Sep 25, 2011
As others have said, this anime starts off incredibly well. In fact, if you leaf through initial reviews (when people had only watched the first few episodes), there are a lot of proclamations that this was a strong contender for anime of the year. And initially, it was - the main character was uniquely compelling in the way that she was jaded about city life and her environment. While walking around a sunset-drenched Tokyo in the first episode, Ohana talks about how boring she finds the city and its scenery.
That's pretty different from most female slice of life protagonists, who are your typical "WHEE
...
I'M SO HAPPY ABOUT EVERYTHING : DDDDD SUNSETS ARE BEAUTIFUL YAY!!!!" stereotypes. So in the first few episodes, you're basically watching this intriguing, interesting girl (who doesn't know anything about herself) struggle as life throws her some crazy curveballs.
Unfortunately, this all goes away. I'm not sure exactly what episode it was, but at some point I was watching and suddenly said to myself "Wow, she's acting completely out of character." And sure enough, for the remainder of the show, Ohana is your typical anime heroine - she's overly cheerly, constantly smiling, and whenever one of her friends is feeling down, you can be sure she'll provide a snap-monologue that makes them immediately feel better.
That was a huge disappointment. : / However, if you can get through that unfavorable character shift, there's still an enjoyable anime to be had here. I won't spoil anything, but there's an arc in the middle of the show that manages to keep you hooked, and the finale's very well done and actually made me get a little emotional.
Heck, don't get me wrong. I liked this anime from start to finish. However, I was so bummed about Ohana's character going from this jaded Tokyo teenager to a super-positive cheerleader that it kind of marred everything else.
If you're a huge fan of slice of life (as I am), then this show's definitely worth checking out. You may find yourself bored from time to time, but like any good slice of life, you'll also be sad when the final episode ends and you realize you won't be allowed to visit this little world anymore. If you're not really into the genre, though, and were just considering watching Hanasaku Iroha because you'd heard good things, then you might not end up enjoying this. As I've said several times now, it's main flaw is that it transforms the main character from a really compelling, unique person into one that we've all seen dozens of times before, and does so without any logic, reason, or character development behind it. (Seriously, if you watch the first four episodes you'll know what I mean, suddenly she's just acting totally different.)
Anyway, as a big slice of life fan I gave this a 7/10. It's not up there with the best of the best, like Beck, Genshiken, or Toradara, but it's also not a bad place to spend some time. : )
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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