The third episode of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu is very much an episode of two parts — even though, you know, it’s in one part. In the first half we’re introduced to three new characters, all pictured above. A quiet maid, a clumsy maid (both in glasses!), and a loli-little-sister. Oh good. The second half goes all angsty on us. Haruka gets depressed, we get sad flashbacks, and Haruka reveals her secret.
Buh-wuh?
This episode really drives home the societal bias against otaku in a big way. It’s crazy. I had to pause partway through Yuuto’s ostracization and re-watch some Dr Horrible just to make it to the end without shouting. It’s not exactly a big revelation for anyone, of course. Yuuto’s gossiped about in the halls — the show uses the classic method of people gossiping in the halls, as Yuuto passes, seemingly unaware that he can hear them. I don’t think this technique was ever employed by Saved by the Bell, but I’ve thought of it, so I thought I’d shoehorn in a reference right there.
The show’s unloading its bird gun at this point, scattering social critique through ugly mirror image everywhere. It’s on the rug, the curtains. . . It’ll never come out of my sheets. Of course, only otaku are watching this show, I’ll bet, so it’s not going to do people much good. Of course, how many people read 1984 without either agreeing with its notions or being so young as to have no notions yet?
I understand that it’s good television, but, honestly, the scene where Haruka drops her bag and everyone in the school sees her convention catalogue doesn’t seem so accurate. High schoolers, in my experience, didn’t pay that much attention, honestly. If she had just grabbed her stuff the worst would be someone heckling her about tripping — though, of course, given her role in the school hierarchy, even that wouldn’t be likely.
The thing I’m most curious about, now, is what the show plans to do from here. As I hinted earlier, at the end of this episode Haruka tells some sleazy douche that the catalogue, which the douche is using as ammo against Yuuto, was actually hers. We don’t get to see any reactions, but given students other than the douche were around, if the show implies that the douche doesn’t tell anyone, or that no one believes him, I’ll be irritated — that’ll just be a ploy to keep the “secret” thing going past Haruka’s honestly brave attempt to reveal the truth. Of course, the next episode preview hints something about the quiet maid and a whole jealousy issue, but overall the theme of the show seems to be sabotaged at this point.
That’s only true if the show stays as what it is now. It could still go in interesting directions, and this early reveal could help in that, if they’ll let it.
Unless something drastic happens, I’ll likely be watching this entire show, actually. I’ve forced myself to finish worse. I finished that awful show where a guy secretly writes the scripts for the all-girl sentai show, and tortures them with humiliating scenes after he overhears them abusing him in the locker room. Of course, I have dropped shows that entertained me more, it’s just that one happened to be short, and I’m stubborn enough. Or something.
Anyway. Probably I’ll keep watching. Perhaps.
I can’t tell whether you like or hate the series.
I also can’t tell whether that’s a good or bad thing.
[...] yeah, as I fervently hoped earlier on, and as some other bloggers have pointed out, Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu has actually managed to attempt dealing with the whole convoluted [...]
This might be why I keep watching this as well. From the looks of it, it seems that the show probably won’t go into any territory more deeper than that which we saw in episode 3. Which is a shame, because I was interested in some of the persecution that otaku in Japan can face, even though it’s stylized here. That’s probably what would make the show memorable for me, but as it stands, it might be something forgettable in the end.