Hanasaku Iroha - Episode 4

Violence is the solution to everything?

Episode Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (4/5)

A new girl who is a bit airheaded is introduced in this episode. Along with her entrance, she brings along even more drama in this drama-filled series. If love triangles are something you really hate, then this show may start to disappoint you. Personally, I find the Minko-Tohru-Yuina love triangle/misunderstandings quite interesting.

This episode begins with Jiroumaru-san cleaning the inn as part of his payment for not paying his rent. Ohana appears shortly after sporting her school uniform. As she goes outside to wait for Minko, Tohru spots her and comments on how she looks like she's cosplaying as an elementary school student. She then tries adjusting her skirt so that it looks shorter just as Minko came outside. Let's just say it must have been really awkward for Ohana to be seen adjusting her skirt in the public. Nako joins the two later and they head to school. Along the way, Ohana sees the famous Fukuya Inn. When the three of them get to the train station, the cherryblossom petals that are slowly falling to the ground remind Ohana of the time she went to see them with Kou-chan. These memories made her remember his text and that she's unsure of how she is going to respond.

At school, when Ohana introduces herself and tells the class that she came from Tokyo, the classroom is suddenly filled with shouts of amazement. One student says she saw Ohana's hairpin in a magazine. Another student comments on how her hair is styled like a foreign boy's. A third student notices that she adjusted her skirt height. Ohana, was probably unsure of how to react to their comments because she bought that hairpin for ¥300, her hair was naturally wavy and Tohru told her to adjust her skirt. During a break, just ask Ohana was about to go over to Minko's desk, she gets swarmed by several students who bombard her with questions. Two random guys, who are crazy about Minko, even ask Ohana to take pictures of her for them. Fortunately for Ohana, she gets saved by Yuina, the new main character of the series. After escaping from the classroom, the two start chatting and Yuina tells Ohana that she is the granddaughter of the owner of Fukaya inn. In my opinion, I find that quite predictable.

During lunch, Ohana and Nako discuss Minko's popularity. A short while after they started talking about her, they hear her voice from somewhere. When Ohana sees her standing on a balcony behind  the school, she starts to call her name but is stopped by Nako. The two are now eavesdropping on Minko's conversation with a random guy. This random guy then, as expected, confesses to Minko only to be rejected. However, instead of giving up, he asks Minko who her ideal man is. She goes into descriptive detail and at the end of it, she gave the description of Tohru. So she likes the guy who keeps ridiculing her when she makes a mistake in the kitchen. Masochist?

Back at Kissui, Tomoe, who looks like she's high, starts ranting after finding out about the confession at school. Both Ohana and Nako looked scared of her from the beginning of her rant to the end. Meanwhile in the kitchen, Tohru ridicules teaches (surprise, surprise) Minko the correct way of putting meat on a skewer. Minko's feelings for Tohru are definitely one-sided as of now. Now in the laundry room, Ohana is trying to think of a good reply to Kou-chan's text. After being unable to think of something, she decides to follow Nako who is going to Fukuya Inn to deliver a notice from the neighborhood council (whatever that it). Along the way, they see a random grey heron (now the title of this episode makes a bit more sense) that Ohana is scared of. At Fukuya Inn, they meet the owner (Yuina's grandmother?) who looks mean just like Ohana's grandmother. I don't get why old people look so angry all the time in this anime.

Before returning to Kissou Inn, the two go to a shrine that Nako often visits and pray to a deity there. After that, Nako tells Ohana about the Lantern Festival in October and how people put up lanterns to guide all the deities returning to Japan along the path to Izumo. Ohana then pictures what is would look like and, out of excitement, calls Nako by a nickname she made up - Nakochi. Happy that she has a new nickname, Nako tells Ohana how she wanted all her friends to have a nickname too. She recalls the story of creating a nickname for Minko. The name Minchi is revealed to actually be an accident. Minchan turned into Minchi by accident but Minko didn't notice that. With Nako and Minko both having nicknames, Ohana now asks Nako to make a nickname for her.

As Ohana is relaxing in the onsen back at Kissui Inn, Minko enters and silence follows. Trying to break up the awkward silence, Ohana starts insulting Tohru because she thinks Minko hates him too. After a while, Minko couldn't bear to hear anymore insults thrown at her crush so she lashes out at Ohana and tells her how good of a person Tohru is. It is then that Minko realizes that Ohana knows she likes Tohru which makes her run out of the onsen, red-faced. Throughout the night and the next morning, Ohana tries to make up with Minko but gets ignored. On the way to school, Minko gets annoyed with Ohana and starts choking her. However, she stops when she sees Tohru stopping near Fukuya Inn on his motorcycle. To her horror, Yuina walks out of the inn, gets on Tohru's motorcycle, and happily speeds off to school with him. As Minko runs away in disgust, Ohana tries to chase after her but her path is blocked by the gray heron. The end of the episode made me want next week to come as fast as possible. I can't wait to see what happens with the Minko-Tohru-Yuina love triangle/misunderstanding. Really looking forward to the next episode.