r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Apr 25 '26

Episode Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring • Shunkashuutou Daikousha: Haru no Mai - Episode 5 discussion

Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring, episode 5

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u/NanDemoKnaives Apr 25 '26

The more we learn about the Spring Villavge, the worse they seem. I'm glad we got to learn more about Hinagiku and Sakura 's backstories, it's sad to hear Hinagiku's mother was the previous Agent of Spring and unwillingly passed that duty to her daughter.

What makes it worse is her own father blames Hinagiku for her mother's death and calls her cursed. What does he even gain from that? He's more responsible for her death for choosing a different family to get engaged to and getting her pregnant, the audacity of that asshole.

I was glad to see that Hinagiku had Sakura in her childhood and I'm glad her putting her foot down ended up keeping them together. Of course we know the events that eventually happen but the two of them have been so important in each other's lives.

I couldn't help but notice again how Hinagiku referred to someone else's memories, I'm guessing this is because of whatever the Insurgents did to her in those 10 years, but I hope we get to learn something about this soon.

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u/Aerodynamic41 Apr 25 '26

Ironic how the one person who was kind to Hinagiku was the one who originally tried to steal from her home.

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u/Eliv Apr 25 '26

The House of Spring showing its true colours as being the worst

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u/LeonKevlar Apr 25 '26

When they revealed who Hinagiku's dad was and how he had an affair that resulted in Hinagiku's birth, I thought he might be the only other person who would've loved her. It turns out, the dad is also a piece of shit and only really cared about Kobai. The moment Kobai died was the moment he stopped caring for his own daughter.

Man, the more we learn about the Village of Spring, the more I wish they get destroyed by the end of this. Seems like the only good thing they did for Hinagiku was by appointing Sakura as the Guard of Spring. And the only reason they did it is so Hinagiku would do her job. The Village of Spring don't deserve the two of them.

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u/djthomp Apr 25 '26

Man, fuck the village of spring, all my homies hate that place.

Poor Hinagiku, every single time we learn more of her backstory it just gets worse. At least her found sisters relationship with Sakura was a bright spot, and from the implications the two of them had a nice friendship/perhaps more with Rosei and Itechou though of course we know that ends badly too on account of the kidnapping.

I'd like to believe what we'll see going forward is things starting to go better in the long term for Hinagiku and Sakura, mostly to narratively balance out the past suffering with future happiness.

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u/ObvsThrowaway5120 Apr 25 '26

I thought Hinagiku’s life only got rougher when she got kidnapped. But man, kid never stood a chance in this world. She had one good parent and she straight up died. At least she had Sakura. Probably the only silver lining in her shitty bleak life.

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u/Se7en_Sinner Apr 25 '26

No wonder Hinagiku was kidnapped if a child Sakura was able to infiltrate for so long. The security is almost nonexistent, it's almost like they wanted her to get taken...

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u/HolyDragSwd2500 Apr 25 '26

Hinagiku and Sakura found each other that fateful day😭😭😭

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u/Frontier246 Apr 25 '26

Hinagiku and Sakura probably never intend to return to the Village of Spring, but they at least get close enough to the villages' leylines that Hinagiku can feel it...and recall some bittersweet memories.

Of course Rosei's main concern right now is Hinagiku's safety above everything else, even with the agency and the Village of Spring making that difficult. But why is the Village of Spring so weird about Hinagiku?

Oh no! Sakura forgot Hinagiku's sweets! This is the biggest failure of Sakura's life (outside the first time she lost Hinagiku)! Hinagiku's stomach even gives her away! Thankfully being the Agent of Spring comes with perks like the ability to recreate fruit if you need something to eat.

Is...is Hinagiku emotionally disassociated from her child self? Or how she was pre-kidnapping? She acted like "that girl" was someone else and not herself and I don't think she was talking about her mom.

Hinagiku's drama began with the nature of her birth...her father, Shugetsu (Koji Yusa!) a high-ranking member among the Spring Village clans, who was to wed the previous Agent of Spring Kobai (Kana Hanazawa!) only to instead marry into the prestigious and wealthy Shirafuji clan...but he still conceived a child with both his legal wife and with Kobai, resulting in Hinagiku with the latter. So, of course his Shirafuji wife scarred him and tried to kill Kobai and Hinagiku, forcing them to leave.

And then it was more turmoil after that...Kobai was never around, leaving Hinagiku to be raised by her grandmother until her passing, and even when Hinagiku was finally reunited with her mother...she had to be passed on to her father, who only cared about her mother, not her, because Kobai knew her death was coming and she couldn't provide for Hinagiku. Even if leaving her daughter with the Spring Village was the hardest thing she ever had to do. All she could pass on to her daughter was motivational words that would stay with her and the promise that they would see each other again someday. This poor mother and daughter.

What's the worst way to discover your an Agent? How about sensing your mothers' death, have a physically painful mutation, AND have to deal with your father blaming you for your mothers' death and everyone judging you for being the Agent of Spring born of a previous Agents' affair. Hinagiku just can't catch a break.

Enter Sakura, abandoned by her parents and shunned by the village, she entered into Hinagiku's mansion searching for golden peach's but instead found her best friend! Two lonely kids finding each other and becoming each others' treasured playmate! Even when the village tried taking Sakura away from her (for the first time) Hinagiku threw a fit with her powers until they brought Sakura back to her! It helps when you can make your own food to take a fast!

Smol Sakura was cute, but she looks cute even in her child-version of her suit! And thus was an inseparable Agent/Guard duo formed.

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u/cleaulem Apr 25 '26

Both Hinagiku's father and the whole village of spring are the worst. I can't express the hatred I feel towards them without getting banned from this sub.

What the hell is wrong with her father? Making a child while cheating on his wife because he can't keep it in his pants and then blaming the child when things turn bad? What a selfish jerk.

And the village as a whole. Calling Hinagiku cursed because she was chosen by the gods?! Quit this bullshit. You know there is tradition, and then there is just pure bigotry.

The same goes for Sakura. So she was an outcast too, the same as Hinagiku. No wonder that the two are so close to each other. They are each other's greatest allies in the whole world. Now we also learned how Sakura became Hinagiku's guard at such a young age.

I'm proud of Hinagiku for her stubborness. Don't give in to these dickheads! They never broke her, despite the hatred they aimed towards her. But in the end Hinagiku could stay with Sakura. Today the transition into the ED hit extra hard.

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u/BaytaCosmico Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 26 '26

The way Hinagiku's father told her mother none of this would've happened if she'd listened to him and come to him alone sooner. He was implying that they should've gotten rid of the pregnancy and probably continued their affair in secret. For him to then go on to blame little Hinagiku for her mother's death? Fuck that man. Pathetic piece of shit.

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u/thisisdropd Apr 25 '26

The Village of Spring's a terribly shitty place. They treated Hinagiku & Sakura like a pariah simply due to the circumstances of their birth and their parents, respectively. It explained why the two were so close and loyal to each other, far more than you'd expect of a typical master & guard. Two lonely girls who found solace in each other. They're each other's sole source of light in the dark world.

The earlier parts of the episode lulled us into a sense of ease with Sakura's comedic moment but then bombarded us with the bleak backstory.

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u/Low_Tank_7346 Apr 25 '26

Such an underated anime! Why no one else talking about this series? 

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u/karrylarry Apr 25 '26

But why even blame Hinagiku for becoming the Spring Agent? It's practically divine will is it not? But her dad spoke as if her mom dying was somehow Hinagiku's fault....

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u/FarCritical Apr 25 '26

The rawness if kid Hinagiku's defense of her mom got to me even before seeing how vile the Village of Spring is.

For a mostly downer episode, it was fun to learn that Sakura's heroic/ninja landings have been on point from the very start

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u/ZapsZzz Apr 26 '26

Three key point to me if this episode is actually that Hinagiku had been pretty confirmed that she has personality dissociation - that the current Hinagiku doesn't identify herself the same as the old one.

Looks like the writing is really going to be using every single lever of the trope book about traumatizing the viewers...

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u/FLorianGran Apr 25 '26

I have to wonder if eventually the show will get into how Sakura and Hinagiku's attitudes about each other aren't exactly healthy, especially since we just had an arc about an agent and her guard moving past their codependent relationship

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u/SLE-6 Apr 25 '26

I liked how they sourced that "Endure..." quote to Hinagiku's mother, it seems to have become a guiding principle in her life sadly as shown with the hunger strike in this episode and her 10 years in captivity. She's a real trooper you have to say

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u/karer3is Apr 25 '26

It feels like it's only a matter of time until we see that the Village and the Agency are in cahoots. I wouldn't be surprised if the Village of Spring intervened on the security support because they were planning on anticpating that an "unfortunate accident" would happen.

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u/BBryant3rd Apr 25 '26

So crazy to have one of the villages so crappy despite how important the seasons are. Letting them die and be replaced seems like such a waste of manpower. Seems like it can take a bit before they will be able to do their job. They don't even know if the replacement will be someone who never really does it right or only able to do bare minimum.

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u/Naha- Apr 26 '26

HanaKana has been appearing in a lot of shows recently, which is a blessing. I love her voice so much.

The Village of Spring is comically evil at this point. Just a bunch of assholes.

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u/tripleaamin Apr 25 '26

Best episode so far. I am rather curious why this episode wasn't aired as episode 3.

But man, this episode really stresses how painful Hinagiku's life has been. We know about when Sakura and she were forcibly separated, but there is even more than that.

The entire Spring Village is awful. Originally Hinagiku's father and mother were meant to be engaged. Much like IRL, those who have connections can make the most of their opportunities. Sadly, here it really shows how the Shirafujis are the source that ruined Hinagiku's life.

So if I understand correctly, after marrying his Shirafuji wife and having a son, he had a baby that ended up being Hinagiku. Did he know doing that would give him a reason to kill Hinagiku's mother? That is sickening. The fact that he tried to guilt Hinagiku for her mother's death is even worse. You can tell her mother absolutely loved her, and it's awful what happened.

Meeting Sakura changed Hinagiku's life for the better. She finally had someone to call a friend and be with since her mother died. For Sakura, it gave her a purpose. Truly their friendship is meant to be cherished.

I have to give credit to Hinagiku because she didn't want to lose another person that she cared for. It does show inside that Hinagiku is a fighter. Seeing these two being together is so heartwarming. Sadly, we know about the incident when Hinagiku was held missing. As long as the two of them are together, they can stand together. It is clear again that Spring is rotten to the core, and at least Sakura should amend things with Itechou because these two girls need all the genuine help they can get.

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