First Impressions / Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu

OP Sequence

OP: 「挑発 Cherry Heart」 (Chouhatsu Cherry Heart) by 姫宮みらんとチョコレートロッカーズ (Himemiya Miran and Chocolate Rockers)
Watch the OP!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming ▼

「一緒に，いきたいです……」 (Issho ni, Ikitai Desu……)
“I Want to Go with You…”

The continuation of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu turns up the fan-service by starting off with a hot spring episode. Too bad they have a run in with the ultimate enemy of hot spring episodes… STEAM!

Seeing as this is a direct sequel of the first season that I covered, I’m going to skip the series introduction blurp and get right into things. For those of you new to the series, feel free to check my previous posts for all your “school idol but closet otaku” informational needs. As a quick refresher for everyone else, the first season left off with Yuuto helping Haruka overcome the huge problem with her parents after they discovered her secret. While they eventually accepted the fact that their daughter is an otaku, Haruka’s father refused to acknowledge Yuuto as her boyfriend.

With the start of Purezza, we find that Yuuto and Haruka are both still having difficulties figuring out exactly what they are to one another. i.e. Are they an “official” couple or just really close friends nearing that stage? While the two of them continue to wrestle with that thought, Haruka’s little sister Mika and their maids, Hazuki and Nanami, continue to help their relationship along. Joining in their efforts is newcomer maid Alicetia Rain, a.k.a. Alice-chan (Kugimiya Rie!), Haruka’s personal loli bodyguard who’s capable of performing her own version of Terry Bogard‘s Power Geyser technique.

At the hot spring, the humour picks up when they go as far as helping Yuuto reenact the intimate moments he could be having in his relationship. In light of this, the show has gone and revived Shiina’s chances as a potential love rival — something I thought would never happen after it looked like she gave up last season. I’m really glad they brought Shiina back into the mix though (with some immediate time together in the nude), as things were getting pretty boring watching Yuuto and Haruka stress over the most trivial matters. Hopefully this will be a mainstay in this second season, even though we all know Shiina’s chances are slim to none.

As for the freaken steam, I wasn’t annoyed by how they tried to cover everything up for a TV broadcast. That’s pretty much expected. However, I was annoyed by how they didn’t cover up everything completely, making me squint for those scenes to try and make something out. It’s like, all or nothing please. God damn teases. Aside from that, it looks like Haruka’s anime of choice at the moment is a sports one about Lacrosse. Lo and behold, it stars all the same cast as Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu! (How convenient…) I did find it amusing when Noto Mamiko showed up at their live event as herself and spoke in her natural voice though. It’s just too bad they didn’t show her face, as I would’ve loved to see their take on an anime version of Mamiko. In any case, it was undoubtedly a meta-joke/shameless plug, much like they did with Ueda Kana before.

On another note, the opening sequence is pretty cool with its magazine-like sequence. The theme is performed by Himemiya Miran and Chocolate Rockers again and the sequence actually features Miran’s anime character. Much like the new opening theme, the ending theme is performed by the female seiyuus again, except this time they’ve been grouped together as a seiyuu group called “N’s”. I wonder how long this one will last…

To be frank, I don’t really have any expectations for this season and I’m more or less watching it because I found the original entertaining. This first episode has already shown glimpses of how heavy the romance element tends to be, but I’m hoping they’ll balance it out better with the humour this time around… somehow. :\

 

* P.S. I’m getting tired of sounding like a broken record, but this series… Crunchyroll… simulcast… official subs… and stuff.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「秘密推奨！うるとLOVE」 (Himitsu Suishou! Uru to LOVE) by N’s (能登麻美子, 後藤麻衣, 清水香里, 植田佳奈, 佐藤利奈) (Noto Mamiko, Gotou Mai, Shimizu Kaori, Ueda Kana, Satou Rina)
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming ▼

45 Comments

  8. I actually dread watching the second season because I knew they did base it upon fanservice. Just like Rosario + Vampire, the first season was ok, but the second season was just pure fanservice. Hopefully Nogizaka won’t turn out like that…

    sotandem
    Reply

  13. I think I’m on a new season “high” or something. o_O It’s fun conveying all the new shows to everyone and hearing your thoughts.

    Look forward to tomorrow though, as it’s Omni’s day with Kobato and Kimi ni Todoke airing — two shows he’s guaranteed to blog. I might write something about 11eyes if it proves to be interesting.

    divine
    Reply

  18. LOL at Yuuto remarking how come “the seiyuu for Haruna” (AKA Noto) sounded so much like Haruka.

    This is already the second seiyuu joke this week, after Kampfer’s remark about how the gutted bunny sounded so much like Tamura Yukari.

    Alice – as expected of a Kugimiya loli, I guess. Perhaps it’s to do with her grunting most of the time rather than talking that I didn’t recognize her.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

  20. I have high hopes for this second season. I kind of thought that the two had progressed farther than this, still wondering what their relationship is after the end of season one? Haruka is also uncertain since she would not answer the girls about their relationship. So of course that gives Shiina hope.

    draksig
    Reply

  25. Love this series, from the concept to the “super normal” male lead character.

    Is it me or do one of the screenshots point to the fact that Yuuto is not some generic main character who likes to peep through walls?

    paulrenzo
    Reply

  27. For a paying Crunchyroll subscriber, the steam-censorship on the version that was simulcast was beyond horrible – there were some scenes that had complete white-out on the screen. At least two broadcast sources had little-to-no censorship, those being the TokyoMX and AT-X versions. Also, the version that they have up currently is in 480p resolution.

    Kintaro
    Reply

  30. This anime is so fucked up plot-wise its a shame. “What do Haruka thinks of me?” Who gives a fuck. It took yall 12 gd episodes just to kiss – & even before then, Yuuto had his quirks about the gift stuff. He might be a strong male lead but his ass is showing. He was great up until then but now he’s just continuing from the shit in episodes 11 & 12. I guess its time to start ignoring him until he pulls his head out of his ass or I won’t be able to finish this one – & that GD steam needs to go, AT-X had the best version of it but I guess that’s what the Blu-ray is for.

    On a lighter note, the bloody TV version of this season already looks 10X better than the best DVD version of the last season I could find. I have to get ready for the Blu-ray version to blow me away.

    Megas
    Reply

  32. shh227, yuuto, Kintaro:

    Thanks for the heads up. I’ve updated all the screencaps in the post.

    starss:

    This is just the first week of the new season, so a lot of the posts are series introductions. While I have a pretty good idea how many I plan to continue watching, I’m not sure how many I’ll blog on a regular basis just yet. Stay tuned I guess!

    divine
    Reply

  33. I realize Nogizaka Haruka doesn’t break any records with the progression of the romance but it’s done so well. I mean if Yuuto and Haruka didn’t have these unrealized feelings, their wouldn’t be a show. At least not the kind we can see on public TV.

    That said, I thought last season the fan service was not representative of the manga. The manga characters are far more mature and the scenes more sexually explicit. Hopefully they won’t lose the shows charm as they try to attract another audience.

    Irie
    Reply

  34. BY THE WAY, IF THEY RELEASED THE CENCORED VERSION, HOW COME YOU GOT THIS IMAGES UNCENSORED???? O_o, pls tell me where i can see it, uncensored, its very anoying that 9/10 of the screen its white

    Trejon
    Reply

  41. Forgot to add…..

    1st Season OP and ED > 2nd Season OP and ED
    I didn’t seem to enjoy how they made them

    Fingers crossed that I don’t get too swamped with fanservice. Hope they keep the best parts of season 1.

    megalith
    Reply

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