HitoHira Ep01 - む、無理です…

Drama Research Club..anyone ?

OP Sequence: Yume, Hitohira (夢、ひとひら)” by Yuuko Asami

A timid looking girl hides behind a tree and looks at a crowd that is in front of her. Her friend, Kayo gave her a scare when she appeared behind, however the timid girl is unable to speak out. She is nervous and her name is Mugi Asai. Apparently, this girl has a problem of speaking when she is nervous. At a balcony, 2 seniors (Takashi and Risaki) are looking at the crowd of freshmen who is going looking at the entry results. They are wondering how many will get into their club. A mysterious looking girl (Nono) appeared and asked if they have finished their work. The 2 of them discussed about who will enter their club. Risaki confirms 1 freshman will be joining their club - her brother, Kai. A shout of joy stopped their conversation, the seniors looked out and found that it was the new freshman- Asai. Asai, embarassed , gave an apology and ran out feeling extremely happy.

The girls started their first day of school and Asai met her first obstacle - Self Introduction in class. She has a bold imagination and she is able to express her feelings and thoughts in her mind but her imagination came to a halt when Kayo took a shot of her on the camera. Kayo wonders when she will overcome her loss of speech when she is nervous (sorry, i cant think of the proper word)

Of course, Asai become the center of attraction when she gave her self introduction (she cant even speak out) and to add on the fun, Risaki’s brother, Kai was hit on the head by Asai when she bowed as a form of courtesy and it hit Kai hard. At break time, the blowing of sakura calmed Asai down. Her good friend, Kayo took out her camera and took a few shots of the beautiful scenery. The two of them had a good talk and Asai is suprised that Kayo had decided what she wanted to do in the school, to join a photography club. Kayo commented on her self-confidence and encourages her to have at least self confidence if she wants to overcome her problem with losing her speech when she is flustered.

At a art lesson, Asai begins to wonder what she is good at, she looks Kai’s drawing and was astounded by his drawing. She starts to wonder if she had entered the wrong school. As the lesson finishes, the teacher asks Asai to help her pack up the items and bring it back to the storage room. A timid-lack-of-self-confidence Asai brings the items to the room and found many past articles of the school and in the room, she found a beautiful dress. She stood rooted to the ground while admiring the beauty and elegance of teh dress. The scene changes with Kai running from her sister. Kai bumps into Asai and Asai fell down. Asai opened her eyes to find herself in some unknown place while being looked at. Asai is scared and starts to run. A warm voice echoed to her and asks if she is ok, Asai runs towards the voice and a bright light enveloped her. Asai opened her eyes and to find a elegant looking girl looking down at her.

This part is a general summary of some of the other characters that will be introduced later in the future episodes, we see Chitose, a drama lover joining the drama club while a sad looking senior, Mirei looks at the costume that she wore during a play at the club orientation event. Back at class, Asai finds Kai hiding under a table and wonders what he is doing…

Risaki spotted Kai and Asai and with a grin, she welcomes them to join the drama research club. Nono tells her that she meets her yet again, Takashi says they had spotted her during the entry results and they knew she was the one who shouted out. The conversation caught the attention of other students and they looked at Asai. Asai gets nervous and believes she wont make it the drama club. Risaki tells her that it is the Drama Research Club, not the Drama club. Nono hold Asai’s face and with a warm gaze upon her, Nono comforts her that there is nothing to be scared and she will be gentle to Asai. Asai, confused signs the form that Nono offers her.

Nono tells Asai that in a drama, to act as someone other than yourself is a happy thing and she believes Asai will enjoy being in the club one day. Asai begins to realize what she had done. She pictures herself in a drama and faints. She asks if there is a drama that does not need her to speak.

ED Sequence: Smile (スマイル)” by Mai Mizuhashi
A pretty light hearted anime for the spring season, I only identified one of the seiyuu in the anime - Ayako Kawasumi as Nono Ichinose. A very nice start for the anime series but the ending gave me a yuri feel. Episode 1 gave an obvious hint that something is going on between the drama club and the drama research club. This will be definitely in my must-watch list if nothing yuri goes on. I liked the ED of this anime as well. hmm….anyway…in regards to this post, i apologise for some of the phrases I used above. Not very good in english.. :P and here is my fave screenshot of the episode

Hell funny to see Asai fixing up a broken branch -.-