Flower and Asura

Flower and Asura is an anime that does not stand out for anything in particular. The story is very simple, the characters are very simple, and the only element that stands out is the animation. Regarding the theme of voice acting, the only thing that moves you is the visual representation—nothing in the performances truly adds to the story or engages the viewer. The anime never explains what makes a voice interesting, what nuances intonation can bring, or why it matters. Then, suddenly, the story decides you need to know the past of every character in the series. So, the anime starts delivering one character’s backstoryafter another, with the incredible coincidence that, just as their past is being revealed, some event directly connected to it conveniently occurs—wow, very impressive! These elements of the story feel like unrelated pieces forced together. There isn’t much drama, and nothing justifies the time spent on these revelations. The anime misuses its pacing and fails to convey emotions effectively. Ironic, considering that its core premise revolves around the reading of works by some of the most important and renowned Japanese storytellers.

Flower and Asura — a recital that's best further explored to see if its weight holds up. I love exploring niche topics when it comes to just about any medium of content derived from the sources that it stems from that's full of awe and intrigue to find out what goes on behind the trait that just works. So, in this Winter season, courtesy of the musical maestro that is author Ayano Takeda and her globe-transcending franchise that is Hibike! Euphonium, let's explore the road less travelled with her rather peculiar story about finding your voice and the incantations that are pretty much the vocal lifeof literature: Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku a.k.a Flower and Asura. If you're coming into this show and thinking that it'll be a masterpiece like Hibike!, then I'm sorry to say that you're going to be disappointed, since HanaShura doesn't have much of the weight attributed to it as compared to the former series. Instead, it explores the less ventured nuance of literature and, importantly, recitals/speech and storytelling, which Japan has no lack of such exquisite fine practices to help boost its literacy into something special. If you love shows like Summer 2021's Kageki Shoujo!!, then this will be your mojo, just in a different aspect. Meet Hana Haruyama: the girl who lives on the small island of Tonaki-jima with a sizable population of just 600 and has an interest in storytelling by reading to children. That has been her life at least since the one influence that brought her to the same degree in her youth, until she attends school on a normal basis as a fresh new sophomore and gets noticed by the Senpai of Mizuki Usurai when she starts speaking affluently to scout her into the Broadcasting Club and try out her articulation, which confirms her position in the rather small club. Along with other prolific members of the Broadcasting Club, Hana's journey into the realm of recital literature begins. Right from the get-go, HanaShura leverages the anime medium in one single fine thread: the aspect of sound through voice acting. It's never easy for VAs to get their articulation right, and when they do, they create some of the most iconic voices that have resonated with us throughout the years (e.g. Yusuke Kobayashi for Re:Zero's Subaru Natsuki, or any character that's voiced by Kenjiro Tsuda). It's the same application here in HanaShura, where the VAs drowns the surroundings until one decides to step up to the plate and showcase their talent, to which sound engineers will enable vacuum chamber-like settings to showcase their talents in clear-cut clarity and stereo voice. It's an art that, though, has been explored before (as in last Spring's Seiyuu Radio no Uraomote a.k.a The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio), but not to this height of composition that enables one's voice to have so much power and feel that when he/she takes the lead, it's just that engrossing. It's for this reason that if you want to enjoy this show all the more, please use headphones or a good surround system to fully appreciate the sound design for the anime. The Broadcasting Club has no lack of eccentric characters: some like Hana who are in the club for fun or others like Mizuki who've been climbing up the ranks between the various competitions against other high schools vying for the same glory and reputation. Obviously, the 2nd-year students of president Mizuki, vice president Ryoko Totonoi, Setaro Hakoyama and their advisor of Hiromi Kichijoji are experienced when it comes to competitive recital, enough to give the new faces of Hana, rivals An Natsue and Shudai Toga, as well as their meditator of Matsuyuki Akiyama to prove their skills, this becomes all the more important to distinguish what's good (in the comfort sense) and what's better (in the competition sense), because good is never enough, if you're not putting your own skills to the test, which if going by the symbolism of the series' name, Hana (as in the flower) and Shura (as in Shura Saionji, the person who inspired Hana to take on recital storytelling in the first place, or more appropriately as in the Buddhism demigod of war Asura) aptly creates the scenario of people falling into situations in which they have to fight an endless war against their own comfort zone, in a relentless and inhumane manner, if it means earning the fame that they're known for. Remember how Studio Bind was created between White Fox and production-cum-planning management company Egg Firm just to focus on Mushoku Tensei alone? Well, after 6 years of operations, you can clearly tell where the studio is at thanks to Egg Firm separating it from White Fox to "allow us to move forward with the project in a continuous, long-term, and systematic manner." That's not to say that works from the studio from now on will become less varied, but they still show potential in their production, as does HanaShura here. It just needs to amplify what's needed, and that's as much effort to give the great effect. Other than the incredible sound design I just mentioned earlier in the review; Masaru Yokoyama's OST also is solidly sound. There's not much to it, but whatever it does have, it's done to delicate balance and knows its centrepiece all the more. I'm also fine with Shishamo's OP and Sato's ED songs, though it's not something that is noteworthy, unfortunately. Props to rookie AiPri VA Minori Fujidera for her performance; the now 18/19-year-old VA easily fits Hana's character very well. Ayano Takeda certainly wasn't lying when she made Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku a.k.a Flower and Asura, because while it tries to hinge on the massive success of her prior series, at the same time, it's branching out to be its own work as well, which takes a unique audience to understand the brave complexities of vocals and sound in a captivating manner. They say, "a picture paints a thousand words," and I believe that the art of storytelling turns the quote upside down to give its own take on a long-standing rhetoric that shines best in silence. For sure, HanaShura's a unique experience; just don't expect too much from it (especially if you're going into it with a Hibike! mindset) and let the series just resonate its wavelength of stillness, coupled with vocal harmonics that'll leave you wanting for more.

From the master of yuri-bait herself, Takeda Ayano, comes another series that’s sure to leave us fuming at the end after teasing a lesbian ship for years. In all seriousness, Hanashura might be a different type of series than Hibike Euphonium, but Takeda-sensei brings the same sort of energy that made her famous Kyoani project so beloved. A school club setting, loveable characters, an MC that’s lost in life and trying to find her place and finding solace in a new hobby club, cute girls making lifelong bonds that totally aren’t lesbian coded, etc., but Hanashura also manages to forge its own pathas something unique. The focus on broadcasting and bringing literature to life is truly one of the coolest things I’ve seen. This show takes the meaning of the phrase “a good book is a portal that can take you anywhere in the world” to new heights. If you are at all interested in literature and the impact that spoken word can have on people, please give this a chance. It’s a different sort of anime, but retains many familiar things that’ll make it a very enjoyable watch for most CDCT fans! Coming into this show, I had no idea how much went into broadcasting. I mean, as a content creator myself, I knew the importance of enunciation and some basic things, but the intricacies of the craft were fully revealed to me in this show and blew me away. The way the characters in this show use recitation to express their emotions, to change how others see the world and as an art form is just.. beautiful. The studio captured the emotion of broadcast readings very well through the use of these really powerful transformation sequences where the characters and world are turned into things that reflect the book or poem’s subject matter. It’s really cool because it shows us how the listener feels and how they’re transported(not literally) into another world as the reader is reciting. I know it seems a bit nerdy and might not seem very interesting at first, but if you watch the first episode, you’ll see what I mean. It’s a really different type of sports anime which I appreciated because I learnt a lot watching this. Always a plus when you have fun and get educated when watching something. Given that it is a sports anime, you have a lot of the same tropes you’d expect. Rivalries, MC being really talented, but lacking refinement, standoffish tsundere on the team who ends up becoming besties with the MC, the senpai that the MC strives to be like, inter-school competitions, it’s actually crazy how much overlap exists with sports anime and how much of that is present in Hanashura, but the execution was great and it’s thanks in large part to the cast. This cast is amazing, it’s a big and diverse lineup from a variety of schools, just like Hibike and while admittedly not all of them got fleshed out in the first 12 episodes, most of Hana’s team did. There’s this really wholesome family dynamic going on at the school where everyone looks out for one another. I loved it! If anything, these first 12 episodes really felt like a teaser for what’s to come in this story. There’s a ton of different characters and they all have their own unique personalities which impacts the sort of recitation style they have and the proverbial image they paint to listeners. There’s this key theme of the story that there’s no right or wrong way to appreciate recitation. It’s all about the picture you want to paint for your audience and that drives our MC forward as she learns to embrace her own unique style. I really could ramble on and on about this show forever because I loved Hana, I loved the supporting cast and I found the art of recitation so novel and interesting. It’s something that might seem minor until you see all the work and effort that goes into it and the impact it can have on people. Once you do, you’ll see it’s just as real as any other sport and this series will leave a mark on you. Hanshura gets 9 out of 10

HanaShura is an anime that understands the interplay of audio and visuals perfectly and uses every tool at its disposal in order to telegraph beauty. The voice is the ultimate instrument, a tool with unlimited potential for expression. With it words become paintbrushes capable of overwriting reality and taking control over the listeners perception of the world around them. HanaShura is at its best when it comes to sound. Even discarding the main premise of vocal recitation, the anime simply sounds good. BGM is rarely used but in its place comes extremely deliberate noise. Footsteps, chalk, clothing, animals, people, everything has a noise and thatnoise is made as high quality as possible. If you don't think about sound all that often that might seem confusing so I'll try to explain. The difference between high quality noise and low quality noise comes with its capability of expression. Low quality noise blends into its environment without contributing to it, in that its addition or absence plays no significant role in the greater feel of the atmosphere. This is most evident in works which feature either too much noise, which causes it all to mesh together, or unpolished noise, which causes it to lack impact. In HanaShura's case, the general output of noise is low while the quality of noise is high which creates a far more full and deliberate experience. This tangent is important because the core premise of the show revolves around vocal recitation and thus if this is the attention of detail paid to inconsequential environmental noise then it naturally leads you to believe that the performances will also be high quality. And high quality they are. At first I was worried because Hana's seiyuu (Minori Fujidera) is a greenhorn and so having this be her first major role might have been too much for her to chew. Luckily, she nailed it. From Hana's first performance it's evident that you're dealing with a show of higher caliber. Ignoring the visual representation, her words alone resonate power as she channels Asura's bitter rage and casts it out into the world. The rest of the performances follow suit. While none reach the overwhelming power of Hana's initial performance each character clearly has their own performance style and their words resonate deep within the minds of their listeners. While recitation and dramatic readings are two different things there's still adequate room for individual expression and simply allowing their words to wash over you makes this evident. Of course, this isn't a podcast, there's visuals as well. For the most part HanaShura operates with a moderately higher budget than you might expect for a slice of life kind of show. The sceneries are very pretty, very nice usage of color and the characters look clean. The main showstopper lies in the performances. The moment one of the members of the broadcasting club starts reciting something you're pulled directly into the world of their words. Every representation is perfectly tuned to whichever work is being read. Ryouko's loneliness takes shape as she stands on the beach under the clear night skies, waiting for her lover. Mizuki's anger manifests as she tears herself apart to a foundational level until there's nothing left of her. Hana's potential manifests as a unrelenting force which she herself is not yet able to fully control, tempesting and crushing all those who fall before her. Most of all is Shura. Her performance matches the potential that the show has attributed her. Her raw talent suffocates the viewer as an endless barrage of her words rain down upon you forcing you into a natural state of submission and you're forced to bear witness to pure beauty. The audio and the visuals work in perfect synergy to create art. I could keep writing but this is something that can only be experienced not described to you. Unfortunately, HanaShura isn't without flaws. The core cast ends up being a little lacking, especially when compared to Takeda's previous work. Hana is good, she exemplifies the very shy but kind girl that's still breaking out of her shell trope well. This is very much aided by her seiyuu who, just like with the recitations, does a wonderful job maintaining a very timid demeanor through her voice. She comes into her own a bit more by the end of the show which is nice to see but she lacks significant presence. Hana's two main pairings: Mizuki and An are alright. Both receive a little bit of backstory and development but aren't focused on enough in general to comment on in depth. The main issue that all the characters have is simply a lack of points that stick out. To be a bit meaner: they aren't very memorable. They interact well enough with each other, Hana and Mizuki's relationship is quite nice, but not enough to push them into long term memory. Additionally the show falls victim to having an unsatisfying ending. It's another one of those shows that nails it for the first three quarters and then pushes drama into the final quarter instead of sticking with what works. Rather than doing this they could have easily dedicated more time towards pushing those character relationships forward instead of the fairly awkward episode and a half of nothing that we ended up with. The episodes prior worked well at establishing each of the members of the broadcasting club, giving them each an adequate backstory and motivations, all they needed to do was build off of those a little bit more and it would have made for a much more wholly satisfying experience. While the ending does naturally lead into a sequel, it comes at the cost of a more seamless experience which sours the final impression that it's able to give. While it does end up stumbling every now and then, HanaShura is undeniably a beautiful anime. It's filled with passion for artistic expression and understands the relationship shared between sound and the mind and how to best translate that onto the screen. Whether you like it or not, you will end up being dominated by the experience as its stories weave their way through all of your senses. If you've never experienced awe, this is a good place to start.