Hinamatsuri is a somewhat enjoyable show that I feel should have been better than it is. When looking for shows to follow for the spring season it stood out to me, and from asking around I heard that the manga it was based on was well liked. Being a fan of comedies, I decided to check it out. The first episode was a rocky start that didn't manage to draw me in all that much, but I persisted, and found that it got better over time, but that it didn't ever manage to become anything out of the ordinary.

One part of the show that really manages to stand out is the production. The animation ranges from competent to great, and I never felt that it was lacking. The art style itself is good and works well for comedic purposes, with strong facial expressions often being used to enhance the humor. While I didn't pay much attention to the editing or music of the show, it never stood out as poor to me. Content aside, the show is clearly well crafted, with a lot of effort put into it.

The story takes place in Tokyo, where the yakuza member Nitta suddenly has a young telepathic girl, Hina, appear in his apartment without warning. After a bit of tomfoolery, he ends up taking her in as his adoptive daughter, as she has nowhere else to go. Later on, a girl named Anzu arrives with the mission of taking Hina back home, but ends up failing, leaving her stranded in Tokyo without a home.

As the show goes on a few more recurring characters are introduced, consisting mainly of Hina's new classmates, Nitta's associates, and a group of homeless people that Anzu ends up staying with. Most of the cast is forgettable, with the exception of Nitta and Hina, who work very well together, and the majority of the laughs that I got out of the shows came from either Nitta or from Hina played off of Nitta. Nitta's city-slicker style and yakuza attitude put against Hina's very simple-minded view on life lays a foundation for some great moments. The show however decides to spend a lot of its time on other characters without any real entertainment value to them.

A surprisingly large portion of the show is spent on Anzu's life as a vagrant and Hina's school life, neither of which are very giving. For Anzu, the show does its best to try to make you feel bad for how lousy her life is in a very limp effort, with a bigger focus on her tragedy than on any comedy. Parts of her story brought a smile to my face, but a lot of it just felt quite dull. I don't have anything against dramatic or sad shows, but when it's as tiresome and unrelatable as it is here it just became a drag. As for Hina's school life, most of the focus is put on her classmates, with Hina just occasionally butting in to mention that she likes food. To the shows detriment, most of her classmates are nothing more than cardboard, with the exception of Hitomi. Hitomi ends up accidentally working as a bartender in an early episode, and the only real humor she has from that point on is that she's a child doing things that adults are supposed to do, which sometimes works well and sometimes doesn't.

While a lot of the show is spent on either lifeless tragedy or lackluster humor, that's not to say that it doesn't occasionally shine. Nitta is the comedic highlight of the show, and there are some very funny moments involving him. There is also a very heartwarming sequence near the end of the series about Anzu, which again involves Nitta. With the parts involving him being so strong, it's a great shame that they're not really the main focus, with much of the show only having him as a side character. The emotional core the show is trying to have could have been greatly improved by showing him bond more with Hina, but the show just doesn't spend enough time on it and suffers from how much Nitta is absent.

The show was, in my opinion, decent enough for concurrent seasonal watching, but I would not recommend anyone to go out of their way to watch it now that the season is over.