Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Hanasaku Iroha Episode 15 &16--Motivation

Hanasaku Iroha Episode 16 Screenshot 1

Double episode post since I didn't get a chance to write the post last week. Both of these episodes continue the trend of giving development to characters that have been mostly ignored so far.

Episode 15
Hanasaku Iroha Episode 15 Screenshot 1
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Hanasaku Iroha Episode 15 Screenshot 3

There's a saying that anything worth doing isn't easy, and I think that this is essentially the "moral" of the episode, if there is one. Ohana eventually convinces the inn managers to let her help them out despite being on vacation because of her deep commitment to her job, and we find out why Yuina had changed her mind from the promise that she had given Yousuke all those years ago.

Hanasaku Iroha Episode 15 Screenshot 4
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I was disappointed when Yuina's apparent reasoning behind not wanting to work at an inn was that it was "too hard." I mean, it's fine if that's just not the job for her, but to dismiss it only because she doesn't like to put in an effort? And then there was her reason for changing her mind, which basically comes down to the fact that she was jealous of Ohana and didn't want to be upstaged by her. The differences between them were in full play in this episode as well. Basically, I'm not really liking Yuina's character at the moment, since I think that she needs a lot more life experience (read: character development) before I'll be able to sympathize with her. Hopefully the motivation that she showed towards the end of the episode doesn't go away and she really does make an effort towards learning how to run an inn from here on out.

Episode 16
Hanasaku Iroha Episode 16 Screenshot 2
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Leaving Yuina behind, the next episode focuses on Enishi and the first good idea that Takako has brought forward; the inn is going to be used as the backdrop for a movie. Between the scenes of the actual shooting for the film and Ohana and Co. cleaning the pool, there's some pretty good development for Enishi going on in this episode, showing how he's trying to take charge of the inn and run it properly despite his belief that his sister would have made a better manager. I'm not quite sure what to make of the whole middle-school swimsuit thing, but what I think Enishi was getting at was that he wants to be like his sister and succeed.

Hanasaku Iroha Episode 16 Screenshot 5
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But despite all of this, the presentation of the film crew and their insistence on having the staff members act in the movie, perform in camera tests and even let the perv writer pen one of the scenes without letting him know what direction the movie was going to take made the situation feel a bit off to me. I get the distinct feeling that Enishi, the inn and everyone who works there are being used, and that the movie will not be the great production that everyone expects it to be. This feeling was solidified with the ringing of the phone at the end of the episode with the echoing of the girls' laughter behind it. The situation has bad news written all over it; the only question is what form it will take.

Images from Crunchyroll.com.

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