HINAMATSURI

No middle schooler could do this. It was impressive. I'd love to come back in the future.

Sigh

And so she takes another prisoner.

P.S.,

The bankbook I made without my parents' knowledge is filling up freakishly fast.

So Hinamatsuri has been on my "plan to watch" list for a while now (with a million other shows) and I'm glad I was finally given a reason to watch it. I was interested based on the Crunchyroll description alone, having heard nothing about the anime outside of that. To summarize, the story is about the main character (Hina) who has telekinetic powers, moving to Earth and living with Nitta, a mid-level yakuza who really cares about vases. Hina's abilities mixed with her deadpan and relatively innocent but selfish personality make for a great contrast to Nitta, who starts off by trying to assert his dominance but quickly falls in line. The antics between these two and the rest of the diverse cast of characters is the strongest point in the show. I'd recommend this to anyone who even remotely likes comedy, and maybe even those that don't. To be upfront, this is the funniest anime I have ever seen. I'd say maybe Prison School has higher highs, but Hinamatsuri is more consistently comedic, with almost every scene causing me to laugh and building up to the next. That's not to say that his show is only comedy, as there are some touching moments between characters that cut through the laughs and act as a sort of palate cleanser.

With this show being a bit more slice of life and episodic, there isn't much of an overarching plot or goal that the the characters are striving for. However, I think this works well due to just how well all of the side characters are written. Jumping between a scene with Hina and Nitta to a scene with Mishima, or one with Anzu flows so well that I was never missing some kind of story line. I was more than happy to just see our favorite middle school bartender doing their thing, then see another character going through deep character growth will struggling with homelessness. And even in deep moments like this, the show never forgets to flip back around to hilarious jokes that keep you laughing the entire time. The comedic timing in this series is unbelievable, and other comedies should use this as a reference. The animation here is good, and I like the art style. I'm not too critical of animation in general (I am a midsekai enjoyer) and it felt like this style fit the show pretty well. Same with the OST, nothing crazy, but it fit the show well. Overall, I really enjoyed Hinamatsuri and it became one of my top anime of all time, and undeniably my new go-to recommendation for anyone looking for a comedy show to watch.
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