Ranked #327

Hidamari Sketch x ☆☆☆

Sometimes, in order to make a good slice of life even better. You just have to go... Wider.

It’s the second year with all four girls present; life is going along for Yuno and her friends. But now things are shaken up with two new freshmen moving into the apartments. As time goes on, shows change if they reach multiple seasons. Whether big or small, changes are present. This show is no different. On paper, the changes in the season help the show and make it the best season yet.

First off, we have the additions of Nori and Nazuna. They do preform a little bit of a change up. Their unique aspects being brought in add some variety of jokes. Like their living arrangement, or the classes they have. The subtle changes can make a total difference from two bland characters, or two characters that actually do feel like an addition to the show. Luckily, they do and are nice additions for the Hidamari Apartments. The old members accept them and what they bring doesn’t make them useless editions as some shows do with new characters. They make the formula shake up and it equals a more refined product and gives it a more new feeling this season.

The art and sound can be a major turn on or turn off for enjoying an anime. But with Hidamari, it does it well. The sound while being the same tone as the other two seasons, the laidback feeling is still there and it compliments it well by maintaining the pace of the show. Being an anime about art students, it hasn’t had the best art or even great art. This changes here with a quality update and makes it a little more high definition. Like the sound, it retains its colorful cheery mood it has had before. But it really stands out this season.

Pacing and timing is very important for a comedy. Here Hidamari goes a little faster than it has before. This allows the comedy to flow a little smoother, and not feel as awkward in terms of pacing. But the awkwardness of the character interactions and overall basis of comedy is still there and it's as funny as ever. It causes a difference in how jokes go on. Not many jokes go on for a minute, as they had before in previous seasons. This allows for more jokes and more hits than misses, instead of long jokes that drag on. The humor is the typical Hidamari humor and is still based on the personalities interacting with each other mixed in the environment. Which is a lot different this season since they go to places like restaurants, cafes, hardware stores, and salons? The setting leads to a different variety of jokes, ranging from eating too much, or having fun with the tools at the hardware store. The humor takes a dive with new places and succeeds in it.

The most important factor to all of this is the characterization and development. The development is natural for Nori and Nazuna as they learn more and more about the apartments and become friends with the original residents. While it isn’t blatant, you can still feel that it is happening. The characterization is very subtle as it’s mostly shown through how the characters go through their nightly traditions. While not traditional, they still get to create the characters and tell the viewer how they are in life. Even if it’s subtle like seeing what a person does before going to bed or fitting in with a new group of friends. It’s done to a slow natural tune.

Hidamari Sketch x Hoshimittsu is what a sequel should be, take what flaws the audiences have found with the original and fix them. With some useful additions, the wonderful art update, better pacing with the jokes, and some natural characterization and development. This is a must watch for any fan of slice of life anime.
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For people who haven't seen a lot of anime, this anime may appear familiar but the name will escape you. People don't talk about it much. It's called Hidamari Sketch, and is really about nothing exciting. Actually let me rephrase that, it's about absolutely nothing. Following the life of art students is probably one of the most boring plot lines I have ever heard, and I just want to let it be known that this is the least boring anime I have ever seen. This anime delivers some awesome belly laughs, and always leaves you with a feeling that "the world is your oyster" by the end of every episode. I have watched all three seasons (this being the third) of Hidamari Sketch, and this is, undoubtedly and with absolute certainty, the best of the three.

Story: 8/10
So our protagonist Yuno and her fellow dorm mates have all advanced a year in their highschool. What does that mean for us? Two new roommates for the gals staying at Hidamari Apartments! Now, to be honest, that's about how in-depth the plot line for Hoshimittsu gets. It's a slice-of-life telling of the lives of the girls at Hidamari Apartments.

"What's different episodically about this season that's better than the previous two, then," you might be asking? It's that unlike the prequels, this season brings our cast to different locations than before. The first two seasons (especially season one) confined the characters to either Hidamari Apartments or to Yamabuki High. Contrarily in Hoshimittsu the characters visit places not yet traversed (i.e. the Hair Salon, Hardware Store, etc). While you might ask why that matters, let me just say that seeing the bumbling cast of Hidamari in these places produces the most hilarious results I've ever yet seen. If you enjoy a wholesome comedy (this jewel is rated G), Hidamari Sketch will be sure to please.

Art: 10/10
Haters gonna hate. It's a SHAFT anime.

If you dislike the cut-aways, nutbladders, or polka dots all over your screen, that's your own taste right there, but for myself personally these touches enhanced every moment. That's not all though - the best thing to talk about with this is the vibrancy in color. Nearly every single pixel on your screen will be a brightly colored pastel. Watching shades of sky blues and pretty pinks for twenty three minutes at a time greatly increased my overall happiness. I can vouch that if the art weren't exactly the way it is, then a great amount of value in this show would be lost.

Sound: 10/10
SHUWA SHUWA!

Catchy beats, fabulous seiyuus, and great background music galore. The opening (Dekirukanatte), a loud and flashy song, starts each episode in a manner that initiates a smile, lasting the whole episode. Then there's the background music. If you have not yet had the fortune to listen to this show's soundtrack, you're really missing out. It actually consists of mostly whistles and humming (my favorite piece being Waku Waku Hidamari Sou). These upbeat tunes make me feel gooey and happy inside every time I hear them (and getting gooey and happy for such a hardcore badass such as myself is extremely intense). Listening to the ending song "Sakura Sakura Saku" may seem a bit out of place, because it sounds a little depressing, but I think it was the genius of the directors at SHAFT explaining to the viewer "you just had so much fun watching this show you should calm down now - here's some sad music." That SHAFT is just so smart. On a related note, the band who sings the ending song, marble, does the acoustic version of Dekirukanatte and it's pretty awesome. So check that out too.

And those seiyuu's? There's a lot of them. My two personal favorites that I thought need some of their own space in this review are Asumi Kana (Yuno) who also voiced Taneshima Poplar in Working!! and Omgigawa Chiaki (Nazuna) who is best known as Maka from Soul Eater. They do such great work...

Character: 10/10
The jokes are so funny in this show because the characters make them funny. Placing Yuno in a room with Nazuna, both notorious for being awkward folk, and you have the most ridicuolous situations that can take place in a normal setting and environment. Then we have Miyako, who can be described best as simple. She's best known for making even the most normal situations weird (often at her own expense). Hiro and Sae are the upperclassmen at the Hidamari Apartments, Hiro being the "motherly" figure and Sae being like "big brother" to all the underclassmen. While their characters come across as a bit stereotyped during previous seasons, I think their role in Hoshimittsu dispels all former accusations. Nori and Nazuna are the two new members by the way. Nori is techie and Nazuna is a girl who isn't in the art department. I'd say that's all necessary to say to briefly summarize the two. Lastly we have Yoshinoya-sensei and the Principal. I consider the two of them the true mascot characters for this show. Just watch and see why. They do such great work, too...

Enjoyment: 10/10
I bet you didn't see this score coming.

Overall: 10/10
I find Hidamari Sketch Hoshimittsu as the best slice-of-life comedy anime out there, and I say that with full confidence that I can argue it better than titles such as Aria or K-ON! That is strictly me though. I seriously recommend picking up Hidamari Sketch from season one, and watch all the way through to this point. That may be a factor in as to why this season felt so great to me. Every episode was fun though. I looked forward to this show every week, and not a single episode failed to make me happy. It's pure artistic bliss that brings out the big grin inside of you.

Hidamari Sketch Hoshimittsu is worth more than three stars in my opinion. Hell, I'd give it four or even five of them. read more