First Impressions: HINAMATSURI

Have any of y’all seen that one manga about the ex-yakuza house husband? I’ve seen it floating around tumblr a lot lately. It’s really cute.

I don’t know that that has anything to do with this, but something about the summary reminded me of it. Mostly just the part about Our Hero being a yakuza, probably.

Anyway, let’s get to it.

I can’t tell if this show is supposed to be a comedy. It opens with a really well-animated fight scene, but the girl is using a log with a wig on it as a shield, and when we meet the yakuza, a metal egg with a girl’s face drops through a portal on the ceiling and lands on his head, and then he just kinda stares at it for a moment. And all in the first two minutes.  This is all followed up by a mellow montage of the yakuza guy getting ready in the morning, complete with a shower scene that cowardly does not show us his butt.

Thanks you, HINAMATSURI, for not having Our Hero get turned on by the nekkid baby. I really don’t like that I have to feel relieved about something like that in this, The Year Of Our Lord 2018, but anime was a mistake.

I kinda like how Our Hero just accepts that there’s this little girl with superpowers just chilling in his house. His more bothered by his vases getting broken than anything else. It’s a bit odd, but it suits the kinda low-key comedic tone much more than overreacting would. He asks a few obvious questions, but doesn’t really push the matter too much. He’s just got a kid now and that’s cool, he guesses.

I liked this. There were a couple of odd moments where things that would typically be played for drama (such as Hina’s explosion and when she took out the rival yakuza gang) were played seemingly for laughs, but I kind of dug it. It’s different, and different is pretty nice is what would normally be a pretty played-out story. I’m definitely gonna be sticking with this one.

[ko-fi]