Hana-Kimi

Episodes 11-12

How would you rate episode 11 of
Hana-Kimi ?

Community score: 4.4

How would you rate episode 12 of
Hana-Kimi ?

Community score: 3.7

So, this is how Hana-Kimi ends.

I heard a rumor from a generally trustworthy source a few weeks ago that the anime adaptation had been planned for 36 episodes. Now, when that happens, there's usually some sort of indicator, most often an announcement accompanying the twelfth episode. “I Was the Same” has no such notice, barely even feels like the conclusion of a story. The school festival arc wraps up, Sano notices how pretty Mizuki is, and that's it. I wonder if it bombed as badly in Japan as it did in the US, leading to the cancellation of plans for further seasons. This is pure speculation.

Perhaps it's because I'm not feeling well, but as much as I enjoyed the first part of this three-episode arc, I'm struggling to muster up enough emotion about these two episodes to even write a few hundred words about them. Mizuki enters the much-vaunted chicken fight, which turns out to just be a cavalry battle. Why the translator didn't go with the commonly-used terminology, instead forcing a poorly-fit English phrase, I cannot fathom, but it's fitting for a show that's been as defined by baffling choices from its conception.

For all the fuss they made over it, it lasts literally one minute (I checked the timestamps) before Mizuki falls from Sano and Nakatsu's arms as she dodges an elbow to the face. She's okay, but Nakatsu and Sano got a bit banged up protecting her from hitting the ground. This is supposed to introduce us to the idea that there's some grand conspiracy trying to prevent Mizuki from participating in the relay, but it happens so quickly with so little punch to it that it's hard to get any sense of danger from it. An elbow close to her face, causing her to lean back and kind of drift toward the ground. No impact, no weight, no threat. Doesn't that just sum up this entire anime?

While I had fun with the setup, “Nanba-senpai?” and “I Was the Same” completely fail to capitalize on the promise of that first episode. The dull plop of the cavalry battle was just one of its many sins. Perhaps the greater crime is the episode's failure to capitalize on Masao Himejima, who gets about ten seconds of screen-time and a throwaway line about how his class's haunted house is poaching visitors from Nanba's class's murder mystery interactive play. There was so much energy in setting him up as a minor antagonist and he's barely there. They got Koyasu for him! You can't just offer me a taste of Koyasu playing a flamboyant theater kid but not a full serving!

Instead, we get a dull plotline about Nanba meeting with his middle school tutor who he had an inappropriate relationship with, who is now getting married to a man much older than he is. I don't actually have an issue with this storyline in and of itself, but it doesn't do anything for the current story arc other than to give Nanba a reason to ask Mizuki for a hug, which Sano oversees and gets all pouty over. There's also a strange scene where Sano, half-asleep, insists Mizuki climb in bed with him after a bad dream.

The story just floats aimlessly through these scenes, leaving me wondering what purpose they serve. If I stop and think about where the plot threads lead, I can see how they weave together for the overall plot, but competent direction would create a better sense of the purpose of each scene. Slice-of-life sitcoms like Hana-Kimi don't need to be a tightly-woven tapestry, but this is closer to a moth-eaten mesh.

The real story of the episode is that someone keeps trying to hurt Mizuki. A flowerpot almost falls on her head (cliche), Nakatsu overhears some guys talking (convenient), and finally she gets pulled aside during the cross-dressing beauty pageant so a bunch of Dorm 1 guys can lock her in the athletic shed (hackneyed). All this so they can stop her from participating in the vaunted 2,000-meter relay that can push Dorm 2 from last place to first. Because they have to be the champions of friendship and karate for everyone.

The big climactic relay, by the way, is barely animated, off-model, and lasts 30 seconds.

And thus ends Hana-Kimi, the adaptation of a 30-year-old manga that even the fans ended up dropping halfway through because the incompetent production made it a chore to watch for three-quarters of its run. I'm glad more shoujo anime is getting made, but if this is how they treat one beloved 90's property, I'm scared for how Red River and From Far Away will look later this year.

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