a damn shame cause i wanted to like it.

Where should I start?

Five girls, and a teacher. They're all crying for 11 of 12 episodes, very predictable, supposed to be a comedy and they're always crying.
Talking about the art, the only cute girl is Hana, for the rest, they have the "bunny teeth" that is damn annoying, it's not cute at all. And their eyes, damn, the shrunk and got huge by time to time, but by a big difference. I know it's anime, but they have like a huge forehead that it's just ugly. And they're always crying, so you know what I'm talking about.
The only thing good about the sound, it's ... the opening, and maybe the ending. But sometimes, the girl's voices started echoing, like bugging or whatever.
The characters? Typical tsundere, a typical shy girl who wants to shine, a typical rich girl without friends, typical student council president who is very strict at the beginning but then she becomes friendly, and the only good character, Hana. Oh, and I also forget about the teacher, I don't have any problems with her.
Enjoyment? I thought I were going to laugh at least once, or at least I was going to watch cute girls trying to dance and doing cute things. Nope, just... pathetic.

The only good thing about this anime it's the opening, and that somehow, you can manage to finish... with a lot of determination.

What starts off as your typical cute girls doing cute things anime actually evolves into something more with Hanayamata. Yes there are still cute girls doing cute things in the anime so don't fear. But the show isn't afraid to call itself on its on use of tropes, often breaking the fourth wall and breaking the characters down into those groups out loud and shattering them with character development. I'm not going to say that the characters completely break those molds but they do in fact go further past just the tropes that anime usually keep to in these sorts of anime. Even some of ... the more background characters have development and grow with the story.

The story line is good, even if most of the storytelling is done in the background its done so that the characters themselves can shine and tell the story. Rather than seeing montage after montage of the characters doing nonstop practice its implied that they do this on a regular basis through careful story telling. It helps to move the pace along and really let you get attached to the characters, rather than just waiting for the next sequence of events in between the intense training. The art style is adorable, something that is always important with these sorts of anime. But not only is it adorable is its beautifully drawn, from the emotions to the costumes. To the animation when the girls dance it's all a real treat.

All in all I binged the series in one day and hadn't even realized that I'd done so. If you're looking for a cute anime with lots of emotion I would definitely suggest to watch Hanayamata. I'm almost certain you won't regret it.

well this is my first review and i'm not good at doing it xD but when i look the average score that get hanayamata and its low popularity i'm upset . First of all i just wanna write a small review and i will sum up what i wanna say , it's not because the review is small that it's wrong or incomplete , a long one is rather boring and may be wrong too . So to sum up hanayamata its about a american girl who come in japan because her mom is too busy with work , and she wanna live the dream ... of her childhood : dance yosakoi . The positive points of hanayamata it's that first it's short and easy too watch , the animation and music is very good with one of the best opening ever (for a infamous anime) , its interesting and original . Another good point about hanayamata is that you get attach very easily with the characters and you may end up crying at the end without realizing it , talks of the end , it's such a nice and well made end . Like every anime hanayamata have flaws , such as boring and useless episodes or one of the main character (naru) who is way too a crybaby , or tears who falls for nothing . But at the end hanayamata is a very nice anime , with a original setting and cute characters , a ending so well made and beautiful , i'm sure it will at least make you smile , i fairly recommend it , enjoy !

PS : yes my English is not perfect , its not my born language ^^

every person regardless of it's whereabout should inevitably have experienced a point in its life where it encountered talented people. those types of people who excel in certain fields or sometimes at everything they do. this person definitely felt pathetic and discouraged after comparing itself to them. expressing a little bit of jealousy is unavoidable either. unfortunately, this unfair rule applies evenly on everyone. the talented people always hold an advantageous hand over the normies, that's what the majority thinks. only a few individuals look at it from a perspective that talented people are only specials cases, and when thinking about it thoughtfully one could ... realize that almost all of the people surrounding his daily life are only normal/untalented beings. receiving this idea from an optimistic side will definitely make you feel better I bet. albeit there are many other ways to get over it. but let's see what did naru, the simple minded "normal" middle school girl, do in this case. did she get over her surge of depression? or maybe she just immersed deeper in it?

hanayamata have an actual story and follows it. unlike most of the moe -cute girls doing cute things' slice of life genre that only set a vague premise and get distracted from it while following the daily life of the girls, hanayama here does not swerve from its lane keeping always track of the mutual goal between the five girls from the cast. but when it comes to the substance of the story, it's far away from being considered as original. having a group of cute girls aiming to get one day above the stage is not uncommon among the anime of the day. Naru's ambition to discover the world hoping to find something to change her is not unfamiliar either but it is still a theme that doesn't get old since everyone passes by it in his life at some point.

what feels refreshing in the story is the feature of exploring one of the countless Japanese cultures. giving prominence to the yosakoi dance theme instead of the prevalent cute idol project was surprisingly more interesting than I thought it would be. honestly something as yosakoi festival, I never heard about it until I started watching hanayamata. it does certainly feel entertaining to learn new things about Japanese culture while watching the cute Appearance of the cast struggling and practicing yosakoi for the upcoming festival. in short hanayamata takes you in a ride around the Japanese related culture, it makes one feels as if his part of the cast. discovering new things alongside hana and naru. it's all too involving and stimulating.

unfortunately, when it comes to the flow of events hanayamata falls into mediocrity. if you're to be a casual watcher, almost all of the turn of events would seem way too expected. many twists that are supposed to startle the viewer and raise the intensity of the situation fall back to be mundane and unstimulating. truth to be told, every time some kind of unpleasant happening occurs I just sigh while not feeling the least surprised instead of being pushed to the edge of my seat and anticipate for more. the execution of the flow of events just can't be helped but feels boring. hanayamata could surely offer a better development than what it is now.

similar to every moe slice of life show, hanayamata consists of 5 stellar main characters. they weren't introduced evenly throughout the series, as we get to see the tsundere sasame yaya in the first episode while machi the student council president doesn't get a full introduction until episode 9. adopting this uncommon pattern is not bad at all. Every time one girl joins the yosakoi club it becomes more exciting for the viewer since things will get livelier. Naru undervaluing herself and her determination to discover new things in the world wasn't an unusual trait when compared to many other shows but as mentioned earlier it's a theme always welcome for expressing. rather only a few initial minutes of the pilot episode were enough to make half of the audience emotionally relate to her as she claimed to be an untalented person and fears to try anything new.

the biggest flaw of hanayamata unfortunately, lies in its character. a tsundere, a strict student president, a mature onee-san, and lastly a blond foreigner loli. with this, it becomes obvious how stereotyped these girls are, they are the type of character you get to see in literally every slice of life show. despite how many erratic and unique characters existing out there wich could be a much better replacement, hanayamata still chooses to go along the cliched route simply because it grants fewer risques. and what adds up even more fuel to the fire is the fact of even after turning a blind eye to the character setting, the problematic situation that occurs throughout the series are nothing exceptional neither. the audience is bound to go through every character's background story and watch those already predicted conflicts that honestly feels nothing but mundane and cliched as they settle up slowly but surely. eventually, at some point falling asleep becomes a more intriguing activity to carry out rather than following this rigid execution of character development.

from a visual perspective, hanayamata is an absolutely gorgeous piece to look at and admire. as expected from Madhouse studio, beautiful sea scenery, fascinating moonlight scenes with sparkling sakura leaves not to mention the totally dazzling scene of the fireworks behind the enormous stage in the last episode. the show does definitely offer some extremely contrived background eye treats. the egg-shaped eyes design of the characters feels a little bit out of place, however one would get immediately used to it. I can go praising the visual works of the show for a long while, but I'll conclude it by mentioning the stunning animation of the last half of the final episode. the sight of the four girls wearing some seriously wonderful kimonos and dancing in the stage of the festival before the captivating entrance of hana made a very delighting spectacle. one of hanayamata's advantageous points without a doubt.

as for the sound part, the OP plays an important role in the whole show, while it is a nice song sang by the 5 girls, it is also the song they choose to play for the festival event. we get to see it evolve from only a lyrics written in a paper to the one we hear at every episode's beginning. the ending and OSTs were not in a considerable point, but not bad either. further than the voice actor's good job in fitting with the character's physics (especially the yosakoi shopkeeper, reminds me every time of Hasegawa for some unknown reason) I guess that's all that needs to be said.

after all of this, I can safely conclude that hanayamata is -cute girls doing cute things- slice of life sub-genres mixed with a little Japanese culture. I wouldn't really recommend it to those who can't stand the moe aspect (my ennemies^^), but if you're looking for a relaxing series after an a long day of work/school then I think this is what you'll need.

Note: Expanded. I'm binge watching this series today.

Hanayamata will probably responsible for implanting the stereotype in Japan of American girls being hyper parkour practitioners who speak near-perfect Japanese and want to recruit everyone into dancing yosakoi. Eh, I guess that beats the idea that American girls in Japan speak near-perfect Japanese with a terrible American accent and absolutely putrid English with a Japanese accent.

This is a show I picked up on a whim-- I had no clue what it was about, the title looked appealing, mainly. I was introduced to Naru's story at the beginning and I was quickly hooked-- I dunno, maybe I have ... a soft spot for fairy tales.

Like any good character show, this is about journeys. Watching Naru blossom from wallflower to one of five stars on a stage is one of the most fulfilling things I've seen in the season I watched Hanayamata, and likewise the other characters' path to their spots on the stage. Some conflicts were a bit cringe-worthy, but the lead-up was actually solid and probably something common among middle schoolers. Supporting characters are well-written when they're fleshed out in the original-- Naru's dad is a total softie and refreshingly supportive of his daughter, whereas her mom's 2 seconds of fame in the finale is her face hidden behind an uchiwa fan. Oh well, never mind. The final plot twists, though just a little bit rushed, are like the slingshot for the climax in the finale. Well executed.

The voice actress casting is pretty good, though I understand if some find the voices too high-pitched (keep in mind, these are middle schoolers they're voicing). I thought they were well directed, in any case-- Naru's actress effectively portrayed the timid girl with the occasional panic attack, and Yaya's actress played the tsundere very well in my opinion.

Madhouse's animation up until the 2010s has been hit-or-miss. They are responsible for the excellent animation in Card Captor Sakura and Lodoss War, and also what appeared to be inexpensive animation in shows like Chobits. Here, hand-drawn and CG are used to great effect-- Hana's introduction scene is rendered beautifully, for example. The dance scenes are dynamic, though I wish they could've shown more of the dancing itself rather than close-ups of characters' faces. Probably a cost thing, like the performances of Yaya's band (looped animation and a still of Yaya). There are occasional nods to works like Card Captor Sakura (X used for mouths in SD mode), and the commercial break eyecatches are hilarious. You can tell that the production staff approached this show with care.

Speaking of the dance, I love how it and the music they dance to (Hana wa Odore ya Irohaniho) evolve through the series. The soundtrack's more "traditional Japanese" tracks using kotos and Japanese flutes (I don't know which one, there are a few) are a nice accent to the slower scenes, while the composer keeps it fun with the other tracks.

CGDCT is a genre in which all anime usually follow the same formula: episodic, no plot, cheesy, and has no stakes. However, Hanayamata went beyond the typical CGDCT and experimented with an overarching plot, theme, and had tons and tons of drama and stakes, for better or worse.

Hanayamata is an anime about yosakoi, and friends who dance yosakoi. It's pretty simple but the club members have a lot of depth and development, which is the main draw of the series.

Naru, our protagonist, is an airhead who is average and has no passion. I feel like she's very relatable, but at the same time painfully generic ... and cheesy. She had room for development through her trauma, but for some reason the show scrapped it aside. Hana is a foreign girl who introduced her to yosakoi, but I thought she was very annoying and overbearing, though she was given some characterization and development, so she became tolerable near the end. Yaya is a great character who is nicely written, she's a tsundere who has abandonment issues. Tami is the best character in this series and honestly one of my favourite anime characters if I had to be honest, though recency bias is speaking. She's insanely likeable but has so much depth through her father issues and her tendency to care for others. The episode focused on her was the best episode of the show for a reason. Machi, our final member, was introduced into the main cast by the time there were 4 episodes left, which was way too late and didn't make me care about her enough. Overall Hanayamata has very good characters and is the main appeal of the show, they are extremely likeable and fun to watch, while they each have their own development and backstories.

Yosakoi is a type of dance I have never heard of, but the show portrayed it excellently and made it seem very fun, though a problem I had with the show is how yosakoi ultimately feels useless to the show. Nobody even really has an attachment to it, most of the members joined because their friends were in it. Yosakoi had no major effect on any of their lives, so yosakoi as a theme felt very lacking.

The art is very pretty to the eye, and the animation is surprisingly great. The music is repetitive but it hits when it hits, ESPECIALLY the opening which is a banger.

Finally, the drama is a major topic discussed when talking about Hanayamata. Some think it's peak and emotional, some think it's in your face and exaggerated. I think Hanayamata does its drama with grace and while it could get a bit much, the drama has purpose for developing the characters and it gets pretty emotional too. Overall the melodrama was a major complaint about the series but I think it helped stand out among the CGDCTs.

Hanayamata is a beautiful show with a bright cast and good writing that is only held back by its lack of a strong theme, being yosakoi. If you're a fan of slice of life shows with a hint of drama, Hanayamata is a wild and emotional ride with a lot of emotions and fun characters.

HaNaYaMaTa is fantastic. It's really cute, but it's also really gripping. It's the best CGDCT (Cute Girls Doing Cute Things) anime out there. It's also a really good Slice of Life show with some tough questions and solid answers. But it's also a good sports anime, not solely because it may be the only anime to ever cover Yosakoi, but also because it makes it interesting for the viewer. What's really, really good about HaNaYaMaTa, though, is how it brings all of these aspects together and makes something fun, exciting, pretty funny, heartwarming and emotionally honest. Also, the OP is catchy as all hell.

The first ... thing you'll notice about HaNaYaMaTa, aside from it being really goddamn cute, is that all of the characters are the typical archetypes you'd expect to find in this kind of series. Our protagonist, Naru (meaning "to become") is the shy girl looking to prove herself (with Yosakoi), Hana, our manic pixie dream girl who seemingly can't see anything but Yosakoi and bringing people together, Yaya, the grounded, logical type who is ostensibly the brains of the group, Tami, the (also) shy, rich girl who wants to try doing some commoner stuff for once, and Machi, the "normal" girl who has a ton of responsibilities already and is the one who actually gets stuff done. The show starts by having Hana drag Naru into Yosakoi - ergo giving Naru something to prove herself with - who then attempts to drag her other two friends into Yosakoi, and so on. But - and this is where HaNaYaMata etches out streaks of its own identity beyond the dazzling animation and beautiful music - getting people to commit to something huge like a Yosakoi is not easy.

Hana is different because Yosakoi is all she's got, but Naru has even less than that. She wants to prove herself, but she's not even sure enough of herself to be able to give it a fair go. Stage fright and feelings of inadequacy block the way. It's kind of a played-out beginning arc, but it's written really well. It serves as a soft introduction to Yaya and how she and Naru function as friends, but it also introduces you to Hana's ostensibly boundless positive energy. Yeah, I've seen it before. But I haven't seen it written like this.

It doesn't happen immediately, but this show does a very good job of getting you to care about these characters. And once you care about them, it lets you know more and more, and it gives you chances to root for them, and sometimes they fumble and lose their way, and that's done well too. There's something about HaNaYaMaTa that is so much more legitimate, real, and respectful than so many other shows of its ilk. Yeah, Naru might be generic and plain, but she damn well knows it and she wants to do something about it. And yeah, these are cute girls doing cute things, but cute girls are people too, y'know? They have struggles and journeys too, y'know?

And, can I just mention how stunning the animation is again? It gives so much life and personality to these characters and seamlessly blends with the dialogue.

It's a really good first episode. It introduces a lot of conventional concepts with the genre and plays with them, but in future episodes, it outright subverts viewer expectation. I particularly like how the writer(s) thought that Naru is more of an interesting character when viewed from the outside, so they use her father as sort of a POV character to catalogue how far she's come as a character. Plus, it's absolutely hilarious. HaNaYaMaTa really respects every character in its story. It takes its time to build up certain elements of characters and other plot threads, and it never forgets about them, either - they have a direct impact on future events, too. Let me be the first to say that the pace of HaNaYaMaTa is pretty slow. It takes a number of episodes to get the team together and for the super significant stuff to happen, but I am completely fine with that. Because it respects its characters, and is willing to take its time to show you not only who they are but how they interact with each other.

The sport aspect of the series really comes into play in the second half of the show, but it is given some attention earlier on, too (given that the girls make numerous attempts to get the other girls interested in Yosakoi). It's at this point that some more characters start getting introduced...that is, some more...goofy characters. Which is fine, really. I think some of the comedy is a bit too over-the-top, given the first half's more dramatic tone...but the drama was also a little over the top, too, so I guess it evens itself out. But you'll be happy to know that, being an anime about girls doing Yosakoi, the girls actually do Yosakoi. We get to see them training and coming up with dance moves, and even doing the dance in a real festival. It's a nice change of pace that also gives the show another opportunity to further develop the characters rapport together - which it capitalises on gracefully. I can't really comment on the realism or anything, not being a professional (or even amateur, for that matter) Yosakoi dancer, but it's definitely fun enough to watch and hear about.

I suppose, since I've talked about the first episode, and part of the first half, and part of the second half, it's time to talk about the end. Which isn't really an end. More like a stopping point. This show really needs a second season, or a movie, or an OVA, or something. But the manga's complete(ly untranslated), so there's that, at least. It's a satisfying enough ride, and you get off feeling like it was more than worth the price of admission, but you also kinda feel like the track's only halfway done, and that there's really supposed to be a lot more.

To briefly summarise what happens in HaNaYaMaTa:
1) Hana befriends Naru and they decide to do Yosakoi together
2) Hana and Naru convince other people to do Yosakoi together
3) The Yosakoi club does a lot of Yosakoi exercises
4) The Yosakoi club does some Yosakoi for real
5) The Yosakoi club declares that they want to do more Yosakoi

But even though it's only really the first act, it's still bloody enjoyable. And god, everything about this show is so damn cute. But I was really surprised when, after checking this show out purely on the basis that "the OP is pretty catchy", that it had actual characters, with actual development, and that it was written well, and that it was actually funny. That's all I'm really looking for in entertainment. And I want more.

HaNaYaMaTa is one of the best SoL anime around. Sora yori mo tooi basho was a pretty good SoL in recent memory, but in comparison to HaNaYaMaTa, it actually feels kind of watered down. And it's certainly more interesting than K-On! ever was for me. I really hope more people watch this show, because it deserves it. I particularly like how the characters deal with actual real life things that happen in real life, and that this isn't just some caricature of the best parts of real life where the main characters are super amazing and great all the time.

Please watch it. It's good. It's funny, it has good drama, and the pacing is a bit slow but it's really worth every second.

And, fuck, it's cute.

Hanayamata is a story about building a friendship through the love of a certain activity, in this case; yosakoi. Along the way they will face challenges that will not only test the staying power of their club but it will test their love for one another. It's nothing too complex but it is simple and done interesting enough to keep watching.

While the characters don’t get better and better, they do stay at a level of interesting to keep you invested. Naru is the shy girl who has to learn to overcome her self esteem issues, Hana is the energetic foreigner who may come off ... as annoying, but also comes off as cute, Yaya is your typical tsundere, Tami is the perfect girl at first glance, and Machi is your mean spirited student council president. Each character is given a back-story or subplot and while they don’t add more to the story they change the characters from being one-dimensional stereotype.

The show looks amazing. The colors are very vibrant. The world around them is a nice blue which gives off a pleasant feel to the show. The animation is pretty good as well. The characters move fluently and aside from a few shots the quality of the animation doesn’t drop.

I can’t say much for the sound, being someone who doesn’t speak the Japanese language. I will say that the voices are cute, and while using the opening repetitively; Hanayamata has a very catchy and pleasant sounding soundtrack.

Hanayamata isn’t the best anime, nor is it the worst anime. If you are looking for complex characters and high action this isn’t the show for you. If you’re looking just to have a good time and to look at something cute I would say give it a watch.