Hanayamata

Have you wanted to know what is yosakoi dance is all about? This anime can provide you what is the meaning of yosakoi all about. Combination of Slice of Life, Comedy and Japan Culture is what i could think that make this anime as a good candidate to receive a season 2. Well done Madhouse studios! Story: 8/10 - With 12 episodes available, i say the plot of the story was really impressive, not only impressive but the development between characters too and how they brought their club which is the Yosakoi club to at least 2 big festivals, one failure but manage to complete and one successful and quite memorable festival. Sadness, happiness, kawainess, it was everywhere. Art: 8/10 - I love the character designs of all the 5 girls, it was rather unique in my perspective, beautifully done. Background was a well done too. Sound:8/10 - Hana wa Odore ya iroha ni ho, the name of the OP song was at least the best OP i ever heard, a cheerful with energetic voices reflecting that they were to achieve something with a little courage. They did use this as their background music. Character: 8/10 - Naru who once never shine and is afraid of the crowd, eventually shine up like a heroine for once she dreamed to be one and has at least overcome her fear of the crowd. The rest, you guys should watch to see the development. Enjoyment: 10/10 - I have to say that this really almost brought me to tears especially episode 12, it was really an emotional episode where all the characters finally dance together with the OP song as the main background music. Overall, i have to say all the 12 episode was really moving and enjoyable to watch. There may be ups,downs, annoyance and tears. Hanayamata has given us a lot of joy. We will wait for you again in season 2, more kawaiiness and all those OPs and Naru and Hana and Yaya and Machi and Tami-Onechann and Sally-Chan Sensei and Giant Octupus. Overall: 8.5/10

Hanayamata isn't good enough to compete with all the available CGDCT anime (it's good, but it's not great), however Hanayamata's competitive advantage is that it has a good English dub which lowers the required investment into the show (e.g., I can watch while doing chores with English-dubs). While Hanayamata's English dub is inferior to the Japanese original (as English dubs usually are), it's good enough that the show isn't ruined by it, and if you've got the extra time to focus for English-subs there are better offerings... With the lowered investment (as an English dub) Hanayamata is definitely worth watching, though definitely watch k-On!! first (which also has an excellent English Dub, one of the very rare cases where I prefer the dub to the sub (for everything but the k-on! movie anyway))

WARNING CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS IF THAT"S EVEN POSSIBLE FOR THIS KIND OF SHOW. I ALSO GET REALLY TECHNICAL SOMETIMES. The first thing Hanayamata greets you with is a stunningly beautiful scene with two of our main characters having an almost transcendental encounter against a super-moonlit setting. Then we dive into what is probably the catchiest and colourful opening of 2014. What. An. Opening. Hanayamata promises a great deal with it being directed and written by some prolific names in the industry. Ishizuka Atsuko had just cemented herself as a force in the industry the previous season with the conclusion of No Game No Life whilst Yoshida Reiko had a solid base having worked on numerous similar anime before. Hanayamata is a CGDCT anime that dares to challenge the might of the season's-prior GochiUsa at its own game. After watching both I can say for sure that Hanayamata can be proud of itself. The story is a simple one that has been told many times over. Our MC, Sekiya Naru, is a shy wallflower who has never wanted to step into the spotlight and has a deep admiration for fairy tale princesses who, in her eyes, embody the sparkling way of life she feels she could never have (no one tell her about how dark the original tales most of them were based on...). After a distinct meeting with our deuteragonist Hana - who she thought to be a fairy from her much-applauded fairy tales - she is introduced to the free-style, Japanese dance form of Yosakoi. Due to its flashy and bright nature, Yosakoi is something that puts people in the center of attention which is a position our MC has never even thought of being in. From then on she starts a journey of growth whilst gathering new friends. Yes yes its probably the most overdone premise at this point. You have to really try to be noticed in this day and age if you want to be a CGDCT anime. The first thing that sets this anime apart from others like it is its art and animation. The anime uses large and liberal use of bright colours and lighting which is incredibly pleasing to the eyes when combined with the soft and simple designs of the characters. This show seriously looks amazing especially in its wonderfully animated OP sequence. The use of colour and lighting is wonderfully melded in scenes to set the mood and this ties in well with the solid direction. Ishizuka's free direction can be clearly seen in the first episode with her excellent use of space filling, perspective shots, movement and colour making me reminisce about the wonderfully directed first episode of Sakurasou. Bright colours and free movement are incredibly important aspects in this show both thematically. Yosakoi is a dance introduced as a powerful, bright and free activity that is best done in groups. The creators took advantage of the flowing and deliberate medium of animation to express this power and I was just as awed as the characters were in episode 5. While this show doesn't have nearly as much character animation as the works of Kyoani or PA Works it can challenge them on an aesthetic level which is more than enough. The second thing that sets this show apart from others is its character interactions. Despite being a CGDCT show it actually has a slightly more serious edge with a thin veneer of drama. I mean it in a good way when I say that. It allows another dimension into our characters as we see them overcome their personal struggles. Naru's personal troubles of being a shrinking violet, in particular, effectively had a whole arc spanning the series' length but was well executed since she had a lot of good dialogue in the context of the series. It was a slow, subtle growth that was amplified by the character interactions. This show is about the way people can open doors for others by making them realise what it takes for them to be happy. The anime did a great job showing the thoughts of each character and how meeting each other allowed them to change. Having relevant and meaningful character interactions throughout a show is a difficult thing to pull off in anime (especially SoLs like this one) but this anime doesn't waste time in with each character feeling more naturally complete by the end of the show. Unfortunately, after all that, I'll have to start with the negatives of the show here. The absolute biggest problem of this show is the pacing. Whilst the character interactions are perfectly fine, the pacing of them and the events of the show is almost uncanny. As I've said before, this show waste no time with the characters. The problem arises when we are hit by an important mini character arc with little to no warning and the anime carries on expecting us to already be invested in the character. For example, Tami - Naru's Nadeshiko's friend - is suddenly given her character arc with all her personal problems that need to be solved in episode 4. The anime than rushes to give her a backstory and then completely resolve all her problems within that one episode. The anime could do much better to not immediately give us such a serious shift in mood. A more overt example is the introduction of the animosity between Student Council President, Tokiwa Machi and her older sister and teacher, Sari (Sally). This was episode 9 and we were hardly given anything about Machi despite her effectively being given MC status in the show's OP for the past 8 episodes. Her hostility towards her sister - the advisor of the Yosakoi club the group created - was brought up, fought over, and resolved in less than one episode (9). The show never gave much to any of the sisters nor any insight into what drives them before that point. It just suddenly appeared and expected you to care about them. The show was precariously balanced on a tightrope at this point since the previous episode was meant to be a sort of conclusion to a mini-arc of practicing for the department store festival. Episodes 6-9 had to incorporate way more stuff than the story could handle. This included the conclusion of Yaya's mini-arc (her second one, in fact), the practicing and pay off for the department store festival, Naru's stage fright and phobia of the audience (which was also brought up too suddenly although it was more expected), Hana collapsing from what I assume to be fatigue from working to hard (which was also never alluded too in previous episodes and was never mentioned ever again after her rushed recovery at the start of the next episode in order to make an awkward segue into...), the Tokiwa sisters' mini-arc and Machi finally joining the group to complete it. Careful planning could probably get things done in a consistent and cohesive manner but the show felt way too overloaded and rushed at that point. Due to this rush, there's also a feeling of some events feeling insubstantial. Seemingly important events like Tami getting her father's approval and Yaya's band quitting after a failed audition and personal issues are never really brought up and resolved in a meaningful way. Don't let the previous section detract you from the show, though. Hanayamata has genuine heart to it. I'm glad to say that the final stretch of the show was brilliantly done. It was, like the rest of the show, quite rushed on a narrative level but this time I felt that the events had enough time to resolve themselves. After Machi joins the club the pacing withing the episodes felt much more natural and the anime kicked down a gear to relax a bit. The anime also brought focus on the best character of the show - Hana. It is Hana's motivations that kick-start and drive the show. She clearly expresses her aspirations which hugely influences the cast of the show. She's someone who has both an important introspective side to her as well as offering insight into others. While she may have a childish demeanor as fitting for her age, she expresses a surprising amount of maturity as she has a good understanding on her parents' divorce as well as being able to see the bigger picture of her life. I…

Despite having different personalities, different circumstances, anyone can come together and be as one for their dreams. Shining alongside each other, these girls showed their love, their burning manly spirit, for yosakoi. Hanayamata's a nice show. The art is pretty well done. All those beautiful colors gives the show appeal, and the smooth and continuous animation makes watching cute girls dance all the more fun. Music is definitely great. While the soundtrack was just average, I liked the ED theme, and loved the OP even more. They did a good job with the characters. There was a good amount of growth with each one, and it had a good grasp on the relationships of everyone. Story is simple. The emotions are there, but wasn't really executed well enough to make full use of it. Calm and sweet; Touching and surprising.

CGDCT is a genre in which all anime usually follow the same formula: episodic, no plot, cheesy, and has no stakes. However, Hanayamata went beyond the typical CGDCT and experimented with an overarching plot, theme, and had tons and tons of drama and stakes, for better or worse. Hanayamata is an anime about yosakoi, and friends who dance yosakoi. It's pretty simple but the club members have a lot of depth and development, which is the main draw of the series. Naru, our protagonist, is an airhead who is average and has no passion. I feel like she's very relatable, but at the same time painfully generic and cheesy. She had room for development through her trauma, but for some reason the show scrapped it aside. Hana is a foreign girl who introduced her to yosakoi, but I thought she was very annoying and overbearing, though she was given some characterization and development, so she became tolerable near the end. Yaya is a great character who is nicely written, she's a tsundere who has abandonment issues. Tami is the best character in this series and honestly one of my favourite anime characters if I had to be honest, though recency bias is speaking. She's insanely likeable but has so much depth through her father issues and her tendency to care for others. The episode focused on her was the best episode of the show for a reason. Machi, our final member, was introduced into the main cast by the time there were 4 episodes left, which was way too late and didn't make me care about her enough. Overall Hanayamata has very good characters and is the main appeal of the show, they are extremely likeable and fun to watch, while they each have their own development and backstories. Yosakoi is a type of dance I have never heard of, but the show portrayed it excellently and made it seem very fun, though a problem I had with the show is how yosakoi ultimately feels useless to the show. Nobody even really has an attachment to it, most of the members joined because their friends were in it. Yosakoi had no major effect on any of their lives, so yosakoi as a theme felt very lacking. The art is very pretty to the eye, and the animation is surprisingly great. The music is repetitive but it hits when it hits, ESPECIALLY the opening which is a banger. Finally, the drama is a major topic discussed when talking about Hanayamata. Some think it's peak and emotional, some think it's in your face and exaggerated. I think Hanayamata does its drama with grace and while it could get a bit much, the drama has purpose for developing the characters and it gets pretty emotional too. Overall the melodrama was a major complaint about the series but I think it helped stand out among the CGDCTs. Hanayamata is a beautiful show with a bright cast and good writing that is only held back by its lack of a strong theme, being yosakoi. If you're a fan of slice of life shows with a hint of drama, Hanayamata is a wild and emotional ride with a lot of emotions and fun characters.

The most important thing IS having Fun. Fun, I think, doesn't mean things like not being serious or catering to some things you follow or something else. They are a part of having fun. But Fun is - Doing what you want to do and to the best of your ability; led by passion and feelings, not reason or responsibilities; just be you and give it everything you've got - give the performance of your life. To me, I think that is Fun, if I am wanting to convey my current feelings to someone. Of course I feel more than I could ever write. And I can assure you, knowing what you truly want right at this moment, takes a struggle. For now, I am gonna do what I want to do - sort some of my mangas. And I'm gonna do it to the best of my ability. So thank you Hana, Naru, Yaya, Machi, Tami - HaNaYaMaTa. P.S. I think these animes about Japanese things are so original. Akebi’s Sailor Uniform about sailor uniform, HaNaYaMaTa about yosakoi, Farewell, My Dear Cramer (manga) about football in Japan, Wakako Zake (live action) shows Japanese cuisine - I think these all are so awesome and cool. Of course I like typical romance ones too. But to be able to get so close a view to something japanese is just cool I think, for japanese things are cool and awesome. If I can, I'm surely gonna live in Japan someday. And I think more animes on native Japanese things should be created. They can connect people, they show who Japan is to the world and above everything, I am loving Japan and I am sure many would fall in love with Japan after seeing these.

An anime which I watched some, SOME, episodes on Animax, I decided to complete Hanayamata because it had the one element which I love. Tradition. An anime which focuses on Yosakoi, a traditional Japanese dance with cute girls dancing it. Nothing better than cute girls dancing! Plus, we have a gaijin girl in the anime, all the better!! Story: The story is well, pretty generic when it comes to the Slice of life school life genre. The MC gets pulled in to a club by a random person, and the two of them rope in more people to officially form a club. Sure, they have their struggles in between, but they settle them before completing the final climactic dance. Apart from the Yosakoi dance, the story idea is quite generic and average. The one thing that I liked about the story is how it's not rushed. Every episode has character development, and sometimes we have 1 entire episode devoted to one specific character. And as you know me already, I like knowing the characters and falling in love with them further down the anime. Rating: 7.7/10 Art: The art is pretty beautiful in this anime. From the sakuras, to the fireworks, Hanayamata's artwork is quite stunning and compelling to say the least. However, if there's one aspect which I didn't exactly like about the art, it's the character animation. Some of the character's faces and facial expressions looked kinda weird. Rating: 8.5/10 Music: Probably the category which I like most in Hanayamata. Hanayamata's music is just exciting, catchy, rhythmic and in some ways beautiful to listen to. Rating: 9.6/10 Characters: As I said earlier, great character development. We have at least 1 episode devoted to that 1 particular character which allows the viewer to be attracted to that particular character and eventually fall in love with them as the story progresses. We get to know all the character's strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes and passion. 1 particular character made me fall in love with her, and that's none other than Tami. She's like the perfect Japanese girl. Beautiful, good-mannered, gentle, caring and supportive. I really loved Tami while watching Hanayamata. Rating: 9.5/10 In conclusion, an anime which I enjoyed greatly. The music, the characters, the animation, they were all great! And the ending to the anime was great too with all the 5 girls getting to dance together. And of course, mixing in tradition to modern life really draws my love for this anime! Overall rating: 8.5/10

I got hooked to it, but sadly the anime was very much like Love!Live! It was annoying in that sense. A lot of the plot was very similar but simplistic to fit into 12 episodes. If you decide to watch it I recommend the sub over the dub. The dub would of been good but for some reason they LOVED saying the phrase "Ya know" after everything. It drove me insane. Ya know? All jokes aside. solid 7/10 good but pretty generic and predictable. It's a good anime to watch just to watch or as something to have in the background.

I watched this show to the end solely because the opening theme was too darn catchy. Seriously, I really like the opening theme and think it's one of the best anime openings I've heard in a good while. Unfortunately, the actual show turned out to be more or less a generic high school club (this time middle school) show, with the Yosakoi dance theme doing little to make it stand out. I don't have anything against anime with a school setting in particular, but I do feel it's been really overdone. So yeh, another show about school girls starting a new club in Japan. Despite the rather dull setting, I was getting pretty interested in the show in the earlier episodes because not only was the show really pretty, but it seemed like it was going to focus highly on Yosakoi, and I was going to learn something new and exciting. I really like shows that get me interested in a new hobby or thing I didn't know much about before. Sometimes the new thing becomes a big part of my life (as was the case with Hikaru no Go, Akagi, and Prince of Tennis). Maybe Yosakoi could become a new self interest of mine thanks to anime? Sadly for me, instead of focusing on Yosakoi, the show ended up being mostly about the girls and their character development. The girls could have been in any club, really, as the dancing wasn't what was important to them. What was important was getting out of comfort zones, making your own decisions, making up with siblings, and other such character developments the girls had, which was unrelated to Yosakoi. I should have expected the show to be this way, but I didn't so it kind of disappointed me. The final few episodes throw in some extra drama to build up some additional tension. Regardless whether or not the scenario regarding Hana's family that occurred in those last episodes is realistic or not, it felt really unnecessary to the show as a whole. But the last episode was the really lame part. I was excited to see an epic final uninterrupted dance performance, kind of like what Lucky Star did (though Lucky Star wasn't even a show about dancing lol). Not only did we not see much dancing at all (almost all of what we saw was just recycled from the opening, curse you tiny budget!), but some things happen that pretty much invalidate all the drama made in the last few eps. It's like the last three or four or so episodes were all just a waste. This show reminded me a lot of Tari Tari, another show where they start a club (this time about singing), and the majority of the show ends up being not much about the club, but character development of the members of the club. This storytelling archetype is fine, but it kind of makes the actual club 2nd place in importance, which I don't really like much. There exist club shows that also have the character development but continue to keep the focus on the main theme. Shows like Chihayafuru, Hyouka, and Ping Pong. Over time after watching those shows I grow more interested in the characters than the main thing, sure, but I like that the shows don't forget their roots. Anyways rambling aside, the show was alright. If you have a thing for shows with mild teenage drama (like parent/child tension) that sometimes talks about yosakoi, then try this show out. At the least, you can watch the opening theme and tell me how my taste in music is so good/bad lol. 7/10

Premise: I chose Hanayamata based on its trailer, as I usually do when choosing an anime to watch. I went into it with genuine curiosity and few or no expectations, without any hype or external influence. I only assigned a score because it was required to publish this review. Hanayamata turned out to be a truly special experience for me. I was happy with my choice from the very first episode, which was both beautiful and genuinely funny. As I continued watching, the anime kept making me laugh and moving me emotionally, throughout the series. One of the things I loved most about this anime was its humour. There were countless funny moments, and even the short interludes and previews could make me laugh. I often found myself laughing so much that I would say “enough” while still laughing, not because I wanted it to stop, but simply because I couldn't help reacting that way. It's difficult to explain, but it was part of what made watching this anime such a particular experience for me. At the same time, Hanayamata wasn't just funny. It also managed to move me in every episode, sometimes more intensely than others. The eleventh episode was especially emotional: there were several moments when I came close to crying, and from a certain point onwards, I was left feeling sad rather than amused. I was still feeling that way when I started the final episode, which managed to make me emotional again shortly after it began. Even so, the anime continued to make me laugh as well. Being able to make me experience both emotions throughout its entire run was something I found truly special. I also really liked the characters. They were well characterised and felt realistic, and I thought the people behind the anime had done an excellent job bringing them to life. Naru's development was another aspect I appreciated. By the final episode, I couldn't help noticing how much she had changed since the beginning. Her development felt gradual, with changes that became apparent from one episode to the next, rather than something that happened all at once. The opening and ending themes were also among my favourite aspects of the anime. I loved both the songs and their visuals. The voice acting was excellent as well, and it contributed to how much I liked the characters. Overall, I felt that a great deal of care had gone into the anime, and I appreciated the work that had been done across these different aspects. I was also disappointed at the thought of having to wait an unknown amount of time before being able to read the manga, as I would love to see more of these characters and find out what their future holds. Hanayamata was a genuinely special experience for me. It made me laugh and feel emotional in every episode, and left me with an ending that made me want to applaud. I had no trouble deciding whether I liked it; the difficulty was finding a way to express just how much the experience meant to me. Even though I knew how much I had enjoyed Hanayamata, I struggled to decide what score to give it. I ultimately decided not to assign one, as I didn't feel that a score would do justice to my overall experience. However, after watching the finale, I realised that I would have given it a 10/10. The ending was wonderful, and I was so happy with the experience that I applauded continuously throughout the entire ending theme, from beginning to end.