Hanasaku Iroha

Right off the bat, the show throws us the most unlikeable and unrelatable characters, from a subservient mc incapable of standing up for herself to literally every other being on the show's setting being obnoxious and hideous human beings. From the first episode every single character gaslights the MC into developing a form of stockholm syndrome wherby she believes being treated like a slave labourer by her grandma (who recently accepted to taking up parental duties from the MC's mother) is all deserved.

The show is rated PG 13 yet in episode 3 we see the main character kidnapped by a guest and made to wear ... rope bondage, just what the actual F£$%?

Animes like this just show how tainted certain parts of the industry have become, where fan service, loli, and characters with almsot illegal fetishes are put at the forefront of the shows.

Having watched a variety of slice of life shows I went into this anime with some decent expectations, and despite the high average score on MAL I was disappointed and confused at the end. The first episode starts in a formulaic drama style: spunky girl gets put into an unexpected situation with a funny cast of characters. Add in a uptight and strict (but badass) grandma, and you are looking at a decent slice of life. After two straight days of binging this show, I'm more confused at how it got such a high score when the story of this anime is ... jumbled, the characters go from lovable to hate-able, and most plots introduced relatively unresolved... As a warning, I did not previously read the manga and this is just the random opinion of someone on the internet, but here is some reasons I thought this anime was beautifully animated garbage. -Minor Spoilers-. First, the relationship between Ohana and her mother is awful, and while it is explored, Ohana basically sweeps it under the rug by the end of the show. We're talking about some serious trauma that's never touched on, and when Ohana and her mother do have a confrontation her mother basically admits that she values work more than her daughter and Ohana accepts this answer. This plot alone could have been it's own entire anime, but instead it's just a plot device they use to bring Ohana to the inn, but then decide to sloppily resolve it in the end. I also found the relation Ohana and her grandmother initially intriguing, but they don't actually build a relationship until the end of the season. Ohana never once asks her grandmother anything about herself or her mother. It's an employer / employee relationship after episode 2 until the end the series. Still a heartfelt moment, but one that could have better been built over time. I think overall the characters relationships in this anime are all hot and cold. While each character is generally a classic anime stereotype, they all consistently hate our main character at the beginning, and then AGAIN at the end. It was as though they got amnesia and decided to hate her again. Particularly Minko, who I'm assuming is the waifu of the show, goes through such hot and cold attitudes towards the main character I want Ohana to slap her. Sure, Ohana is the annoying kind of cheerful character, but having someone openly say to your face 'go die' repeatedly deserves a slap. Or just don't be friends. On the whole, each episode wavers between trying to be a daily look into the lives of running an inn, and full out DRAMA that just gets swept under the rug. On the whole, I don't think this anime was awful, but the writing / character development was just scattered. You could easily have fit the story they dished out into 13 episodes and not missed much. Episodes 1-3 were the roughest to get through in my opinion, most scenes making go 'wtf did that just happen?' (see all of episode 3). Maybe I'm missing something and maybe it's Maybelline. 4/10

I started watching Hanasaku Iroha immediately after finishing (and loving) Shirobako. I wasn't expecting to love this show on the same level, but I wanted another slice of life type anime. What started off promising turned into such a drag to get through. The first half of the show I enjoyed - I didn't mind the premise and I liked the characters enough to get on board, but around the halfway point the quality of the story plummeted.

[Slight spoilers in this review] I think the problem I had with it was the cast of young characters, who I think I am just too old ... to appreciate because of their ridiculous high school problems that I don't relate to/care about in any way. The omurice episode had my rolling my eyes so far into my skull for example. I felt like their characters had potential in the beginning but their development slowed to a snails pace and didn't recover by the end. The adult characters were the ones I liked the most, but they weren't featured in favor of teen drama/slight fan service (we get it...shy girl has huge boobs).

I think the show tried to focus too heavily on making a job in hospitality more romantic and whimsical than it actually is. There is a genuine comradeship that comes with service jobs sure, I've experienced it, but not to the point where it becomes your entire life. All in all, and this is a rushed review, it wasn't for me.

After seeing the score on this anime I had high hopes for it. However, ultimately I felt like it failed to deliver in every aspect except the art.

I felt like the plot had a lot of potential and I really enjoy slice of life anime, but I felt like the characters really ruined the story.

The characters are where I really started to lose interest in this anime. The first episode was enough to have me pretty interested but quickly thereafter it began to lose me. First, I think some of my frustrations come from some cultural differences but I've seen anime where the ... same issues were portrayed and resolved that made sense to me from a cultural perspective. So, maybe it's just this anime, who knows.
My main grievances were with two characters. Ohana, the main character, at first comes across as sweet and considerate, standing up for others when she thinks they're being mistreated and each time this completely backfires on her. Alright, fine maybe she should be more mature about the situations she involves herself in but considering her age and lack of parental teaching I think she was doing fine. Towards episode 6 I just wanted to be done with this anime and Ohana; she became obnoxiously loud and seemed to lose some of her perceived maturity after coming to the inn. She did stupid things to solve problems that somehow worked for her and that character trait was apparently her selling point and what she should continue doing. Portrayed in a different way I think it would have worked but its was just annoying in this anime.
Minko was painful to watch, she's immature, loud, brash, violent, your typical tsundere but without any redeeming qualities. She was the first rock that derailed my enjoyment of this show. She annoyed me to no end and didn't seem to add anything to the story.
Most of the other characters were decent if overly done.

Dropped it at 3. episode, because it is talking about sex-abuse and potential rape as a joke or at least nothing to be too worried about, while at the same time presenting it as a hentai material. There are ways to go about it it, this is not one of them, who the hell thought mixing p*rnography and child protagonist is a good thing?

Also, I am quite sure Hana should be able to use child-protection service in order not to be part of the child-labour after mother abandons her. She is strong, and it shows how to take it for the best but to make ... an opportunity out of it feels like downplaying the situation she is going trough.

I just checked the staff, this anime should at least have a female consultant before making this movie, all male directors apparently arent able to handle the material they are entrusted with.

Disclaimer: My opinions do not prevent you from enjoying something yourself, so please don't flame me for my trash taste :)

MINOR SPOILERS

Heya, this is my first review, just wanted to get my thoughts down as to why after each episode I'm left feeling like I wish this show delivered more.

Hanasoku Iroha is a nice little coming-of-age story. It's classified as a Slice of Life, though I was confused by that label because of how different this show was from every other SoL I've seen. After looking over each episode again, I get why. The episodes are structured as short little anecdotes in the life of ... Ohana. Rather than contributing to one overarching theme, these episodes explore various themes and ideas. The episode plots cover a wide variety of topics, from Ohana's character development, to the deteriorating state of the inn, to exploring what really "drives" the rest of the cast. The problem I have with the show using this format is that these stories don't feel particularly meaningful or have impact. Usually, slice of life roots itself in either being a soothing iyashikei, being funny, or being uwu cute. This show doesn't really fit into any of those for me.

I feel like something's wrong with me for not finding this show calming like others have. There's always some sort of drama or character conflicts, which isn't calming at all. More often I find myself feeling sad (when Ohana comes back to Tokyo) or horrified (all the borderline sexual harassment). Speaking of borderline sexual harassment, I would say that much of the humor comes from these scenes. Yes it's fiction, but I can't help but feel uncomfortable when Ohana gets peeped on, gets accidentally groped by her uncle, or most notably gets gagged and tied up - all for laughs. I personally don't find it funny, so it only makes me take the show less seriously. Lastly, the art is fine but I wouldn't call this show cute. Because the show's episodic anecdotes don't fill any of these purposes, I would expect there to be more development, more lore/world-building, more drama, more something. It just isn't there for me.

Another gripe I have is that I wish there were more character interactions between the main cast. Like with Minko, we are shown her motivations and dreams, but it's hard for me to care much when 90% of her interactions with Ohana are just yelling at her. I love Nako, but she hasn't really had any moments other than the time she went with Ohana to the shrine.

Some Positives!
- Ohana is an interesting enough character. She has a strong sense of justice (?) and is quite impulsive, leading to interesting situations. I find myself admiring her for not being easily discouraged from her failures. Despite this, she still faces a lot of uncertainty.
- Characters (like Ohana or her mom) are presented as flawed while still having at least some good intentions, which is realistic and refreshing.
- Does a good job at exploring the chemistry in romantic relationships
- The music is astonishingly good, namely the nano.RIPE stuff

To me, this show hasn't exactly aged well. The art is alright, but the content feels bland with random sexual anime trope moments scattered about. I hope the ending/movie gives me a better opinion of the show.

My first review and it's bc this anime was just so trope-y and bad that I can't believe it has a rating over 8. The OP is really annoying, the mc is a pretty typical "I have zest for life and I don't rely on anyone so I'll just work hard on my own!!1!" and the fanservice is ridiculous. Look, idm some fanservice and I can just skip it if I want to but,,


(!!! spoiler for ep 2 up ahead)

the mc told a novelist he has talent after he wrote an erotic novel about her and tried to force her into bondage?!?!?! and ... she said that he has talent bc he understands things about her that no one else (not even herself) knows??????? That's just insane. The characters all seem terrible too kshjfkasdjhfklsdjhf I hate doing this but really,, don't bother with this anime unless you just want something full of tropes and fanservice :'))

This anime started on a high note and gave off a very pleasant and real like vibe but as the anime progress characters around Ohana tend to seem more interesting and tolerable than Ohana . I thought her character will grow and mature as the show goes on but on a contrary she starts behaving more like a kid and does whatever comes to her mind . Maybe its a personal take but i despise people like her because they don't know the meaning of personal boundaries and think that the world revolves around them .

In one of the episodes when the landlady gets hospitalized ... she travels to get Tohru(chef) from his friends wedding on his off day jus so that the INN functions well.. she is self centered and pretends to think that she thinks about others she is too blunt and never faces the consequences of it

in episode 11 she too forces herself into the editors office to get info on who wrote the article about their INN in a rude way which is a very impractical way of handling things and somehow people around her bend to her ways and no one says anything to her and she gets her result .. i can't tolerate her character and the plot concerning her rest of the characters are more real like and behave rationally