True Tears was a show that just kept you guessing. Whenever something major happened, you never were sure whether things were what they seemed. In Hana-Saku Iroha however, things are exactly what they seem. I know that Mari Okada wrote both of them, but the two shows had completely different directors, and yeah, that really showed in this episode. Talk about something completely different.
“Out of place” is the best way to describe this episode. To think that the creators would actually take the porn novelist seriously. The most surreal part was where Ohana started reading some of his work and started relating to a silly porn script (it’s good to see a girl to not act so stereotypically embarrassed like with a ton of other anime, but going too far into the other direction also leads to questionable acting…), but that suicide attempt of that novelist also was just plain weird.
Whether this episode was good or bad depends pretty much on the rest of this series. This is a show of 26 episodes and with the right amount of development this could be a neat way to flesh out the characters and show something new of them. It’s definitely good that this show tries to be different, but at the moment though, it felt like the majority of the cast was just acting out of character in this episode.
Rating: (Enjoyable)
I’m going to be honest. I am quite disappointed at this episode. Almost out of no where, the majority of the episode suddenly resorted to being fan-service focused. In addition, what could have been a dramatic episode, it instead resorted to make a comedy piñata out of the novelist…
In fact, this felt like one of those obligatory filler episodes that 2-cour series tends to have. If I’m being optimistic, then I’m just going to assume it was one of those.
Hopefully the 4th episode gets back on track on the atmosphere that the first two episodes were on.
….. uhm… out of left filed is one thing… this came from a different park. You sure this was the actual 3rd episode… and not some joke form the studio?
Is this a joke?! I was looking forward to this episode the past week, and now I am very disappointed. Nothing but pointless fanservice. You are right, she didn’t become the stereotypical blushing girl, but went too far in the other direction!
I hope they never do a similar episode again.
I’m going to pretend that this episode didn’t happen.
I dunno, I just couldn’t disagree more. I thought this episode was hilarious, and I rarely find anime funny. And I really don’ feel we know the cast well enough to say whether or not they were “acting out of character”.
I dunno, I mean how was the plot progression in this episode any less than in episode 2? Episode 2 was about them getting to know each other better, and ultimately this one was too (but with some added comedy and fanservice) Drama shows like this are in constant danger of taking themselves too seriously, so I liked that this episode went the whimsical route.
I know a lot of people are gonna hate me for saying this, but I actually thought this episode was great. Sure the icky fan-service parts were a bit pointless, but they weren’t TOTALLY explicit and they mostly just came from the writer’s mind so I’ll forgive the producers. At least it showed some other sides to the characters (like Nako’s swimming abilities and her gradual acceptance of Ohana, that conversation between Denroku and the grandmother, and Ohana’s ecstasy in getting a message from her boyfriend). Plus I thought the animation was just amazing in this episode. Everything from the waves in the ocean to everyone’s movements and gestures just felt real and life-like. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of it!
I also thought it was hilarious. Especially stopping at the red light =P
The end was back in the “usual” mood of the show anyway.
I’m kinda playing both ends thinking the episode was most definitely wasted time/potential. I appreciate some degree of character build-up and humor, but if they would just take out the ecchi parts would have given it a few more points as a “decent/OK” episode vs the current “wtheck?”. Ecchi certainly has its place in some series, I really dont believe this is one of them =\
This episode was… certainly something. There were some nice moments here, as others said, but the whole thing was just so out of place compared to the other two episodes and showed that comedy isn’t really one of the show’s biggest strengths. Not a bad episode, but I’m hoping that things stick more towards drama from now on and that this was a one time thing.
PREPOSTEROUS! How dare there be slice of life in a slice of life show.
Brainfuck the bath scene
I felt like they acted in character for the most part actually. Ohana is a fairly open-minded person (you would have to be with a mom like that), and we clearly saw that here. My main problem with it was the author was incredibly annoying. The faster he gets out the picture the better. If he starts to get airtime, this show could really be tainted (not by perversion, but rather by stupidity).
I somehow really enjoyed this episode. Not as much as the first two but I still think they managed to develop further into the characters. I just really like the lead. She’s suck a refreshing character!
I thought the bondage part was pushing it a bit, since that’s obviously a crime, but since everything worked out fine in the end, it’s all good to me.
What caught my attention this episode was the insult Minko came up for Ohana. In her notebook, the katakana pronunciation was written above the phrase “hột vịt lộn”, the Vietnamese way to say balut. I enjoyed the reference, but can’t help but think how random it is for something like that to pop up in an anime.
Oh, and in case anyone’s wondering, no, calling someone a balut is not a way to insult them in Vietnamese. It’s my first time seeing someone use it as an insult.
I was a little worried by Ohana’s casual reaction to being bound and gagged, and her willingness to help the person who both hogtied and wrote smut about her. But hey, I liked how it ended, so it wasn’t all bad. Definitely something different.
I personally found this episode hilarious^^ fun to watch + progression = win in my book…
Yeah, I pretty much agree. This was disappointing after the last two. But the ending really salvaged it for me.
If this episode was a publicity stunt to get more viewers and DVD/Bluray sales (Preorders on jp amazon spiked after the airing of the episodes – lol horny otakus)and was one-off, then P.A. Works is genius for manipulating the market and I’ll be willing to let it slide.
If however, this atmosphere continues throughout the episodes, then I will be very dissappointed (as this was my favourite of the season alongside AnoHana) and I will have to lower my expectations to a level that is similar to “another one of those slice of life comedies” aka medicore.
I’d agree with no_sushi about the insult planning. Saying ‘Balut’ was just pure randomness. BTW, if anyone has actually seen Balut, or more to the point seeing someone eat the thing it is truly hideous *shudders*
I think the direction this episode took will make the show better. I’d rather watch various episodes about many different quirky characters than 26 episodes of teenage angst over actually having to work for a living. Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t think the drama built up by the first two episodes was so good that the rest of the show has to be limited by it.