Anime Recommendation: Hana-Saku Iroha7

Remember that we’ve talked about many much I am expecting the April Anime series Hana-Saku Iroha (花咲くいろは)? The first episode was aired and guess how I feel? It’s definitely worth waiting for!

The story is about Ohana Matsumae who was sent to live with her grandmother who was the owner of a hot spring inn. Ohana thought it could be a dramatic change in her life as she was always wanting to have a different lifestyle even though she was still struggling in her mind for the dream that she did not have.

As for the reason why she was sent to live with her grandma, it was because her mother’s boyfriend. He seemed to have some trouble with his financial situation which kindly reminds me of Hayate no Gotoku!. But even though Ohana’s mother is irresponsible, she did care about Ohana and asked her to go to her grandma.

Time to say goodbye to her friend. Koichi, a good friend of her eventually told Ohana his feeling. Even though Ohana did not answer, but we can clearly see that she has a similar feeling for him.

I have to say that P.A. Works (producer) did a great job for the series. The background is beautiful and the character design is so cute and Kanae Itou made a great support as a voicer for the character while Ohana was heading her way to the new life.

When Ohana arrived at the inn, she met Minko, the girl who told Ohana to “Go to Hell” at the very moment they met.

I do think Ohana understand that she has to work in order to live. Without any warm greeting form her grandma, Ohana started to work right from the first day after arrival. Nothing is unreasonable here but when I look at Ohana’s face, I think I would love to have a daughter like her

The bedroom, or to be specific, the dorm. It reminds me of the dorm in my high school, which turned out to be very much similar.

Minko was slapped by the owner of the inn due to the trouble cause by Ohana. Minko did not say a word of complain but Ohana stand out to defend Minko.

As Ohana knew that this is her fault, she asked her grandma to slap her. This is probably the most touching scene of the episode but Minko did not seem to be moved and still ask Ohana to “Go to Hell”, at least in the surface.

It was difficult to imagine what the life would be for Ohana, and she was not very much ready for this reality. But as she stopped crying and rush off to her work, I do have a faith the she started to understand. It was the second day after arrival.

I don’t usually like to write episode review for series but I do think I need to make a exception for this great series. Ohana is the kind of girl that I really like, strong willed, stand out to speak her mind and brave to face the reality. With Kanae Itou as the voicer, whose voice I fell in love with since Shining Hearts, the character do stand out.

To sum up in another word, it is a must watch series in your watch list of this season and you may want to treat it as Angel Beats! (same producer) or alike. The OP, ED and the insert songs are beautiful. The OP, ハナノイロ, by nano.RIPE, is about to release on April 20th. You can pre-order here. And the ED Hazy by スフィア will be released on May 11, pre-order here.

For more information about what’s going to air this month, check out our New Anime Guide.