Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku Episode 5 Discussion

I think that was the strongest episode thus far, the others have all felt like they were dragging to various degrees but this one felt like it was paced well and the conflict was interesting.

The book that Hana wants to read "Counting the Blue Spring" is apparently a real book that was written by the series author, I can't find much on what it's about though.

I always find it funny when An pushes Hana to read Metamorphosis because I can't help but think of the doujin of the same name, the thought that that's the thing that will win the competition is pretty amusing.

Winning is not everything It is the only thing

I'm just stuck up on the honor student's Akiyama talk about minimal work for maximum results via efficiency. Why would he join something like a broadcast club with only one major competition in the year? He risks getting a bad performance plus he has cram school and has shown to be very aloof from the club. Even if he was good at it, it is clear this show has an emphasis on effort. His talent won't carry him far.

If he wanted easy success, student council is much more appropriate, that or ditching school and working solely on this contest. He already is smart, if he needs a boost in his resume for the big Tokyo life, he needs to ace the NHK broadcast competition. That is of course, what he means by cram school, is cozying hard up to Kichijouji sensei. If that is the case, then he'll be interesting for sure.

Good on Hana for forcefully befriending Natsue. Good on Natsue for being relatively honest about her true motives. Hopefully she never loses, or gets suckered into to doing recitations, unless of course if she finds out later, she is good at it.

@six20 I would guess that since the anime showed us his hand getting crisped as a reaction means that there is more in this character that may be seen at first. It's gonna be interesting if we get to dive further into this character that's pretty outshined by other club members so far.

Yeah, she's so irritating that she doesn't even work as a character for me.

I get that she's an extremely competitive and driven person, and that she finds Hana annoying and wants nothing to do with her. But it's not enough to just ignore her or act cold towards her, she has to belittle Hana's skills as a beginner, tell her what to do, call her attitude towards recitation "stupid," and call her offer of friendship "useless."

It's so ridiculously hostile and hurtful that she doesn't feel like she fits in this cast of characters.

I'd buy it if she's a third-grader (like a certain character in a fellow seasonal, Medalist), but this is a high-schooler that's competed on a national level? How did she even survive middle school with that kind of attitude?

The way she apologized to Hana and became friends with her (sort of?) was unsatisfying and not really convincing. Hana's happy reaction to this made her character look silly as well.

It's good that there's a character foil to Hana, but An in this episode was just too much. Maybe she'll keep developing as a character...

First rodeo? I feel like this character with this set of personality traits and extremism is like a stock archetype in anime.

There is always (okay, not literally always, but very much often enough so as to be noticeable) this super prideful - at least in terms of the external image they project, and strict character who borders on total fanaticism insisting that they will "NEVER" acknowledge the main character for not taking their special thing seriously enough or over some extremely minor perceived slight or offense or barely perceptible inconsequential thing that the main or some other character said or did once that set them off on a bloodlust warpath. Until they somehow do the right invisible unspecified thing or combination of steps to redeem their honor in their eyes and gain their respect, at which point the mean and angry character does a 180.

Though they sometimes still maintain a cold facade, on and off or all the time, as a front and defense mechanism, but now they have an established soft spot for our main character. Mileage may vary.

It must be a Japanese cultural thing.

I guess now that I think about it, it could be considered like a more extreme form or subtype of the tsundere. In some series which are a lot less peaceful school club Slice of Life series, like with ones involving warriors and fighters, sometimes it even involves lethal violence and is more of a martial discipline thing.

Regardless, I do find her a little annoying, but I think it's just a case where I'm so desensitized to it at this point that it truthfully didn't bother me or I didn't actually notice too much. I felt as if I knew in advance that this character would be an aggressive and rude jerk for however long - however many episodes, then our main character would say or do something or the hidden right combination of things to suddenly soften her heart and win her over, at which point she would become somewhat more tame.

There seems to be a cultural mentality around it which has seeped into their art and anime, in which if someone is extra tough on you or immediately doesn't like you for whatever undisclosed reason, it must be because you're not doing enough to fit in and show them your positive qualities.