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REVIEW: Hanasaku Iroha streaming eps 14-26

Hana-Saku Iroha is only available streaming on Crunchyroll, and no other American license has been announced as of the time of this writing. Despite the quality of the series, it seems like an unlikely candidate to be licensed and released, as it does not have manga or game tie-ins, is very specifically Japanese in many respects, and does not contain any of the kinds of story elements which are normally considered salable in the American DVD/Blu-Ray market.

This series turned out so much better than I thought. It had a beautiful first episode, but then it clearly felt the rest of the series dropped off from that quality. Every other episode started having really dumb elements that almost put me off, like that group of gun fanatics--seriously, I didn't buy for one moment that nobody should have called the cops after all their blatantly criminal antics. I also thought it would've been a lot better without the fan service. I had even considered a number of times in dropping this series.

But after a while, I just gave up. Because despite the low points, it makes up for it with more good points. I got too attached to the characters despite everything. When the story is funny, it's funny, and when it's charming, it's charming. And it definitely closed out with an final episode that was as terrific as the first episode. As mixed as this overall series was, it ultimately became a pleasant surprise to view.

pachy_boy wrote:

This series turned out so much better than I thought. It had a beautiful first episode, but then it clearly felt the rest of the series dropped off from that quality. Every other episode started having really dumb elements that almost put me off, like that group of gun fanatics--seriously, I didn't buy for one moment that nobody should have called the cops after all their blatantly criminal antics. I also thought it would've been a lot better without the fan service. I had even considered a number of times in dropping this series. But after a while, I just gave up. Because despite the low points, it makes up for it with more good points. I got too attached to the characters despite everything. When the story is funny, it's funny, and when it's charming, it's charming. And it definitely closed out with an final episode that was as terrific as the first episode. As mixed as this overall series was, it ultimately became a pleasant surprise to view.

I had a lot of the same complaints about the show plus the drama felt really forced and cheap. This anime was trying way too hard to be a feel good show. I ended up dropping it. Ano Hana turned out to be a much better show and while that anime isn't without its flaws, it has that great nostalgic atmosphere and references going for it.

Despite the quality of the series, it seems like an unlikely candidate to be licensed and released, as it does not have manga or game tie-ins, is very specifically Japanese in many respects, and does not contain any of the kinds of story elements which are normally considered salable in the American DVD/Blu-Ray market

it's interesting for you to say this, because I felt Ano Hana forced too much to make me weep, unsucessful, and that's the reason I don't think it was a great show

To be fair, I don't recall Menma ending up in a strange bondage-like situation. That's when I personally decided that HanaIro wasn't for me.

For me the show was already fatally wounded from the incredibly forced drama, the unrelatable characters and the absolute disaster that was episode three. I wasn't exactly impressed by the first two episodes, and the third one was cringe-inducing.

I don't care how nice a series looks and sounds - and this one is beautiful and well-animated to be sure - I just cannot stand bad writing. For me, good writing and an emotional connection with the characters are the two most important factors in why I give the ratings I do.

But strangely enough, the more the show went on the more I liked it, to the point where I gave it an overall passing grade. Yeah, Decent ain't exactly brilliant, but it is way better than what I was going to rate it if I had dropped it at episode three like I was going to. I don't even know why I kept up with it, probably just so I knew what I was talking about when discussions about the series came up.

I think the first episode I liked was the one with Tomoe and the survivalists. Despite myself, despite the completely illegal things the men were getting away with, I couldn't help but enjoy it. I didn't enjoy many episodes after that one, but there were definitely pieces of episodes that I thought were pretty good.

I hope Hanasaku Iroha is never licensed because I have no interest in buying it (which I would have to as per my three+ fansub episode rule), but on the other hand I would recommend it to certain people I know. Eh, it could have been much much better, and it could have been much much worse. Should I count myself lucky, or should I demand the ten hours of my life back?