Hinamatsuri: The Complete Series

Hina appears literally out of nowhere into Yoshifumi Nitta’s high-rise apartment—encased in a metal egg, no less—and that bit of weirdness punctuating a normal setting pretty much captures the tone of this anime series. Mid-level Yakuza member Nitta reluctantly frees and adopts the powerfully psychokinetic girl, enrolling her in school, where she sleeps through every class. Meanwhile, Hina’s less-powerful rival Anzu ends up being taken in by a homeless encampment, where she learns to live by collecting aluminum cans. And classmate Hitomi, accompanying Nitta and Hina to a bar, accidentally gains a part-time job as a high-level bartender. Hinamatsuri revels in fish-out-of-water stories of discovery, often progressing several episodes without referring back to Hina’s powers or origins, preferring to explore issues such as Japan’s homeless population or watch as Hitomi’s extreme competence and inability to say no land her several part-time jobs. Although often serious and heartwarming, a deeply weird and loving humor permeates the series, which visually shines and benefits from strong voice-acting. Based on a long-running manga series, this oddball schoolgirl anime offers a little something for everyone. Presenting all 12 episodes from 2018 in a dual-language Blu-ray edition, rated TV-14, this is highly recommended. (L. Martincik)