…the more they stay the same. I’ve always wanted Hanasaku Iroha to have a little more drama. I’ve always wanted the story to be a little more than pretty girls running an inn. The first half of this episode, however, just feels like a retread. The Ohana character has never been too exciting nor interesting, but you can’t help but feel sorry for the poor girl. She doesn’t really deserve all the crap she’s all of a sudden getting from the rest of the Kissuiso staff.
Alone… again
When Ohana first arrived, she was understandably treated like an outsider. Everyone, but especially Minko, had a hard time relating to the girl from Tokyo. So what did Ohana do? She rolled up her sleeves and worked super hard. She even says it herself at the start of this week’s episode: “Then the days flew by, and I came to like my work and Kissuiso.” Well, toss all that development out of the window because we’ve just come full circle. Despite having proven herself to Kissuiso’s staff over and over in the last twenty plus episodes, Ohana is, once again, the outsider.
After the cryfest over Tohru, I really thought we’d be past the “Minko is a giant bitch” plot device by now, but here we go again. To recap, Sui will allow the rest of the Kissuiso staff to do as they wish, but she wants Ohana to fulfill the inn’s annual obligations to the Bonbori Festival. Sounds reasonable, right? Not according to Minko, who demands that Ohana stop siding with Ohana’s own grandmother. What can Ohana do? Disobey her grandmother? Then Minko has the gall to accuse “her friend” of not caring enough about Kissuiso.
Ugh, I know wanted drama, but this is such lazy writing. Minko’s a crutch for Hanasaku Iroha. When the show needs to drum up some conflict, it always defaults back to “Let’s make Minko say something mean and vindictive.” I don’t care how pretty the anime is. I don’t care how wonderful the voice actresses sound. Hanasaku Iroha will never rise above mediocrity and this is why. Other than Ohana, none of the show’s other characters shows any signs of notable development. Even after months and months of episodes, Minko is still the same horrible person she was at the start of the series.
Guilt trip
It doesn’t help when the rest of the staff treats the young girl like trash as well.
Not so cool here, Tohru… not so cool. Luckily, I actually like the second half of the episode. No, really, I do!
So saccharine, it hurts
Aw, isn’t this just precious?
Even the most jaded viewer has to smile when they see the rest of the family come together to help run the inn. I know it’s corny. I know I’ve been mostly lukewarm about the show ever since Nako dived into the damn ocean to save some pervert writer. Maybe a recent development in my personal life has made me too happy to be cynical about anime, but yeah, I like this week’s conclusion; it’s endearing. Hell, you could probably end the series here and I don’t think there’d be much of a problem. Do I really need to see Ko again? Eh, I can do without him… but there’s gonna be one more episode nevertheless. If there’s anything to complain about the ending, I must question the choice of music during the credits. It just doesn’t feel as though it fits.
Moe Sucks 
If only I can just apply duct tape Minko’s mouth for just one second….
She’d probably bite your fingers off.
She won’t. Tsunderes only bite when love interests are involved.
(And I will prolly wear metal glvoes too)
I’d say it never was any development at all. They loved each other around the second or third episode anyway, and we never saw it happen. Well, except Minko, who warmed up during the show, only to go crazy when it was needed for drama.
Well, I wasn’t really concerned with Ohana-Minko development, but everyone else at the inn seemed to genuinely like Ohana after a while. I just thought it was ridiculous that everyone got mad at Ohana for “siding” with her own goddamn grandmother. I guess no one’s an adult in the show other than Beanman.
Sure some characters act unreasonably, but it’s not like people don’t act on purely emotional desires all the time. An embittered teenage girl like Minko isn’t going to change her attitudes easily, and when the chips were down her demons came back out. I feel they acted realistically given how they’ve been characterized up to now. How does this show create drama without being called lazy on one side or being accused of manufacturing a crazy ass pull on the other?
My point is that I don’t enjoy watching the same thing over and over. I never said I wanted realism. Watching the story default to the same conflict, however, is boring no matter how realistic it might be.
Well, I’m not here to write fanfiction. I just know the tired, old Minko drama was not interesting to watch.
STATUS KO
ALWAYS BRO
I don’t even have anything to say about this show at this point. It’s just kind of…there.
In a week, it won’t be. So there’s that.