Subculture Anime Blog

OP: “Hatena de Wasshoi” by Kana Asumi, Kaori Mizuhashi, Ryoko Shintani & Yuko Goto – Nooooooo! Where’s my “namida no blue”??? Just kidding. The new OP is totally full of happiness power, and it kind of makes me want to party.

Summary:

Yuno quickly runs to a hotel to meet her mother. Despite Yuno’s expressing that she did not have to go through the trouble, Yuno’s mom wanted her to do well in the soon to come exams. Yuno is also worried about her father, but her mom assures her that he is fine at home. Yuno prepares to sleep according to her mother’s advice, but she soon realizes that she forgot her pillow at home. Believing that she may have a hard time sleeping without it, Yuno and her mother rush back to get it. Yuno is able to sleep at the hotel with this, but she then has difficulty waking the next day. Yuno is forced to rush when she finally wakes up, but she is actually able to make it to the school on time.

Finally parting with her mother, Yuno prepares herself for the important exam. Yuno quickly takes out her materials once she reaches the exam room, but she panics when she has brought art pencils instead of normal ones. In the meantime, Yoshinoya-sensei panics herself for being late. In her hurry, she runs into the Headmaster who becomes annoyed with her usual acts on such an important day. The landlady notices the exams taking place when she passes by the school, but she is soon forced to speak with the Headmaster as well. Moving on to the next exam, involving drawing, Yuno easily becomes distracted with her thoughts. She also starts to believe everyone is more talented than her, but she does not allow this to stop her from completing the test. Throughout all of this, a girl is constantly interested in Yuno’s actions. When Yuno leaves, she feels as if she did fairly well on her tests.

Hiro also notices the exams taking place, then wondering if Sae is awake. At home, Yuno’s mother has trouble getting her daughter’s attention. When she finally does, however, she assures her that her test results will be fine. When Hiro wakes the next day, she finds that Sae is already awake outside. Looking across the street, they see that the exam results have been posted. Yuno gets good results, but it seems like Miyako has been crying severely. Yuno parts ways with her worrying parents, later arriving back at the Hidamari apartments. Yuno worries when she sees a girl named Misato’s name tag on her room’s door, but the moving van’s driver assures her that the room hasn’t actually been taken. When Miyako notices that someone has moved in next door, she quickly makes preparations to greet her. When Yuno meets Miyako, she is confused about her wish for greeting soba.

Yuno gives her good news to Miyako, then becoming surprised that she will be joining her as a freshman. Miyako even had her eyes on the Hidamari apartments for a much longer time. After the two introduce themselves, Yuno is overjoyed to have Miyako give her the nickname of “Yunocchi”. After giving Yuno the rundown of what she needs to know about Yamabuki Art High School and Hidamari apartments, she is surprised to learn that only her apartment has not been producing water. Miyako takes Yuno to meet Hiro next, who suggests that they all draw a picture to get to know each other. Hiro and Yuno both draw rabbits, but they become confused after seeing Miyako’s abstract creation. Miyako tells the girls about Sae next, but when they reach her apartment, they cannot properly meet her because of her novel’s deadlines.

Miyako attempts to introduce Yuno to the public baths next, as Yuno has never used one. Hiro declines to go, however, as she had just eaten a cake. Miyako teases Hiro about her usual self consciousness, but this results in a knock on the head. The three girls begin discussing Miyako’s ability to live on her own afterwards, then praising Yuno for her decisions as well. After talking for a bit more, the girls finally part ways for awhile. In the bath, Yuno is relieved after observing how fun everyone seems to be. However, she is surprised when Miyako appears to join her. Hiro meanwhile goes to tell Sae about Yuno’s moving in.

ED: “Ryūsei Record” by marble – I don’t know if I like this one as much as the first season’s. “Mebae Drive” just always left such a lasting impression on me. This ED might grow on me though.

Preview: Sakura Sakura.

Impression:

I was rolling around in my chair all giddy like throughout this entire episode. I’m dead serious. So, on the topic of Hidamari’s Sketch x 365….easily my most anticipated show for this season? Yea, that’s probably about right. The first thing to notice in this episode was the obvious increase in budget. Everything looked wonderful, and the usual SHAFT style was as enjoyable as ever. Shinbo’s directing was clearly present as well, right down to the overly animated running scenes. The first episode of x365 actually took place in the past, with Yuno’s entrance to Yamabuki and the Hidamari apartments (it actually took me half the episode to realize this, making me a bit confused for awhile). I’m not sure if the rest of the series plans on doing this, but a show like this doesn’t need a solid timeline either way.

Besides being produced by SHAFT, and besides this being a slice of life series, what makes me love this series above all is its focus on the art world. As someone who is studying the same type of thing, it is so easy to connect to Yuno and the rest of the girls’ ways of thinking. Although a bit unrealistic, Yuno’s accidentally taking art pencils to her test was just all the more funny with that connection. SHAFT is already a studio that takes an artistic approach in their animation as well, which has always been why they are my favorite animation studio. x365 even seems to be implementing literary arts, with the inserts of text that could easily be from poetry or otherwise. I was very interested in this, though I do admit I had to pause and backtrack several times because of it.

It was wonderful hearing all the seiyu return to doing their roles as well. Yuko Goto may be getting a lot of attention for her main role in Special A, or her new role in Code Geass, but I think we all know where her real roots are. I had listened to the radio CD a few days back as well, and listening to the voice actresses discuss things was a real joy. It seemed like they were just as friendly with each other as the cast of characters in Hidamari! But anyways, before this becomes a fanboy rant, I’ll leave this post by saying that the second season of Hidamari was guaranteed to be on my blog list before it even started. I can’t wait for the next episode.