Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza (written after ep. 12)
I might spoil something from the plot below, though I'm not sure that's possible. I talk about both seasons, too, for no extra charge.
I watched this one because it's being taken off the site tonight. It's the kind of pronouncement that exacerbates my existential melancholy, which is a kind of heartburn if you didn't know. It ...
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza (written after ep. 12)
I might spoil something from the plot below, though I'm not sure that's possible. I talk about both seasons, too, for no extra charge.
I watched this one because it's being taken off the site tonight. It's the kind of pronouncement that exacerbates my existential melancholy, which is a kind of heartburn if you didn't know. It results in me watching 24 episodes of a show that was alright, it was alright, but probably not worth the time it took to watch it. Anyways, here's the jibber jabber.
Why I like it:
I started out writing that I didn't really like much of anything about this show and that, as a result, the necessity of this whole half of the review was a bit suspect. I was feeling recalcitrant, which tasted bitter, but now I am resigned and will amend those statements. I watched the series through to the end; I laughed occasionally; and I enjoyed the fact that they used part of Dvorak's 9th and Gnossienne no. 1, however sparsely. The show was (mostly) harmless, so I can't fault it as a time-waster. If you connect and sympathize with the characters and their situation, more power to you. Take what you can get.
However:
The series was lacking. The dramatic tension was so limp it slinked away into a corner, unnoticed, and started drinking quietly by itself. It was, in a word, dull. The only narrative tension of any sort was during the 'idol' plot, which was so ham-fisted in its characterizations and so arbitrary in its resolution that it didn't excite. I don't intend to hold the series, a solid bit of genre, up to unnecessary standards. But: a romantic series, that is, a show which focuses on romance, is supposed to have some sort of complications that stand in the way of the romance's development, yes? A love triangle, the misfortunes of fate, misunderstanding between the destined lovers, whatever. The only thing standing in the way of these two was that they were thick, dull, silly, and endlessly naive. Shiina, as the third vertex of the ostensible love triangle, may as well have called it a day and left the two to get on stammering and blushing at each other. Yuuto never realized Shiina was interested in him, Haruka didn't know Shiina was a rival. All Shiina was doing was pining for our benefit. Her story was sad and a little truthful, but it didn't result in much grist for the mill.
To sum up this show's dramatic infirmity, I will point out that every time the lead couple was about to kiss, fate itself interfered in their amorous intentions. E.G. a stick hits him on the head, the ferris wheel they're riding on is jostled, etc. If pure chance was interfering in my romance so insistently, I might take the hint. Further aside: if Yuuto wasn't around to catch her, Haruka would probably be spending the rest of her life in traction, what with the number of times she's almost face-planted on the sidewalk.
I suppose what I really wanted to talk about was the one truly strange aspect of the show's setting, namely, that the first season took place in a bizarre universe where liking anime was tantamount to being Jewish in Germany during the Third Reich. Putting the hyperbolic analogies to bed, I appreciate that anime and its associated subculture is not well understood by "mainstream" Japanese society and that, like all cultural minorities, it faces distinct pressures in Japan, much as minorities do everywhere. Seeing these issues voiced during the show was startling. Mix this together and sip: one part indignation over prejudice against a hobby that is no more harmful than any other, and one part acknowledgement and celebration of the fact that the fans of anime are special and in some ways unique creatures. The show seemed to say, "you distrust us because we're strange, which is wrong of you. By the way, this is how strange we really are." Haruka no Himitsu points out this conflict without really penetrating it much deeper (no sniggering, we're all adults here, unless you aren't, in which case welcome. What was with the randy episode titles in the second season?), and by the second season the whole thing is basically forgotten. It's an issue I've seen brought up in other shows, and is something that can and should be thrashed out and called out until the prejudices themselves fade away. I'm not sure this show did much to pursue an answer - I'm not demanding it do such a thing. But hey, they're the ones who brought it up.
In the end Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu was a show that probably didn't need or require 800-odd words to be written about it, but everyone likes to find amusement where they can. Some people like to watch silly genre shows, other people like to write about them.
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