Yet the Town Keeps Going 12 – We Hardly Knew Ye, Hotori Arashiyama

Oh wow. Talk about leaving on a high note. The final episode of this show brought together everything that was good about this show into one hilarious, quirky, crazy, emotional, touching, moving package. What a great way to bring out the first episode in which just one story is told start to finish, with no gag transitions or lack of chronology. What started off as another story about Hotori’s naivete and rashness getting her into trouble ended up being a very touching look back at this show and all of its characters who have made it what it is.

Yet the Town Keeps Going 11 – Summer Storm!

This was definitely a much funnier episode than the last few. In showing the events of a couple of summer days in Hotori’s life, the show returned to one of its key strengths, which was showing Hotori being Hotori in her everyday interactions with others. Her dog/raccoon Josephine got much of the spotlight, and while not all that funny, she was adorable as hell, and the brief return of Moriaki-sensei was much appreciated. I applaud his resilience and creativity in trying to get math through Hotori’s thick skull, even if he is destined to (hilariously) fail.

Yet the Town Keeps Going 10 – Going In Some Crazy Directions

Well, what do you know, looks like this show is going full on scifi fantasy. Last week, it was time travelers, this week, it’s aliens and ghosts. That’s not to say that this episode was driven by the scifi/fantasy elements. Rather, they were used mainly as convenient devices to facilitate the storytelling, much like in the previous episode.

Yet the Town Keeps Going 9 – Time travelers? In MY cafe-themed Shaft anime? Wait, they already did that one before

I wish I could say that the show bounced back strong after last week’s disappointing affair, but this episode was pretty limp as well. It was certainly more entertaining than last week’s, but not by much. To the show’s credit though, the ending twist to the second half was so unexpected and funny that it might have made up for the entire episode.

Yet the Town Keeps Going 8 – Live Alive This Isn’t

Well, this one was a bit of a misstep. It wasn’t bad, it was amusing enough, but the style of humor was very different from the norm, resulting in something decidedly more run of the mill and boring than usual.

Yet the Town Keeps Going 7 – Arashiyama Hotori no Yuutsu

One thing Hotori certainly doesn’t lack for are males in her life. We had both parts of an entire episode focusing on her relationship with her math/homeroom teacher, and now we get to see her interacting with her classmate-cum-secret-admirer Hiroyuki Sanada, then with her little brother Takeru. We’ve passed the halfway point now, and the show has hit its stride, as this was the best episode yet, giving us plenty of its distinct brand of humor while also hitting us with heartfelt and emotional content.

Yet the Town Keeps Going 6 – And Going and Going and Going…

I probably should’ve seen this coming given the title of the show, but with this episode, Yet the Town Keeps Going pretty much defined “slice of life.” I’m not a fan of that label or “genre” (not the contents – I enjoy shows such as Hidamari Sketch that fall into the category, but I find the name of the category not to be descriptive and rather a convenient label that you can slap onto anything), but really, I can’t think of a better way to describe this show. Of course, it did provide some new material, but mainly, this was Another Couple of Days in the Life of Hotori Arashiyama. Fortunately for us, Hotori leads a pretty hilarious life.

Yet the Town Keeps Going 5 – Love is in the Air

The follies and awkwardness of young love. That was the theme of this episode and, in retrospect, the last episode as well. Instead of Hotori, this time it was about Toshiko in the 1st half and the unexpected star Takeru, Hotori’s little brother, in the 2nd. This wasn’t as laugh out loud hilarious as the last few episodes, but it remained a fun watch, and the 2 stories couldn’t help but put a smile on my face.

Yet the Town Keeps Going 4 – The Forbidden Fruit

Ah, poor Moriaki-sensei! It’s not easy being popular. I didn’t expect him to play such a large role in the show, but with this episode, he’s now gotten more screen time than even Toshiko, and that’s turned out to be a good thing.

Yet the Town Keeps Going 3 – More Hotori Being Hotori

This week’s episode was a lot like last week’s, in that it was again a lot of fun, made possible by Hotori acting like her usual self. A new character, Futaba Kon, the lead singer and bass player in the ED sequence and also a member of the table tennis club just like Harue from the first episode, was introduced as well, though little of her personality shone through.