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.
