All of a sudden, Takako is more eager than ever to get the wedding done. She’s even waking the hotel staff up at the break of dawn to get the planning under way. What happened? Did Sui’s refusal to hand the inn down to Enishi free the woman from her worries and guilt? At the end of the episode, Sui sure does sound as if she’s ready to hand the inn down to a worthy candidate, but who? Did she just test Takako and her son? Or is Satsuki still in the cards (unlikely, I think)? Comedy option Ohana even though she’s way too young? I guess most people saw the ending differently. Seems as though Sui will shut everything down. If that’s the case, I’m not sure what she expects her son to do. Does he have the experience to do anything else with his life? Oh well.
Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait yet another week to find out how this particular subplot will play out. In the meantime, this episode was good and bad.
Satsuki isn’t completely at fault
I love the exchange between Ohana and her mother early in the episode. The conversation is short, but it adds a layer to depth to Satsuki, an underrated character in the story. Obviously, Ohana knows her mother quite well, but closeness can also blind us to certain things. When we know someone too well, it becomes hard to step back and look at them from a different perspective. When Satsuki confesses to Ohana that she had a one-sided crush on Ohana’s father, Ohana reacts with incredulity: “A one-sided crush?! I didn’t expect those words from my sex crazed mother.” Gosh, isn’t that a harsh thing to say to your own mother.
Obviously, it must have been difficult for a young Ohana to see her mother bring home a new boyfriend every so often, but this is the sort of thing I’m talking about. Ohana thinks she understands her mother well — and to a certain extent, she does — but Ohana is also too caught up with her own personal feelings to understand why her mother dated around: “Jeez… I want to find a new love because I can’t forget my old one.” Isn’t that a little heart-breaking? Not only is Satsuki still in love with Ohana’s father after he has long passed away, but her own daughter continues to misunderstand her on this particular front.
To compound matters, just as Satsuki is about to finish pouring her heart out to her own daughter, Ohana hangs up. Why? Because her mother’s own words overwhelmed Ohana with thoughts of Ko. Goddamnit, girl, your mom is having a heart-to-heart talk with you about your father, but you don’t even hear her out. Everyone watching this show seems to love Ohana, but I don’t think Satsuki is completely at fault for the distance between the her and her daughter. Ohana can be a little self-absorbed at times, especially now. Honestly, I find this more depressing than anything else in the show.
The brawl
This entire scene was ridiculous:
Why? Because Minko is a child. No fast-paced, piano solo is going to convince me that this was some pivotal scene or anything. I’m not disengaging myself from this subplot because they’re fighting over a guy — hell, it’d be a lot more compelling if they actually were fighting over Tohru, but they’re not! Ohana doesn’t even like the guy and we don’t even know, at the moment, if Tohru even likes her! — we find out later that he is “interested” in her, but this doesn’t really say much of anything. So in the end, Minko’s just being the same ridiculous character she’s been all damn season. As a result, I’m disengaging myself from this subplot because it is childish.
Then Tohru pats her on the head (again with the goddamn head pats in anime) and everything’s resolved: “I’m happy. You’re willing to watch over me without even liking me…” Uh, whatever floats your boat, Minko.
Everything else
There were some ridiculous lines this week:
• Yuina: “What? I don’t want to [try on the wedding dress]. I hear that putting on a wedding dress delays your marriage in the future.” This, of course, implies that all young girls should try to get married as soon as possible.
• Tohru: “I just get excited watching her….” That’s what she said!
• Satsuki (to Enishi): “Either way, you need to make sure she’s wet, all right?” Goddamn it, I already used the joke.
• Nako: “Fighting isn’t nice, but I think both of you are wonderful.” Man, that’s deep.
Didn’t she just say she is closing down Kissuiso?
She said she was looking forward to seeing what the rest of Kissuiso would create. That didn’t sound to me like she was going to close the place down, but maybe I heard it wrong.
I thought sealing Kissuiso could only mean that. I don’t know how she could seal it otherwise.
By the way what is this one-sided thing with Ohana? Doesn’t Ko also have a crush on her? That just didn’t make sense to me. I just wish he went with that coworker girl.
Well, yeah, I rewatched the scene and edited the post accordingly.
I think the idea is that he “moved on” from her when we last saw him. So now it’s up to her to get him back or something, which is completely BS to me. She hasn’t thought about him since the 12th episode or so, but gosh, now that she’s ready for him, he should drop everything in his life for her.
Yup, Minko just continues to get worse, and everyone continues to not give a shit about her attitude. I don’t even feel like Ohana even really stood up to her, despite the fact that she was yelling during that little brawl. If I were in her shoes, I wouldn’t like Minko at all. No one deserves to be called names and told to die for no damn reason.
Hopefully, we’ve seen the last of Minko with the silly “love triangle” story wrapped up. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to watch Ohana court Ko and Ko falling for it like a sap.
I gotta say, I hadn’t missed the Ohana/Ko plot at all.
I guess it would be too much to ask if Ko got with the bookstore girl.
It definitely is. I have a feeling Ohana and Ko will be together by the end of the series, because that would just be icing on the typical cake.
Well, the anime hasn’t been heavy once all season. Nothing tragic ever happens so yeah, I’m sure we can bet on that. I guess that’s just the thing about this show — nothing ever happens. The biggest change all season will be Sui shutting down the inn. The anime doesn’t take chances with anything.
I am kind of sad that grandma faded into the background. I really miss her so much. On a personal note overall, I like detailed they animate the feet in this anime. That’s some real dedication in the animation department.
I dunno anything about the feet — it’s not exactly the first place I turn my attention to — but I think with the inn closing down, Sui’s accepting her mortality.
I’m just gonna predict that it would end all cute and neatly like AnoHana did. No resolved drama, no true conflict that needs to be addressed. Just nakamas and happy.
At least Ano Hana had the whole dead friend needs to go to heaven drama. There’s nothing in HanaIro. People were all “DIS IS TWO COURS; THERE WILL BE DEVELOPMENT LATERZ” but, well, nothing’s come of it.
Also, the pat on the head to me is more like a nicer version of a dope slap. It shows that no matter what, you are just a little kid whp knows nothing bout relationships.
I’d also warn Ko about an incoming moeblob. Let’s hope bookstore chick and he are happy t- it won’t, will it?
I dunno about dope slap. The pat on the head just seems like “Silly girl, it’ll be all better now.”
Iunno, a pat on the shoulder or the back is more suitable for the two. Pats on the head are usually meant for older people on younger kids, usually how one treats a child. In other words, Tohru treats Minko as nothing more than a child sister. Minko seems perfectly fine on the fact that Tohru treats him so.
Or just hug the girl. Are hugs too touchy-feely? If I see a crying friend, I hug them. What’s wrong with that? Hugs at least don’t seem paternalistic.
Well true. Hugs seem more perfect in this situation as well.
Yuina’s line was not ridiculous if you consider that she is already engaged (or at least she think she is) to Yosuke, the guy frorm episode 14/15.
Pretty ridiculous to get engaged without hardly any romance, though. Even for Asian cultures where arranged marriages are common.