Hana-Kimi

Episode 10

I'm having a hard time remembering exactly what happened in this week's Hana-Kimi. To be clear, I wasn't scrolling through my phone or doing another distracting activity while it was on. I also watched it twice, once subbed and once dubbed, and when I watched it the second time, I realized a lot had slipped completely from my mind. I swore to retain this time, but by the end of YOASOBI's ending theme, most of the episode's events had vanished once again.

It's not that I didn't enjoy the episode! I'd even go so far as to say that it was the best episode of the show since the premiere. After last week's dramatic turn, we return to what Hana-Kimi does best: jock-ish school comedy shenanigans filtered through the shoujo lens of interpersonal relationships. It's time for the school festival, but Osaka Academy does it a little differently from most high schools. They roll sports and the culture festival into one big three-day event, with the three dorms competing for dominance. The winning dorm gets special privileges for the whole school year, so the competition is hot!

First, let's go over what I remember from the episode. There is, of course, the broad strokes, as I just described for you. It feels like a bit of a lost opportunity, once again, to poke a bit at Mizuki's experience as a returnee. This is her first culture festival, after all! American schools might or might not have something similar, but they're not events in the same way. It would be fun to see her navigate all the parts her classmates take for granted, but the story instead distinguishes itself with its gimmicky approach. For what it's worth, that's not a complaint; I really did have fun with it this week. 

The closest we get is Sano trying to ban her from participating in the chicken fight, when she doesn't even know what that is. And… neither do I. Do they mean the cavalry battle? Or like pool chicken? Either way, it turns into a tickle fight, which gets a touch too intimate until Sano remembers that's a girl he's grabbing. There's something really interesting happening with Mizuki's relationship with touch throughout the show. The US is a much more high-touch culture than Japan, particularly between people of different sexes. Mizuki apologizes for forgetting and acting like an American; I don't know if Hisaya Nakajo was intentionally drawing on gender when she wrote the manga, but Mizuki is acting like an American girl, which is a distinct touch culture from American boys.

So, there's that. What else happens? There's a “Miss Osaka High” cross-dressing contest, which Mizuki gets press-ganged into. The karate team comes and yells that they'll defeat Dorm 2, which has a combination of artistic and athletic students. That'll come in the next episode. The president of the theater club shows up to declare his rivalry as well. He's blond, flamboyant, refuses to wear glasses despite being severely nearsighted, and has named himself “Oscar” despite his given name being “Masao.” Takehito Koyasu does his best Mamoru Miyano in the role, and every moment the character is onscreen is an utter delight. I hope he sticks around.

Okay, what else happens? Io brings a new binder for Mizuki. The RAs have a cheer squad competition, and Nanba kills it. Mizuki runs really fast in the relay, bringing their class into the lead. I feel like those are the broad strokes. The episode is fun, but it moves through its beats so quickly that there's no real tension throughout. We have guys showing up to holler about rivalry and intense stares at the scoreboard, but that's pretty much the only kind of lead-up that happens. If the stakes are so high, I feel like we should get some glimpses into practice and preparation. Instead, we're just dropped in at various points in the plot without any concern for the connective tissue.

But as I said, I still had fun. Even without any dramatic tension, the silliness shenanigans carried the episode well enough. Hana-Kimi really is at its best as a kind of hangout show, spending time with the characters without worrying too much about any stakes other than the slow burn of the romance.

Rating:

Hana-Kimi is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.