Saturday 13 February 2010

Hidamari Sketch x☆☆☆ - Episode 6

With Valentine's Day just around the corner to coincide with the broadcast date of this episode, it seems only right that love should be in the air for this sixth instalment of Hidamari Sketch x☆☆☆.


When Yoshinoya all but leaps into her classroom while celebrating the joys of spring, it reminds both Yunocchi and Miyako of the last time there was a drastic change in season the previous autumn - A time which brought about a very different reaction from their teacher. So, for the first half of this episode we jump back to that period, and find ourselves looking at a pensive, melancholy and rather distant Yoshinoya who seems to be constantly checking her mobile phone every chance she gets. Just what is she waiting for... could this be some kind of unrequited love on her part? All four of the Hidamari Apartment girls believe this to be true, but of course this series being what it is (and Yoshinoya being who she is) the actual reality turns out to be altogether quite different.

We're back in the present for the second half of this instalment however, as first Yuno and Miyako and then Sae and Hiro spot Nazuna in conversation around school with different boys. Could it be that this quiet girl is so popular with the male members of her class? With Miyako (rather unfortunately) leading the way, eventually the other girls all confront Nazuna to find out all about her own popularity, only to discover that (as always seems to be the case with her) it's actually a double-edged sword, and she seems to hate pretty much every minute of it.

As episodes of Hidamari Sketch go this was probably the weakest of this latest series so far, simply because it didn't hook me in in quite the way I'm used to with this show. That said, there were still a fair few funny moments, and even an off-form Hidamari Sketch can knock a lot of other slice of life anime into a heart-shaped hat, so I can forgive it those moments when it still manages to make me laugh out loud a few times.

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