Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Purezza ♪

Alright, let’s start with the basics.

Animation: 6/10
Strangely better animated than most current anime, especially considering it came out in 2008.

Comedy: 8/10
It made me laugh—genuinely fun and entertaining.

Romance: 9/10
... A proper, satisfying, and complete romance—just how all romance anime should be. Nowadays they love to drag things out for 12 episodes only to throw us an open ending… but that’s not the case with Nogizaka.

Characters: 7/10
They're your typical clichés from that era, nothing too unique or standout.

Plot: 6/10
Could’ve gone deeper or had more complexity, but it’s still enjoyable to watch.

Now let’s get into the negatives.

The protagonist is one of them. Even though he’s decisive when it comes to romance and actually takes initiative (which is rare), he’s still your classic overly nice, slow, passive guy who never fights back or stands up for himself. That gets pretty annoying.

Another downside is the constant “interrupted romance” cliché. Man... they really overuse that. Every time there’s a romantic moment or any sort of development, just kill your hopes right then and there—because someone is definitely going to show up and ruin it.

The characters are emotionally shallow. Everything feels black and white, no in-betweens, no real layers to dig into. What you see is what you get, and that stays true throughout both seasons.

Now for the good stuff.

Honestly, the best thing here is that it’s a romance anime with a closed and satisfying ending. No annoying love triangles, no unnecessary drama, and the main couple knows exactly what they want.

Another plus is the female lead—she’s sweet, likable, and just genuinely pleasant. Like I said, the emotional depth isn’t really there, but she’s still a highlight.

And above all, the story flows well. You don’t get bored watching it, which is a huge plus, especially for this genre.

A pleasant 7 out of 10.



Bom comecemos com o básico.

Animação: 6/10 estranhamente melhor animado que a maioria dos animes atuais, se considerarmos que foi feito em 2008.
Comedia: 8/10 Me fez rir, bem divertido.
Romance: 9/10 Romance fechado, agradável e satisfatório como todo anime de romance deveria ser, mas hoje em dia, insistem em ficar enrolando por 12 episódios para nos dar um final aberto... oque não é o caso de nogizaki.
Personagens: 7/10 são os típicos clichês da época, sem muito diferencial.
Enredo: 6/10 Poderiam ter se aprofundado mais e terem algo mais complexo, mas ainda assim é divertido de assistir.

Bom agora vamos começar com os aspectos negativos.

O protagonista é um deles, embora seja decidido em relação ao romance e tome atitudes, ele é o típico bananão lerdo, bonzinho ao extremo que nunca revida agressão ou injustiça alguma, isso irrita bastante.
Outro ponto negativo é o clichê de romance interrompido, nossa... como eles usam e abusam disso... a todo momento, em qualquer clima romântico ou desenvolvimento, mate suas próprias esperanças, porque algum empata foda vai aparecer.
Personagens rasos sentimentalmente falando, parece que tudo é preto no branco, sem meios termos, nada realmente parece ter camadas para se aprofundar, os personagens são o que são e isso se segue pelas 2 temporadas.

Agora vamos a parte boa.

Bom, a melhor coisa é que temos um anime de romance com um final fechado e satisfatório, sem triângulos amorosos chatos, sem drama desnecessário, e que os protagonistas sabem exatamente o que querem.
Outro ponto positivo é a protagonista feminina, ela é um doce, agradável e você tende a simpatizar com ela. Embora como eu disse, tudo é muito raso, ainda assim ela é um ponto a parte.
Além de tudo isso, a historia flui bem, e você não se satura assistindo, oque é um grande ponto positivo considerando os animes do gênero.

Um agradavel 7

(MINOR SPOILERS)

Wow, talk about going downhill. Considering how optimistic I was of the first season, I really came into this one expecting more.

For fans of the original, prepare to be disappointed. If you didn't notice already, this season is straight into the Ecchi genre and it is no longer a minor occurrence. If you did not enjoy that part of the anime, then prepare to be slathered with it cause it is all over the place.

Oh, and the accidental kiss situations are just through the roof here. Several of them happen, including one with Mika, but none of them go anywhere. Oh, and one of ... them even occurs with a minor character. And given Yuuto is the only male lead that is significant to the story, I can assure you that your assumptions are correct and that he was the one involved in all of them.

As far as story goes, I will just get right to the positives first. They introduced the entire team of maids this time around, though none of them come into play to join the comedy team of Hazuki and Nanami besides a little one by the name of Alistia. A little ferocious at first glance due to her exceptional shounen powers, the girl herself is actually quite innocent and is simply there to serve as another "I agree" character as she nods in agreement with the two main maids whenever they are talking about something. Speaking of Alistia, she plays a major role in one of the episodes where, for some reason, all maids and butlers decide to have a party for their services. I consider this episode to be the milestone of this whole season and, should you decide to skimp out on this season, at least watch this episode first before you do.

Anyway, Yuuto is there, but only cause he actually had a job as a butler earlier on and is considered official by their community. Later on, one other "butler" shows up, but he is actually the rich prude from the last season and he walks in all high and mighty, effectively disrupting the fun out of most of the other servants. He is a butler due to, well, the events of the last season where he disrespected one of the Nogizaka elders. And so his father forced him to be "lowered down to the level of the servants" to better understand how other people feel.

Through a series of events from earlier, Alistia stumbles into the man and spills liquid all over him. And, in what is one of the most shocking acts I have ever seen in an anime, he crudely disrespects Alistia and even spits on her. Yes, he spat on a little girl just because he didn't watch where he was going. And to make matters worse, he also stepped on one of her favorite dolls that she just obtained prior to the incident. She was in shambles and it was one of the saddest things I had ever seen in an anime and I genuinely almost teared up from it after seeing the aftermath of all the torture she went through for one incident.

Naturally Yuuto, being the good Samaritan that he is, steps in to crouch down and comfort the crying Alistia. But, the rich prude just couldn't let the whole accident go without an apology. So, he forces Alistia to bend down in forgiveness. Yuuto does it instead, but well doing so, the man spills his drink all over Yuuto and all he can do is keep his head lowered. It is there that the disrespectful man receives a call from his father, having heard all of what he did to the other servants, apologizes to all of them and says that they are free to punish him however they please.

I thought this whole scene was incredible in that Yuuto basically treats all of the servants in the room with the same amount of respect as he would a noble and tells the other man that he should do the same. All of Yuuto's lines during this were just really good and it is unarguably the best highlight of the whole season. I just wish that they had more moments like these, cause nothing came close to it. The only bad thing I could say about it is that it essentially set up Yuuto to be the good guy, but I thought the scene was still good due to the fact that some masters are actually this rude to their servants and I feel something like this had to be made, even if it was a little out of place for this particular anime.

Now, unfortunately, this is where all the fun ends and I must get negative. One thing I would like to address is that the pacing of this season felt pretty bizarre to me. For instance, there were a lot of romance scenes where, really after the Christmas one, it should have been very obvious that Yuuto and Haruka would go out. But, their relationship is not even established here, despite the events of the last season clearly showing them almost kiss on the bed. And even before this scene, they almost kissed again.

Yes, earlier, I mentioned how Yuuto actually almost kissed Mika, as well as a girl that you only see once in this whole season, but that was just a mere portion of "almost" situations. Speaking of Mika, she herself actually almost kissed one of her classmates, that was also a girl, in the last season, but I forgot to bring that up for some reason. Assuming this anime treats every "almost" kiss as though it was bound to happen if no interruptions occurred, it's safe to say that Mika would go through great extremes to show her friends how a date works, including the ending part where the kiss happens, and probably would've had her first with one of her friends if no one stopped her. That was a bit of a detour from what I was just talking about, but figured it deserved to be mentioned anyway and that I just came to the conclusion that scene was far more serious than I previously thought.

Anyway, yes, Yuuto and Haruka almost kiss so many times that you could actually lose track of it. Every time you see it happen this time around, you are not looking forward to the kiss itself, but at what comedy scenario will occur to interrupt it. Oh, and speaking of interruptions, I would just like to remind you that they, once again, do the "script" thing where the maids are showing Yuuto how he should handle his date with Haruka. And, somehow, the scenario once again ends with him holding a banana near his, well, banana, and the girl that is crouching down this time is Alistia. Really, I could have believed this was an accident in the first season when it happened with Hazuki, but it is very much implied that the maids wanted Haruka to suck him off. And like last time, Ruko walks in at this very moment of the act to, once again, attempt to kill Yuuto with her sword.

Besides this, the anime is practically filled with fan service. It is indeed in the Ecchi genre now for good reason, as you will find almost as much half-naked women here as you will story content. And that realization hits you real hard the longer you watch this season. If you really did not enjoy the fan service before, then I would advise you to back away from this season because it is practically everywhere this time around and it gets quite raunchy at times. Heck, the "almost" kiss scenes even start really sexually at first, with most of them involving the girl being half-naked or on top of him with exposed undergarments. Yes, it has no doubt entered the Ecchi genre now when scenes like this are plentiful.

And if there is one thing I really disliked about this season, it's the anime they chose for Haruka to fall in love with. Firstly, well the other anime with the little chibi girls was adorable and even served as a fun subplot for the last season, the anime this time is a carbon copy of, well, Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu. You read that right, so stop double taking. All of the characters in Haruka's new favorite anime look just like, well, herself and the other female characters from the anime you are currently watching. They got pitifully lazy here this time around and I really expected that they would have researched enough anime to at least give Haruka something original to watch. But no, it is as lazy as one can get. And thanks to Haruka's main anime no longer being one of the subplots this time around, being relegated to just a situational plot whenever needed, it is only the tiniest bit forgivable that they got lazy with it. Yuuto even makes a crack at how the heroine sounds just like Haruka at one point.

The most major element of this season is a bitchy idol that goes by the name of Miran. I will just say straight up that one of my favorite things about her is the way they designed her because she is just so pleasant to look at whenever she pops up. After that, though, the rest of her character gets pretty nerve-wracking. I can forgive it quite easily, simply because she is an idol. Through a series of events, Yuuto somehow becomes her manager for a while. I won't really spoil too much about the second half, but it did annoy me a little at how fast they drove the whole idol thing into the plot. If you watched the opening, you are aware that she is prioritized in the song. That is because she is the new famous idol or something. I never really cared much about this plot, despite how significant it is near the end. I just found this plot to be really boring to watch. In fact, I could give you a full summary of it right now in only one paragraph.

During the second half, Haruka and Yuuto run into Miran as she is hiding from her manager. Her manager sees potential in Haruka and is basically slowly coercing her into becoming an idol. Haruka and Yuuto then go back to where they were going, Haruka somehow lands on Yuuto and "almost" kisses- oops, going into the wrong territory here. Anyway, throughout the rest of the second half, the manager, Yayoi, alongside her little lackey Nozomi, basically turn into the Saturday-morning villains of this plot and attempt to drive Yuuto away from Haruka. They claim that Haruka has to attend an "accidental" audition due to a paper error, but the real plan is to make her debut due to her "hidden potential" without the consent of Haruka. They say Yuuto should not intervene with any of her practice and should stay away from her. Yuuto attends one of Miran's concerts well his thoughts are clouded and she convinces him through mildly cryptic words to go to Haruka. Yuuto naturally realizes that he should to do this and stops her idol audition.

Well the idol stuff does not pick up until a little later after they meet Yayoi, some of the other stuff during it is not particularly bad. We have what are essentially pure fan service episodes with Shiina and Mika, respectively. And you obviously know what happens in the latter of those two, so I do not have to elaborate there again. The former is a little more, well, lined up with the anime. Besides having one of the most hentai-esque scenes in the anime, there is adequate character development between Shiina and Yuuto, which is nice.

Oh, and did I forget to mention the last episode is just more fan service. They all go on a trip to the hot springs. Yes, you read that right. They go on a hot springs trip for both the first and last episodes. Just in case you did not get your fill earlier, here is some more hot springs fun for you.

That is about all I really have to say about this season. It just disappointed me overall and I really wish it lived up to the expectations set by the first. This season just decided to take every mildly comical aspect of the last and shift it well beyond the limits it should have never crossed. The more minor things that were toned up were the "almost" kiss scenes, as they were either interrupted by the maids, Mika, both at the same time or by a phone call. From, you know, Mika, asking if anything happened. THIS WAS ONLY MILDLY FUNNY THE FIRST TIME, but to have her call just to say "have you guys done anything" so many times started to make it less coincidental. She already did this shtick last season, so to rehash it so shamelessly just hurt to watch. So, yeah, watch this season if you are just a really, really big fan of the original. Otherwise, I would just skip it. I only gave it as high of a score as I did because I was so impressed with the fifth episode.

Story ( 1 )
What a joke, what a sorry excuse for a second season. This was absolutely horrible. What a utter and complete waste of my time. All I can say is WTF?!? From start to finish there is absolutely no progress in the relationship between the two lead characters. REALLY!!! no kiss, no sex, no nothing! What kind of shit is this!

The first season had SOMETHING to do with the whole anime secret but no the second had little or pretty much nothing to do with the secret, WHAT HAPPEN! The plot is missing in action.

Character ( 2 )
The character development is balls, ... I could care less about the characters because there wasn't even a bother with showing more on the characters, just tidbits on who the new characters are and what they do. Not to mention that Haruka was missing in quite a few episodes; One of the main characters missing in the show, what were they thinking?!

Art ( 7 )
The animation I have to say was good even though the overall season was garbage.

Sound ( 6 )
The opening is descent and I thought the ending was pretty cute, no homo.

Enjoyment ( 2 )
I hated it. I was hoping to be pulled into some romance since the first season left off with a some sort implication that Yuuto and Haruka would eventually fall in love, i was mistaken. The second season being an ass just strung me along with nothing to show for except teases and shortcomings.

Overall (4 )
Avoid this crappy second season, you'll be dissapointed with the results. This season to me was more like just a random assortment of episodes that have nothing to do with the plot, oh wait there was no freaking plot this time around, WHAT HAPPENED! This was just a bunch random episodes mashed together to make this middle finger in your face season.