Hanasaku Iroha Episode 1 - Screencap Recap.

This is something I am testing if I want to do. I don't really want to write out entire recaps for anime, even though I really should since I need to practice my writing more, but I love taking screencaps and have done posts like this with a few other episodes and scenes from anime like the uncut ending to School Days and Elfen Lied Episode 1 Screencaps, even though the School Days ending is littered with my own personal opinions and captions, but I love the post nonetheless. Yes, I know it's strange to say that I love my own post - but I do!

Hanasaku Iroha Episode 1 Screencaps Gallery.
Hanasaku Iroha Episode 1 Screencaps Download.

Click on all images for full, pretty versions. 

So, Hanasaku Iroha starts off pretty normally. The main character, Ohana is at home in the kitchen, making food for her mother while her mother works on her laptop nearby. Ohana talks about how she isn't actually her daughter (but this is a joke of sorts) and the mother says she shouldn't make jokes like that. When the phone rings, the mother flips out because she fears it might be from work and she's overdue on her deadline, so yells at her daughter to hurry up and pick it up, but before she even gets to, the answering machine picks up and it turns out to be the mother's boyfriend, so she immediately runs to the phone and answers it super happily and adoringly. Ohana sighs to herself as she finishes the food and you hear the mother talk about how Ohana made dinner for them again.

In the next scene, Ohana and her best friend, a boy named Kouichi are outside eating and drinking together, while Kouichi teases her a little, but she teases him back saying that he's actually a nice person, to which he blushes and tells her to shut up. They are then seen walking home together, where Ohana sings a song about Kouichi being a nice guy, which I am sure he does not mind. Ohana talks about normal school life and maybe wanting some more, but Kouichi doesn't seem as interested and suddenly Ohana dashes off across the street, leaving him behind and laughing all the while. He then calls out to her and asks if she has any plans for the break and she says she does not, but he doesn't say what he wants and walks off alone and a little upset.

 

Ohana does like this time of the evening, though.  

 

When Ohana arrives home from her shopping, she is met by a house full of boxes which were not there when she left. Upon entering she learns that her mother's boyfriend, who is in debt, and her mother are going to run away together. At first, Ohana thinks she is going with them and starts to make some plans, but her mother quickly tells her that she is not going to run away with her daughter and instead her daughter will be staying somewhere else. Ohana also gets a nosebleed because she apparently has a sensitive nose. 

Soon after, Ohana goes to Kouichi's job and waits until he is ready so that they can walk together to a park. There she tells him that she will be leaving tomorrow to stay at her Grandmother's Hot Spring inn and about her mother's situation. Kouichi is immediately upset and mutters to himself about figuring she would eventually realize his feelings for her, but apparently she hadn't. Still upset, he yells out to her that he likes her and then runs up to her, while she is in shock and they have an awkward moment where he tries to hug her, but she doesn't know what to say so suddenly and puts her hands up, and in response he screams that she should just go then and run off in a dramatic mess, knocking her down the slide and she catches herself before falling but is still left stunned and in shock. 

The next day Ohana is on the train to meet her grandmother for the first time and live at her Hot Spring Inn and she is in a rather bad mood since Kouichi didn't come to see her off at the train station and she is still confused by what he said. However, an elderly woman sitting across from her distracts her from her melancholy by offering her some candy, which Ohana happily accepts, while thinking she always wanted to meet such a nice old lady. Already cheered up by this and by the thought of something new she is even happier when she sees the beautiful view outside the window and seemingly feels rejuvenated.  

She arrives at the station and walks to the inn.

Amazed by her surroundings, Ohana starts taking pictures and gets really excited but when she sees what she thinks is a weed she goes over and starts pulling it out of the ground. Thinking that she is doing a good thing by clearing the building of the ugly weeds, she is approached by a girl behind her. She thinks the girl is beautiful and wonders if she is living in some kind of fairytale and they stare at each other for a moment before the mystery girl leans over and rips the 'weeds' out of Ohana's hand and tells her, very clearly, to die. Ohana is shocked at this and asks the girl to repeat herself, which she does but before a real fight breaks out another girl comes running along and grabs the first one from behind, calming her down. Ohana is confused and they question if she's the granddaughter, but they are all quieted when a window above opens and Ohana sees her grandmother for the first time. Hoping she might be a kind lady like the one on the train who is going to give her candy, she is in for a rude awakening when her grandmother throws down a rag onto her face and a bucket on the ground

Upon actually meeting her grandmother for the first time, Ohana is informed that she will not be living at the inn free of charge, but instead will be working there and Ohana isn't considered her granddaughter since her mother was disowned. Ohana questions if this is a joke and maybe she is being trained in taking over the inn, but is disheartened when her grandmother throws work clothes at her and tells her to get to work. Ohana has little time to be down, though, so she gets to work right away and on her first day, goes about meeting an assortment of people, ranging from a man that she bumps into while cleaning who turns out to be her Uncle, who delights in tormenting her for a few moments about how she must be evil like her mother. Next she is whisked off by a hyper, talkative woman (voiced by beloved Mamiko Noto) who asks her about her mother a bit before quickly dragging her around the house, talking about different people ranging from who her uncle (if he is her uncle) is meeting, to a strange old man, to the chefs and finally to the two young girls around her age that she had met earlier, the mystery girl Minko and the shy, clingy girl that seems to follow her, Nako . The two are asked to take Ohana on a tour of the place and she is left in their care, but Minko leaves soon after, leaving Nako to give Ohana the tour and leaving them both in an awkward, uncomfortable position.

Noting the obvious, Ohana says outloud that Minko must not like her. Expecting the other girl to tell her she's wrong, she's disappointed when she says nothing in return and thinks it would have been better to lie. They walk along the beautiful path in an awkward silence until they get to a point where they can see the town. Nako blankly names off all the places in the town, including their school, but gives no description of helpful locations of the places she is talking about, so Ohana is left kind of clueless as to where she is talking about. However, Ohana is hard to bring down it seems, so she is hopeful looking out over the town, but after a few moments of more awkward silence, they decide to go back, making the trip short, quiet, rather uninformative and a waste of time. 

Upon returning to the inn and her work, she comes across Minko working in the kitchen and being yelled at by one of the chefs. Even though she obviously shouldn't get involved, Ohana does so and butts in by saying she thinks that the chef is being a little hard on Minko, but Minko, embarrassed, immediately screams Ohana to shut up and mind her own business, leaving her, yet again, in shock. Minko goes back to work and the chef tells Ohana that they have their own way of doings things here and she should mind her own business. 

 

Late that night, Ohana is in a bunk bed on the top bunk, thinking about her day when she gets a text message. Hoping it's from Kouichi, she is excited and then disappointed when it is from her mother, along with a picture of how great they are doing and tells Ohana to do her best. After that, Ohana finally goes to bed, in a rather bad mood. When she wakes up on the morning, she checks the bottom bunk and sees that Minko, who she shares her room with, is still not in her bunk and goes looking to see where she is. Minko is hard at work in the kitchen, peeling away again and Ohana is in impressed that Ohana went to bed later than her and got up earlier than her and has an idea to reward Mink for her hardwork, which is airing out her futon since Minko doesn't have any time. While she is in the hallway, another person... a strange man.. comes up to her and asks if she's new and then looks her over with a perverted face and walks off, ignoring her when she tries to talk to him. During this little episode, the futon, which was hanging behind Ohana, falls to the floor below, apparently on some customers of the inn. Ohana and her grandmother go to them and apologize multiple times and Ohana's grandmother forces her to bow to them, pinching her butt to get her to do so. The customers say it's fine, but right after that the grandmother fetches Minko so that she can have a word with her, along with Ohana. Ohana, arriving first, listens to her grandmother talk about how the customers are always right and always first and that the employees' happiness doesn't matter at all, but Ohana disagrees defiantly, saying that she thinks that everyone has to be happy in order for the working environment and establishment to be a happy, successful place. You can see the grandmother taking note of what she says here, but she doesn't say anything about it. Once Minko is there, she is called to the grandmother's side and as soon as she gets there, she is slapped extremely hard by the grandmother for being a lazy girl who can't even take care of her own futon. Minko is only polite in return and doesn't make a scene at all, but Ohana on the other hand, yells at her grandmother saying that she is out of line for acting like that, but the grandmother tells her to not to call her grandmother. After this, Ohana insists to her grandmother that she should be punished, too, not just Minko, since she was the one that did it. The grandmother obliges and slaps Ohana quite a few times, as opposed to the once she hit Minko and the other girls stare in disbelief while it happens. Once it's done, Ohana just bows and says thank you, even though her face is all bruised and her nose is bleeding.

Minko and Ohana go to the bathroom after that and Ohana apologizes to Minko for her actions and says that her grandmother was being unreasonable, but Minko tells her that she's the unbelievable one. She also asks if she has any idea what the word work means before promptly telling her to die yet again, leaving them back at square one. Ohana returns to work after this, but her spirit is finally broken a little as she is seen finally shedding tears and crying for the first time, albeit quietly and to herself.

Well, that turned out a lot longer than I expected to be.. I wonder if I should do the next episode when I watch it. Anyway, I loved this first episode, as did most everyone that saw it, I think. When I watched the trailers, aforementioned in another post, I thought it looked rather dull, but I was going to watch it anyway since it also was so stunning to look at and also because I was hoping for some kind of drama in the show and this first episode gave me just that, so I am content. I wasn't expecting the first episode to be so interesting, so I am looking forward to watching more. No, I am not always hoping for psychotic killer drama, I just like some drama to make things interesting in shows, as well as a little romance ... or a lot. I also couldn't help but feel I was watching a Korean drama on some levels for some reason. On a lighter note, since the episode wasn't very happy, the ending credits hint at happier times ahead and had some great shots!