Many teenagers growing up start to think about the future. Whether that is furthering their education or thinking about finding a job, what someone dreams about doing is always a precious thing. In Hanasaku Iroha, the Kissuiso crew goes out of their way to "fest it up" in order to accomplish these dreams.
STORY
Hanasaku Iroha stars Ohana, a 16 year old girl who must live with in her Grandmother's hot spring, the Kissuiso, leaving Tokyo and her precious friend Ko behind.
What transpires afterwards is a slice of life anime following Ohanas journey to growing up and realizing what she wants in her life. Throughout the show, many of the arcs would flip-flop between Ohana and one of the other cast members. I found this to be well done. It allowed not only for the growth and development of Ohana but also for many of the other crew members. Many of the arcs are "plain". That is to say, nothing overly exciting really happens. And that's fine; being slice of life, you should know going in that you won't be getting heavy action, drama, or even romance. Sure, there are these elements but to an extent that is realistic to the situations at hand.
Romance does take up a sizable portion of the show, with different relationships explored here and there. It is not entirely the focus of the show, but it is prevalent enough and narratively important enough to pay attention to. In that regard, I found the romance elements to be different. The way in which the characters handled romantic feelings was not always direct, but it was interesting enough to cause you to feel certain ways for the characters.
I don't say this for a lot of shows, but this one in particular had a very, very well done final episode/ending. I think this was mainly due to how real it felt. It's bittersweet, leaving us with a sense of not only sadness for what happened but also hope for the future. We come in to the show wary of what Ohana has to go through but we leave it being completely satisfied with how everything turned out.
ANIMATION
P.A. Works outdoes themselves again with Hanasaku Iroha. The show is very beautiful not only in art but in the actual animation of the characters. The characters always move fluidly and vividly, and this quality persists through every episode. I think due to their being such a small amount of actual locations that the characters visit, there is more production quality put in for the character animations.
I enjoy P.A. Works's character designs, so I enjoyed the way the characters looked and behaved.
The scenery itself is nice to look at. They usually stick to the Kissuiso, the surrounding village, and Tokyo, but each locale is very nice to look at and immerses you in the world more so than usual.
CHARACTERS
The crew of Kissuiso were a good bunch of characters. Ohana, Minchi, Nako, and the rest each get their time in the spotlight, as said previously.
Above all, Ohana was a great MC. She starts off unsure about what is to come, but over the course of the show, she learns to deal with her emotions, with her sense of duty, and with her overall goals in life. She's slightly inconsiderate, loud, and annoying at times. But at the same time, she is caring, loving, and a joy to be around. The other characters in the show not only learn to acclimate to her but through them she learns to become a better person. By the end of the show, you realize how much more mature that Ohana has become.
The other characters were nice as well. Minchi starts off very rough and hard to approach, but over time her shell weakens (slightly!) and she too learns to confront the feelings she holds deep inside. Nako as well learns how to balance her private and public personas.
I can keep going for each character, but I think you get the point; each starts off in a hazy area but the Kissuiso indirectly allows them to grow as characters throughout the show.
Probably my only gripe is with how the characters are handled afterwards. After a particular character is explored (besides Ohana since she is the MC), they are pretty much ignored development-wise for the remainder of the show. The most notable example is Jiroumaru who is developed as a character very early on but then forced to the sidelines for the remainder of the show. Granted, besides the main three (Ohana, Minchi, and Nako) the others are just side characters, but even Minchi and Nako fall under this effect. The growth of the characters was nice, but I wish it didn't just happen over the course of just a few episodes then forgotten about for the rest (again, the exception here is Ohana, she is explored nicely throughout the entirety of the show)
SOUND
When it comes to sound, I tend to be a bit harsh. But surprisingly the first and the second OP were actually good. The EDs on the other hand are not good (just too generic, but this is usually the case).
I didn't much care for the rest of the soundtrack. The pieces themselves were appropriate for when they were used, but nothing ever really stuck out to me.
As for the voice acting, I felt the actors/actresses did a fine job in their roles. No outstanding performances, but I enjoyed listening to them quarrel about the everyday problems at Kissuiso. If I had to make an exception, I would give it to Enishi. I found his voice to be unique, and he did a nice job of portraying the submissive yet determined Young Master.
ENJOYMENT
Slice of life shows are interesting in that not much really happens. You do get some drama, comedy, and many other genres mixed in, but for the most part, its just the characters going about their everyday lives. With this in mind, I found the show to be very enjoyable. I would always laugh when Minchi was calling Ohana a "balut" (I still don't quite understand what it is, but sure!), I smiled at Yuina's carefree attitude, I liked Nako's general shyness.
I think the show just does a good job of making everything feel like a family. The crew at the Kissuiso always have each other's backs, and it becomes apparent over the course of the show how true that statement is. It's always nice to have friends that you can really rely on, and the show gives us just what that may look like to people who have yet to find it.
SUMMARY
Story: Good, slice of life arcs with a very good ending
Animation: Great, beautiful backdrops and fantastic animation
Characters: Good, nice growth here and there with Ohana taking the spotlight
Sound: Fine, OPs were good but nothing else of note
Enjoyment: Good, coming of age story done right
Final Score: 7/10
