Anime Review #2: Hanayamata

Hanayamata

Alright, everybody! Yuri-chan here. ﾟ･✿ヾ╲(｡◕‿◕｡)╱✿･ﾟ It's time for another anime review!

Now, Hanayamata may not look like your first pick for "something amazing", or "epic mindfuck", but it sure was my pick for "I just want to relax and smile like a happy fool". When I was down, this flowery anime picked me up and threw me on a rainbow riding a pink fluffy unicorn. Even the title made me smile in amusement, finding that is was made up from the names of our heroines. So silly! ＼(^o^)／

If you are note interested in reading the review, you can just jump to the mark and decide whether you'd like to join me in watching this series.

Let's get started!

0) Statistics

Genre: Comedy, Slice-of-life, School Life, Dance
Year: 2014
Episodes: 12
Studio: Madhouse

The Story

This anime's story is centered on a group of friends that bond over discovering the joys of a dance called yosakoi. The protagonist of the show, a lively girl called Naru, encounters a strange blonde maiden dancing on the steps of a shrine. She mistakes the stranger in question, an American student named Hana N. Fountenstand, for a fairy and chases after her in hopes that she would bring her to a magical world. 

In the end, Hana does bring a drop of magic to Naru's life, by bringing Naru's old friends together again, alongside with new companions, by giving her courage and confidence and by generally showing her a good time.

While this story may appear your usual moe-school girl type of thing, I personally found it surprising in many ways. Unlike what you'd expect, these girls don't have it that easily. They each face different obstacles on their way to fulfilling their dream -- dancing yosakoi in the Hanairo Festival. These characters have a certain humanity in their actions: they don't always win, they learn, they make mistakes and they fight just like us. This show succeeds where many others have failed. 

There is the risk for some of you to find this anime boring, but I suppose that is a matter of preference. As a niche anime, this series will never be surprising or shocking, there will be no tension to make you crave the next episode and you will definitely not run to your friends yelling "Oh my God, you won't believe what happened in Hanayamata!". Still, watching this was a pleasant experience.

The Characters

In my humble opinion, these characters make up in development where they lack in personality. All of them are anime girl stereotypes, but each of them has a certain feature that makes them unique among shoujo anime heroines.

Naru

Naru is our protagonist. She is the leader of the group and the narrator in the first episode. Her shiny eyes and fluttery eyelashes are only overtaken in cuteness by her crippling clumsiness. For the greatest part of the series, Naru is struggling with her insecurities, but not even once has she complained. She is hard working, honest, friendly to the point of naivety -- the perfect main character for a shoujo moe series. What I found interesting in this character's past was the impact that a certain event had on her personality. After being humiliated in front of the whole school, Naru has developed a strong sense of self-consciousness, for which the whole team has to suffer.

Hana

Hana is a transfer student from America and, like many other transfer students from abroad, she has long flowing blonde hair, big blue eyes and a dazzling smile. Her dream is to share with the world the wonders of the yosakoi dance, and she does not fail at making a fool of herself in the process. 
For me, this character was a necessary evil in the series. She was just as annoying as she could, being loud, hyperactive, even oblivious. While she is an important part of the group, I feel like her design could be improved upon. I know this is anime, but I feel like her hair should make just a little bit more sense, as well as her openness to strangers. If a little blonde girl were to spent as much time with a single bald man as this little girl does, there would probably be more that one red flag in the spotlight. (Get it? They use flags in the yosakoi dance (*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ)) )

Yaya

Yaya-chan is the designated tsundere for this series. She is strong, feminine, but she does not fear expressing her emotions. She gets flustered easily and seems to have a soft spot for Naru. Since the two of them have been friends for years, the only thing that I can't really understand is how come Naru ditched her so easily in order to hang out with Hana? Was their friendship not strong enough? Were Yaya's band friends too time-consuming for the two girls to hang out anymore? For me, it just doesn't make sense. It seems only natural that Yaya would get jealous when Naru made new friends.

Machi

And here we have Machi. She is the typical student council president: she wears glasses, she's though and has very high standards, her grades are fantastic and nothing seems to go bad for her... Well, not really. Perhaps if we exclude the fact that she has a mild sister complex and difficulty in understanding the world without putting it into relation with herself, she might fall more into her stereotype. But she doesn't, and that is what makes her a good character. She has flaws, even if not intended, and she is the result of a combination of features typically found in other types of characters. She was very fun to watch, and I can't help but regret not having seen more of her, since she was practically invisible during the first half of the series.

Tami

Tami was, in my opinion, the most unsurprising character in this anime. She fulfills the role of  the perfect Japanese woman, having been brought up in a traditional home, her only ambition being to please her father and raise up to his expectations. Aside from that, this young lady has nothing more to her than dim optimism and shy smiles. What I did like about her, however, is that she managed to overcome the attachment to her father in order to pursue her own dream -- and it turned out well. Aside from being a pattern-girl, I think that Tami-chan best conveys the message of the show: that any dream can come true, if you try hard enough.

3) The Art

Featuring fabulous animation by studio Madhouse and adorable character design by manga author Sou Hamayumiba, this anime's art is very high on my list. The color palette is absolutely gorgeous and I loved the kimonos and yukatas all over this series. Not to mention that the girls are super-cute. The scenes were not repetitive and it was a great example of how 2D art is more than enough to make us fall in love with an anime. I especially appreciated the lack of 3D art, since it seems to me that animation studios can't really manage to combine 3D and 2D without making it look like something pulled put from Courage, the Cowardly Dog.

4) The Music

Although this is an anime about dancing, I didn't have high expectations from the start. The main theme can be found both in the intro, as well as throughout the series, and I personally found this annoying. While I did like the fact that it was performed by the main voice actresses, its repetitive nature encouraged me to find flaws in the song, as well as to grow tired of it. I would have liked to see more diversity in the musical part of the series.

5) Popularity

To be honest, I never imagined that this anime could be popular. It doesn't seem to have anything revolutionary, it isn't exactly the greatest tear-jerker of them all, so why does it have such a wide fanbase? 
In my humble opinion, this show is the perfect combination of cute and relatable characters, high-definition graphics and a not-that-bad story. The fans were not impressed, they were comforted by the simplicity and charm of the show.

The Conclusion

Story: 6,5
Characters: 8
Art: 8,5
Music: 5
Popularity:6

Total:6,8

Please join me again next week for another review and don't forget to comment and follow! May you watch anime in peace.