Last episode of Hanasaku Iroha ended with Ohana’s mom on the way to Kissui Inn for a visit. Ostensibly the goal is get her to take back the nasty review she wrote about it, but I think it’s more likely to lead to a heated argument between her and the landlady, if not an outright fistfight. I’m hoping this will flesh out the landlady’s character a little, make her seem like less of a harsh stone obelisk and more of a real person. This show does a good job of making most of the characters deep, the landlady kind of sticks out. Here’s hoping we see a softer side, or a harder side, or just any side that’s a little less dispassionate in episode 13 of Hanasaku Iroha.
…thirty minutes pass…
Is there really anyone who is supposed to appear to be trying hard? Students, I guess, and unskilled laborers, and athletes. Mostly trying hard just signals you haven't mastered the skills to succeed effortlessly, though.
The subbers I was following for this show, Doki, changed translators, it seems. The change seems to be for the worse – they’ve started translating “bonboru”. Not only is it a concept without a simple English equivalent, it’s a concept without a simple Japanese equivalent! That’s why Ohana had to coin one. She explained her coinage in the context of the show, and a big part of her charm is how she works her coined expressions into her everyday speech. If Doki is going to translate it and destroy this for me, I might have to look for a new subbing group.
Anyway as to the show itself, I was a little confused about how everyone was talking about how Ohana got dumped. Surely, Ohana was the one that did the dumping? She called Kou-chan up and said “I’m terrible please leave me alone”, and Kou-chan said “Ok, bye”, and somehow that means she was dumped because he didn’t say “Ok, see ya” instead? Her view of the situation is all tied up in knots. Especially when the drinking party started characterizing it as her being “rejected”. She did all the rejecting! I guess people always want to view themselves in the best light, and being the person causing the breakup is not a good light to be viewed in. Or maybe it has more to do with her wanting to believe she wanted to be with Kou-chan but not actually wanting to be with him: having been “rejected” by him is a good excuse for moving on to Tohru.
We also touched on themes of family in this episode. The reconciliation across the generations was quicker than I expected, but it was cute how they wound up commiserating about men together like nothing had ever happened between them. It’s hard to stay mad at your family, you’re pretty much stuck with them. You think you’ve gotten rid of your wayward daughter, then suddenly one day your granddaughter shows up on your doorstep and you have to feed and house her. What are you gonna do, turn her away? She’s family.
suntzuanime 