Ohana Matsumae lived a rather carefree life in Tokyo with her mother. Her mother then makes a life-altering decision, to run away with her new boyfriend and abandon Ohana to her own devices following a philosophy of self-reliance. The young high school girl seeks refuge with her stern grandmother who runs a small countryside inn. Her grandmother won’t take care of her just because she her granddaughter, but puts her to work as a maid at the inn. We follow Ohana as she tries to figure out where she fits in at the inn, at the new school and in her grandmother’s life.

The stories of Hanasaku Iroha and Konohana have some amazing similarities. The main characters Yuzu and Ohana both leave the worlds they grew up in and begin working at an inn. Yuza and Ohana also don’t have any experience in the hotel industry and make a lot of mistakes as they learn the ropes of their new jobs. The main characters are both earnest, willing to adapt to their new lives and want to please the people around them. Hanasaku Iroha is a little more mature as it delves into the inner drama of characters as they come of age and are deciding what they want to do with their lives while Kohohana Kitan feels like it’s more about being cute. We feel that if you like Kohohana Kitan you’ll love Hanasaku Iroha and their very cute and plucky heroines.

Chihiro Komiya is left homeless after the passing of his mother and it seems as though his once pleasant life is going to become very, very hard. When Chihiro’s life looks its bleakest Madoka Takatori steps on the stage. Madoka informs young Chihiro that he is Chihiro’s long lost and extremely wealthy uncle. The boy of modest means is swept away to his uncle’s high-class mansion and quickly beings sweeping. Modoka’s mansion is a disaster. The foyer alone filled with garbage and trash. Chihrio didn’t start sweeping and cleaning because he was told to, the boy happens to be a clean freak. He happily dons a maid uniform and begins cleaning the entire residence. The story is about Chirhiro’s ability adapt to life in the mansion, maintaining his modest outlook on life as he makes friends and rediscovers the meaning of family.

Shounen Maid, like Konohana Kitan, is light-hearted. The two stories follow characters that grew up in modest circumstances and are now expected to operate in a world of luxury. Yuzu’s financial circumstances may not have changed like Chihiro’s, but they both are now surrounded by wealthy people. Chihiro also “works” for his uncle, though it wasn’t demanded of him, as a maid. The two stories are filled with kindheartedness that truly focuses on the good of people. If you want to spend some time with a cleaning-obsessed elementary school boy in a maid outfit whose optimistic outlook might give you a toothache check out Shounen Maid.

Chiya, who was raised in the mountains, moves to the town of Meirochou to become an Urara, or fortune teller, a highly respected and coveted position. Chiya doesn’t seem to have many social skills and has many of the attributes of a feral child. She also seems to attract animals to her since they think she is one of their own. Out of the blue, she receives an invitation to become a fortune teller – a fate she never dreamed could come true. She quickly is met by three other 15-year-old girls who are also apprentice candidates. The girls will work and live together learning their craft in the hopes of one day being able to strike out on their own as master fortunetellers.

The first main similarity Urara Meirochou has with Konohana Kitian is the main character seems to have soft, furry ears. We are also immersed in a universe where youkai and gods live side by side with humans. We are again confronted with the fish-out-of-water scenario as Chiya, like Yuzu, learns to adapt to a new environment and job. We have a cast of really cute girls who learn to become friends as they bond over their new vocation. You are simply expected to smile watching the slice-of-life antics of the characters and their optimism as they try, succeed and sometimes fail at their new calling.

The story of Kiniro Mosaic is the story of two friends, Shinobu and Alice, from opposite sides of the world. Shinobu Oomiya traveled from her home in Japan to have a homestay in England with Alice’s family. Several years later, Alice begins a homestay with Shinobu and begins attending high school in Japan. The story is a simple slice-of-life anime that focuses on Shinobu, Alice, and their friends Youko and Aya. A third overly energetic half-Japanese-half-English girl Karen Kujou becomes part of their group as well. We get to see these cute girls deal with the typical and not-so-typical drama of high school life. Shinobu and Alice become a bridge for their friends, including Karen, between two very different cultures.

The stories of Kiniro Mosaic and Konohana Kitan may seem on the surface to be very different but do have a few similarities worth pointing out. Kiniro Mosaic and Konohana Kitan are both slice-of-life stories. The artistic style and moe character design are similar as well. We get similar fish-out-of-water stories, at times two of them as Alice and Yuzu both adapt to their new environments. The casts are both almost exclusively female and don’t get caught up in talk of boys and dating. We have two stories with what you could call yuri-light where girls develop crushes and admire other girls without ever acting on them. You also have one or two episodes that seem to try for more than just cute by tackling a serious subject like death or a life well lived. Kiniro Mosaic is also funny. The girls get themselves into ridiculous situations and Karen is just a riot, so if you want a laugh this quintet of cuties is perfect for you.

We don’t like being judged by our appearances and neither does Sakuranomiya Maika, a high school girl with a sometimes sinister countenance looking for a job. Sakuranomiya Miaka needs a job because she is a travel nut and wants to leave Japan and see the world. She comes across a café and gets a job, but she isn’t hired because of her ability to wait tables but because of how she looks. Maika is a cute girl, it’s just when she smiles that sinister look comes out and can be quite off-putting -- except when that’s what you want. The café hires waitresses to portray roles like little sister, tsundere girlfriend, and sadistic girl -- a role she was born to play, despite having a very nice personality. We watch poor Maika struggle to make her personality match her sadistic look when serving customers; the results are hysterical.

The anime Blend-S and Konohana Kitan both take place in the service industry and detail the effort of a newbie learning the ropes. Blend-S is really a comedy more than anything, and though Konohana Kitan has funny moments, it’s not the main goal of the story. We do have slice-of-life stories that have an underlying theme of being true to yourself. Yuzu, despite needing to learn the ropes of customer service, always lets her kind and inquisitive personality come through. Maika, on the other hand, struggles with being the person she needs to be, a sadist server, and the sweet girl that would help an old lady across the street. The character design is cute in both anime and leaves you wishing that either girl would serve your tea.

Hinako grew up in the country and is extremely shy, and we mean comically shy. If a person she doesn’t know (and sometimes even if she does know them) asks her a question, she basically turns into a scarecrow. She has been known to spend more time talking with the creatures of the woodlands like birds, bunnies and bears than with humans. She wants to get over her social anxiety, so she chooses to attend school in the city. She moves into a boarding house occupied by some eccentric girls above a bookstore and a café. Hinako realizes that one of the ways to get over her shyness is to get outside of her comfort zone, and what could be more out of her comfort zone than acting? She lives out her daily life working in the café and learning to act, all to become a better her.

Hinako Note like Konohana is a slice-of-life story populated by harmless adventures. The two stories are also similar in the fish-out-of-water approach with the country girl moving to the city motif. The art styles and character designs are very similar and have fun with breaking the style into chibi occasionally for comic effect. We have stories of two girls that are trying to discover something about themselves. Yuzu seems to be working toward understanding the world and her purpose in it, while Hinako is working to overcome her personal hang-ups by challenging herself. The adorable characters in each anime draw us in with their innocence and isn’t that the kind of escape we want from an anime?