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2 of 7 people found this review helpful
| Overall |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
In all the years I've been watching hentai and the countless series I've watched ( most of them not even on my list because I can't be bothered to update the ones I don't like ), I have always searched for the perfect hentai. One I could call flawless, realistic, emotionally engaging... the cream of the crop. I believe that now my journey has come to an end for I have found the excellence I so desperately sought... in "Hatsu Inu".
Let me start by briefly describing the story. For the most part it revolves around two characters, a timid and quiet girl Fujino and a seemingly average boy Fukaya. Their first encounter is on a crowded train - as fate would have it the boy accidentally finds out that Fujino is using a vibrator. Tensions run high and the lustful girl decides to let him have his way with her on-board the crammed vehicle. Both parties enjoy the close contact and develop a mutually beneficial relationship. Now is that realistic? Absolutely. Japan is a sizable place and there are a lot of people living there. You never know. It's obvious that the creator of this masterpiece had a healthy imagination but this is a plausible scenario.
Now the beginning is not the only thing that adds to the realism. The series keeps itself in check through other means as well. The sex scenes in here for example are the epitome of realism. Most hentai feature male & female characters that talk during sex all the time. They literally narrate every single thing as if it was a football game, "oh, he's putting it in" "oh I'm feeling hot" "Oh, there's a plane flying over the house". No real person does that. The 'dirty talk' routine can get boring after a while too. No such problem in 'Hatsu Inu'. Both Fujino an Fukaya focus on the task... uhm at hand and earnestly enjoy themselves. No exaggerated shouts or groans either. It's as if they recorded a real couple having sex.
Finally, here's where it gets really good. The two main characters, which the story solely focuses upon, actually develop a romantic attachment and... (wait for it) will have to go through trials and hardships to prove their love and be honest about their feelings. It's brilliant! This is the first time I've witnessed romance and drama being combined so flawlessly in a hentai series. Moreover, it feels natural because it's not forced. The characters act out like normal people would with desires, worries, ambitions - so on. The writer simply created the characters, put them into a setting of his choice and let the story take its own course.
Summing up, the story and the characters - you get a cute couple in a healthy relationship engaging in very realistic consensual sex with a bit of drama to boot. There is absolutely no rape/bondage/nazis/aliens etc here. Everything feels natural.
The art and sound are both tailored as to increase the already overwhelming realism. The characters don't leak tonnes of bodily fluids as is the case with most Hentai and the voice acting as I mentioned previously is very realistic.
All in all, this is the best Hentai I have ever watched and I am hailing it as the masterpiece that I have always looked for. For me the journey comes to a stop as I doubt that I'll ever find anything that can rival this. From the story all the way to enjoyment, it's a full 10. read more
1 of 8 people found this review helpful
| Overall |
5 |
| Story |
2 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Character |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
5 |
The male lead, Oria Ryoma, is a lazy lecherous pervert without an objective in his life and the IQ of an insect. He does however have one redeeming quality - he's a strong kick-boxer and knows how to protect women. As such, all the girls around him constantly feel the urge to jump on his manhood and suffocate him with their breasts. Not the most romantic of stories is it? Not at all, but such is the case with most hentai.
The female cast is not worth mentioning at all. At times I was under the impression that the male lead was having sex with inflatable dolls rather than something that resembles characters. Moreover, everything is made extremely convenient because the girls apparently have no conscience and are absolutely fine with Oria banging everything in sight as long as they get their turn.
Moving on to the art, it was well drawn and the style comparable to most of the overwhelmingly average hentai series. Likewise voice acting was decent however the constant low-bass run-of-the-mill porn music can easily get on your nerves after a while. If anything, I wish they would stop putting the same annoying melody in, you know which one it is I'm talking about, if you've seen your share of hentai you would have heard it about a million times by now.
Overall, the story was far fetched, unrealistic and cheesy. The sex scenes themselves were somewhat satisfactory. Taking all things into account this series is average at best. Watchable without smashing your head against the keyboard but not something I'd personally recommend. If you're looking only for well drawn hanky-panky scenes then yes, if you want a decent story to go with it then no.
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8 of 11 people found this review helpful
| Overall |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
I've only ever watched two Yuri animes - Strawberry Panic and this being the second. However, I've also watched quite a lot of romance animes and I can say with confidence that this one blows everything else out of the water when it comes to realism.
It is exactly as the synopsis says, twin sisters are in love with each other - it is an incestual relationship... but hang on is it? This is the real kicker. Their relationship is more like platonic love on steroids. If you're hoping for some Yuri action, passionate kissing etc. then you can forget all about that because these sisters are so sweet and innocent that they could possibly melt boulders and cause volcanic eruptions. They hold hands all the time, stare into each other, talk about their feet and stuff like that. After a few episodes, rainbows will randomly start to appear in your room, you will begin to fart out leprechauns and have visions of a galloping unicorn. Seriously though, this series is very innocent and the sisters never do anything sexual. The only way we can tell for sure that they're in love is through their dialogue, which is so sweet that I nearly came down with a bad case of diabetes. However, all of that made the series more believable and if there ever were twin sisters in love somewhere out there in the real world... they'd probably behave like this.
As for the characters in this show, there are only four. Kanade & Yukino (twin sisters), Shizuku and Sakuya. Shizuku is the younger sister of Kanade & Yukino while Sakuya is there to provide comic relief and nonchalantly hit on Kanade. These four characters will interact with each other on a regular basis and further reinforce the already impregnable relationship between Kanade and Yukino. All other characters in this series are only there to fill in empty spaces; they don't posses names and are mostly mute. However that is a brilliant move on the part of the makers as this is a very short anime and focusing on the main cast provides the viewer with a consistent experience.
The art here is truly amazing. I don't like using the word 'amazing' because it is quite possibly the most overused word in the English language. However, when it comes to this series I can use it with honesty. The animation is staggering. The twins are flawless in their design and whenever they hold hands you can see that it's the work of professional and talented artists. If you're reading this guys, well done. I nearly had a stroke the first time I saw them holding hands.
The sound is also very good. The soundtrack fits in with the series, the ending is heartwarming and the voice acting... oh boy. I'm a rookie when it comes to Japanese. I can count and only say a few words without sounding like an idiot but even I can tell that the voice actresses did a good job here. It is authentic to the core. In all the animes I've watched I'd say this anime here has got the best voice actresses.
All in all, a very good anime. Relaxing, stress relieving. An innocent tale of two girls in love. I've never imagined that Yuri could be this entertaining. I admit I must have had the wrong impression of it. Or perhaps it's just this particular anime that's so soothing and enjoyable. Well either way, I'd recommend this to anyone who likes romance. A must-watch. read more
4 of 12 people found this review helpful
| Overall |
7 |
| Story |
6 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
'Asu no Yoichi' is an enjoyable anime, unique in that it takes its time when it comes to character development or storyline progression and rather focuses on the main character - Yoichi Karasuma. In fact, despite the 'Ecchi' and 'romance' tags there's about as much ecchi or romance here as you'd find in 'death note'. There really are only two female characters here who are somewhat attracted to the male lead and some other male characters but frankly, nothing ever happens. Do not expect this to be one of those "male lead chooses this girl in the end" animes. It isn't.
That said, it was enjoyable because of the protagonist 'Yoichi'. Ever wondered what would happen if a hardy samurai who trained in the mountains ever since his birth was suddenly pushed into your average modern city and told to live with a bunch of women, all in the hopes of becoming stronger? Well this anime attempts to simulate such scenario with hilarious results as Yoichi is a staunch Bushido adherent and the modern world is... well less pious and based on rather simple principles. Therefore our Samurai more often than not ends up beating people up for a variety of reasons and teaching them how to be more honorable, inside and outside the ring, so to speak. Good stuff.
Now, there are numerous recurring characters throughout the series, majority of which are of course female. As I mentioned before don't expect any real romance here because frankly this anime has no direction when it comes to that. We have two guys - Yoichi and Washizu. The girls basically keep switching between those two. One episode Washizu is their savior and Yoichi gets beaten - the next they switch over. Repeat for the entire duration of the series. Whoop de do. As for the female characters themselves, nothing really worth mentioning. Tsundere, shy girl, sly girl... you know the drill.
It's the same witch ecchi here'. Of course it's there but it's rather sporadic and frankly apart from the obligatory beach episode (every ecchi anime has a beach episode) you don't really get to see that much. Furthermore it always boils down to Yoichi accidentally stumbling upon an invisible *enter object name here* and grabbing *enter body part name here* and getting mutilated by the girls.
One other thing that surprised me is that the ending was inconclusive. There is of course a climactic showdown between the samurai and the forces of evil opposing his Bushido ways but after all that work you'd think that he would get some sort of reward or reach a plot-relevant conclusion, however nothing happens. You're left with a feeling that closely resembles the feeling of getting rejected at a prom. Trust me I speak from experience, it hurts.
The art and sound are both top notch. The characters are well animated and you can always enjoy the samurai's ass-kicking in high quality. Likewise the opening and ending is well made and fits in with the series itself.
All in all, 'Asu no Yoichi' is a good anime, nothing more nothing less. Not really high on my re-watch list but it was definitively fun. If anything, watch this for the main character. He will teach you how to become a better person... after kicking your ass. read more
7 of 19 people found this review helpful
| Overall |
2 |
| Story |
1 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Character |
2 |
| Enjoyment |
1 |
I'll tell you what the problem with Stringendo and the majority of Hentai is. They always include some form of cringeworthy rape/bondage scenes and developments that completely put off the casual Hentai watcher.
Stringendo is a prime example of Hentai with no morality attached. As an example I can tell you that there's a girl here who gets repeatedly raped by the same guy until his luck runs out and she pushes him out the window of a 3 storey school, which leads to his inevitable demise. Now I don't know about you but I don't find that appealing in any way. I grit my teeth every time I come across something like that in a Hentai and it always makes me drop the series and give it a low rating. What happened to normal consensual sex between people who share some form of an emotional bond?
Perhaps I'm now getting slightly too old for this and I don't understand how "appealing" rape in Hentai these days is but I imagine (going by the reviews on this site) that a lot of people don't watch it for rape and/or some other form of grossly off-putting content. A good Hentai should first and foremost show a (healthy) connection between the characters, have an emotional buildup to every sex scene( extremely important) and finish off with... well, the sex scene itself. A bit like 'Eroge!' where there's actually an intimate, romantic connection between the male lead and one of the girls.
What 'Stringendo' does is it puts a couple of rapists and voyeurs into a school; there's no emotional bond between the characters because they in fact hate each other and the rapists run rampant and bask in the agony of the female characters. It makes me wonder who would enjoy this kind of media because I really can't understand it.
Personally, I think this is an abomination that should be burned with fire or better yet, chucked into the center of an active volcano. However it is up to the individual watcher to make his/her own conclusions.
Good Hentai series are a rarity these days, in fact they're a rarity regardless of which time period you look at and searching for a Hentai that exclusively features consensual sex is like looking for a needle in a haystack. For me this is a genre that is quickly dying out due to the sheer amount of off-putting content that's in it. read more
15 of 31 people found this review helpful
| Overall |
8 |
| Story |
5 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Character |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
'To Love-ru' is an anime with one exclusive purpose - to supply the viewer with a fresh uninterrupted stream of ecchi, served with a side of slightly cliche but still grin inducing comedy. Now this is only going to work for those who are really into ecchi/comedy or something light-hearted in general as 'To love-ru' lacks any semblance of a plot and is entirely episodic. One common occurrence that I've noticed during my time on MAL is that people will usually go into these type of series knowing full well what they are and then complain about it afterwards anyway. This anime is targeting a very specific audience and if you do not fall within the boundaries of that audience then you will naturally end up bored or even despise the series. You can guess which side of the camp I'm on.
The "plot" of this anime is a no brainer. There's a fragile looking teenage boy (Yuuki Rito) who has tremendous difficulties dealing with the opposite sex. One day a female alien (Lala) teleports to his bathroom & he "accidentally" gropes some boobs and all hell breaks loose. After that incident, as if through some divine prank, our hero finds himself randomly bumping into women's private parts like a blind man at an orgy. Things only keep getting more hectic from then on as the protagonists unintentional shenanigans intensify exponentially until the whole thing goes positively FUBAR.
That's it. That's your whole plot described right there. What happens between that initial introduction and the ending is more or less plot insignificant and for the most part features side-stories and fillers alike - all aimed at giving you as much ecchi as possible and increasing your chances of having a stroke. And 'Love-ru' doesn't mess around either. In some episodes they'll give you buck-naked characters for your viewing pleasure within a few seconds after the opening song.
But that's not the only noticeably interesting quality of this anime, in my opinion. The comedy here might not be anything novel in the ecchi genre but it is very easy to understand and follow. You won't need a degree in Japanese history or the inside knowledge of the anime industry to get the jokes here. Most of the comedy is slapstick and centered around surrealistic situations. Girls popping out of nowhere to hug a peeing man who then proceeds to pee all over himself, the toilet and the hall of his school while running frantically... is pretty surrealistic to me unless times have moved on and that's what teenagers in highschools now do to kill time.
The art is precise and for an ecchi anime it has to be anyway, since the visual aspect is half of the success here. This series' primary focus on female characters can be easily seen and especially the clothing they have on. However all other things have also been drawn with attention to detail. The overall quality is very good.
The sound/voice acting is likewise good but surprisingly the "OST" of this anime is recycled. I've heard some of the songs used here in other animes, one notable example being 'Sister Princess'. It makes the series seem more generic, then again the OST is not what you'll want to be focusing on here. Of course the opening and ending is still unique and befitting of an ecchi series.
Now we come to the most dreaded part of the review. Enjoyment. The most difficult time for a reviewer comes right after he/she finishes a particular anime. Not before or during but after the anime ends. You have to sum your feelings up and express them but also make a recommendation to potential readers. So I'll say this - if you're unsure or don't like ecchi mixed in with comedy don't watch this. You'll hate it, leave a rating of 2 and curse the producers. When Xebec, TBS and Sentai Filmworks sat down together on this project, it was decided from the outset that it was going to target a rather narrow audience and that audience will be able to appreciate the fact that this anime is very good at what it does - ecchi entertainment. For everyone else however, it will be a waste of time.
I for one enjoyed it as 'To Love-ru' served its intended purpose. The story is lacking considerably, at times it's camp as hell but none of that matters because that's not what this anime is about.
8 points from me.
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4 of 20 people found this review helpful
| Overall |
3 |
| Story |
2 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
3 |
| Enjoyment |
2 |
'Happy Lesson the Final'. Good lord where do I even begin. Well, for an anime that starts out by showing us what family values are this OVA basically takes the core idea of the entire Happy Lesson series and throws it into the trash bin.
The first two seasons continuously feed us with family themes. FAMILY. So it's the male lead and the 5 female teachers who decided to be his mothers doing family orientated stuff. Family goes here, goes there - encounters some problems and we have some drama but in the end all is good. And if you've watched the first two seasons that basically means over 10 hours in total of this idea being rooted into your head.
In the first two episodes of this final you get the idea that this is how the series is going to end. The great platonic love of a family. Oh boy was I wrong. I wasn't even remotely prepared for the complete farce that is the 3rd episode. Out of all animes that I've watched this one has the absolute worst ending ever.
At the very end you feel cheated because you spend a considerable amount of time watching this series and this OVA tells you that it didn't mean anything. The whole family theme is gone and instead they replace it with a dreadful, yes, dreadful harem-ish ending. So what was all that platonic love about? Wasn't so platonic after all eh. The worse thing is there's no build up to it, you have no idea what's about to happen - it's as if the script writer suddenly thought "Well, I'll just make them fall in love instead. Why the hell not. I'm the writer."
And so the ending feels out of place, like it doesn't belong in this series. Moreover, the respectable characters in here that show some dignity are the ones that get slaughtered by the ending. I was really rooting for Nanakorobi but the series' writer shows no mercy and slaughters her development (or what was left of it at this point) like a merciless troll.
It was all surprising. I mean, 'Happy Lesson' was already mediocre to begin with so I imagined things could only get better but the final proved me wrong. What you have here is a classical example of an average series driven to disaster by a confused writer who has no sense of direction as far as story-telling goes.
That's that for the story and the characters. As for art and sound - they stay exactly the same. Good art and a very good OST. The opening is again very captivating and involves all the main characters but I'm afraid all the artists working on this project have wasted their talents because frankly, the story sucks and drags the whole anime down with it.
Enjoyment? Virtually none - other than a sporadic grin here and there. Personally I will pretend that this OVA never happened and the true ending lies with season 2. I'd advise anyone planning to watch this anime to avoid the final. It should be called "No Lesson at all final - and hey did you know our writer is neurotic?".
'Happy Lesson the Final' gets 3 measly points from me.
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6 of 22 people found this review helpful
| Overall |
5 |
| Story |
3 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
3 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
Watching 'Happy Lesson' was the most peculiar experience for me as far as anime watching goes. I hated and enjoyed this anime at the same time and up until now I didn't even know something like that was possible. This anime is every cliched joke, every cardboard cut-out character and every predictable plot point that has been done to death by a 100 animes before it - jammed into a 13 episode series. I knew very well that being a harem and a romcom I wasn't going to see anything profound, but never in my wildest dreams, would I have expected it to be this bad. Yet ridiculously, like a 5 year old at a sweet-stall, I enjoyed it.
The story... no wait there is no story here. It's just a single male character with 5 young, infantile looking women and lots and I mean lots of cliched jokes and of course sexual innuendo. The women in question turn out to be the male lead's teachers and mothers at the same. To show you just how much the "story" sucks in this cliche-fest series I can tell you that even that single, most basic plot point that was established in episode 1 was not properly explained or in fact even covered at all. It's something along the lines of "Hey do you want me to be your mom?" - "Yeh, whatever".
The male lead is a no dimensional character. In fact, his only parameter is to be smothered with affection by countless equally no dimensional female characters. I mean, I'm gonna square with you guys here - there is no need for me to go into detail with the story or the characters because they're so banal they might have as well been invented by a cactus. It's just an episode after an episode of cliche jokes, sexual innuendo, fanservice, fake drama. In that order.
That said, I did enjoy this series and indeed if you look at the breakdown of individual scores I gave this anime you'll see an 8 next to enjoyment. It's because it's so gobsmackingly bad that it crosses the barrier and goes straight into unintentional comedy. Two minuses are a positive and that's exactly what happened in here. I know very well that this anime isn't meant to be serious or that the makers never aspired to create a masterpiece out of it but it's even crap for an average harem romcom. And no, it's not a slice of life anime. Nothing presented here has anything to do with real life. So in a way you know it's bad but you can't help but to laugh at the poor writing. The ending is a testament to that. It starts out dramatically trying to be realistic and there's a build up of tension between the characters as they face an insurmountable problem, but then you're slapped in the face with a deus ex machina solution. Teenagers solving problems with a submarine and an electrical bazooka? How is that slice of life?
That brings me to reason number 2 why I actually enjoyed it. As bad as it is, 'Happy Lesson' has a decent opening, a surprisingly good OST and a catchy ending which just makes everything more absurd and inadvertently - hilarious.
With all that in mind, I am rating it fairly. The story is poor and so are the characters, art is good, the sound is very good and I laughed my ass off. I'd say that's a 5. Moreover I will watch the second season and grab the OST because ironically, the entertainment value here is really really high. read more
1 of 11 people found this review helpful
| Overall |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
'Brighter Than the Dawning Blue' is an anime that I was genuinely ready to give a full score to. It has a story that draws you in, the characters have just enough depth and the pacing is absolutely outstanding. That was the case for nearly the entirety of this anime. Then, the ending happened. The ending has completely ruined everything this anime was trying to convey up until episode 12 and I will discuss that later (I promise I won't spoil it for you.)
First the story. In this series humans are divided into two blocks, Earth and the Moon. Both sides are trigger-itchy and the tensions are so high you could cut the air (or in this case the vacuum) with a knife. It is in this world of desperation that we find the two main protagonists - Feena, the princess of the moon and Tatsuya, a mere earthling trying to prevent the people of these two celestial bodies from ripping each other apart. At the same time they're struggling to realize their feelings for each other and as if that wasn't enough - they also need to overcome the social obstacles that would arise from a relationship of a noble and a commoner. In other words, a sci-fi drama with a romance sub-plot that eventually blows out of proportion. However, the perfect pacing justifies that as it won't happen in a matter of 2-3 episodes. No, everything in this anime happens gradually, giving you time for the emotions and information to properly sink in (I usually need a lot of time for that).
Another outstanding quality is that the supporting characters in this anime have depth too, that's not all - they're actually plot relevant! Which is something you don't see very often in a romcom. So you can see that you have here a combination of an interesting story and setting with decent characters - normally a recipe for a masterpiece, right? Yes and indeed it was, two-thirds of my way through this anime I thought I made my mind up and I was going to give it a 10 and praise it for being near-flawless in all departments. I got ahead of myself because episode 12 was an unpleasant smack in the face and we shall now discuss that in detail (as promised, no spoilers).
Now, with the theme of a dramatic romance in the shadow of a looming interplanetary disaster, you'd think this series would go for a knock-out and give you a dramatic, intellectual ending. Something your brain could chew on for days or even weeks to come - in other words, the moral of the story. Sure enough the series seemed to be moving towards that path but the complete opposite happened. The finale (as in episode 12) started out perfectly and half-way through the episode everything this series worked for was thrown into the trash bin. It was not only anti-climactic but you're left with no moral and you feel as if every orifice in your body was just shafted by a thousand small penises. In the few closing seconds the series laughs at your gullibility and your expectations and all you're left with is rage and regret.
Now, to clear the ambiguity of my previous paragraph I will say this : the moral of this story should have been that the world can be saved, but at a price and nothing will be the same ever again. But it wasn't. There was no moral and so it makes the whole series look very shallow.
That said, everything else is near-perfect. Art, sound, the characters. Episode after an episode you're drawn in deeper into the story and the art & sound make the experience complete.
All in all, 'Deeper than the Dawning Blue' is still a very good anime series and the casual anime watcher will definitively enjoy it. However beware of the ending as it will leave you crying in anger. Just don't smash your monitor with the keyboard.
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5 of 20 people found this review helpful
| Overall |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Character |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu is an anime that focuses on the peculiar world of interpersonal relationships and the misunderstandings of every day life. It is an oddball in that it has the capacity to be a masterpiece but due to the forced and often exaggerated drama it falls short of its true potential.
The central couple of the show, Yuuto and Haruka, go to the same school but seem to be on two different ends of the social spectrum. Yuuto is a plain and completely uninteresting guy with the resolve of a pigeon dropping. He's indifferent in life and often pushed around by his peers like a leaf in the wind. This personality supplemented by his plain looks make him unpopular with the ladies or just about anyone, to say the least. On the other hand we have Haruka, the beautiful highly accomplished student and a prodigy in various subjects and disciplines. And of course unlike Yuuto, she's from a rich and noble background. So you can pretty much see the massive disparity here.
So how is it that they get acquainted? They end up sharing a secret when Yuuto finds out that Haruka - the model student, is in fact a bit of an anime otaku. Forced to keep his mouth shut and make sure her secret is not revealed, the two get closer and various shenanigans begin to take place.
Now this is not an inherently bad story, I'm all for the idea of a powerful girl falling for the average member of society but I personally felt that the romance component in this anime was lackluster. Despite the fact that we see some progression in the relationship of the two main characters, as they do go on numerous dates, the atmosphere surrounding them is way too infantile. They nearly faint at the idea of even holding hands and that's months after their initial meeting. So the makers tried to supplement this obvious cock up later on in the series by making them "accidentally" trip on each other every 5 minutes and it's so blatantly obvious they're trying to force this down your throat that you feel like throwing up. Same goes for the "drama". Haruka getting wobbly feet and nearly losing consciousness because a few books got sold out or Yuuto blowing his stack because he felt "useless" after carrying his pseudo-girlfriend all the way back home is so teeth-grittingly fake you want to beat yourself with a wrench to make the memory go away. They also try to make it look serious and authentic which only worsens the situation.
On the other hand there are moments of sheer brilliance in this anime such as the accurate portrayal of what goes on in a teenage boy's head when he's around girls. Yuuto often ends up thinking about perverted things at the most inappropriate moments and that's something I could actually relate to because it used to happen to me too when I was a teenager. Whether it'd be looking down a woman's cleavage or getting funny ideas while alone with a girl - that's all part of growing up and it was funny to step aside and see my own adolescent years from 3rd view. I'm sure some people will share the same sentiment.
Another great thing here is the supporting cast and the good execution of humour. Haruka's family is made up of the most hilarious bunch of eccentric individuals. Neurotic maid with a passion for chainsaws, perverted sister, overprotective father who happens to be carrying a katana everywhere... the list goes on. Now that in itself wouldn't be anything unusual because we see that in anime pretty often - but it's the way these characters interact that really makes you grin all the time. Though in the end they are motivated by the same thing - poking their eyes through the key hole to see if Haruka and Yuuto are not doing anything questionable.
And then we have Yuuto and Haruka's classmates. These characters I felt were nothing more than cardboard cut-outs and there's not much to talk about them. A couple of perverted guys, an otaku and of course every romance anime needs one - another female character with an interest in the male lead. However they all contributed in some way or another to the story and did their jobs as background characters pretty well.
Now with most stuff out of the way we come to the art and sound departments. Personally I felt that the art was very good and precise with emphasis on the eye candy effect, especially when it came to female characters (being kinda obvious here). Sound was absolutely amazing, in part because the OST features piano/classical music and partly because I'm a sucker for classical-themed pieces. However there are also regular pop pieces too (opening; ending) so I suppose a wide range of viewers will be satisfied.
As for the enjoyment, strangely, I got a lot of it out of this anime. Despite the infantile romance, the forced and at times absolutely fake drama - I still think there is a lot to enjoy here. Whether it'd be the nostalgia inducing fantasies and day-dreaming of the male lead in the presence of other girls, the all too familiar shyness associated with interpersonal relationships or the refreshing humor provided by the supporting characters; there are plenty of points of interest here for the casual anime watcher. If one watches this not as a thought-provoking masterpiece but rather as something that's meant to provide entertainment, which is how it's meant to be, then enjoyment will be there.
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu gets 8 points from me.
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