Hanasaku Iroha – 15

「マメ、のち、晴れ」 (Mame, Nochi, Hare)
“Bean, After, Sunny”

Continuing on from last week’s cliffhanger, I would like to say that I so called it when I thought of Ohana offering to work during her school trip vacation. Somehow, it wouldn’t have felt right if she didn’t step up and do something to remedy the situation thrown in front of her.

Hanasaku Iroha – 14

「これが私の生きる道」 (Kore ga Watashi no Ikiru Michi)
“This is My Way of Life”

With tons of relationship problems building back at home, it was pretty slick of P.A. Works to somehow utilize the infamous beach episode to transition away from Ohana and the love triangle she’s dealing with to giving Yuina the proper introduction that she really deserves.

Hanasaku Iroha – 12

「じゃあな」 (Jyaana)
“See you”

In an unexpected turn of events, the whole idea of a love triangle was destroyed single handedly with one episode. While I feel a little apprehensive about making such a bold statement, I’d have to say that things don’t feel like they’re going the way I thought they originally might have. At least, not for the next few episodes.

Hanasaku Iroha – 09

「喜翆荘の一番長い日」 (Kissuiso no Ichiban Nagai Hi)
“Kissuiso’s Longest Day”

If only all series could recap as well as Iroha does. Instead of wasting precious minutes of my new episode, they managed to bring back that tense feeling I was left with at the end of last week’s episode. I’ll admit that watching Ohana stumble around trying to find Tohru wasn’t really doing it for me, but the drama building inside of Ko and the end of Kissuiso’s longest day made things a ton more interesting.

Hanasaku Iroha – 07

「喜翠戦線異常なし」 (Kissui Sensen Ijyou Nashi)
“All Quiet on the Kissui Front”

The mysterious Wajima Tomoe, the head waitress of Kissuisou. A character who doesn’t really grab your attention at first, but stands out with her strange faces and over the top actions. Who would have thought that in a single episode they’d be able to really introduce Tomoe while pushing the story a little bit further and teaching a life lesson or two?