Hanayamata

At the tender age of 14, high school student Naru Sekiya finds that she pales in comparison to the fairy tale princesses she adores so much, not to mention the ideal girl she wants to be in contrast to her peers. Her childhood friend Yaya Sasame is enjoying herself with her school rock band, while her other childhood friend Tami Nishimikado is a member of the student council. Desiring the strength to take the next step forward, Naru has wanted a magic key to open her timid heart since the start of high school.

During one moonlit night, Naru encounters what she believes is a cute fairy standing atop a torii gate who shortly invites her to dance with her. The next day, she discovers that the "fairy" was not only just an ordinary girl, but also a transfer high school student from America! Excited to meet Naru again, Hana N. Fountainstand encourages her to help her start a club for yosakoi, a festive type of Japanese dance that Hana has been entranced by since childhood.

Though initially terrified of Hana's enthusiasm and the thought of being seen dancing, Naru slowly finds herself immersed in the art of yosakoi and assisting her new friend achieve her dream—for the path for a maiden such as herself is at the mercy of the wind!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Fountainstand, Hana N. Main

Tanaka, Minami Japanese

Sekiya, Naru Main

Ueda, Reina Japanese

Nishimikado, Tami Main

Ootsubo, Yuka Japanese

Sasame, Yaya Main

Okuno, Kaya Japanese

Tokiwa, Machi Main

Numakura, Manami Japanese

Tokiwa, Sari Supporting

Toyoguchi, Megumi Japanese

Oofuna, Masaru Supporting

Koyama, Tsuyoshi Japanese

Sekiya, Tomo Supporting

Yamanoshita, Sachiko Supporting

Wakai, Yuuki Japanese

Fountainstand, Father Supporting

Ueda, Yuuji Japanese

Hayashi, Youhei Producer

Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Producer

Hotta, Shouichi Producer

Tanaka, Hiroyuki Producer

Reviews

Aug 18, 2024

Baby_Penewine

Recommended

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Baby_Penewine (7)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Nov 23, 2018

tunekitouwu

Mixed Feelings

Where should I start?

Five girls, and a teacher. They're all crying for 11 of 12 episodes, very predictable, supposed to be a comedy and they're always crying.
Talking about the art, the only cute girl is Hana, for the rest, they have the "bunny teeth" that is damn annoying, it's not cute at all. And their eyes, damn, the shrunk and got huge by time to time, but by a big difference. I know it's anime, but they have like a huge forehead that it's just ugly. And they're always crying, so you know what I'm talking about.
The only thing good about the sound, it's ... the opening, and maybe the ending. But sometimes, the girl's voices started echoing, like bugging or whatever.
The characters? Typical tsundere, a typical shy girl who wants to shine, a typical rich girl without friends, typical student council president who is very strict at the beginning but then she becomes friendly, and the only good character, Hana. Oh, and I also forget about the teacher, I don't have any problems with her.
Enjoyment? I thought I were going to laugh at least once, or at least I was going to watch cute girls trying to dance and doing cute things. Nope, just... pathetic.

The only good thing about this anime it's the opening, and that somehow, you can manage to finish... with a lot of determination.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by tunekitouwu (4)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jun 15, 2020

starfarts

Not Recommended

Dazzling artwork ✓
Incredible animation ✓
Great voice acting ✓
Enjoyable setting/focus ✓
Excellent characters ✓

What's not to love?

Well, there's a huge lump of coal in my anime stocking and it's that Hanayamata is just a series of melodramatic setbacks that constantly get in the way of all those positives. About halfway in I was shrugging off the negativity because I really enjoy CGDCT and I figured the series would follow a typical pattern in that around episode 8-9 the roadbumps would be done and everything would cap out with a good vibe. Well...that doesn't happen until the last four minutes of the last episode. In fact, it's around ... episode 8-9 where more and more melodramatic setbacks are introduced, all the way up until the aforementioned finale.

Just...why? What's the point? What kind of sadist writes up characters who finally get over a block and are then immediately shackled by a new one? Again and again and again...and again. That's not and enjoyable experience, that's depressing. Melodrama belongs in daytime soap operas produced on $1.75, half a stick of gum, a Big Gulp, and royalty checks from the lead actress' old sex tape. It doesn't belong in my CGDCT. I don't know about anyone else, but I love this pseudo-genre because it sets my mind at ease with a cheery, breezy atmosphere. I don't so much care about the setting, narrative, and so on as I primarily require the anime be happy so I can relax and let my mind float. Hanayamata is perfect in every part except it doesn't ease off the pointless sadness...ever.

It's a real waste. Ymmv but if you even have the slightest intolerance for melodrama like me, just give it a pass.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by starfarts (48)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Manga Time Kirara adaptations (2007-2015)

by qef15

43 Entries · 28 Restacks

Anime for your daughter

by Chika_tetsu

34 Entries · 51 Restacks

All-Girl TV Shows That Might Interest You

by Jarito

50 Entries · 324 Restacks

2017 April Fools' Day Collection

Each year, April Fools' Day gives a chance for creators in the anime, manga, and games industry to showcase their creativity. With the popularity of social medi...read more

Apr 1, 2017 11:14 PM by arsonal | Discuss (20 comments)

2016 April Fools' Day Collection

Each year, April Fools' Day gives a chance for creators in the anime, manga, and games industry to showcase their creativity. With the popularity of social medi...read more

Apr 2, 2016 5:22 AM by arsonal | Discuss (48 comments)

	Poll: Hanayamata Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Sep 22, 2014	156 replies	by Baby_Penewine »» Aug 18, 4:49 PM
	Poll: Hanayamata Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Sep 15, 2014	77 replies	by Baby_Penewine »» Aug 18, 4:19 PM
	Poll: Hanayamata Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Sep 8, 2014	64 replies	by Baby_Penewine »» Aug 18, 3:54 PM
	Poll: Hanayamata Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Sep 1, 2014	69 replies	by Baby_Penewine »» Aug 18, 1:20 PM
	Poll: Hanayamata Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Aug 25, 2014	61 replies	by Baby_Penewine »» Aug 18, 12:47 PM