Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Episode 02
SUMMARY
The episode starts with Yuuto meeting up with Haruka on their way to school. Along the way, the two garner glares from jealous students. Yuuto and Haruka escape to school. At school, Haruka asks Yuuto to go shopping with her. At first, Yuuto interprets this as a date, but Haruka, flustered, insists that it isn’t. She just wants Yuuto to accompany her to Akihabara. Yuuto reluctantly agrees.
The next day, Yuuto meets up with Haruka at Akihabara and Haruka discusses the plan today. In short, the plan was to move around Akihabara for most of the day and buy a PDS (Portable Dream Station) at the end of the day. The two set off.
They first stop by a manga store where Haruka begins looking at some doujinshi. Unfortunately, the first doujinshi that Haruka picks up ends up being a Yaoi one. Overflowed with embarrasment, Haruka passes out. Next, they stop by Animate (an anime merchandise store). Haruka admires all the merchandise, but for some reason, refrains from buying anything.
While window shopping, Yuuto inquires as to why she refuses to buy anything. Haruka mentions how her dad is very strict and doesn’t allow her to spend her allowance on her anime hobby. Yuuto the asks about how Haruka got into Anime. Haruka says that, when she was young, she was scolded by her father and she ended up crying in the park. At the park, a boy gave her a copy of “Innocent Smile” (animage) to cheer her up, and she’s been hooked ever since. Before the conversation continues, Yuuto’s otaku friend Nobunaga calls out his name. Quickly, Yuuto hides Haruka and tries to get Nobunaga out of the area. After a little effort, Nobunaga leaves. However, when Yuuto returns, Haruka is nowhere to be found.
Yuuto begins running around Akihabara looking for Haruka, along the way, he bumps into a girl with short red hair. (I’m including this because she appears to be an important character from her prominence in the opening credits) The girl mentions that she’s seen someone who looks like Haruka and points Yuuto in the right direction.
Yuuto spots Haruka surrounded by some large, gruff-looking men. Interpreting them as troublemakers, Yuuto goes in to protect Haruka. As it turns out, the men are simply Russian foreigners, and Haruka was bridging the language gap for them. After the misunderstanding was sorted out, the two go to a capsule hall. Haruka tries her hand at a capsule machine and tries to get a Clumsy Aki-chan figure. Unfortunately she has no luck.
Taking a break, the two end up going to a cafe; however, Yuuto didn’t realize it was a maid cafe. After confirming this, the other waitresses has Haruka wear a maid outfit, and has Yuuto take pictures with her. When it gets to the end of the day, Haruka and Yuuto go to buy the PDS. When the get to AsoBitCity, the find out that the PDS is sold out. Haruka, faints from shock and Yuuto is forced to carry her to a nearby park.
Haruka feels that she just wasted Yuuto’s time but Yuuto reassures her that he has a lot of fun. The two promise to go to Akihabara again sometime, and thus the day ends.
THOUGHTS
Wow, Haruka really is an extremely likable character. There were soo many cute moments with her, I lost count.
This episode had it’s share of pretty funny moments, namely, the “date” misinterpretation, and the doujinshi incident. (PDS ftw!!!) It was great to see Haruka and Yuuto’s relationship progress. I mean we already knew that Yuuto might like Haruka from the previous episode, and this episode just cements that. This episode also brings in the possibility of Haruka liking Yuuto. Call me impatient, but I can’t wait until their relationship finally goes to the next level.
As for plot development, there’s a strong possibility that Yuuto was the kid who gave Haruka that magazine, if not him, then Nobunaga. And it looks like next episode has something to do w/ Yuuto visiting Haruka at her mansion.
8/10
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