hanasaku iroha 8

“Run”

There’s only two real plot points that’s possible for this show: a really busy day at the inn and a visit by Ko. Of course, PA Works decides that it’s a good idea to intertwine the two… you have 18 episodes left! Show some restraint, or by episode 16, we’ll have dead characters coming back wearing cheesy eye masks.

Yes, it’s 26 episodes. PA Works… great job in scheduling 26 episodes for a series that could have done well as a 13 x 2 while not giving Angel Beats more than 14… when it could have been 26 easy and actually fleshed out story/characters. A good part of making anime is knowing how far to take it. 26 for this is too much. 14 for Angel Beats is too low. Unless, of course, the last 13 episodes are all about a Minko / Ohana / Nako love triangle. Then I take back everything I wrote.

(Also, does Tomoe have a huge stash of snacks? I have a stash at work, but it doesn’t compare to hers. I just have a box of Pocky, a bag of pistachios, half a stick of Miracle Puccho, and half a box of Girl Scout cookies.)

(Can’t wait for episode 17: Kissou deals with a bed bug infestation.)

I like Yuina’s outfit, however terrible it might be for fashion sense. But I think her twintails makes it work… it’s like a mash-up between cute teenaged girl and overall-wearing, butt-cracking showing, overweight farmer.

“Don’t forget I used to be a waitress too.”

I can imagine Obasan coming out to be a waitress and cleaning Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s room. Odds he’ll show his junk to her? Off the boards in Vegas.

(Obasan getting sick could have been its own arc. Sign. We have the pizza topping issues… PA Works is just stacking everything on this pie, nevermind if they work together. Ham, pineapple, seaweed, pepperoni, anchovies, carrots, marshmellow peeps… if they can get their hands on it, they’re baking it into this pie.)

The more I hear about Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the more quotes like “On top of that, they have to be sexually accosted by guests? Sadly, yes. And more often than you’d think” that I read, the more I think the sexual harassment angle isn’t being played up enough in Hanasaku Iroha. A pervy author turned whateverheisnow is all we get? And an occasional penismobile? Come on.

Do better.

Sparkle.

(That OP-ED piece on NY Times also shows that there’s a lot of closet meido lovers out there. However, real meido lovers won’t accost them by showing off their junk. There’s better ways to appreciate meido.)

Is it just me, or does Takako needs a good slap on the face? She’s like everything terrible about Dilbert rolled up into a schoolgirl coming-of-age, slice-of-life anime. It’s out of place. Like seeing rich French men not cheating on their wives.

I was cheering when I saw Nako bike in. We all know the obvious solution is to recall the furlonged help… except how does having Nako come back help if Ohana wastes time trying to hunt down Tohru? She wastes a lot of time going to the station, hopping on a train, and then trying to find him in the city. Wouldn’t it make more sense if she just helped out Renji? At the very least until they could make cellular contact with Tohru?

(Though if this sets up for a climatic scene at the ceremony next episode where the justice asks, “Does anyone object to this marriage?” Ohana pops up and objects. That would be awesome. Almost as awesome as seeing Newt Ginrinch object to a George Takei gay wedding.)

I like the double contrivance of a tunnel plus Ohana turning off her phone for work to remove the cell phone from the equation of Ko’s visit, because, after all, we can’t have sensible plot where Ko texts (or emails) Ohana that he’s visiting, or he just shows up and surprises her. Oops, he can’t do that. This isn’t a shoujo series. There will be no surprise unions while roses bloom in the background.

(Can I make a “They could have just said they were using AT&T, and we’d all understand their drop call issues” joke? In other news, isn’t AT&T buying T-Mobile like the drunk ugly guy hooking up with the drunk ugly girl at a party?)

Giving preferential treatment to a few is a bad idea… because you don’t know who is the secret guest reviewer, if there is one. The plan relies on the failed author to deliver… and that’s just asking a lot. Also, in this day and age of Yelp, everyone is a secret guest reviewer.

“There’s no time like the present!”

I like the Phoenix Wright parody. Bravo, Shaft.

And the way Renji fails under pressure… well… he can just be Antoine Walker to Ohana’s Dirk Nowitzki.

Three MVPs…

1. Dirk Nowitzki.
2. Derrick Rose.
3. Chris Bosh.

6 Responses to “hanasaku iroha 8”

  1. A good part of making anime is knowing how far to take it. 26 for this is too much.

    Sadly pacing is something a lot of studios have problems with. Back in primary school (elementary school if you like) I was told that a to plan a story you need to know the beginning the middle and the end of it – it seems to have been a lesson that few in the anime industry received. That forms your basic framework, then you can slot the individual plots/arcs/events in around that – and if that slotting means the middle doesn’t fall on episode 6 (+- 1) for a 12 episode show, or 12 for a 24, then you’ve done it wrong, and things need to be reworked. It should also mean that before any storyboarding/drawing’s done that you can tighten the pacing up a bit too (do we really need that extra Makoto/Fuko episode etc?).

    Angel Beats is definitely the poster-child for a lack of proper planning. Gurren Lagann is how to do amazing things with 26.

    I guess maybe another problem is the rigid season based scheduling meaning you can either have 12-14 episodes, or double that, where for some a middle ground 16 may be the ideal length. I guess this is what Shaft tried to remedy with the web episodes of Bakemonogatari (just a shame about the execution), and Eden of the East with the two movies (though since they both lost the plot, and something of the original feel of the show they should just have shown some more faith in their distinct concept and gone with one 24 episode show or two 12s).

  2. you frequently mention phones not being used properly enough in anime, yet when ohana actually uses a her phone to find the route, you dont mention it! plus, ponytail girl in moon room is hawt.

  3. Hi, just found your blog. Very nice!

    Anyway, I’ve no idea how the pacing of this show will go, but most likely, we’ll probably go more into more development for the other characters, since there’s quite a bit of cast for this show. We do still have Obasan, Renji, Tohru, Beanman, etc, so there must be more to them than meets the eye. All the while, we’ll see consistent development for the main characters, maybe? This is just my opinion, but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see what P.A. Works come up with, this being their first 26-episode series. ^_^

  4. Furlonged?

  5. imo, slice of life is best done in film (see 5cm/s)

  6. “Furlonged” is a euphemestic meme waiting to happen.

    Love the artistry in this show – just looking through the screenshots in the post amazes me with the backgrounds.

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