Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Episode 02

July 18, 2008 at 9:33 am | Posted in Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu | 6 Comments
Tags: aww, cute~!, shipping

Ah~! It continues~!

I loved the first episode, but I kept on being all worried about Nogizaka Haruka being one of those series that has a fun first episode, but then it just goes downhill from there. It happens a lot and I probably would have continued the series anyway, but my enthusiasm would be gone.

But I got exactly 33 seconds into the episode before I already had my, “Awww” overload and had to pause it to have a minor giggling fit. Then I went another four seconds before I had to pause again because of another small fit. Basically, the love hasn’t died yet.

It feels like nice romantic comedies that can be enjoyed by both guys and girls have been completely absent for a long time. The last thing I really remember enjoying in any sort of legitimate way (meaning, enjoying it for reasons they intend me to enjoy it) was Chobits.

Hmm…yeah. I think I can put Haruka in that “acceptable” class of fanservice. The cuteness balances out the fanservice for me. Fanservice tends to be more acceptable when the main character comes across as innocent and when accidents are treated pretty much like…accidents.

There are a bunch of times when I find fanservice to be just awful. I could list out about five reasons. I won’t because this isn’t the best place for that, but it’s best to just simple say, Nogizaka Haruka hasn’t done any of that crap yet.

Now, changing topics a bit. I’m going to blog this series raw. I’m able to understand it pretty easily…at least enough to give my thoughts. But I won’t be providing summaries. Not right now anyway. Maybe I’ll go back and add in summaries after I watch the fansubbed version. It depends on how busy I am.

But really, Nogizaka Haruka is a series that’s enjoyment comes from character interactions, not plot. You’ll be missing out if you don’t watch it in a way you can understand it.

———-

Thoughts

For the record, I’m going to have a hard time not overdoing my screencaps with all the blushing that goes on in this anime. I’m used to grabbing an image of every blush, because I’m like that. But it’s just too much for this anime. I ended up with over thirty screencaps at first…

Haruka making sure Yuto called her by name was what gave me the first, “Awww” overload and I just had to pause it. Too much. Then I started watching again, Haruka smiled and Yuto started blushing and I had another overload.

And the rest of the episode was like that too. I had to have my hands over my mouth to keep the giggle fits to a minimum. It got easier as it went along but…still…I feel like I’m about to complain about enjoying this anime too much.

Both the boys and girls of the fanclub get to be jealous. Well, I’m glad they decided to make me dislike something about this show. It’s just too bad that the fanclub showed up so briefly. It didn’t even dampen my enjoyment enough to make me stop smiling.

Aw…awww. He’s learning about anime because Haruka likes anime. That…is…so cute.

C-cute! Everytime I think, “aw, Haruka is just so cute” they go ahead and make her do something cuter. She said something that can so easily be misconstrued. And that blush was so cute. She’s just great.

Pretty impressive imagination for a guy who had no interest in girls just last episode. I guess it wouldn’t be a love-com without some overactive imaginations.

I had cuteness overload from Haruka being so cute and panicky combined with…chibi Haruka being cute and panicky. It’s just…great. See? This is what I mean by making Haruka cuter when I already think she’s freakin’ adorable.

Aw poor Yuto got dragged around by Nobunaga as a child in Akiba. But lol…Nobunaga was always an otaku. I find that so amusing. I wish we had more otaku kids in America. I only know one and she doesn’t really qualify anyway. She likes watching anime, but she likes other little girl things more.

More cute chibi. The cute little tour of Haruka’s map was priceless.

I would have just been satisfied with my blushing romance, but Nogizaka Haruka adds in other cuteness like chibis. It’s not fair. I keep getting overloaded.

Haruka is bad at something after all! Good to know. Of course, drawing cats that look like bears just makers her cuter. So it doesn’t really count as a real flaw.

And cheers to more chibi-ness.

My eyes went wide at the yaoi doujin. That really took me by surprise. But yaoi jokes never get old. And Haruka’s reaction was just priceless. She’s so innocent. It’s kind of unlikely that a girl who likes anime as much as Haruka wouldn’t already be used to seeing H-stuff by accident (I am completely immune to almost everything now…which is kind of sad since I’m not even at the age where I’m allowed to see that stuff yet).

Haruka won me over more with the fact that everything was specifically, “kawaii”. Until now, all the otaku girls in anime have acted more like otaku boys. So seeing Haruka who has the, “Cute!” reaction like me (and almost everyone I talk with) was very nice.

More otaku children. Do otaku kids really exist like this in Japan? I wanna see…

Hey it’s Shiina. Hmm…I don’t really have much of an opinion on her yet. She seems pretty normal. But I can see her being the type of girl I don’t like. I’ll just take a wait and see attitude with her for now. As long as she doesn’t end up interfering with anything, I’m fine with her.

Hey was that Russian? Cool. It’s not just people from a country that speaks English…like it always is. Though, I do kind of wonder why Haruka knows Russian…but it’s best not to wonder about these things. She just does. She learned it because she wanted to. And that’s that.

This scene…was…just great. I laughed quite a bit. I can enjoy these sort of jokes in moderation.

Poor Haruka. I’ve heard about those awful machines. They never give you what they want. In this case, I’m glad I don’t have access to them. I pay just a teeny bit more, but I’m able to just buy them. If I lived in Japan, who knows how much money I’d spend trying to get my Eru.

Randomly being forced to dress-up while on a sort-of date. So common, but still so cute. I think this moment is here just to remind us about the fact that Haruka is supposed be otaku wish-fulfillment. Because not only is she super cute and shares their hobby, but now…she dresses up in cute maid clothing!

Poor Haruka. I really felt so bad for her. She spent the whole day out and about so she could get one thing…and she had to go home empty-handed. Oh the number of times this has happened to me. At least she still had fun. But poor Haruka. I bet she was looking forward to using her PDS at home. I can relate so easily.

*squee* Best scene in the entire episode. Without a doubt! I can’t say anything except….>_< *squee* (again)

Oh and let’s add in, “Kyaaa!” for the heck of it too. Because I really did let out a small one.

I almost didn’t like this scene. Haruka talking about herself like she was no good was a little annoying. But this scene pulled the, “Awwww” right out of me anyway. Thanks to Yuto. Pairings need two good people after all.

Ah when I saw this part, I thought, “That looks like Yuto…” but I brushed it aside because I hadn’t heard anything about them meeting as kids and even that might be one too many cliches for Nogizaka Haruka. But no. I guess not. I’m fine with it though. I like, “meeting as kids” stories when they play out right.

Childhood friends can bother me sometimes (if they mess it up), but if it’s just one meeting, it’s just sweet and awww-worthy. Especially if the meeting was important in some way.

Clumsy Haruka is cute. It’s like they’re trying to get every sort of moe into Haruka…but it doesn’t bother me. I don’t know why, but I still find Haruka adorable when I should find her too sickeningly cute by now. It’s strange…maybe it’s because there aren’t as many cute girls in anime right now?

More cuteness. I think these sorts of scenes are the ones I like best. Just so cute.

Yay! Haruka got what she wanted! And the cute conversation that followed was so cute. Haruka did the Aki-chan pose. I didn’t notice that before. It’s a nice cute little touch.

Hmm…I wonder how many times I used cute today. Too many probably. Tehe~!

I had a lot to say at the end when I first started writing, but now I forget it all. Hmm…well basically, I’m still enjoying everything about this show. I’ve been watching the OP and ED a lot, they’re both still a lot of fun and I can’t wait until the full versions of the songs come out. As often as I’ve been watching the ED…I’ll probably learn the dance without meaning to. That’s what happened with Hare Hare Yukai anyway. Learned it by accident.

Well anyway. I look forward to next week. Haruka still continues to be such a pleasant surprise. I keep expecting more fanservice, but it’s still not much. Once I stop expecting it, it’ll appear though. I just know it.

———-

Preview

It’s still just the title for the next episode, but this time I think I got an idea of what will be happening. I think the next episode might be at Haruka’s house. Or at least two of her maids show up (and maybe her little sister). At least that’s what I think.