Mostly an ep13 review, but I’ve barely written anything about the series as a whole, so…

Zylon and Totali have the summaries. They, like me, expect a third helping if at all possible. ^_^

Aroduc is a little less enthusiastic. I personally liked Fuyuki a little bit. Or perhaps I was giving him more of a chance to impact the story. And I guess he fell short at the end, but since I had been hoping the whole time and optimistic, he didn’t seem too bland. I was waiting for something in him to change .. or .. just hopefully, maybe a brief, even if accidental, moment with Chiaki. And it seemed so close in ep12, but he couldn’t voice his feelings. And Chiaki knew he had something to say. It’s left a mystery as to whether or not she could have liked him; maybe the smile at the postcard at the end of ep13 is a sign.

Well they’d make a terrible couple, really, with her being the boss of everything and him just doing as is told. So there would hardly be any romantic initiation I think except for accidental falls and catches. But at least I’d get to see Chiaki blush a little more…

For the sake of the drama, I wanted to believe Haruka could possibly leave, although it never seemed logically feasible. Either way, what upset me the most was how rushed that scene was at the end. Chiaki and Kana start crying, and I was getting close to, too. And Haruka breaks the news that she’s not leaving; she says she can’t possibly leave her sisters. Okay, great, and I was expecting a little bit more dialogue .. or maybe just a few more seconds of taking the subtle happy ending in. But bam — here comes an upbeat OP. A whole episode of build-up for about one minute of “Joke’s on you; I’m not going anywhere.” The tears just kinda fizzled; I felt rather emotionally rushed there to have to feel happy again after slowly allowing myself to get sad.

What else .. oh, Touma! I have become more and more of a Nana Mizuki fanboy, and Touma is just awesome. But it sure doesn’t sound like her!! But I guess that makes the experience even better, as we get to experience another of her many talents. “Ore wa onna da!” from ep12 cracks me up the more I think of it.

Also, that face I screencapped totally reminds me of Mega Man, like so.

Mako-cakes is one of the best traps ever (Touma as probably the best reverse one). Makoto has done it so often, it’s become second nature. And he actually likes it. And all the people he’s fooled have remain fooled. You even forget about how despicable the deception is because it’s just fully meshed in with the comedy.

Fujioka I didn’t care for as much, probably because he was only involved with Kana (who is my least favorite of the three Minami sisters), really, although him being Chiaki’s father-figure is a bit interesting. But only probably because there’s no other suitable male character around.

Nothing needs to be said about Hosaka. XD He is win. The win is doubled by Daisuke Ono voicing him. I loled at him on the plane to America; too bad Haruka isn’t going there!

Bancho Haruka! She got quite fearsome in the middle of the series; she reminds me of myself a bit where things are cool 95% of the time except for those few occasions where people just really disappoint you. And she gets the chance to exert a little bit of power and intimidation. Haruka loves only obedient children.

And Chiaki is my darling. Oftentimes I’ll forget she’s voiced by Chihara Minori as well. She’s a princess of tsuntsun who almost barely broke deredere with Fuyuki (although I guess she’s always sweet to Haruka-nee-sama, but that doesn’t count so much for me). I only got used to her gradient hair after watching this many episodes of Okawari, but I’m sure I’ll like the first season much better again once I get around to rewatching it. Moving ahoge was cute, though, which never happened in season 1.

Konata?

Through the series we see Chiaki grow. Or at least we see the little nuances and situations that really define who she is — a proud and capable girl who is still curious when faced with something she does not yet know.

I never got used to the creepy eyes and ultra-close-ups in the artwork. I’m glad the music remained unchanged though. It’s awesome slice-of-life music; it ranks right up there with Sketchbook, and I have both happily on my playlist. Hosaka’s theme is terrific; I want to learn to play it for real.

Overall I’ve had fun with the plot and presentation, being mostly slice-of-life comedy with the occasional light drama. The drama blends well because you’re attached to all the characters through their comedic interactions. It makes you wonder how they’d react to a more serious kind of situation, and we get that answer here. Some characters remain comedic just to keep us anchored to what the series is originally about, and that’s great. Because as much as I enjoy seeing Chiaki throw bears at people, I like to see her thoughtful, too. Kana even shows some strength in rare moments like here in ep13. And Haruka is never unreliable.

~Crisu
stealing a moment to write something because homework is so frustrating, and Minami-ke was something easy to watch without needing to catch up on much (if any) previous action