To refresh some memories, the series details a beautiful young girl named Haruka "Nuit Étoilée, Lumière du Clavier" Nogizaka or simply known as Haruka who attends a school and is idolized by her peers. She is smart, beautiful, intelligent, popular, and pretty much everything that a girl strives to be.
At least, that's what she's like on the outside..
From the inside, she is an insecure girl who has a secret she wants noboy to know. *She is a
major otaku and loves anime and manga!* It's hard to imagine but it's true. To make matters worse, Haruka accidentally lets her secret gets exposed to Yuuto, the main male protagonist. From there, the two forms a strange bond that began from awkwardness, to respect, to friendship, and to couple.
Now that trip down memory lane is over, let's take a look at these OVA episodes, shall we?
The title of the OVA is Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu. That translates to Haruka Nogizaka's Secret. And like I mentioned before, Haruka's secret is still hidden from most of her peers and even her parents. She wants to keep her hobby because it's what she enjoys. However, not everything goes smoothly especially when other third parties are involved. It's a funny thing too since these OVA episodes were supposed to involve around Haruka and Yuuto mostly yet half the time involves other characters.
The first episode is literally fan-service in your face. From the nakedness, drools, and delusions, these OVA episodes are your typical cliched and generic topping on toppings like a pizza. However, there is some drama involved later on especially involving Haruka's family, friends, and her hobby. It's painful to watch though as every time “something” is about to them, the series trolls you and the duo gets interrupted especially from other characters and circumstances.
It is nice to see the duo's relationship and development but it quickly gets old. For example, the typical compromising like settings and the brief love triangle in these episodes were rushed. It's no surprise though considering the amount of time these episodes tries to cover up. Furthermore, it's very predictable. Hell, even the OP song is cliched with the moe features and foreshadowing of the upcoming events.
Let's not also forget some of those delusions and the classic “oops I accidentally tripped and it's not like that!” scenes. It's so commonly used in these type of OVAs now that it's just a slap in the face once again. It's not realistic and there's nothing unique about it.
Interesting to say the least though, I did get a few laughters in and there were a few moments between the duo. There was hardly any development from the sequel but this finale here did wrap things up and gave the viewers one of those happily ever after endings. Still, it's rushed and cliched. Sometimes, it should be more about than just development but these episodes didn't do it right from my estimation. These OVA episodes are a classic on how series like this has become recently by employing the overused fan-service and moe sequences.
The artwork and soundtrack already reflect in this but these ova episodes were just meh in my estimation. It does spawn a few “lol's' and emotional moments but it's nothing special at all. I'm glad this is the finale and it's finally over. I'm also glad that Haruka and Yuuta made it all the way. Ultimately, it was a journey and not the most insightful one to say the least. Well, that's just from my perspective.
To conclude:
Story: 5/10 - There was none really and if there was, predictable and cliched
Artwork: 5/10 - Generic to the T. Oh let's not forget about those damn censors and white mists. (wait for the BDs)
Sound: 5/10 Hardly noticeable
Character: 7/10 - Nice to see the development going through all the way but still predictable
Enjoyment: 5/10 - Average. Don't take this score the wrong way as this was an average set of episodes from my perspective. I almost forgot at one point that this was a romantic comedy
Overall: 5/10 - It could of been better but that's just the way it decided to conclude these episodes.
