Hidamari Sketch x☆☆☆ - Episode 4

Stop the presses! Yoshinoya has managed to make it into school early for once, beating even the principle into the office! Of course, Yoshinoya being her usual self, she still somehow manages to turn this unexpected turn of events to her disadvantage.

From here, much of the rest of the episode is concerned with buying curtains. Yes, that's right... only Hidamari Sketch could deign curtains an important enough topic to become the focus of an entire episode.

Needless to say it isn't quite that simple (or dull, for that matter) - With all of the girls at Hidamari Apartments finding themselves with an afternoon off, Sae and Hiro go their own way (with the former finding herself chatted up briefly by Natsume beforehand), while the other girls are left to their own devices. However, an afternoon of relaxation takes a turn as Nori drops by to enquire about a good palce to buy curtains to replace her existing, and entirely too short, pair. Before we know it Yuno, Miyako, Nazuna and Nori are on their way to the local hardware store, a place which proves to be a glittering cavern of delights for all of the girls above and beyond mere curtains.


While this particular episode of Hidamari Sketch x☆☆☆ wasn't quite as sharp on the humour front as previous episodes of this series thus far, it still managed to hit the mark a few times, predictably via Miyako's usual delivery of surreal daftness on most occasions. Beyond that however, this instalment finally gave us a little more time with Nori and Nazuna, which has at least built up a little more of a dynamic between the two newcomers if not between themselves and the rest of the regular girls. Oddly, it's actually Nazuna who has more of an impact in terms of personality here, with her overly shy and confidence-lacking demeanour offering something decidedly different from what we're used to, while Nori is still yet to really stand out in any particular way aside from perhaps being a little more happy to call a spade a spade. Still, even when not a lot is going on Hidamari Sketch remains as much of a pleasure to watch as ever, and it would take a lot for that to change in my book.