As someone who has quite a liking towards moe anime, I found this show fairly alright to watch. Hinako Note was a fairly decent moe slice of life anime. It wasn't really anything standout, but it was overall an alright anime to watch.
When I first started this show, I didn't really think I'd like it a lot because it couldn't have felt more generic to me. It felt like the show was trying to be too cute with things like the character having very high pitched voices and how they would have to turn into chibis to act out small scenes at some point in every single episode, but I thought the show got just a BIT better I kept watching to the end.
Story
The story isn't anything unique or anything it's pretty simple. The main character Hinako is a shy girl who came from the countryside to move to a cafe/ bookstore called Hitotse so she could attend Fujiyama High School in the city that has a club where she could practice becoming an actress in plays to help boost her confidence with being around and talking to people. When ever she speaks to people at first, she'll freeze up and turn into a scarecrow. To help her topple her fear, her friends at Hitotse decide to help Hinako run a theater trope in the cafe on the side at times.
As Hinako moves into the cafe she meets...some generic anime personalities.
Kuina: The blue haired girl who has a hefty appetite, eats quite a lot which happens to include books (yes, BOOKS), & will make you think of Konata from Lucky Star.
Mayuki, the girl with blonde hair who is supposedly Hinako's senpai being a grade above her, but has trouble with her height as she looks like a loli. She looks and acts like a cute little kid at times, but is reliable as the age she claims to be.
Chiaki who'll play the role of the landlady and the popular girl who supposedly looks hot & just so happens to be in the same age range as Hinako and the others so she can go to school with them just because.
After Hinako has time in school, she'll meet the girl who eventually tries to become her rival for a very short period of time, but ends up becoming friends with, Yua, a very generic tsundere girl who pretty much likes Chiaki and gets very shy around Chiaki.
There's also a girl who happens to run the club Hinako was trying hard to get into named Ruriko: a loli with giant oppai.
The art was good, nothing special. You'll notice how low budgeted this show really is after the first few episodes. The flashiest scene in this comes from the opening with 2 short dance like scenes, which looked like the most expensive animation used in the show. As mentioned earlier, assuming it was used to substitute for the low budget, the characters will turn into chibis for short segments of every episode. It seemed like the character templates felt a little wonky to me because they all look like they could be adults (Excluding the short girl Mayuki). The background art for each scene was pretty good though. The scenery was beautiful & one of the best things about the art in this.
The sound factor for this was ok. Their voices are high pitched as hell so the point where I couldn't feel even a bit serious while listening to them at first, but I got used to that. The opening wasn't really anything special nor memorable. It's kinda decent, but it couldn't be a more generic opening for a moe slice of life. It actually mimics the OPs from a few shows sneakily like Lucky Stay & Nichijou with the dancing bits. The ED was just a little bit better though, but still pretty bland.
With girls working in a cafe & some of their characteristics, the first thing this reminded me of was an alternative cheaper take on GochiUsa. That thought lingered with me for the rest of the show, but it slowly split itself from that route as it seperates itself from the usual moe anime by trying to act TOO kawaii, and even trying to display some sex appeal which isn't something that doesn't feel right with moe sometimes. Throughout the show, they sprinkle some ecchi on it by showing a few shots of the characters (mainly Hinako & Chiaki) with some sketchy outfits and poses & Hinako in the bath a little. When those two get in bathing suits, their oppai suddenly got much larger than they look from the outside layer of their normal clothing. Even a few of the end cards would have some unusual shot for moe anime.
It was a pretty generic show overall and I might've given it a five if not for the little extra feeling it soon gave me, as I can't say I didn't enjoy it just a little. Nearing about episode 6, it got more enjoyable to me. It MIGHT give you a reminder of shows mostly like GochiUsa, Yuru Yuri, & Hanayamata while a bit like Anne Happy & Non Non Biyori as well. If you like those shows, then there's a chance you MIGHT enjoy this show. If you're not one for slice of life or moe anime, then I can't say I'd even recommend it for you.
