Hinamatsuri is a 12 episode anime based upon the manga series. It’s got a ridiculous premise where a yakuza, Nitta, is at home enjoying himself when Hina literally drops in. Hina is a young girl with psychokinesis abilities. She pretty much threatens Nitta into taking her in. Hina isn’t too knowledgeable of the world, and she isn’t that aware of others either. She’s an oddity but also innocent at the same time, if not for the fact that she is so strong.
The anime’s humor comes from Hina’s existence upending Nitta’s relatively normal life. It’s made funnier given that Nitta is a yakuza, yet he’s a cool guy himself. It mixes the stuff that he has to do as a yakuza, with the normal things a guy his age would do, and it helps that he’s not a student either, rather an adult so it skips the school dramas. A lot of the humor relies on the characters’ exasperations as they react to the impossible.
Hina’s a mystery and we don’t learn about her background immediately. Soon enough, her past life starts to encroach and other characters show up. While they are also threatening and filled with power, it’s all played for laughs and it causes more pain (figuratively speaking) for Nitta. It’s heart-warming with the fact that Nitta effectively becomes Hina’s father, taking care of her and teaching her about the world.
Hina is weird, absentminded, lazy and lacks common sense. While she is a source of humor, you can see how she will definitely be annoying and insensitive to live with. Hina is so unpredictable in how she acts which causes trouble for everyone. She would be unlikeable if not for the fact that she doesn’t do it maliciously, and is quite cute and adorable to boot.
Hina’s first friend from school, Hitomi, is also very funny. She ends up finding herself a job as a bartender thanks to her naivety. She quickly becomes one of the best characters, and one of the funniest, in the show. What makes her so funny is how she’s one of the only characters that thinks like a normal person, but she has to put up with the craziness that’s around her. She cannot rely on anyone to have common sense, and so her reactions and overreactions are just perfect.
There are some heart-warming moments, especially involving Hina’s “rival” Anzu, who actually appreciates things a lot more, as she has had to work hard for it. From being homeless to not being able to afford food, she’s the complete opposite of Hina. Nitta also cares for Hina and loves her, but at the same time, is annoyed and restricted by her, so basically just like a real father. A running gag is Nitta being a dad. It is ingenious at how the perception of Nitta being Hina’s father can have such an effect on other people’s perceptions of him so much. It does ruin quite a few of his intentions. Coupled with being a yakuza, this is such a ridiculous premise that just works so well in this anime.
The anime is structured such that each episode has two to three stories, and usually focuses on a set of the characters. As such, there will be episodes where neither Nitta nor Hina will have much screen-time so it’s a good thing that the supporting characters are so strong. The final episode does something slightly different. It cycles back to the very beginning of the first episode, something you may have forgotten. In keeping with the theme, it goes back to a character whom you would probably have forgotten, or at least thought the anime had forgotten. It can be a bit random, and ends without really resolving the character’s plight, so the season ending can feel truncated as a result.
Overall, Hinamatsuri is one of those anime that manages to make the weird premise work. Well, it’s not that weird a premise since at its core, it’s just a father-daughter type of relationship, but with the daughter having psychic powers that sometimes make it a bit out of the norm. Nevertheless, what starts off as something slightly awkward becomes really funny. The humor kind of just sneaks up out of nowhere and hits you hard with how random or how ingenious it is.
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