Jacen's Rants
My Least Favorite Anime - A Hanebado Rant
March 22, 2025
I hate Hanebado.
That's not something I say lightly. I've watched a lot of garbage anime, and the list of shows I can say I legitimately disliked, much less hated, is very short. With that in mind, what could possibly be so bad about Hanebado that I felt the need to dive deeply into the details of exactly why I hate it? Let's jump into it.
The Positives
First, let's start with the good things about this anime.
The animation is beautiful. The characters are extremely well detailed, and the action scenes pack a punch. There are moments in the last three or four episodes where the quality does seem to dip a bit, but it's still what I would consider to be well above average from start to finish.
The music is also a huge plus. The opening and ending are both excellent songs, and the soundtrack does an outstanding job of staying out of the way while still enhancing the show. It serves the role of a good soundtrack exactly; no more, no less.
The Protagonist
And that is where the positives end, and we move into the biggest flaw of Hanebado: the protagonist.
Nagisa Aragaki is a fantastic protagonist. By episode 2 she's already received some major character development. Her motivations are simple but believable, and she develops into a fairly likable character throughout the course of the show.
Unfortunately, she's not actually the main protagonist of this anime. Ayano Hanesaki is the true main character here, and she's the most whiny and obnoxious main character in all of anime. There's nothing inherently wrong with having an unlikable protagonist, and a lot of Ayano's negative traits come as a direct result of childhood trauma, so you can't really blame her for them.
The problem is that Hanebado doesn't want to commit to having an unlikable protagonist. Instead, it flip-flops between cute moe Ayano and an absolute unlikable monster. It feels a lot like the writers just couldn't decide whether they wanted to make Ayano likable or not, instead settling on this awful middle ground.
The Side Characters
Fortunately, Hanebado does put effort into making its supporting characters likable. Unfortunately, that's about the only positive thing it does for them.
A lot of the supporting cast are very generic and forgettable. Ayano's childhood friend, Elena, is an extremely important side character who is directly responsible for a lot of the plot kicking off and I still forgot she existed for a couple of episodes.
Additionally, Hanebado tries to build up story arcs for a lot of the supporting characters but doesn't actually provide them with any meaningful or lasting growth. Their development lasts for all of one episode before they fade back into the background to act as satellite characters for Ayano and Nagisa.
Even Nagisa isn't entirely immune to this treatment. After her development in episode 2, she kind of stagnates and doesn't really serve much meaningful purpose beyond acting as a rival to Ayano.
The Rivals
And speaking of rivals, let's talk about Hanebado's antagonists.
Hanebado tries to create sympathetic rivals that the viewer can relate to after their arc has finished, and it succeeds, kind of. The problem is that these antagonists really do deserve the harsh treatment that they receive, and never show any kind of remorse for their actions before the sympathy switch is flipped. While they are still somehow more sympathetic characters than Ayano, that's only because that isn't a particularly high bar, and their characterization is fumbled just as much as every other character in the show.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, Hanebado is an anime that doesn't know what it wants to do with itself. It wants to explore the lasting impact of the trauma inflicted on its main character, but it isn't brave enough to commit to her characterization. It wants to create sympathetic, if flawed, rival characters, but it ends up with antagonists that entirely deserve the abuse they receive at Ayano's hands. It wants to have complex and relatable side characters, but it refuses to give them any development that lasts beyond the single episode dedicated to them.
Hanebado is an anime with so much potential that, instead of focusing on one thing and executing it well, fumbles at every opportunity and leaves its viewers wondering what could have been.
