Hinamatsuri is scoring a lot of points with me with these last two episodes, no question about it.  Last week it allayed a lot of the skepticism I had about the series in general, especially with the B-part featuring Hitomi (who rocked it again this week).  This week is actually made me reconsider my lukewarm feelings towards Anzu (though that was as much the premise as anything to do with her specifically).

I find it pretty shocking that in the same season, we’re getting anime focused on both the treatment of the Ainu and the homeless problem in Japan’s cities.  And yes, Japan has a homeless problem – not as bad as in some Western first-world countries (especially the United States) but it’s there.  In the “one for all” welfare state of Japan, where the community is always raised about the individual, homelessness is as much a taboo subject as the Ainu – so kudos to Hinamatsuri for the first chapter this week.  Next thing you know we’ll have anime paint a historically accurate picture of World War II…

I did like that first chapter a lot, mostly because it didn’t romanticize the situation Anzu was in too much.  Busting her tail all day for ¥690, then having to spend it all on sake in order to butter up her sempai’s associated into letting her join their encampment – that’s tough.  It was especially cruel when she swallowed her pride and accepted the ¥40,000 from Nitta (the most mature thing she’s done in the series), only to have the merchants she’d been stealing from promptly relieve her of it.

After that it was back to Hitomi, who’s certainly become my favorite character in the series.  I love the fact that she’s stayed on at Utako’s as a bartender – and that Utako blackmailed her into doing it.  A middle-schooler (much less a girl) working at a bar is yet another very dodgy subject for Hinamatsuri to be trading in, so again I salute it for fearlessness.  I also think Hitomi is just plain hilarious – her slightly-unhinged good girl impulse makes the perfect foil for the ludicrous events that this series thrives on.

Finally, a pure slapstick number featuring Hina (who’d been basically absent this week). It reminded me of an episode of Frasier where Niles attempts to iron his pants at Frasier’s apartment only to run into a string of self-inflicted disasters as Eddie the dog looks on.  Nothing too weighty or exceptional here, but I did like the way it chose to end just as Nitta came home and opened the front door – leaving the rest to our imaginations…