This episode focused on developing the personality of Tomoe, the head waitress. Her parents want her to go home for a marriage interview, but she decides to stay at the inn to take care of her cute underlings.

I feared that the survival gamers were going to become a corny gimmick, but it actually turned out well and was pretty funny. Tomoe’s decision to scare away the survival gamers and get fired simultaneously was definitely not the most well thought out plan, but somehow worked out. The survival gamers’ biggest problem was a lack of an opponent, and Tomoe was more than willing to provide.

So we’ve gone through episodes about most of the characters by now, I think the only ones left who haven’t had their full time to shine are the grandmother, beanman, head chef, and the girl from the other inn. The past few episodes have been fun, but I do hope we can get back to the drama of the first few episodes soon. A visit from Ko-chan or some rivalry with the other inn would spice things up right about now…

Also, these survival games actually look like a lot of fun (well, if we ignore the stalking and peeking they actually did and consider what they’re supposed to be doing). I actually shared a campground with some of these people a few years ago, but stayed well away from them and didn’t realize what it was all about.

This episode brings some light on Ohana’s uncle as he brings in an outside consultant to inspire some innobetion in marketing at the inn (I should have a review of Moshidora up soon). This consists of making the waiting staff dress up in revealing outfits. When their china dresses do not go over well with the young family visiting the inn, Ohana tries to convince her grandmother that the reason is because the slits weren’t long enough. Fortunately, the manager understands what the customers want better than Ohana.

The development of Ohana’s uncle was good— I was wondering what he did at the inn, and kind of felt bad for him for staying there at his age. At least he still has dreams for improvement. His friend from college was annoying, but fortunately she didn’t stick around for long. We also see that the grandmother had similar ideas for improvements when she was young. I’m guessing they won’t really get into the relationship between the grandmother and Ohana’s mother until the second half, but when they do we should be in for a treat.

We have switched though from the excellent drama in the first few episodes into cute girls acting cute / fanservice mode. Not to say the creators aren’t doing well at having cute girls acting cute: the show is doing an excellent job at this. But I personally prefer the drama. I’m guessing they’ll probably get back to it eventually.

It was quite satisfying seeing Minko get a taste of her own insults. Hopefully this won’t dissuade her from further creativity.

I thought that the love triangle around Tohru was a bit forced, and it turns out that’s because it didn’t exist. 🙂   I’m very pleased with this development, and I’m siding with Ohana here: I don’t see how anyone could like that guy. But it was nice seeing Ohana make a fool of herself.

I am wondering though if they decided to have Ohana and Minko make peace a bit too soon. This is a two course show they’re going to need some more drama, and Minko was a very nice source for this. I’m hoping that they don’t go the route of the grandmother’s “joke” in saving the inn from being closed since this trope has been done to death so many times in the past. It seems that in the immediate future Ohana’s friend Ko will be making a visit, so this should spice things up.

I was quite surprised to see this week that the author actually made a good addition to the cast as part of the inn’s staff. I half expected him to be squirreled away in the background for the remainder of the show, but his creative interpretations were the driving force for much of this episode. He complements Tomoe (the woman in the pink kimono above) well in terms of rumormongering.

Wasn’t that face just made to be bullied? The flowers are screaming “make me cry”. Unfortunately, this episode was mostly upbeat aside from a single attempted murder by Minchi.

I’m not certain I really like the direction this show is going in. The first two episodes were excellent, with all the conflict surrounding Ohana’s coming to the inn. But now all the tension has completely evaporated as the show has devolved into bondage, road races, giant birds and love triangles. Hanasaku Iroha had some excellent drama that made it stand out in the first two episodes, but the creators seem to have completely forgotten about it.

As far as the love triangle goes though, I do like Minchi’s one sided crush on the kitchen helper. They’re both such jerks that it’s not the kind of thing you usually get to see. Minchi’s love rival seems promising as well, appearing to be more or less Minko’s complete opposite. I’m curious to see how Ohana will deal with the two of them.

This was definitely not what I was expecting. I was hoping that Hanasaku Iroha would maintain its good pace of drama from the past two episodes with Ohana, Minko and Nako continuing to fight, but instead we get a fanservice episode with Ohana tied up in ropes, all three girls making out in the novelist’s book, and Nako going swimming with her clothes on. I don’t really think that this is what this show needed…

It kind of felt that everyone was acting out of character too, especially Ohana. I feel like she should be a bit more… concerned… when someone kidnaps her and ties her up. And perhaps the rest of the inn should take it a bit more seriously. It’s kind of hard to believe that the grandmother planned all that out. Also, I wished that they would have waited a while longer to reveal that the grandmother doesn’t actually hate her granddaughter. It kind of removes a lot of the tension.

We also appear to have the novelist becoming a permanent character. Can’t really say I’m looking forward to seeing him every week. Overall, this episode just didn’t seem to fit in well with what the creators had been building up to so far.