LogFAQs > #967884874

159. Hanasaku Iroha
https://myanimelist.net/anime/9289/Hanasaku_Iroha
Spring 2011 (26 episodes)
My Score: 5/10, MAL Score: 7.92/10
Best Character: Matsumae Ohana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuNz1We4b7s

Premise: When her mother elopes with a new boyfriend, Matsumae Ohana is sent to her grandmother's rural inn. There she'll need to work to earn her keep and for the respect of her new coworkers.

The Good: I came very close to dropping Hanasaku Iroha after the first three episodes, but I'm glad I stuck with it in the end. Ohana faces a ton of abuse early on, and everyone was so reverent towards this old inn that neither she nor I cared about. This is the sort of story where the characters grow on you, though. The inn is also kind of a character itself, and I'll admit I felt attached to it by the end. Ohana is still the best part about this the whole way through. She's the type of person who's always pushing forward, and she refuses to take shit from anyone.

The Bad: I said above that the characters and setting eventually grew on me, but they were all so awful at the start that they really needed to work at it. Hanasaku Iroha is a PA Works original, and while I haven't looked up if these were all written by the same person, their workplace anime all have one thing in common. Between Shirobako and Aquatope and this, PA Works is great at making a workplace feel absolutely terrible. That's the kind of thing I watch anime to get away from, so the early parts of Hanasaku Iroha were hell to get through. There were still a few characters who never won me over, too. Minko is a terrible person, and Ohana's mother always sucked no matter how the story tried to justify her.

Overall: I really like stories where a character goes someplace new and overcomes obstacles while forming bonds. Despite having all of that, Hanasaku Iroha still nearly lost me early on. Ohana goes to a new place under such crappy circumstance, and all the people there sucked too much for me to want her to bond with them. I'm surprised I wound up caring as much as I did because early on I wanted Ohana to burn that inn down with everyone inside. I suppose it's a testament to the quality of the writing that most of them managed to win me over. Hanasaku Iroha still started way too rough for my tastes, so nothing could completely erase my negative feelings.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
158: This anime learned that fighting witches isn't fun.
157: This anime is fighting to protect the memories of anime.
156: This anime used up all of its wishes.