Episode 19 –
The one thing that has always stuck out about Hanasaku Iroha is that how it often manages to push character development in the most absurd, yet at the same time subtle, ways. It’s really quite something to see, where scenes that might be disguised as silly slice-of-life moments actually have a much more implicit meaning to them. This episode does just that with Minko, though not quite as subtle as the bits of development for other characters in this show.
The primary focus in this episode was Minko and her rather conflicting feelings regarding Tohru, as well as her rather antisocial position in relationship to her classmates. It’s actually quite the conundrum here, where Minko’s rather blunt personality sparks off a lot of drama and debate. Seriously though, is omurice that important? I’m guessing there’s something in Minko’s past that biases her against omurice, though I can’t quite imagine what the heck that would be. It’s kind of odd how Minko is working hard to try and impress Tohru, when the girl who wants to make the omurice is trying to do the exact same thing towards one of her own acquaintances. While the drama was a bit too heavy for my liking, it did it’s job of exposing quite a few of Minko’s problems and general demeanor towards certain things.
Aside from all the focus on Minko, this episode also tried to develop characters across the board. We see the rather small bits of development for Nako, Ohana, and even Yuina. While some of the development was a bit subdued and underwhelming, other bits of development were pretty darn good. Ohana’s odd dream, and her reaffirmation as a “shijima lady”, is subtling poking at some of her insecurities about herself. As for Nako, her involvement with the art exhibit turned out to be a rather genuine way of showing her struggling to grow a bit more capable. You could also tell that Nako holds some rather deep admiration for Ohana’s rather headstrong personality, and in retrospect, Nako’s character development episode last week does an amazing job at reinforcing this.
Anyways, this series seems to be continuing with it’s “one side character per arc” development setup, but the writing in this episode was surprisingly better than I anticipated. Hanasaku Iroha has a tendency to mask serious character development in some outrageous, silly plot events, and that mostly holds true in this episode. Don’t get me wrong, I still wish this series would bring some more focus to the star attractions (Ohana and the Shijima family), but the character development for these side characters is gradually improving.
Overall Enjoyment: 3.6/5
Screenshots are later in the post.
Distant Paradise 
Minchi is all out mean this episode! Is it soo hard to make omurice? She said why does work have something to do with with relationships? The menu shes doing is to impress Tohru! Somebody, teach her Organizational Behavior!!
I was seriously thinking “dang Minko, can’t you just let the poor girl have her omurice?”. It’s not like it’s terribly difficult to make omurice, even if you were a complete novice at cooking. Like I said in the post, Minko is rather antisocial at times, and it’s here where it really shows.
What makes this all the more overdramatic is how Minko is making the menu to Tohru’s tastes, exactly like this girl trying to make omurice for one of her acquaintances. Minko needs to learn how to compromise a bit, which I guess will happen more next week.
A bit of a quality drop this week but it’s was wonderfully executed nevertheless. Well judging from the preview there might be a correlation between Minko’s decision to remove the omelet rice from the menu and her past but then again those previews are ever so misleading but I feel that for once the preview is correct.
I can somehow relate to how such small illogical things can escalate to a full blown conflict since it happened to me a lot in high school when were doing school stuff but I don’t think it’s a bad thing since it’s another way of “socializing” by knowing each others differences.
I also would like for this series to focus more on Ohana and her kin because at this point I’m a bit worried about the series’ pacing since it’s almost the final stretch of Hanasaku Iroha and I still can’t imagine how the series will end. I’m confident though on PA Work’s magic since this uncertainty with the conclusion happened before with true tears wherein PA Works held on to the answers until the very last minute before ending it in a very conclusive and satisfying manner.
Well, Hanasaku previews have a strong tendency to be red herrings, so I don’t have too much faith in that preview. Nevertheless, I too think there is some sort of actual reasoning behind Minko’s refusal to allow omurice, or else Minko’s extremely stubborn stance here would make little sense.
But Hanasaku is a rather odd series. For PA Work’s 10th anniversary series, Hanasaku Iroha is extremely inconsistent. It has moments of absolutely brilliant writing, then it has moments that are just outright bland. I’m actually very worried about the ending to this series, though I’m hoping that PA Works pulls through. I mean, PA works has at least done a relatively good job with the climactic moments in this series so far, so hopefully they pull that off for the finale as well.
As long as it doesn’t end up like Angel Beats’ ending I think they’ll be ok.
Wow, I can’t believe you missed the biggest plot point of this episode. Ohana’s dream of a cross dressing Ko is obviously foreshadowing her turn to lesbianism. After all, the first 18 episodes were about Ohana assembling her harem of Nako, Minko, and Yuina.
Minko’s behavior this episode is also attributed to her confusion about how attracted she is to Ohana. Her extreme jealously over Ohana talking to Tohru is definitive proof of this.
LOL, well I certainly missed that.
Never thought that Ohana was secretly building up a harem here xD