Hinamatsuri

Genre(s): Comedy, Slice of Life, Supernatural, Seinen, Reverse Isekai

Age-Appropriateness: 13+ (language, some adult references)

Platforms: Crunchyroll, Funimation

Episodes: 12

TheAwersome Rating: 8.1 / 10 (A heartwarming surprise)

Premise: Yakuza member Yoshifumi Nitta is celebrating having bought a rare antique vase for his collection when he is interrupted by a large, strange capsule materializing and falling on his head. He opens the capsule to find a young girl who doesn’t reveal anything but her name, Hina, and that she has strong psychokinetic abilities. Faced with no other choice, Nitta finds himself becoming her caregiver.

TheAwersome’s Thoughts: I was expecting this to be a comedy mostly focused on supernatural abilities with a good dash of “tough thug goes soft when he has to care for a child,” and was surprised that it was a great deal more than just that. Hinamatsuri, while being a hilarious reverse Isekai (people/beings from other worlds get dragged to ours and have to adjust to it) has an unexpected exploration of the Coming-of-age genre as well. The show follows several different girls in addition to Nitta and Hina and their wildly different approaches to “making it” in life, and how their various circumstances shape that. While it is primarily a somewhat farcical comedy, there are a good number of very touching moments, (I did a cry, I confess) so there is some weight.

TLDR: A quality comedy that does a surprisingly good exploration of the struggles of “making it” in life.

There hasn’t been an announcement for a second season as of yet, but it certainly sets itself up for one; I’m sure the story continues on for a bit in the manga.

A note on the title: Hinamatsuri is a holiday/festival in Japan which translates to “Doll’s Day” or “Girl’s Day,” so having the story focus on these various junior high girls makes sense.

Here’s a clip that gives you a bit more of the dry humor vibe that Hinamatsuri executes so well: