All my hopes and dreams for this anime went down the drain with this episode. Everything I wanted to have not happen did happen, and everything that I wanted to have happen just didn't. This episode genuinely hurt me to my core. It was much more than the average bad anime, since I actually liked this to begin with.
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| WTF is up with Tohru going for the nose? |
So, why the sudden change of heart, you may ask. Quite simply put, the worst case presented just happened in this one episode. Last post, I expected at least a bit of drama and not just a misunderstanding. Even if it was a misunderstanding, having some secret spite against the other inn girl would be expected. This sheer lack of drama, combined with Minchi warming up to Ohana, accounts for the two things I had feared the most.
Part of what made the first episode absolutely amazing was the contrast of characters. You had Ohana on one hand, carefree and just coming from the city, whereas there was also Minchi, working hard towards her goal. It was clear why Minchi hated Ohana; it was about more than just ripping her plants out of the ground. She hated Ohana's core fundamentals of life. For Minchi to show caring towards the end of this episode, even if it was justifiable, just felt wrong. This entire transition occurred over two episodes at most. Something like this should take longer - or, at least, until Ohana started to grow more herself, instead of being used as someone else's experience to grow up. The pacing of Minchi warming up just felt wrong in my eyes.
I mean, this other inn girl is portrayed as being extremely nice, but it feels like it falls really far from the general stereotype. She is the owner's daughter of the rival hot spring, I would assume that at least some ill-intent would be harboured. The fact that they get along perfectly makes me dislike it. This is probably because I'm looking for some kind of drama in my slice-of-life anime, but doesn't change the fact that them getting along feels really off. Maybe that freak in AnoHana would humour me more than this boring relationship.
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| Seriously, does he have a nose fetish? |
I guess not everything is bad, though. It is implied pretty badly that Ko-kun is looking to visit Ohana. Hopefully, some better drama is developed there; I mean, the guy has completely fallen for her, right? If he backs down easily, I will actually drop this series. You gotta draw the line at one point, and I'm drawing it when things just stop flowing in an acceptable way.
I guess I had some extremely high expectations at the start of this anime. I don't think that I would have been so critical if the anime didn't start off so strongly and then dwindled down. I just feel like they have so much more potential here that they aren't making use of. Quite frankly, a drama-less anime is a slice of a boring person's life. Maybe AnoHana was the better choice for slice-of-life, but I'm 90% sure that one is going to let me down too...
~Pearz
