Episode 9 is a mix of serious and funny moments and focusing more on Chizuru.
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moe
Moe (萌え) is a Japanese slang that refers to strong affection towards characters that are usually female.
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 9 Thoughts and Impressions
Haruka asks Yuuto on a official date after 20 EPISODES?! What do you mean? Are those dates on Akiba, the Christmas party at Yuuto’s house and the place where Haruka’s mother and father went to on New Years Day, are those dates… Not according to Mika since she considers them only to be outings…. ouch… I thought by now that they would have gone out on a date…
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Kobato – Episode 7 Thoughts and Impressions
Sorry for the delay… but you can never be late for Kobato, can you?
Continuing Kobato’s quest of getting more konpeito, she finds out from being a dojikko with the paint and spilling the paint all over the place that she got Fujimoto angry again… Fujimoto always seems to be one of those characters that get mad easily and Kobato takes it the wrong way when she calls him mean for not helping the girls at the university. Whoops!
Why in the world sould Fujimoto bail out irresponsible college students that go off and party and not do their homework or take notes? I wouldn’t and he is right… but it seems that Kobato takes it the wrong way and saying it’s right for people to copy your work so they can get a better grade… What ever happened to Academic Integrity? Hell, my university won’t allow me to get bailed out for being absent most of the time… No way jose… You earn your grade… so remember college students or students that will enter college next year, YOU have to earn your grade and no one is going to BAIL you OUT or you might get caught cheating! It’s not fair when students get bailed out when I have to work my butt off to get the best grade, but it happens… However, Domoto, the nice guy he his (way too nice than Yuuto from Nogizaka Haruka) and let others take advantage of him and Kobato okays that…. Wow… that is messed up, but it’s better than having a jerkass like Shute Shutherland…
On a side note, the robots from Chobits makes a reappearance since Episode 3. The funny thing is when the children play hide and go seek with them… one girl don’t know which one and as a result, she got found. =O
Besides the pet peeves with someone actually bailing out students and Kobato saying that it’s okay to do so, I find the episode rather funny… and cute… Kobato may as well be the biggest dojikko out there… more so than Yui from K-ON!
This reminds me of something… I have finals coming up in a few weeks. =o
Verdict
8.7/10
Hayate no Gotoku – First Impressions
What sorta interests me about this anime is pretty much the third episode of Nogizaka Haruka Purezza, although the parody of a episode is similar to Hayate no Gotoku, but the original always a bit better. Touka and Nagi, ironically is voiced by the supposed by the Queen of Tsundere, Kugimiya Rie, the voice of other famous loli-tsundere characters like Shana, Louise and Taiga.
From watching the first five episodes of Hayate no Gotoku, it was pretty entertaining comedy. Hayate, a unlucky, ordinary sixteen year old boy is forced to work since eight years old since his irresponsible parents and he ended up getting fired because of his age. Knowing that his parents sold him to some “very nice people” (actually a Yakuza, Japanese mafia) and he runs away. He ends up in the park and sees a little girl and then confess to her with his intentions to kidnap her, but that girl actually took the confession seriously. He tried his plan, but failed and collapses. A woman gives him a scarf and he wakes up. He finds out that Nagi was kidnapped, so he took the woman’s bike and cases after the kidnappers and eventually saves Nagi, but he was injured and he was treated at Nagi’s mansion where his wish comes true, he gets a job as Nagi’s butler. He becomes officially a butler after proving himself by defeating the robot, although he ended up getting electrocuted and having to be treated again.
The episodes were pretty funny and had several references to other anime and also a complete parody of the typical action shouen anime, although there isn’t really much action to be seen and it’s mainly for comedy purpose. Oddly enough, although Hayate is pretty strong, his appearance looks vastly young and rather effeminate, a main reason why Nagi and Maria would eventually dress him in feminine clothing… (haven’t got there, but it would be pretty funny.) Like always, Nagi is a uber tsundere paired with her twin tails… more so since she is voiced by the tsundere queen. The animation was good, so I have no complaints about it…
Would I continue…. Yes, I probably would, but I would get the DVDs first before continuing, but would I blog it… Not so much since the number of episodes are pretty big (52 episodes) and it would take alot of work to blog it.
Seitokai no Ichizon – Episode 8 Thoughts and Impressions
Episode 8 was even funnier than the last… and Ken seems to become even more indecisive than ever and Elise-chan, Lilicia’s younger sister, which was sent for her evil scheme of writing libel about the student council, but it sorta backfired.
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Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 8 Impressions
This time it’s a Mika centered episode and yes, it’s the last of the episodes that don’t focus on Haruka and her secret (which so far about 4 episodes in the season don’t have her in the spotlight, which some of the complaints are coming from.)
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Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Final Impressions
I have completed the first season nearly a week ago and it was a pretty good concept of a story which is pretty unique. In this story, they took a extraordinary nice guy and a high class girl who have one major flaw of being a otaku. That is just the surface of the story since Nogizaka Haruka is not entirely about otaku subculture in shows like Lucky Star. This twist, however makes things more interesting, but is it well executed? Let’s find out, shall we?
Content
The story is a typical romance story… a ordinary guy meets a girl. However there is a big twist in this story. Nogizaka Haruka, an ojou is the most unattainable girl in school with rejections up to the triple digits. Yuuto bumps into Haruka in the library after Yuuto returns the book and the magazine she took out revealed her secret, her love for Anime and Manga, which is viewed negatively for people of her class. However, Yuuto accepts her secret and will keep it as a secret. Throughout the series, the relationship between Haruka and Yuuto builds up with some help of Mika (Haruka’s sister), Nanami and Hazuki. Also with that, another girl is thrown in called Shiina which Yuuto accidently bumps into which causes her to gain some kind of a romantic desire of her becoming his boyfriend, although Yuuto only seems to like Haruka.
The series itself throws some references to other anime. The most references shown is Shakugan no Shana.
What this anime tries to shows the sad realization of how Otaku are viewed in real life. In real life, Otakus are viewed negatively because Otaku means house in Japanese, meaning that people who are otakus spend time watching and obsessing over anime, manga or playing games/visual novels and never leave the house, meaning that it can cause a lack of social skills. This is viewed when Yuuto tries to over up Haruka’s secret when a comiket catalog falls out of her bag when she fell and her father, Gentou which does not want her daughter to watch anime and read manga, but eventually allowed with the help of her mother.
There are some fanservice moments in Nogizaka Haruka, but nothing too excessive.
Animation
Diomedea did a pretty good job with animating Nogizaka Haruka, so there isn’t really much to comment here.
Characters
The characters in Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu is what you expect from a romance comedy, but not so much. I will talk about the most important characters, but besides from those, Nanami and Hazuki, Nogizaka’s maids who seems to be shown most of the story and help with Haruka and Yuuto and also help stop Gentou before his wife comes. Another is Ruko and Yukari, who seems to be alcoholics and finally, Haruka’s parents, Gentou, the hot headed father and Akiho, the seemingly beautiful, despite her age and intelligent mother.
Ayase Yuuto – The seemingly, extraordinary nice guy who seems to understand everyone’s feelings… This is somewhat the departure of the losers and jerks that are typical in harem/romance comedy anime, but there are some flaws that are more apparent in the second season with his character. Also, his personality seems to be more of a gentleman, although his class is lower than the jerkass Shutto, which in contrast is a spoiled brat and causing him at sometimes, being unworthy for being Haruka’s boyfriend, although he overcomes it, but the notion of him being a lower class than Haruka will be stuck in his mind for some time.
Nogizaka Haruka – The moe ojou and also have a terrible secret of being a Otaku, which is viewed negatively, especially in the higher class she is in. Haruka seems to be a very sweet character, which mainly causes most of the terribly sweet moments between Haruka and Yuuto. Although Haruka is really smart and is top of her class, she is somewhat a dojikko.
Nogizaka Mika – Haruka’s younger sister, but seemingly dirty for her age and already talking about sexual stuff? Mika in comparison is more easygoing and not as naive as Haruka… and even calls Yuuto, “Onii-chan.” It makes me wonder.
Amamiya Shiina – The second girl in Yuuto’s love triangle, although Yuuto does not have any romantic relationship with her and her being only a friend. With her bumping into him causes her to have a romantic interest with Yuuto.
Music
The music from Nogizaka Haruka was pretty good… We are presented with a pretty catchy opening theme which seems to have a fast pace and a ending theme with maids (seriously, who doesn’t like maids). The extra image songs not played in the anime sounded pretty decent, so no complaints.
Conclusion
The first season of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu is a pretty good watch for those who are sick of a indecisive harems and romance comedies filled with too much fanservice and a jerky male lead. For those who are looking for a deep romantic story or a non-cliched romance anime, you may come off disappointed. Nogizaka Haruka is a pretty good comedy romance anime in my opinion so far… but I would say since I haven’t watched other yet.
Once you finish with the first season, I suggest taking a look at the second, although it’s somewhat weak in content and have a little more fanservice, but you may find it just as enjoyable.
Overall Rating
8.72/10, B+, Outstanding
Attribution Information
This image is from here
Kobato – Episode 6 Impressions
I have to admit, while this episode of Kobato is pretty good, it was slower than normal… and Kobato being the a complete Dojikko, which is shown more in this episode than earlier episodes with her tripping and hitting her head.
This episode is basically the nursery goes on a field trip and Kobato while getting her bag answers the phone call from the loan shark villain saying that he will shut down the nursery. She goes and tell Fujimoto what happened and he said to not to tell Sayaka because it will upset her. While they went on the trip, Ioryogi goes into another dimension and ask the wolf to investigate what happened to the nursery. After while, Kobato came back from the trip and brought back a four leaf clover. However, Ioryogi is bothered by the findings the white messaging bird brought back telling that the master who owned the nursery was forced to take a loan from a loan shark before he died two years later and now they are harassing Sayaka, which brings them a difficult task of filling up the bottle and saving the nursery at the same time.
The episode itself introduced to Ioryogi’s buddies and also the situation of the loan sharks that happened in the last episode… seeing that, what previously looked like a fluffy and soft anime just have turned into a dark and dramatic… Again.. it’s the working of CLAMP again… =p
Verdict
8.5/10
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 7
Although they somewhat up the fanservice, it’s away from the usual Haruka-Yuuto development and Shiina was given some screen time… Too bad it was too late since Shiina have no way in hell that she will win over Yuuto’s heart although some people perfer her to be the girl that Yuuto should be as a couple instead of Haruka…
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Seitokai no Ichizon – Episode 7 Thoughts and Impressions
Well, this episode was really funny in a sense… not because it shoved references like Lucky Star did with going overboard and putting it in random spots, but actually made it work so it is funny. This is basically an episode where Kurimu decide that the whole student council should go on a summer trip to Tokyo by a overnight train. However, what the girls packed show a lot about their personality and interests. Minatsu hardly packed everything, Mafuyu packing all her game consoles (which looks like a computer, a Wii and a Playstation 2) which makes the suitcase very heavy and also her favorite treat that seems to heal her HP, Chizuru have a completely normal suitcase with her belongings although Ken thought there was something dangerous in there and lastly, Kurimu with a bag full of toys.
Night time came (Ken being chained and blindfolded) and Chizuru does something to Kurimu before she goes to sleep and Minatsu can’t recognizes Mafuyu without her ribbon on her head which causes Mafuyu becoming upset and relating it to a RPG she is playing. Chizuru goes to sleep, but she sleeps without anything on which makes Ken goes crazy.
Next morning, Minatsu wakes up and finds that Kurimu was missing, but actually sleeping with Chizuru. She also finds that Mafuyu spent all night playing with her Playstation Portable. The train announced that the train arrived at Tokyo and after they got there, they spent the whole day in the hotel room because it was too hot outside and night time came and they decide to tell scary stories such as Kurimu ended up getting murdered with knives(does this reminds you about a very familiar sound-based visual novel named Higurashi?) which scares the heck out of her. Kurimu not wanting to hear any more of these stories decides on catchphrases for each person and they cosplayed which was the most hilarious part in this episode.
Not sure about the cosplays though, but here is what they dressed up as:
Kurimu – Some kind of robot
Minatsu – Some classy dress
Ken: Maid uniform and some wacky shouen hairstyle
Mafuyu: Some school uniform
Chizuru: A Sheep… Errr… mokyuu~ (So Moe!)
The funny thing is that Chizuru after they got back still dresses in that outfit saying mokyuu~. I guess she does have a cute side of her after all. =p
The episode itself is the best I have seen so far in the whole season… the references are better executed in this one and it was very funny in many instances… Too bad some people have already wrote it off already even though it have gotten better… and you can never forget the Mokyuu~ so moe…
Verdict
9.2/10
Seitokai no Ichizon – Episodes 4-6 Thoughts and Impressions
Oh god… Seitokai no Ichizon is funny in a very weird way… that I can’t stop laughing… Mostly with Episodes 4-5 with all those anime references… most notably the K-ON parody… that pretty much cracked me up and also with Mafuyu’s boy’s love story with Ken and Ken wanting Minatsu cooking breakfast for him in a naked apron, accidentally seeing Kurimu in the shower, Chizuru asking him to put suntan oil on her and Mafuyu tripping and saying she isn’t wearing underwear. (Ken must be one perverted person and very desperate to get his so called harem, lol).
Episode 5 made it even funnier… Ken is forced to wear a blindfold which he can’t take off which makes him come up with weird imagination and ecchi stuff… and somehow his blindfold came off and he saw them in swimsuits which makes him crazy…. and have him locked up in the locker.
We also get to see Minatsu with a different look.
Episode 6 is again with more hilarious moments… but a sad realization that Minatsu and Mafuyu are going to transfer… at the end of the school year… or who knows….
Overall, the series gets better by time goes on… I can’t see why some people are giving negative opinions about it, it’s pretty good mindless, lighthearted comedy… Atleast they haven’t go overboard on the Haruhi references… but Seitokai no Ichizon works alot better in Anime and Manga form than the light novel, I have to admit….
Verdict
Episodes 4-5: 8.3/10
Episode 6: 8.5/10
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Episode 11-12 (END)
Now it’s Haruka’s birthday which she have on her private island… but how this effects Yuuto personally since he is a class lower than Haruka or will love prevail even though there are class differences.
Also, this is also a beach episode… can’t have an romance comedy without it.
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Seitokai no Ichizon – Episodes 1-3 Thoughts and Impressions
Seitokai no Ichizon feels like another Lucky Star in a sense they shove other references to other anime, but it’s not the same. This time, all the characters have otaku interests (besides from Kurimu) which involves:
– Ken — Moe Harem Anime and H Game Otaku.
– Chizuru — Lolicon and Yuri Fangirl.
– Minatsu — Hot Blooded and Shounen Fighting Series Fangirl.
– Mafuyu — Yaoi Fangirl Gamer Girl.
It seems that Ken is in to create a harem out of the entire student council and it helps since he is the only male in the student council (and I’m guessing he is playing too much eroge and bishoujo games).
In my impressions of watching it, the series is funny in a weird way… I can’t keep myself from laughing… obviously… and also there is virtually no plot in this series too to the likes of Lucky Star. The funny thing is that I find Kurimu rather cute… So far, the episodes consists of random stuff and sorting out/approving stuff from clubs in the first episode, Kurimu trying to pass her exam and fails (alot worse than Yui from K-ON! since she failed after studying while Yui ends up passing) and the journal club leader Lilicia, writing libel/negative things about the Student Council since she couldn’t win a position and gets owned by Ken saying the rumor is true because after all… he wants a harem of his own…
The animation and the music is good and the level of fanservice is not excessive, so I might continue watching just for the thrill of it… although the content is completely random…
Verdict
Episode 1: 7.8/10
Episode 2-3: 8/10
Kobato – Episode 5 Impressions
It seems like ages since Kobato aired since there was no Kobato last week since there was a baseball game going on (damn baseball games, they ruin everything! (refer back to Lucky Star Episode 4)). Anyways, Loansharking can never get this dangerous… and actually illegal in the 50 states. Well, Kobato seems to save the day oddly and drove all those delinquents and Ioryogi actually bites one of the delinquent’s foot (that got to hurt).
The episode is basically about a writer who sits on the park bench and does not want Kobato to read the book about fireflies. It was revealed later that it was the last book written by Mr. Mori. Knowing this, she goes to the library to find information and the books eventually went on top of Ioryogi. Then Kobato asks Mr. Mori to look at fireflies at night and they did. There, he tells a sad story about his ex-girlfriend who made the cover of the book and she wanted to look at fireflies, but he couldn’t since he was busy. The accident happened that causes her to be injured badly and she wanted to look at the fireflies badly. When they got to the spot in the book, they found out that there are actually fireflies. After seeing them, he regained his motive to start writing again and thus Kobato healed another heart.
The episode itself is good, but tear-jerking a little bit with his story. most of the series so far have been comedy-based, but it seems that we hit some drama, haven’t we? Anyways, I feel that this episode was pretty heartwarming and was actually good…
Verdict
8.9/10
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 6
We are so close to see Haruka and Yuuto kiss on the lips… but failed again… They seem to like pushing this longer…
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Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Episodes 9 and 10
Continuing onto the first season, we finally arrive at the cultural festival… and they decide to do a Cosplay Cafe… how great… =p
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Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 5
Haruka is on the sidelines again, but Yuuto spends more time with Alice-chan… and also a unexpected guest arrived that happens to be someone that was at Haruka’s birthday party in the last season.
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Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Episodes 7-8
Episode 7 is the continuation of the cliffhanger in Episode 6. and Gento finally flips out when he found out Haruka’s secret and go using his private army in trying to get her back which pretty much ends in a epic battle… or not… Episode 6… Mika going out on a date with Yuuto… and she’s only 14?!…
I know…. I know…
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Kobato – Episode 4 Impressions
While looking at this, I read on AnimeSuki that there are cameos from the Shoujo manga, Wish, another one of CLAMP’s works, which isn’t that long (4 volumes and 24 chapters)… Kohaku seems rather sweet… though.
Basically the story goes like this… Kobato discovers Kohaku while she was tearing while looking at the trees and reveals that she is from the heavens. Being bothered by it, Kobato follows Kohaku with another man named Shuichiro that she seems to love, but couldn’t go on a date since he is working most of the time. Kohaku reveals that after Kobato gets soaked at the mansion while she was performing some kind of spell. Kobato tries to get amusement park tickets and failed… but eventually gets them from Fujimoto which Kobato crashes into him, and she help delivers news papers in return. At first, Kohaku doesn’t accept the tickets, but Shuichiro comes and accepts them and they go on a date in the amusement park. Meanwhile, the rabbit messenger gives a message to Ioryogi that Kobato must fill the bottle within the 4 seasons, meaning one year. After hearing that message, they are back at the apartment and the bottle did not fill and stay the same since Kohaku’s heart did not need to be healed which got Ioryogi upset and giving Kobato a -100.
Have to say that the episode is done pretty well, although it’s a filler and just fanservice for the CLAMP fans (no, it’s not panty shots… sorry, but you won’t find them here). Although I never heard of Wish before, I still enjoyed it even though I have no knowledge of it… I also find the episode pretty funny as well and we finally figured out what is the rabbit that shown in the middle of the episode is.
So far, I think they are doing a good job with Kobato so far… but then again, it will continue on into Winter, but we see when we get to the 12th episode to finally figure out how the season is going… so for now, we wait… until she fills the bottle.
Rating
8.9/10
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 4
As usual, the Yuuto and Haruka relationship is so sweet that it tastes like diabetes… at the same time, Diomedea seems to love shoving fanservice in our face after they had a field day with the last episode… and distracted the tone in this episode… but still good if you ignore all the fanservice crap that is going around…
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Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Episode 5 and 6
Although there are some fanservice that gone above in the fifth episode, the sixth episode was very funny… including tying up fat otakus who cut in line… and helping Shiina with swimming.
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Kobato – Episode 2 and 3 Impressions
Kobato seems to be the bedrock of moe…. Perhaps because Kobato is so moe and also a genki girl… But what some may find is that Kobato still does stupid things like Yui does in K-ON! which may turn people off with this series, but the stupidity isn’t as bad in Kobato than in K-ON! where you have two characters doing stupid things (not as it was a bad thing).
In Episode 2, Kobato starts to work at a nursery and heals a heart of a young boy whose mother is working hard and picks him up from the nursery late and Kobato praises his mother and they played afterwards. Episode 3, when Kobato gets her umbrella back, Mutsumi sees Katsuragi walk with another girl and Mutsumi gets upset and becomes depressed. Kobato asks Katsuragi to walk with Mutsumi and share a umbrella together and Mutsumi comes once she heard what Kobato is doing. Katsuragi reveals that he was walking a girl home since she didn’t have an umbrella and he had no relationship with that girl. Then, it started to rain and Kobato have them borrow her umbrella, thus healing another heart.
Surprisingly, what I did notice is that they did a cameo with the two android twins, identical from the ones in Chobits, another series by CLAMP… They sure love their crossovers.
Overall, I think these two episodes were pretty good… although Kiyokazu is still being pretty mean to Kobato still… and Kobato looks pretty cute in her new outfit, don’t you think. :p.
Verdict
Episode 2-3: 8.7/10
Kobato – Episode 1 First Impressions
Have you ever seen so much moe in your life? Well… I have when I have some sudden urge of wanting to watch this… and this being the 2nd CLAMP series I watch since Card Captor Sakura… but never got to finish because they stopped airing it soon after because the dub is RUINED FOREVER?! So, this makes it 9 years since the last time I watched a anime series adapted from original content from CLAMP.
This episode was pretty good with good animation and music… I have to say that Kobato in comparison to Yui from K-ON!, they almost have the same personality, except that Kobato seems to be alot sweeter and less lazier than Yui… This is how she acts when she tried to sleep on a bench with a newspaper as a blanket, opening the trash so the crows peck at it and the hotpot… does this ring Yui vibes, anyone?
This explains why Kobato is so moe… but since this series is being covered by many bloggers, I won’t write a synopsis on this one and just write my thoughts about it. So far so good… so I might continue watching this as long it’s enjoyable and good.
Verdict
8.5/10
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 3
This episode was okay, but the only problem is that the excessive type 2 fanservice, mostly Touka pantyshots… This episode alone had more fanservice than any episode of Nogizaka Haruka in any series and this episode alone can beat the number of panty shots Shiina had in the first season… That got to be bad… so bad that it’s good…
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