Hanayamata – 10
“Tell me your secrets, naruko”
Ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, nana, hachi. Ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, nana, hachi. Ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, nana, hanchi. HEY! Let’s get back to the basics, and study up. We got the seitokaicho on deck!
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Himawari 向日葵
This is yosakoi!
…and so we begin our episode with Machi-chan wanting to join the Yosakoi club. Since we’ve since her dancing along with the other cast members in the OP all along, this is pretty much the natural progression the show has taken on since the beginning. With that in mind, I think this goes down as one of my favorites in the past couple of episodes. The drama, such as it is, is much more natural, and the dilemma, has more spark to it.
Machi is the type you can easily say, “still waters run deep” and this is the case for her in many facets of her personality. She is studious, prompt, prepared, and collected. Which isn’t to say there isn’t anything else to say about her, and I love what this show has done with her so far. This episode in particular was on fire on how subtle it was with her characterization. I know, that’s a contradiction, but that’s how I felt watching.
“Listen closely to Giant Naruko and Giant Hand tell you the secrets”
There were just so many neat riffs they put into place showing Machi in relation to the other characters. They built off from her usual seitokaicho stance, and her outright declaring she will join the club…something none of them really did, save Hana, who is a founder, so that hardly counts. She sat by herself on the train ride to the training camp. Her reaction to the house lady asking the girls to be quiet when their practice got to loud; all of them jump, and she was out of the flow, still stunned she wasn’t getting the choregraphy down. She studied the film Sally-chan-sensei made of a complete dance, and took notes. She knew she wasn’t getting it, but didn’t want to back down. Study. That’s all it takes.
But it does take more. She needs her friends. I thought it was so very ironic for Hana to say that they would slow the moves down so she could catch up. That was brilliant. Hana slowing down? But she also needed the reflection upon why she wanted to join in the first place. She says it’s because it looked like fun, but for me, I think she needed to find a place with others. Which is a great way to have fun. So mission accomplished, I say…
Hanairo
Aniki getting things done, yo!
At this point, I’m thinking that the kyodaina tako (seen above), if not seen as a kami ex machina, might just be a kami. Yeah, I know I’m stretching that. But Hana has given him offerings, in the form of Sally’s email addy, and the promise to buy from the shop later. He gives them a last minute pep talk when they are down after seeing an established troupe perform, and they are praying to him in the OP. So, I’m going with the kami thing until you folks prove me wrong. In this episode the non-drama drama point got solved by him. So there’s more kindling for my fire. And that was just silly, forgetting to register. I know it added a wrinkle to smooth out, but it felt so out of place…again. But it looks like we got some bigger fires heading up next week. I think we all kinda knew that once we heard Hana’s backstory that some element would come from it to provide another wrinkle.
…I just hope she’s more Irisviel than Bazett…those two do tend to surprise blonde LOLIs…
Ikebana
This was a lovely episode. I think my favorite moment was the impromptu practice that became an impromptu performance. I love when Machi stepped up corrected when someone thought it was an oban dance, and she really geeked out in describing it. So much, I fell a bit in love with her. In this regard, some of my hopes for the show have come to fruition. I’ve wanted to see them flesh her out more and more as they’ve moved the narrative along, and they’ve done it with a few speed bumps, but with more aplomb. What did you folks think?
About skylion
All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
It’s interesting… someone elsewhere commented that this episode was apparently almost all anime-original content (that person was disappointed, because apparently there is an onsen-chapter in the manga, and he was hoping we’d be getting it instead). However, if this was original content, the amount of characterization they created for Machi was truly amazing.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
As far as I know, I think I checked last week, I can only find four chapters of the manga as scanlations; so I would like to see what they had to say here.
I like to think that Hana steals the show, but Machi brings it back.
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
Batoto has up to chapter 7, but it still doesn’t cover anything like that (it just goes through Yaya and Naru’s argument and subsequent jealousy/tsundere realization). I can only assume the viewer in question has been reading it raw.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I’m so old and set in my ways that I got to the same places I always go. Never visited Batoto regularly before, so I never check it….
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I love this show, but have been getting torqued by the run-of-the-mill cliche challenges they face. The sheer unoriginality is offputting to me. And they do so well with all the other things, that they’re reading the roadblocks out of The Big Book of Anime Plots is just disappointing. They don’t even play them up, even. They show up just to get knocked down immediately.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…yes…
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 386 comments
Yeah a Machi episode! Finally glasses girl joins! wootsauce, we knew she would join because of the opening, but I was curious to see how she would join. I was guessing Tami would have a hand in it,though she might have. But she just decides and joins the group, basically “if I’m in the group we are going to win and do this 100%” You go Machi.. work these girls!
My favorite part of the episode was Machi, watching her try to fit in and practice/study hard so she can be with everyone else. I feel in love with her as well hehe, though I knew I would because.. glasses.. and well she has her cute moments, like Yaya at the end…”your actually pretty cute” and they all blush.. or when Hana see her without glasses, oh you girls.
So ya, I enjoyed this episode, probably more then I should have, but hey my star finally joined so that was great, and I hope she gets more flesh out like you said hehe. Yozakura Quartet mention haha nice
(I miss that show), I thought the same thing, though its the only thing that has these “magical +7 life” to them, so thanks for that =P. And before I end this I still love Hana hyperness, and Naru’s shy cuteness, which she seems to getting over more and more? They grow up so fast /tear.Anyways, next week Mama-san shows up! and just like you, Fate/ popped up in my head, I told fosh..”hey it’s saber!” so That will be fun to see, and see what kinda drama, heart tugging we will get.. Just thinking about it gives me warm fuzzy feelings haha. Mama-san!~
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Machi-chan is definitely a cute. But we all knew this anyway.
I’ve yet to eat kuro-tamago, but this is the second instance I’ve seen them in anime, YQZ being the first, so I naturally thought of my favorite youkai gang…I’ve had century eggs, which I don’t recommend unless you have an adventurous palate, and I’ve had tea eggs, which I do recommend. Both are Chinese in origin.
I think Mama-san is going to be the same type of speed bump the gang has encountered before, the plot is kind of writing itself like that..
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Hey! Don’t bad-mouth century eggs. They’re awesome!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I wasn’t bad mouthing them at all. Just setting the record straight up front. From my POV, they are a very acquired taste. But then, it all can’t be balut, can it?
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Haha, fair enough. I guess the moral of the story is there’s always an egg more exotic than the next.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 386 comments
yep
Exotic eggs.. hmmm I’d totally give them a try, but i’d doubt id actually get them anytime soon haha but thanks will keep those in mind.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Hanayamata’s mangaka apparently started out by doing doujins for the Touhou franchise. Not sure what that is, but it seems to feature cute girls as well.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Touhou is a doujin series of games based on the bullet hell style. All the girls are insane powerful with fairly well developed back-stories. That’s about all I really know. Well, I do know my G+ stream is fair inundated with Touhou pixiv art at a moments notice…So, it has a fanbase.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Honestly, I rolled my eyes a little when Hana’s mom showed up and called. Heeeeeere we go again~
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
IKR!
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
I enjoyed this episode a lot more than the last one. Episode 9 felt so heavy-handed to me. This one was on target. I liked the understated way Sally and Machi were shown interacting.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…and how Tami smiles every time…