It took a looooong time, but with the whole series subbed, I finally finished watching Hitohira, a series full of ups and downs but all in all a worthwhile watch.

To start, I’d like to thank Starlight Fansubs for answering my plea for Hitohira subs, whether directly or not.

Series Rating: 8.5/10

At its core, Hitohira focuses on two characters, detailing their past, following their present day activities and building towards their futures.

Asai Mugi is most likely the shyest character you’ll ever see. Let alone public speaking and stage acting, this girl loses her nerves and the ability to speak in any situation that causes her the slightest bit of anxiety. So for the sake of entertainment, what better thing to do than to throw her into a drama club, a club that is the polar opposite of her personality.

However, slowly but surely she begins to change. With the support of the new friends she’s made through the club, and some tough love from the leader, Mugi begins to become more confident in herself. The path to self change is never easy, and Mugi goes through her share of hardships, but in the end she comes out of it a better person with a new outlook and approach to life.

The other main character in this performance of sorts is Ichinose Nono, a high school senior and president of the drama club that Mugi joins. Nono loves to act but is forced to quit the main drama club when she begins to have problems with her voice, but rather than give up, she decides to form her own drama based club and continue doing what she loves.

It’s this determination that she tries to pass on to Mugi, who reminded Nono of herself when she first entered high school. Her methods are harsh and unforgiving, but ultimately very effective.

Thoughts

Hitohira is not a series without flaw, by the end of it I had a lot of unsatisfied feelings and unanswered questions. I think the problem was its short length, to properly flesh out all the characters it would have needed to be at least twice as long.

While Mugi and Nono were portrayed very well, the side characters felt shallow and reeked of lost potential.

Mirei and Kayo probably got the best treatment out of the supporting cast, being the best friends and support pillars of the main characters. Mirei in particular was an interesting character because you could tell that she wanted nothing more than to support Nono and go back to the days when they were close friends, but for the sake of Nono’s health chooses to oppose her acting dreams. The effect was kind of lost at the end when they more or less reconciled their differences, but at the same time I was happy to see the two back together again.

Kayo and Mugi’s relationship was another interesting one to watch. It started out with Mugi completely dependent on Kayo, not even being able to so much as talk to anyone else. But in the end it’s Kayo who is most influenced by Mugi, after her display during the cultural festival play. However, the end completely ignored Kayo, there was no closure for her character. A short 10 second cut away to her studying abroad would have solved this, but I guess the writers just forgot about her.

But the rest of the characters got it a lot worse. Orinal tried to build herself as Mugi’s acting rival, but with Mugi not exactly determined to become a great actress, it came off as rather futile, much like her role in the Nono-Katsuragi-Orinal love triangle.

Katsuragi came off as the calm and collected sideline character, but all in all had a very weak presence and ended up very forgettable.

Risaki had her moments, acting as the voice of reason, but as a whole served a somewhat pointless role. Comedic relief character, maybe?

And Kai was just plain useless, he played a few minor roles in times when Mugi needed cheering up, but she probably would have done just as well had he not been there. It was clear that he had a crush on Mugi, and it would have added another dimension to both his and Mugi’s character, but nothing came of it and I was left wondering why they even bothered to make it apparent in the first place.

But with all that having been said, I still enjoyed the anime as a whole. Though the secondary characters and their plots were poorly constructed, they did a decent job in contributing to the main story lines, which were well done.

In particular I was impressed by the turning point in Mugi’s story, the cultural festival play. I got a chill down my spine when her voice exploded onto the foreground with such power and emotion. Her recession after they ended up losing to the main drama club was a little odd though. Based on the amount of work and the conviction she showed during the play, I thought her personality had undergone enough change for her to face the future. But the loss of the competition and Kayo announcing her plans to study abroad threw her back a step.

But I suppose it all came together in the end, which was a satisfying one. The end left many things up to question, but I think that was the point. No hints are given as to what kind of future Mugi, Kayo, Orinal, Kai or the seniors may be heading towards, but the message that it delivered was powerful. That high school only represents a minute portion of one’s life. Friends are made and memories are created, but it’s nothing compared to the vast possibilities that await in the future. Will Mugi go on to become a great actress? In my opinion, no way. But does that make the months she spent in the drama club with her seniors any less meaningful? Of course not. The lessons that Mugi learned over the span of that year helped her turn her life around and gave her the courage to move on, no matter what life throws at her.

I wasn’t expecting much from the technical aspects of Hitohira, but ended up being pleasantly surprised in some areas. Character designs in particular were great in this series, Mugi’s various expressions were hilariously cute (she even secured a spot in this year’s Saimoe). The animation was passable, the almost pastel-like colors felt a little unnatural at times, but since the series had a lot of still scenic shots, it ended up working out quite well.

Music, on the other hand, did not impress me at all. I only listened to the OP once and found it to be a forgettable experience. The ED was catchy and I liked it, but was so out of place in some episodes. With episodes often ending on melancholic notes, it was weird to go from such a depressing overtone to hearing the opening “SMILE SMILE, no matter what” opening lines of the ED. I also thought the ambient soundtrack was distracting at times, needlessly overpowering lines of dialog.

I wrote this review in a bit of a rush and from proofreading, I realize that it sounds like I have more criticism than praise for Hitohira, but don’t let that fool you, it was a great series and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a school comedy/slice of life show to pass some time with.

And if nothing else, watch it for the heavy lesbian undertones, especially in the latter half of the series. Apparently there were no such undertones in the manga, rather it actually had a few hetero couples running around. I don’t know why they decided to go in the opposite direction in that regard, but I’m quite thankful they did so =D

Suddenly. Pancakes! Hundreds of them!

~ Shirukii ~