Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku Episode 9 Discussion

One of the best episodes yet. It wouldn’t be a sports anime without rival schools and cross-school friendships being made. Lot of good stuff in this episode and I’m happy for Hana reaching out and making new friends! But more importantly, I’m glad An and Misaki made up and can finally move forward! You can’t tell me Misaki isn’t gay af for An tho 😂 not one straight in this series idc what the author does with her Yuribait gimmick again.

As soon as Misaki opened her mouth and started to say Natsue I knew that was her childhood friend but man that picnic was so rough to watch. You can tell An was jealous of Misaki so every time Misaki put herself down to praise An and crediting An with her success, it made An feel even worse because it’s like Misaki doesn’t even appreciate her abilities. Was really worried she’d snap on Misaki and it hurt so much seeing her breakdown and cry like that. It’s funny how two Tuesday seasonals this week show people struggling to deal with their old friends growing up. An was just comparing Misaki’s current recitation to the middle school version. Of course it’ll be different because she doesn’t have her childhood friend!

Very sweet make up at the end and Misaki’s recitation is amazing, but man An has to learn how to be more direct with her feelings! Just tell them you wanna be called by your first name silly 😂

Also, Botanboko got overshadowed because of all the relationship drama this week but she’s insanely talented too. So many people Hana can learn from as she strives to improve her readings. Like the teacher said, she has a ton of natural talent but her technical abilities need refinement!

Oh no! They keep telling the female MC "Haruyama, Hana" to change how she reads, but that is a very bad idea in my opinion.

A girl even said "it was tiring to hear her read", but that is not true at all.

They let the character "Botanboko, Pokoko" read the entire piece, although it sounded nice, as soon as Hana started reading, she immediately blew away the competition, but then the teacher interrupts her, telling her to not have any expression in her reading and to only read the words according to the stress, which is bad advice in my opinion.

The reason why the Japanese language sounds so pleasing to the ear, is not because people read it like an A.I., perfectly emotionless, but when their is passion in the voice of a speaker or reader.

When everyone else reads, even if they have a nice voice, it sounds so flat, straight, lifeless, colorless, staid, it is sad how much this takes away from the sound and meaning of the words being read.

From episode 1, when Hana recites, it is not just her pleasant voice, but how she reads, immersing herself into the character, making the words fly off the page, full of life color shine, painting in our minds the very meaning of the words, and making the Japanese language sound so beautiful.

That's why that section at the end of episode 1 sounds so incredible and why I have listened to that part multiples times since.

Telling her to not read as she does, is not improving her reading, it is hampering it by taking away the special quality that only she has.

If they make Hana start reading like that girl on stage and other people, then I will very upset.

I think everyone should learn from Hana's way of reading instead.

Am I the only one getting a feeling that this entire series feels like a collection of short stories that are tied by the characters going to the competition? Not saying that this is bad at all. It's rather unique, but it feels like the story is a bit over the place, with some characters taking up all of the space in one episode and then disappearing completely in the following.

Otherwise, this episode was super interesting in the background of the characters and to see how other students prepare for it.
I can't get over how fresh/neat every shot looks



(Did Natsue and Misaki's interactions not feel like Mizore and Nozomi's dynamic in Hibike? Albeit with an even more one-sided friendship)

The episode was, I don't know. It wasn't bad but it just felt a little off for some reason, perhaps a pacing thing? It's hard to articulate why but it just didn't click with me like the previous two or three have.

@deltahalo241 I felt the same. Something was off about this episode like it was missing charm of previous episodes.
I think it might be because before it was focused on close-knit group (and living on isolated island) and felt more personal. Now it opens up, the group of characters increases and competition plot develops so it stars feeling more similar to a bunch of other anime series.