Haruka invites Yuuto to her house to study for the upcoming final exams. He gets lost following a crudely drawn map to her house but fortunately receives help from a random loli who gives him directions. The girl runs off saying she’ll see Yuuto later, leaving our protagonist a bit dumbfounded.

Upon arriving at Haruka’s house, Yuuto is shocked at the sheer size of the large Nogizaka estate. The maid that escorts him into the house is introduced as Hazuki. Haruka and Yuuto study in her room, but Yuuto’s mind soon strays to other things not related to school. As the romantic tension between the two builds, the loli from earlier bursts into the room. After teasing Haruka and Yuuto, she introduces herself as Haruka’s younger sister Mikan. Likewise we meet another maid named Nanami. Mikan calls Yuuto out of the room and asks that he stay by Haruka’s side.

After finals are over, Haruka asks Yuuto to come to an anime convention with her during summer break. Suddenly a student in the hallway runs into Haruka. She drops her bag and the contents including the convention catalogue spill to the floor. Students gather around questioning why the school idol has an otaku book, but Yuuto covers for her and announces that it belongs to him. Even though her secret is safe, Haruka refuses to come to school the next three days. Rumors begin to swirl about how Yuuto is a creepy otaku and gets several threats to stay away from her. A senior named Takashi even goes so far as to berate Yuuto to his face for his supposed otaku ways.

Yuuto heads to Haruka’s house that evening and learns from Mikan about what happened to Haruka the last time her secret was exposed. During junior high she lost all her friends and had to transfer to another school when her otaku secret was revealed. Haruka tells Yuuto that she skipped school because she felt so guilty about his current otaku image around campus. He says he doesn’t mind and cheers her up by promising to always be by her side. As Haruka and Yuuto are walking to school the next day, Takashi taunts Yuuto and attempts to court Haruka. Haruka actually does something useful and defends Yuuto’s honor by judo throwing the arrogant Takashi into a tree.

Thoughts:
Mikan got a lot of panty shots in this episode. Not like I was counting, but there were four. Number of Haruka panty shots so far in her own show, one. Does this mean the loli is the fanservice character of this show? Too early to tell. I wouldn’t complain if she was though… Cough.

I’m going to question anime logic again. If Haruka doesn’t want her secret exposed, then why is she still bringing anime books/magazines/catalogues to school? Also, Haruka’s bag has this uncanny ability to fly open when someone bumps into her. Aren’t school bags supposed to be, you know, buckled shut so their contents don’t fly all over the place when they’re dropped? Does not compute! Ugh… I know. Don’t question anime logic. But I must!

All in all a good episode. Mikan is a fun character that spices up the show with her wild and slightly perverted imagination. I think she actually stole the spotlight from Haruka in her debut. It looks like the next episode will focus on Haruka’s maid, Hazuki. I do want to see Haruka and Yuuto hit up the anime convention soon.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 31st, 2008 at 2:32 pm and is filed under Anime, Haruka Nogizaka's Secret.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.