Hamatora features a piece of social commentary Once an Episode:
- In Episode 2, to bullying and the excuses bullies come up with to justify themselves.
- In Episode 3, the so-called Soccer Moms and a beautiful one to Bill 156 (the infamous anime and manga censorship law). An organization strieves to improve young people's lives by erradicating the special treat Minimum Holders enjoy in society, and among other things, ban "harmful material in anime and manga". Said organization turns out to be very shady, even willing to fabricate false evidence against Facultas Academy and import illegal drugs to accomplish their objectives. Oh, and their leader completely ruined her own Muggle son's life because she had the very same prejudices she was supposedly fighting against.
- Episode 4 has a subtle one to Niconico/Youtube idols (especially if you associate the idol's image-altering ability to people using After Effects and the like to change their appearance).
- In Episode 5, to Idols (or rather, the rules they have to follow, such as no dating) and their fanbase.
- Episode 7 too, focusing more on crazy Idol otaku's delusions, particularly on said no-dating rule.
- In Episode 6, to Bishoujo-centric media, blatantly calling it a lower form of art, and to people who think sales equal quality.
- Episode 8 has one to wish fulfillment fantasy stories, especifically to Light Novels pandering to Otaku, implying they are for people with escapism issues.
- Episode 9 gets more serious: it addresses sensationalist media and immoral reporters. Also, it goes against the "Revenge is not sin" mentality present in Middle Eastern countries, where Three is implied to hail from.
- Another interpretation is "death is not the answer even if you've done terrible things, you have to live to make up for it". Basically, a jab at Redemption Equals Death.
- Episode 10 has a direct one to Trolls and hate speech on the Internet.
- And in a Freeze-Frame Bonus, to businesses that refuse to work with non-Japanese speakers.
- Episode 12 delivers a huge one to The Power of Friendship, of all things.
- Amusingly, this show seems to have something against Oreimo, via painfully obvious Expies in less than flattering circumstances:
- In the first episode, an Ayase lookalike engaging in Compensated Dating.
- Episode 7 features a guy who has had his way with a number of idols. When detailing his experiences to Nice, he pulls a picture of a Kirino lookalike and says he only went halfway with that one.
- Episode 10 is far more brutal: a Kyousuke clone (and this one even wears the same clothes) dies horribly in a fire after getting targeted for posting hateful comments on the Internet.
- Episode 1 of the second season manages to mock Visual Novels (particularly the typical indecisive, bland Self-Insert protagonists in them), the Idol business in general and AKB48 in particular, female Idol otaku and Yanderes, all at once.
- Episode 3 has one to fake artists hyped by the media, though not as viciously as most of the examples on this page.
