Hidamari Sketch x ☆☆☆

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.

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.

This show is cute.

I don't know why it took me three entire seasons to get this, but it's true. The reason why I enjoy this show so much is because it is cute. There is no other way to say this. The main appeal of this show and the reason why it is so dearly loved by the few who watch it is its cuteness. Cuteness is its heart, body, and soul; its very essence. Cuteness is the bone of its sword. Adorable is its body and kawaii is its blood. Every single aspect of this show contributes, has contributed, and shall continue to contribute ... to its cuteness. Everything that doesn't radiate with cuteness shall be considered a flaw. Everything from SHAFT's art to the endearing characters and relationships to the simplistically dear storylines to the much unnoticed jazzy accordion/violin/piano soundtrack secretes cute to a degree only shows like GochiUsa can achieve (GochiUsa is much better though). Everything this show has creates a certain tone or mood that can only be described as cute. Albeit, it is a more fun and goofy kind of cute with only a slight dash of quiet making it rather different from other more tranquil and peaceful slice-of-life shows which can also be described as cute that would prefer to emphasize the calm slow monotony of life rather than its levity and occasional ridiculousness. However it does share many aspects of these series, like its incredible amount of focus on many seemingly unrelated topics or its tendency to use trains-of-thought and inner monologues without any central ideas to convey character, making this show fairly well-rounded instead of a show with only one trick up its sleeve. Hidamari Sketch doesn't really use cuteness in its simplest sense really. Instead, it uses a certain mix of all the feelings one experiences throughout a normal average day, and this mix can only really be described as cute. It's not a cute in a Hello Kitty kind of way. Instead, it's a cute in a baby's first birthday party kind of way where people enjoy their time together and only want to make the baby smile as much as possible. Needless to say, this show wants to be cute. It is its only purpose in life. All this show really wants to do is make you take a step back and remove some of that pressure life tends to put on you. To allow someone to just relax and permit him to smile after a long day of work, maybe get a few chuckles out of him, perhaps add just a bit of nostalgia in the mix, probably even give you a few suggestions to any problems he might be having. This is pretty much the point of every slice-of-life show out there and Hidamari Sketch fulfills this pretty well. Not necessarily in the most unique way though(If you judge this show based on uniqueness, you're probably gonna find it pretty lacking). It does this through the incredible power of goofy fun, great protagonists, and cuteness.

Let me elaborate.

~~~ STORY ~~~

It is my belief that slice-of-life storylines are the only real way to truly express the feeling of cuteness.

There are many characteristics that all slice-of-life narratives share. They always tend to be very simplistic. They're never anything too complicated. You're not gonna get lost in between numerous interweaving plotlines or unorthodox narrative structures. They never intentionally invoke any intense or powerful emotions. Instead, they seek to replicate the tone and mood of day-to-day life. There is almost little to no plot development. Things never intensify or stack up. They're always slow-paced, and conflicts that could happen are either non-existent or not taken seriously.

These are why cuteness works so well with these shows.

Let me use an example. Let's say a baby's smile. Sometimes, either on your way to work or in a walk in the park, you may encounter a mother or a couple pushing around a baby carriage. As you continue walking past them, you take a fleeting glance at the inside of the stroller. In it, you see the baby, maybe either playing around aggressively with some toys or sleeping peacefully. You see it smile. Time slows down. Not too much. Just for a bit. Then, you turn around and continue walking.

It is that fleeting nature of cuteness and the feeling it gives you that makes it perfect for slice-of-lifes. These series are all about those short-lived emotions that you feel on a day-to-day basis that never really stick into your mind because of their briefness. It's all about making those short meaningless moments meaningful. Cuteness is just a prime example of these emotions. The feeling that you get whenever you something notice something cute and adorable is incredibly momentary. You're most likely not gonna think about that baby ever again. Life is made of these moments. Life is built upon all these temporary sentiments. And what better way to portray these significantly insignificant feelings than through significantly insignificant events?

The story is never really remarkable in these shows. That's okay. The focus is never actually on the story anyway. It's always on mood and tone or characterization. The atmosphere and characters aren't written to fit the plot in these shows. Instead, the narratives are specifically designed to complement the atmosphere and characters.

In the end, there's not much to comment on the story (which is somewhat ironic considering that I've actually written quite a bit). Hidamari Sketch is really a character-driven show instead of a plot-driven one. The plotlines are incredibly simple, and you're probably not gonna remember what actually happened in a specific episode. What you're gonna end up remembering are the characters which we will discuss in a later segment.

~~~ ART ~~~

It's SHAFT art. You either love it or hate it.

The artstyle is highly simplistic. The show seems to be rather addicted to flat-color backgrounds and pastels, and the abundance of white dots in this show is astronomical. There have been many a shot wherein the only things happening are a single-colored background, a character speaking, and that character's respective signifier. Each main character is assigned a certain symbol which is taken from their respective character designs. These shots come when a character says something that really represents her character (e.g. whenever Hiro says something maternal; Miyako says something stupid; etc.). I think these shots are very clever because of how effective they are at characterization and also because of how it save both money and time for the creators while still being very beneficial to the quality of the show.

You're either gonna absolutely love the impossibly wide chibi faces or get really fckin annoyed by them. I personally loved the chibi because I think it really multiplies the cuteness this show gives (which is why I prefer the first season where they really went all-out with chibi), however there have been many a caps-locked complaint angrily criticizing the weird faces so you really just have to try the show out a bit and see whether the art is really for you or not.

The directing is still fairly crazy, however it's a far cry from x365's WTF shots that moved around everywhere that I really enjoyed a lot. I'll discuss this more in the comparison section with the previous seasons.

Overall, the art's weird. It's very simplistic and pastel. You're either gonna love it or hate it.

~~~ SOUND ~~~

The soundtrack of this show is a very unnoticed gem.

I have almost the entire soundtrack downloaded in my computer (still downloading it) and it is surprisingly very good. I don't really know how to criticize music, but I can say that it is a very fitting soundtrack to this show. It is the most laidback relaxing thing I've heard that still manages to be upbeat and with a bit of jazz too. There's this woman just singing "da da da da da" in some of the REALLY relaxing songs and I'd say it really boosts the relaxingness exponentially. It's fairly nice to listen to while you're working. It doesn't distract and reduces stress well.

There are also tracks in this soundtrack meant for the more touching and heartwarming scenes in Hidamari Sketch, and, let me just say, they are the sweetest things I have ever heard since GochiUsa's diabetes ED. They give off a feeling of childlikeness and youthful wonder that really touches the heart overlayed against smooth calm relaxation. If this isn't cute, I don't know what is.

I'm not really a big fan of the OP this season. I loved the first two season's OPs and listen to them all the time, and I think that "SHUWA SHUWA" is the best way to start a show. The rest of this season's OP just didn't really stick with me as much as the previous seasons'. The ED is still rather generic and skippable.

Voice actors are also still doing their job well. Not really much to say.

~~~ CHARACTER ~~~

Now, we're getting to the meat of this entire thing because this new season introduces two new Hidamari Apartments residents: Nazuna and Nori!

With everyone a year older and Yuno now in her second year of high school, it only does seem natural to give her some kohais to play around with. Cue Nazuna and Nori. These are the two new additions to the apartments, both first-years of Yamabuki High School. It has been remarked that these two are pretty much carbon copies of the previous first-year duo, Yuno and Miyako, and I can't really deny that claim. There is much basis for that argument. Nazuna is pretty much a shier Yuno who pretty much has all the insecurites that Yuno has times two. Nazuna is depicted as someone with little self-esteem or self-advocacy just as Yuno was in the previous seasons except to a much greater extent. (She's also just as intensely cute as Yuno is). Nori is pretty much a down-to-earth Miyako. She's not as goofy or hungry as Miya-chan, sure. However, she definitely plays the same role and acts the same way to Nazuna as Miyako does to Yuno. She represents the confidence and optimism her batchmate lacks allowing her to be a strong supporting figure to her batchmate who she motivates and reassures whenever her insecurities get to her again. Can you guess correctly who I'm talking about? It applies to both Miyako and Nori. Not only were Yuno and Miyako's characters were copied, but also their character dynamic. Many times this season has Nori helping Nazuna out in the same way Miyako does to Yuno. Many times this season has highlighted the surprisingly soon closeness between Nori and Nazuna in the same way the previous seasons did with Miyako and Yuno.

It has also been remarked that these characters, as much as every other character in the show, can each fit into their own archetypes. I can't really deny this either. Yuno and Nazuna both fit into the 'shy girl' archetype really well. Miyako and Nori also fit very well into the 'supportive best friend' archetype. Hiro fits smackdab into the 'mother-like friend' archetype, and Sae fits perfectly into the 'smart senpai' archetype.

Now, my question is, are necessarily bad things?

Character archetype usage and character distinctiveness are somewhat overemphasized concepts. People have very pronounced rules and structures on what makes a good story, and oftentimes, these concepts are cited in these highly-defined laws saying, "If characters always act the same as other characters or fit these character archetypes, then this show fckin sucks". Well, I would respectfully like to disagree. I do not think there is any reason to automatically declare that a story is of poor quality just because some characters fit into honestly fairly arbitrarily set archetypes or because some characters act too similar to one another. I have met a myriad of people who one can say can perfectly fit into a certain character archetype. Many of my closer friends fit perfectly into either the 'nerd' archetype or the 'optimistic best friend' archetype. Many of my greatest enemies can easily be placed inside the 'jock' or 'egocentric cool kid' archetypes. I myself could probably fit into the 'prodigy with no friends' archetype, although I would say that's a bit of a stretch. I have also witnessed a ton of people who act exactly like one another. Many people who fit inside the same archetypes often end up forming their own cliques. I have also frequently seen best friends or pretty close friends who act exactly the same to each other, and I am willing to bet that it was because of their similarities that they ended up that close in the first place. None of these facts makes any of them anything less than people. They are all still people with their own personal flaws, strengths, goals, passions, and philosophies, and the fact that they fit ideally into archetypes doesn't diminish their being people. I believe this also applies to any written character wherein characters can act exactly like an archetype or one another can still end up as round characters as long as they are given enough depth.

Now, the next question is, are these characters given enough depth?

Probably, but not to the extent some of you may like.

First off, Miyako has been given practically little to no character depth and is mostly just a gag character. However, she does serve a good role of deepening Yuno's character with her closeness to her, causing Yuno to think and feel things she otherwise wouldn't without good ol' Miya-chan. Hiro, I would say, wasn't really given as much of the limelight as in x365. She got a fair bit of screen time together with Sae and I loved watching their relationship, but I don't think it was really enough. In the end, I wanted to see a bit more of HIro. Sae herself was given a lot of character this season just as every other season. She really reacts when things happen, has strong opinions on various things, and, again, her relationship with Hiro is very interesting to me. The show tends to highlight Sae a bit more than the others for some reason. Nori and Nazuna, despite being the newcomers, have a quite disappointing amount of screen time. The show, although it does focus on them, doesn't focus on them at the same level other shows have when they introduce new characters. Hidamari Sketch devotes about half an episode for their introduction then waits a couple of episodes before actually having a plot thread where the two are given significant roles. Again, just like Hiro, I wish the show would've focused a bit more on the two and I think their characters should've been more explored. Sure, they may both fit right into some character archetypes, but that doesn't mean their characters can't be built upon or can't have any depth. I honestly found Nazuna a very interesting and enjoyable character to watch, and their were many moments where I kind of related to her. Sure, I laughed like a madman when she talked about her struggles, but that was just because I related to her so much, I liked the timing of the jokes, and I thought her chibi form was astronomically cute. I also really wanna know where Nori gets her confidence from. At this point in time, we know next to nothing about Nori's character except that she's confident and that she knows a bunch of stuff about life and computers. This doesn't mean she's not an interesting character. I find Nori and Nazuna's relationship to be incredibly captivating and a gold mine for characterization, stories, and yuri. I just wish those two had more time in the spotlight. They were barely in it.

Now, let's talk about the person who has been hogging all the limelight.

Yunocchi here has been taking all the screentime. I mean, it makes sense. She's the fckin protagonist. She's supposed to get all the screentime. This show is written from her perspective. She's the only character in the show who's trains of thought and inner monologues we get to here. We see everything the way she sees it. Whenever anything happens, we only get to see her thoughts about it. Whenever she starts feeling her insecurities, we learn about it in full detail. Whenever the show quiets down and starts to slow pace, it's because we're listening to Yuno trying to make sense of herself. Hell, she even has her own segment at the end of every episode where she takes her bath and reflects on what happened that day. There's no doubt about it. This is her show. Of course everything's about her. Now, was her character given depth? Can we say that Yunocchi was a well-written character? OF COURSE SHE WAS! We know in intense detail about her desires and insecurities. We know how troubled she is about her own inability to visualize herself in the future. We know how much she tries to be a great senpai and role model to the new first-years. We know how much she gets insecure when she's dissatisfied with her own works. Everything in this show serves to deepen her character just as everything in this show serves to add cuteness. She IS the cuteness. She is what makes this show cute. Everything from her character design to the way she talks to her own personal thoughts and feelings can be described as cute. She is cute. This show would be devoid of anything worthwhile if she wasn't made as cute as possible. She is what makes this show good. And that is why every element in Hidamari Sketch must serve to build upon her character. And it does. The real reason the other characters have so little focus is because they merely serve as character deepeners (what is this word) to Yuno. Sae and Hiro serve as senpais and role models for Yuno to look up too which gives her much motivation and allows for character growth. Nori and Nazuna serve as kohais to Yuno so that she can learn to be a good senpai to them which allows some great characterization and development. Miyako serves as her best friend who supports her when she's down in the dumps allowing her to overcome some of her insecurities which, again, makes for some great character growth. She's also the only character who's parents actually have a considerable amount of screen time (They didn't show up THIS season, but it's still something worth considering when comparing this show to other anime set in high school). Each episode's plotlines seem to be designed around her character. As I said before, the narratives were built around the characters, and not the other way around. In actuality, it seems that the narratives were built around Yuno's character specifically. Every episode in this series are of dates when Yuno either learns something more about herself, realizes something about life, or becomes closer to another character. These dates and stories are all the times Yuno's character changed inside the quiet melancholic actionless vacuum of everyday life. This show isn't story-driven OR character driven. It's Yuno-driven. When I said that the characters are who you'd actually remember instead of the story, I specifically meant her. With everything in this goddamn show centered on Yunocchi, it's not surprising that her character has been given quite a bit of characterization.

So, now that we're done with that debacle, let's me ask another question.

Does this show actually have character development?

I wrote earlier that slice-of-life shows don't really need character development. Just like character archetypes and character distinctiveness, I believe character development is a very overemphasized element in narrative criticism. It's practically impossible anyway when a show is written in anachronistic order which is what a majority of slice-of-life shows use. All a slice-of-life really needs to be good is characterization. Character development is merely optional.

However, even if character development's importance isn't really as great as many think it is, it is still a really helpful boost when it comes to characterization. Watching a person's character grow and change is also a way to reveal more about that character. Character development is a really effective form of characterization, and the reason why it's so overplayed by many is because it is so incredibly interesting. And right now, this third season, the show now actually has the capability to employ character development on its characters because guess what? It's not in anachronistic order anymore! The episodes have an actual linearity to them. They actually happen after each other. They actually follow time! Sure, some episodes that half of themselves to other dates, but those are practically just extended flashbacks Yuno has to solidify her character even further. Sure, the episodes are still very much unrelated to one another and there are week-long timeskips in between them, however that still doesn't completely erase the possibility of character development.

So, let me ask again. Does this show have character development?

I would say so. Maybe not a lot of character development, but it's still present.

For example, Yunocchi, in the first and second seasons, can be seen being extremely bothered when she doesn't deem her works good enough. She'd often just lay there in bed for eternities just thinking about it. This season, she still gets rather bothered, but not as much as before. She now knows when to stop thinking about such things and let go and start on her next work. (In a particular comical incident in this season, she breaks out of one of these inner monologues once she realizes that she ended up repeating herself.) This is possible due to the fact that the entirety of season three, minus the flashbacks, is set completely after both seasons one and two. This allows some character development to form between the first-year Yuno and the second-year Yuno. One can also see Yuno develop as a person as she starts gaining the desire to become a great senpai to the two new first-years. Yuno often tries to help out Nazuna who, because she's very similar to Yuno, shares many of the same insecurities Yuno once had. There are moments in the series where Yuno kind of gets Nazuna at a certain level because, you know, she's been there before. Of course, she often fails at helping out Nazuna (Nori always beating her to it) for comical effect, but this does still reflect some of the growth Yuno had undergone at the Hidamari Apartments. Nori and Nazuna too can be seen too have some character development when it comes to their relationship. The two start out rather distant too each other, but, being batchmates on a multi-batch clique, quickly get close too one another. Nori is always a big help towards Nazuna, giving her self-esteem and confidence and correcting her whenever she starts speaking self-denying thoughts. Nazuna, in response, becomes incredibly devoted to Nori. A bit too quick for my tastes, but at least not immediate.

And that's about all the character development. Yuno, again, hogged all the limelight, stealing all the screentime and, in turn, the character development, leaving nothing for the other characters. Sae and Hiro's relationship is still pretty interesting, but you can't really say it had changed any more than since the start of the series (and even before the series according to a flashback). Miyako is still a gag character, and there's not really much to say about all the other characters. Again, they all just end up serving as tools to allow Yuno to develop instead of character's themselves. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Yuno is an incredibly interesting and relatable character with tons of development, however I do again wish that the others got some more character too.

While we're on that topic, let's just briefly touch on all the side characters. Yoshinoya is still pretty annoying, her jokes VERY hit-or-miss. The Principal, the nurse, and that new male teacher only really serve to try to make Yoshinoya's jokes funnier. Natsume didn't really get much screentime in this season, however I heard one of the OVAs is devoted to her, so I'm kinda excited. (Haven't watched the OVAs yet for seasons three and two and I'd honestly like to see more of Natsume even if she's just your typical lesbian tsundere.) That new Arisawa girl seemed interesting and honestly, I'd like to see more of her. She adds a lot of character depth to Yuno, making her think about her future and the path she wants to take. Pretty impressive for someone who was only meant to be a one-shot. Everyone else is too irrelevant to be commented upon, not appearing enough on screen for me to care about or remember.

In the end, all the focus and characterization is all on Yuno and every other character merely serves to deepen Yuno's character. The show takes much care to carve out Yuno's character, making her a very compelling character, but it often neglects to bring alive the other characters too. It's not necessarily a bad thing. This is Yuno's story, so she deserves to have all the character depth she wants. I just wish the other Hidamari residents had more time to shine because I am, at the very least, interested in who they are and what they could be.

Oh wow. I wrote quite a bit.

~~~ COMPARISON TO PREVIOUS SEASONS ~~~

Finally, after four thousand two hundred fifty three words, let's get to the end of this thing.

How good is this season compared to the other previous seasons?

Well, to be honest, I liked x365 more.

Reason being that I really intensely loved the crazy-ass directing that that season had had which was toned down to almost be non-existent this season. All the moving cameras, weird shots of unrelatedly related things, and all those weird sinister colors that came alongside the show's usual pastels are now almost gone. I enjoyed the shot where Yuno and her mother were running to school in the first episode which had an incredible amount of lines. I absolutely loved that shot where Hiro got all right up into your face as she was stress-eating because of her fight with Sae; the way Hiro zooms into your face was incredibly captivating to me. I even liked that completely random shot which zoomed in on Yuno as she entered the cafeteria for no reason at all. This incredible insanity that that kind of directing brought is barely present in this season. I cannot remember a single moment in this season that gave me the same vibes as the time everything turned black and red in Yuno's fever dream (which happened in the first season but still). I was just kind of disappointed with this season directing-wise.

Art design-wise, I preferred the first season more. I preferred the dirtier 4:3 look the first season had compared to the HD widescreen look the other seasons had. I don't know. I guess a more dirtier, less bright, muddier look older anime and TV shows just kinda resonate with me more. Or maybe it's just because the character's chibi faces look MUCH wider in 4:3. Who knows?

Story and character-wise, I still liked x365 more. Even if xSTAR STAR STAR gave us two new characters and an actual linear order to the episodes, I still prefer x365. I feel like the relationships in that season were explored a lot more, with Yuno's parents and all and episodes almost entirely devoted to Sae and Hiro's almost-romantic relationship. The time Yuno met one of Yoshinoya's old students and the time everyone sang the original Hidamari Sketch theme at the finale and the time they all had that bamboo-wishing festival thing together just touched my heart more than anything this season had to offer. Honestly, at this point in time, I don't actually remember much of what happened in this season. All I remember is that Yuno dropped her keys in the toilet once causing her to sleep in her friend's bedrooms (which I thought was a great method of characterization) and the first episode (which I watched twice to try to remember what actually happened this season). I even find things in the first season more memorable. I loved the first episode because of its melancholic vibe and the finale where Chika got introduced. All I remember this season is the overall feeling it gave me. It did give me a really warm and nice feeling which, as I said at the beginning, can only be described as cute. This is the main reason I'm still giving this season an eight over ten even if I don't remember anything. The other reasons being that I appreciated Yuno's character a lot and that I enjoyed Nori and Nazuna's and Sae and Hiro's developing relationship.

~~~ CONCLUSION ~~~

However, overall, if MyAnimeList's rating system allowed decimal numbers, this would be a mere 7.95 (I like to round up when there's less than a 0.5 difference from the next whole number) whilst seasons one and two get an 8.83 and 8.90 respectively. This is my least favorite season so far, and I was somewhat disappointed. The narratives weren't as meaningful to me as the other seasons', and the side characters still weren't given enough time in the spotlight. Nonetheless, it still was Hidamari Sketch and it still shared Hidamari Sketch's overall strengths, such as Yuno's character, soundtrack, artstyle, and altogether cute relaxing vibes, and I look forward to whatever xHoneycomb has in store for me in the future.

"I wonder what tomorrow will bring." Me too, Yuno. Me too.



Edit: After some thought, I've changed my overall score for this season from an 8 to a 7 to reflect my opinion on this season better in comparison to the other seasons.

Fans of the Hidamari Sketch franchise will do well to know that the third season of the show is really just like the other two. Yuno and her three fellow tenants of the Hidamari Apartments return for another season of... doing nothing in particular. They go to art school, gather together spontaneously for humble dinner parties, and genuinely enjoy their lives. There is no complex plot or character insinuations; Hidamari Sketch is an absurdly simplistic and optimistic take on the lives of four girls so normal and so carefree that they cannot possibly exist. Yet if you suspend your cynical mindset for a fleeting moment, ... it really is a lot of fun. From the mellow dialogue that walks gracefully the trapeze line between inane and sublime to the director Akiyuki Shinbou's notable animation effects inspired by postmodern abstract art, Hidamari Sketch is a different take on anime but still familiar to the casual viewer.

Unlike season 2, this season of Hidamari Sketch moves forward in time and introduces two new characters: Nazuna and Nori. While it takes some time for the show to really flesh them out as part of the cast, they are only marginally interesting in the show. Mostly I found that Nori was energetic and outgoing, Miyako's niche, and that Nazuna was shy and introverted, like Yuno except more moeblob. It's difficult to add characters to ensemble casts like Hidamari Sketch in the third season because everyone else has firmly staked their positions. Regardless, two more characters do a little bit to introduce some fresh air into a show that's might have begun to run out of steam after two seasons.

Besides that, there's not much else new in Hidamari Sketch. Everything we know and love is back, more or less, and even improved. The ever-lovable Yoshinoya-sensei has tons of screen time and is unflappably entertaining each time, going with her crazy classroom antics and getting scolded by the old principal. There's an episode set two years ago about the old tenants Misato and Riri before they graduated and were replaced by Yuno and Miyako. Time capsule episodes are a really fun aspect of Hidamari Sketch. Sae's ridiculously cute little sister, Chika, makes an appearance or two this season as well. The landlady has more lines and is much more visible this season as well. Overall, the main structure of focusing around the antics of the main cast and occasionally involving minor characters is preserved.

The writing is rather mundane. I swear that half the episodes end with just the girls eating dinner. Despite this, I can't really think of anything bad to say about it. Sure, it's lacks the epic grandness of a modern literary manifesto but that's not what Hidamari Sketch wants to do. This season was pretty entertaining, and the dialogue feels natural. It helps that the voice acting is very talented as well.

The animation is what you would expect from SHAFT: crisp and unconventional. The show is very cheerful with bright colors and abstract geometric themes in the art and backgrounds. There's a slight desaturated look and the alpha is pretty high, but the resulting effect is pretty cool.

As with the other seasons, the opening theme is sung by the cast while the ending theme is sung by marble. Nothing spectacular really, but I like the ending theme. The scoring is pretty much what we've seen for two seasons already. The unique, cartoony, minimalist soundtrack fits into the background of the show. Mizuhashi Kaori is ridiculously good as Miyako, and Goto Yuko's voice for Hiro is pretty recognizable for fans of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi.

Overall, give this show a watch if you liked the other two seasons. It's not really something to marathon; it took me 85 days to watch 13 episodes. Nothing new, but why fix what isn't broken?

There's a tried-and-true formula in Hidamari Sketch, and one of the reasons for its success: "A day in the life of Yuno and her friends". Season 3 is no different in this respect (iyashi sitcom based on a comic strip) but it expands on this in several ways.

Season 3 introduces 2 new characters, Nori, the assertive, tech-savvy art student from (presumably) Osaka, and Nazuna, the shy, dojikko "regular track" student who also happens to be a local. I gotta say, Nazuna is one of my all-time favorite characters, because she gets herself into all kinds of silly situations, like her move-in day (it helps that ... her parents are sillier).

They did a neat thing for the opening animation during the broadcast of the show, partly because it wasn't finished (the final cut is used in the disc release), partly to poke fun at their own penchant for using still frames in these situations, and partly because they wanted to make the appearance of Nori and Nazuna a pleasant surprise. For the first couple of episodes, the "animation" consisted of still frames with 3 stars flying overhead. This wasn't bad (it got a good laugh from Japanese viewers), and it was well within the animation quality of the first 2 seasons. But when Nori and Nazuna were officially unveiled... Everyone went "WOW". The animation quality and detail were cranked up to 11, introduced the icons used for each of the 6 girls, and perfectly matched the fantastic new opening song.

A staple of the series is the creative "film leader" that precedes every (sub) episode. Season 2 improved upon the original "sun" leader by incorporating a flower representing which season (as in "spring, summer"..., not as in "television season") the episode takes place in. That was cool, but season 3 took that up a notch: here the film leader is a planetarium which (I presume) has the constellations visible in the Northern Hemisphere at the time the episode takes place in. A little too detailed, but nevertheless shows off Shaft's mad animation skillz. If a sub-episode precedes Nori/Nazuna, it uses the season 2 leader, which is cool.

Season 3's episode chronology is a bit of a transition between x365 and Honeycomb: There is always one part of the episode that is chronologically in-order, but it often comes with another part that has a story from "last year" and out of order (but related to the in-order part). It's still very much a "Plot? What plot?" kind of show, but this time there's some chronological progression. This becomes more important in season 4 with Yuno, but at least now we're starting to see the girls start down a journey.

Hidamari Sketch x ☆☆☆

Another fantastic season that continues the adventures of Yuno-chi, Miya-chan, Hiro and Sae. We're introduced to two new members, Nori and Nazuna, the new freshmen who attend Yamabuki High School and live in the Hidamari Apartment.

I still love the art style used by SHAFT, the beautiful and extremely cute pastel colors are such a joy to look at. The animation this season seems to be a lot better than the previous ones too.

I love Yuno-chi and Nazuna, I think they're fantastic characters in Hidamari Sketch x ☆☆☆, though that doesn't mean I dislike the other girls either. They're all ... fantastic, but the super shy and reserved Nazuna is so adorable, while Yuno-chi continues to be the focal point for the show and she's just too much cute. Miya-chan is as eccentric and simple minded as ever, but that makes it so easy to watch her and her antics. Hiro and Sae continue to be cute friends with one another and to the rest of the Hidamari girls. Love Hiro's motherly aspect that she has, so cute. Yoshinoya-sensei continues to be totally moe and adorable, she truly is eternally 17 and she's amazing because of it.

Music continues to be a high point in Hidamari Sketch x ☆☆☆. The background music, the ambient sounds, everything is simply superb. The OP once again continues to be incredibly peppy, fun and just draws you into the world of Hidamari Sketch. The ED continues to be more reserved and laid back. The difference works incredibly well and am glad to see it be a recurrence used in the anime.

Honeycomb is next; super excited to see how the girls grow!

The first season of Hidamari Sketch took its time to introduce viewers to the main cast and told its lessons along with some mild comedy and entertaining character interaction.

The second season of Sketch went ahead and gave this world much more depth with a higher budget to spend on making it look and feel more natural.

This third season seems to benefit from everything the first and second season offered, but decides to expand itself rather than giving much more depth to the main cast. While still developing the supporting cast.

Once again, the story is much the same as the first two seasons, the girls are ... a year older and two new main cast members get introduced to add something fresh to the group. This season probably has some of my favorite self contained stories thus far, yet the season's conclusion is the weakest of the series.

The art is what a viewer of the first two seasons would expect of Sketch, if not a slightly more subdued version of it. No major improvements or setbacks over the second season of Sketch that I found notable.

Sound in the third season is better than the first and second. The background music ranges from meandering bouncing to soothing melodies and when you notice them they really feel special. This season had my favorite ED of the series so far.

Characters are the same girls you'd seen for the first two seasons, slightly more mature, more comfortable to be themselves around each other. They're all familiar with the quirks of one another, so the two new additions to the group almost serve as the straight men to the OG 4's antics.
One is more technology savvy and the girls are at times intimidated by her ability to comprehend computers, while she at the same time is the first to deescalate a situation. The other is a very timid GenEd student that at first feels distant from the group because she believes them to all be naturally gifted at art, where she is eventually corrected by them that the reason they attend the school is because they believe they aren't. Overall, the interactions are more or less the same.

I enjoyed this addition to the Sketch series, but other than two new characters and some development for Natsume I felt it didn't do anything the first two seasons didn't. Still a fun watch as I make my way through the series.