English Dub Review: Hinamatsuri “Arrival of the Psychokinetic Girl!”

A mobster becomes a father when a little girl with superpowers randomly shows up in his home.

Overview (Spoilers Below):

One minute you’re a simple mobster, appreciating your expensive vases; the next you’re ordering fancy sushi for your extremely hungry psychokinetic daughter. There’s no hiding it: Hinamatsuri is a weird show. When a strange metallic capsule with a face poking out of it drops from mid-air onto his living room floor, Nitta is convinced he’s taken too many pills. But when the unidentified object is still there after a good night’s rest, he pretty much rolls with it, accepting Hina’s unbelievable powers without too much inner turmoil.

Things progress quickly, and before he knows it, Hina is living at his house, eating his food, and enrolling in middle school under his name. Despite his initial distrust, her powers come in handy when he has to do some land development. And when a mafia emergency takes place, she takes it upon herself to ‘eliminate all enemies’ and earn Nitta the respect of his fellow ‘family’ members. Hina’s arrival has changed his entire life completely, and it doesn’t look like she’s leaving anytime soon.

Our Take:

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect going into Hinamatsuri. The initial previews didn’t entice me very much, with mediocre animation and a tired dad/daughter dynamic that’s already been done perfectly in shows like Barakamon and Alice to Zouroku. But after seeing the opening scene of the first episode online, I knew I had to check it out further. While the fight sequence is beautifully executed, it seems like a one-off thing, at least for now.

The main thing Hinamatsuri has going for it is the strange sense of ironic humor it employs, like when Nitta is in the midst of a mob meeting, but only thinking about how Hina’s first day of school is going. A healthy sense of chaos permeates this premiere, from Nitta’s reactions to his broken vases, to Hina’s destruction of the rival gang’s entire headquarters. One thing that will be interesting to see the show explore is Hina’s backstory. While Nitta says he’s not too eager to hear it, I’m sure we viewers beg to differ. We’ve already got plenty of hints that she’s been treated as merely a weapon, and is surprised at how Nitta treats her. (Honestly, Nitta’s gotta be the nicest gangster to ever gangster. Less than a day after their first meeting, he’s already thinking of himself as a new parent.)

The visuals in the opening fight scene are, of course, incredible. The rest of the episode, however, is merely average. At least Hina’s character design is relatively cute, and I like the way the show puts bright highlights on hair.

I’m not entirely sold on the dub yet. Jarrod Greene does a good job portraying a stereotypical New York mobster accent, but Brina Palencia can’t quite pull off a realistic performance as young Hina. Palencia is wonderful in other things I’ve seen her in, like Snow White With The Red Hair, but she has a relatively deep voice, so I’m not sure she was the right choice for a small child. Hopefully, I’ll get used to it more in future episodes. The script does a fine job keeping the comedy in several untranslatable jokes, like the comment in the opening sequence about needing a lifeproof phone case.

Hinamatsuri seems set to deliver lots of wacky comedic hijinks between a mobster and his gifted new ward. There have been plenty of shows that cover this same topic (Alice and Zouroku cover very similar territory in terms of plot), but I’m optimistic that this show can carve out a place for itself and its silly, strange sensibilities.