Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza - Episode 12 (Completed)

With Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza reaching its climax here, there's only one thing left for this series to provide.... A hot springs episode! Wait, what did you think I was going to say?

For some reason, I thought this series had already had a hot spring episode (they all tend to blend together in your head after a while), but apparently not, and so this instalment sees basically the whole cast of the series enjoying the opportunity for blatant fan service aplenty throughout its first half, complete with a botched confession to Yuuto by Shiina.


With that out of the way, the second half takes a more serious turn (well, as serious as this show can get), with Haruka somehow lost outside in a blizzard. Of course, this calls for action, and so the Nogizaka maid team form a search party to find her, a party which Yuuto tags along with to do his bit to help (albeit dressed as a bear - I did say it was as serious as this show can get, didn't I?). Needless to say, it's Yuuto who eventually finds Haruka, and after getting caught in a bit of a landslide they find a nearby empty shack to get comfortable and make themselves safe in. Really, the rest writes itself from here, as the pair look to keep one another warm, and one thing leads to another only to be interrupted at the last second, as per pretty numerous other episodes of this series. To be fair, at least the end credits give us our "happily ever after" Yuuto and Haruka moment, and not a moment too soon.

Much like its first season, I found myself having a bit of a love/hate relationship with Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza. At times I found episodes both amusing and/or enjoyable, particularly when they focused on the frankly quite adorable dynamic between Haruka and Yuuto, but at others I grew beyond frustrated with the overuse of fan service and the constant attempts to draw Yuuto into some kind of love triangle or harem situation or other. It's almost as if this series (nay, this franchise) never really figured out what worked best - If only it had got to grips with that earlier, it could have been all the more enjoyable for it. Still, as entertaining fluff Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu never really put a foot entirely wrong, and there have certainly been worse ways to spend your anime watching time this season.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza - Episode 11

Despite having been confronted by an ultimatum from Haruka's production company as they look to make her into their next big idol, surely Yuuto isn't daft enough to just agree to their terms and walk away from the one he loves?

On seconds thoughts, this is Yuuto we're talking about, so of course he heeds their words and decides to stay as far away as possible from Haruka for what he believes to be her own good despite hating every second of it, a decision that isn't helped by Haruka admitting that she's enjoying her practice sessions for the audience.

Ultimately it takes Milan Himemiya of all people to (repeatedly) remind Yuuto that he's being an idiot, going as far as making some long and quite frankly rambling monologue at her live concert which she attends urging him to think twice - Something he does just in the nick of time to prevent Haruka winning her audition and thus save the day. His efforts are helped by the rest of the Nogizaka family from the maids right down to Haruka's parents, with Gento in particular doing a fantastic imitation of Gendo Ikari that had me laughing out loud on more than one occasion, particularly when his very best Gendo hands were accompanied by Beethoven's Ode to Joy.


So, all's well that ends well, but we're still waiting for that all-important kiss between Haruka and Yuuto... in fact, even a proper confession would be nice by this point in the game. Still, we have a couple of episodes left to "make things right", so let's hope this series finally bites the bullet and does just that - It knows we're all rooting for the pair of them at the end of the day, so after throwing this relatively entertaining storyline at us it's about time they put us out of our misery.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza - Episode 10

The end of the previous episode of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza brought us the shocking revelation that Haruka had been entered into an audition to become a future idol - Well, shocking if you're Haruka or Yuuto that is, I'd like to think those of us watching this series of late were anything but surprised at this development.

Come the start of this instalment, Haruka of course goes straight to the production company in question to find out what's going on, only to be assured that the whole thing is a mistake, but with the women responsible for the whole thing also begging her to take part in the audition and to take some lessons in singing, acting and so on. Weak-willed girl that she is, she agrees to do so, and before he knows it Yuuto is left waiting out in the proverbial cold for Haruka's lessons to finish.


In that meantime, this new young and upcoming idol is left to her own devices while the male protagonist ends up working as the manager for an already well-established idol who he meets per chance - Hang on a second, I've just written a brief plot synopsis for White Album, is that right? Actually, yes it is, as in this episode Yuuto (the man who has had more jobs that I've had hot dinners) ends up accidentally working as the manager of idol Milan Himemiya, who of course is a total diva with a softer centre. Milan keeps Yuuto well and truly busy with her tight schedule, which runs all the way to recording as a voice actress for Haruka's favourite anime, but with both Yuuto and Haruka given so little free time what on Earth is going to happen comes Valentine's Day? Yet more disasters predictably await our ill-fated couple at the hands of Yayoi - seriously, I'm trying to lay off the White Album comparisons, but an evil manager named Yayoi?!

Anyway, despite me starting to wonder if this story arc could get any more like White Album (cue Yuuto sleeping with every girl he lays eyes on... okay, I guess we're safe from that scenario), this was actually a pretty entertaining episode - It actually made me laugh out loud a couple of times, which isn't something Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu is normally capable of, and its Carry On-esque moment featuring the Nogizaka family's maids left me shaking my head in disbelief at the same time as said laughter for being possibly one of the most inappropriate things I've seen in anime for quite a while. Anyhow, maybe this series needed a little drama and romantic tension to spice things up, and it certainly looks set to get it, which I suppose is no bad thing.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza - Episode 9

It's time for another episode of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza and shock, horror, Haruka has asked Yuuto out on a date! Well, that only took twenty-one episodes.... Not counting all the other dates that weren't actually dates because they weren't explicitly thought of as dates that is, if that makes any sense.


Of course, in anime land there's only one place you can go on a first date and that's an amusement park, and so much of this episode is filled with the predictably clumsy attempts from Haruka and Yuuto to do what couples do, taking in the usual haunted houses and spinning tea cups before ending the day on the Ferris wheel, where the usual shenanigans of freak gusts of wind and car movements cause some romantic tension between the two. Equally predictably, our possible big kiss scene is spoiled by a phone call on Yuuto's phone at the vital moment - I should probably label that as a spoiler, but come on, you knew it was going to happen before the episode even started didn't you?

Thankfully, to keep things at least somewhat interesting there's actually a bit of an aside to this date, in that Haruka obtained the tickets for the amusement park from Kayahara, the idol manager we first met a few episodes back. While this seems like a simple bit of generosity on her art, of course Kayahara has hidden intentions, which begin to come to the fore as she ropes Haruka into an impromptu photo shoot. Just what is she planning, and what will this mean for Haruka and Yuuto's relationship, and indeed the rest of the series?

While the progress of this episode was about as easy to guess as they come (no tea leaves or crystal balls required), once again Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu manages to stand up pretty reasonably purely upon the dynamic between Yuuto and Haruka themselves - Ignoring the moments of fan service and outside interference, this pairing's clumsy fumblings towards love are somehow always quite fun and cute to watch, adding entertainment value where otherwise there would be none. Sure, this is hardly enough to push this series very far above mediocre territory, but it does make it quite enjoyable in its own particular and surprisingly gentle way.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza - Episode 8

To use the phrase "poor old Yuuto" in an episode where he's invited to spend some time within an all-girls school perhaps doesn't sound quite right, but to Hell with it... In Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza's eighth episode, poor old Yuuto finds himself the subject of intense scrutiny as he visits the all-girls school attended by Mika Nogizaka.

Once there, he soon finds out that he's quite the celebrity amongst Mika's classmates, who it appears have been told all about him by Mika himself, and before he knows it he's being poked, prodded and bombarded with questions about his life and experiences at a mixed-sex school.


With that ordeal out of the way, Mika takes Yuuto to pay a visit to the drama club which she runs (well, it has a fancier name than that, but drama club will do), ostensibly so that he can act as a guinea pig for a magical girl play both penned by and starring Mika herself. From there, we run through some pretty familiar anime romantic comedy territory, from Mika having to watch as Yuuto looks set to kiss another girl (calm down dear, he's only acting!) and hiding together in a closet in a compromising position.

After enjoying some rather sweet little episodes of late, this particular instalment seemed determined to shoehorn in some unnecessary fan service whenever possible once again, while I suppose my overall enjoyment of the story as a whole is tempered simply on account of Mika's attitude towards Yuuto - Sure, she likes him, but is it really prudent to come on so strong to someone who is practically your sister's boyfriend? I know, I know, this is just anime and it shouldn't (and doesn't) surprise me, it's just that the whole premise doesn't work as well for me as, say, Shiina's efforts with Yuuto last episode, which feels far more like a justifiable love rivalry between herself and Haruka. I suppose at the end of the day, the biggest problem here is simply that it's always the episodes which rely on the Haruka/Yuuto dynamic which work the best - While that fact doesn't make this a poor effort per se, it was all rather predictable even by this show's usual standards.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza - Episode 7

Aside from the odd brief appearance here and there, we haven't really seen much of Shiina throughout the course of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza so far... at least, not until this seventh episode, where she finally gets her chance to take centre stage.

The episode begins with Shiina musing over her New Year's fortune, which promised her some surprising romantic developments, and no sooner has her musing finished then who should walk past but Yuuto? From getting a chance to walk with him, Shiina ends up losing a precious hair clip in a local stream, and of course Yuuto proves to be the overly-helpful guy that he is by spending hours fishing through the icy cold waters until he finds it with her.


Yuuto's kindness continues after Shiina manages to injure her foot at home (while daydreaming about Yuuto, naturally), as he visits her along with a couple of her other friends to keep her company while she's cooped up at her house. This somehow ends up turning into probably the most erotic massages ever seen in anime, and Yuuto also ends up spending the evening at Shiina's place as he worries about her fending for herself alone at home - Bless him. When he falls asleep at her place, it seems like Shiina manages to steal a kiss from him as well, although we don't actually get to see whether she does the deed.

As episodes of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu go, this was pretty run of the mill really - It just worked its way through the required plot points without ever really breaking a sweat or sending viewers into rapture. Of course, perhaps the most impoprtant item on the agenda here (aside from reminding us what an overly nice guy Yuuto is, as if we needed such a reminder) is the re-establishing of a love rivalry between Haruka and Shiina, and I have to confess that I'm a bit torn on that front personally, liking both characters as I do. Still, Haruka got there first so Shiina's actions do seem a little selfish on reflection, but even such considerations don't really paper over a decidedly average episode of anime that is suitable neither for praise nor criticism particularly.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza - Episode 6

Following on from all of the Christmas-related shenanigans of the past couple of episodes, I suppose it was inevitable that New Year would be the next big landmark on the Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu calendar, and so it is that this sixth instalment focuses on a traditional shrine visit for Yuuto and Haruka, although the latter's mind is more on taking Yuuto to visit Ouse-Misaki, a beauty spot described by her parents at which a New Year's kiss is supposed to bring a couple a lifetime of happiness.


Of course, this being the series that it is, actually making it to Ouse-Misaki is more difficult than it might seem, with Haruka dragged away by a bunch of her friends/fans for much of the time, before the actual walk to this beauty spot seems to bring about one problem after another. Most notably, Yuuto (as is his habit) bumps into some strange girl at one point who you should recognise from the opening titles, and no doubt this chain of events will provide plenty of material for the second half of the series. Of course, we also get inevitable moments of Haruka tripping over or generally being clumsy, causing Yuuto to catch her, and on one occasion this clumsiness also gives us what seems to be the required weekly dose of fan service for this series.

When all is said and done, this particular episode of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu is about as traditional as they come - You can almost feel yourself checking off the "things a romantic comedy anime series has to depict" check boxes throughout, and if you're looking for an innovative take on the genre then you can be guaranteed not to find it here. That said, this episode does manage to carry itself off somewhat simply on account of the lovability of the two lead characters - You can't help but want them to get together and be happy, to the point where you wish the series would just stop teasing us and get on with it in all honesty. With that in mind, I suppose we can mark this one down as a "feel-good" episode if nothing else, which certainly makes it a cut above some of those ridiculously fan service-centric earlier instalments.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza - Episode 5

Who knew that maids and butlers had their own union? Well, they do in Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza at least, which leads to Yuuto (who worked as a butler for a while a couple of episodes back) getting himself an invite to said union's end of year party.


It just so happens that this year's big bash is being held by the Nogizaka family, which means that (with one exception) we get introduced to the Nogizaka family moe element team maid team in their entirety. While hosting the event sees most of the team kept occupied, Yuuto is left in the care of young Alice (she of the blonde hair, small stature and one-word vocabulary), appearing to warm to her before an old "acquaintance" enters the scene.

The person in question is one Shuuto Southerland, the loud-mouthed rich kid who last cropped up at the end of the last series of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu, and who has apparently been demoted to the role of butler as punishment by his father for his behaviour on that occasion. However, it appears that he's learned little from the experience, as he berates all those around him and upsets Alice, leaving Yuuto to do his best nice guy bit to win the day before the rest of the Nogizaka maid team (and Shuuto's father) intervene.

While this is perhaps not the sparkling material of top-class anime, this episode is at least a bit more of an example of what Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu is, and should be, about - For all its stocking up of moe elements amidst its cast (and I hate using "the m word" to shoot a series down normally), this instalment at least had some emotional crux to it while also reminding us of just how likeable its male lead is (although against some a complete ass, I guess anyone would look like a nice guy anyway, but I digress). More to the point, it didn't feel the need to rely on fan service and cheap panty shots for its kicks (well, okay, maybe once or twice, but I'll let it slide this time), and somehow it felt so much better for it, giving us an actual plot worth mention rather than just an excuse to squeeze in fan service elements wherever possible. This is the kind of series I've been tuning in for every episode thus far, only to be left largely disappointed, so can we please have more of the same henceforth please?

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza - Episode 4

As if the fact that we're seeing Christmas commercials and advertising everywhere already before October is even out isn't bad enough, now it seems that our anime is trying to get us into the Christmas spirit early too! Witness episode four of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza, which takes place on Christmas Eve.


Of course, this instalment follows on from what we saw last episode, where Yuuto esperately tried to save some money to buy Haruka a Christmas resent, but failed miserably on account of an intervention by his guardians. So, come the start of this episode, he's working yet more jobs (although thankfully not involving any tsundere this time) to earn the money he needs.

From here, it's time for a Christmas Eve arty involving Yuuto, Haruka and the rest of the usual suspects, except Yuuto's previous exertions finally take their toll, and he passes out from all the fan service hard work he's been subjected to of late, which means that Haruka is tasked to nursing him back to health.

Oh, did I just mention fan service? After almost behaving itself for the first half of this episode, the second hald of this instalment ramps up the fan service to near-rampant levels, with more breasts and panties than you can shake a stick at (I'm not sure how many breasts and panties you can shake a stick at by the way, before you ask) - This really rather detracts from what was otherwise a sweet ending to the episode, again proving to my mind that the huge increase in shots designed to titillate the viewer is actually damaging some of the key tenets of the series itself. Even this can't cover up the fact that this is also a bit of a rinse and repeat episode in more general terms, particularly when it comes to any attempts to wring comedy out of the episode, with Haruka's father and Yuuto's housemates used in an entirely predictable manner. The predictability I can stand somewhat as long as the series is sweet and fun, but all the tone-lowering fan service is becoming increasingly off-putting for me.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza - Episode 3

With Christmas approaching, it seems that Haruka has decided that she wants to get a part-time job so that she can save up and buy Yuuto a Christmas present out of her own hard-earned cash. Not a bad idea at all that, and in the spirit of blatantly stealing your almost-girlfriend's ideas, Yuuto decides to do exactly the same. So it goes that our hapless hero ends up working for a while as the live-in butler of Rie Kugimiya.


Okay, so he isn't literally the butler for Rie Kugimiya, but rather one Touka Tennouji, the daughter of a rich family. Needless to say given the voice actress in question, Touka is a tsundere extraordinaire, ordering Yuuto around to her heart's content before being shocked by his genuine human compassion, something that she's never experienced before in her short life of being waited on hand and foot by staff who are only in it for the money.

While all of this is good and well as far as an episodic plot goes for a show like this one, in reality Touka's only purpose in this episode (aside from filling the obligatory tsundere archtype) is to show her panties as often as humanly possible. In fact, it's actually probably unfair to even level the accusation of her "showing" them at the character, as most of the glimpses we get of them are because, if this were a live-action production, the cameras would have been operated by Munchkins with dwarfism. Serioualy guys, if you're going for some kind of fan service record, at least be a little imaginative with how you get those shots into your episode.

While Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu has always had a slight element of the risque and fan service about it, I don't think there can be any doubt that it's gone into overdrive with Purezza, and to be honest it almost entirely ruins a lot of what was enjoyable about the original series - The Haruka-Yuuto dynamic was always more sweet and entertaining than anything the other aspects of the series had to offer, and now that Haruka's importance has been overtaken largely by underwear there really isn't all that much left to entertain us. I hate to be some kind of fan service killjoy or panty prude, but there's only so much a guy can take before it becomes eye-rollingly predictable, and sadly this episode of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza has fallen into exactly that trap.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza - Episode 2

The opening episode of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza seemed to take everything that was good about the first series, throw it out of the nearest window and then replace it with breasts. With that disaster still fresh in my mind, I can't say I was exactly thrilled at the prospect of a second episode named "Please put it in"...


Certainly, the early minutes of this episode didn't do much to dispel my prejudices, with a shower scene with more steam than... well, anything, really - Yet another example of the terrible and OTT censorship employed by this series (and ironically it's aactually one of the less blatant examples this time around too). After that, we're given a long scene with Haruka's maids (and her father) misunderstanding what is going on in room with Yuuto, complete with an illustration (with censorship aplenty, naturally) that wouldn't have looked out of place in your average dating sim.

Thankfully after it's got all this out of its system, we actually return to the Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu we know and love for most of the remainder of the episode (a couple of cringeworthy moments with Shiina aside), as Yuuto is invited to look after a table for a manga circle at a local comic festival, and Haruka gets to join in, complete with her own doujinshi on-hand to sell at the event. Needless to say, her artistic skills are "compromised" (to put it somewhat kindly), leaving her struggling to sell any copies of her work before Yuuto steps in as the knight in shining arm to both sell some product and teach Haruka the true importance of what she's achieved. Ahhhhhh....

This kind of gentle, light and fluffy nature is far closer to what I expect from this particular series, and ignoring the fact that this episode seemed to enjoy taking ideas on-board from Genshiken it was at least a somewhat sweet episode in its own right that had far more going for it than that sub-par opener. Still not classic anime of course, but a more watchable effort in general terms.

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu - Purezza - Episode 1

Wow, this must be some kind of record... A hot springs episode as the first instalment of a new series? While the first season of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu was a pretty fun and cute little show all thigns considered, I guess they're trying to reward the series loyal viewers this time around by cramming in as much fan service as humanly possible.

Then again, as far as the broadcast release of this episode goes, the only real fan service you get is if you have some kind of fetish about steam, thanks to one of the more clumsy and over-bearing uses of censorship I think I've seen in anime. Even if you don't care for the fan service then having steam cover the entire screen for large portions of the episode pretty much ruins the viewing experience, making for some frustrating moments throughout this episode.


That aside, after Haruka and Yuuto find themselves invited to that aforementioned hot spring by Shiina and a handful of her friends, needless to say Haruka's sister and team of maids end up coming along uninvited to liven things up, including a new maid with a penchant for acting like some kind of attack chiwawa. Between one thing and another, all of the usual old hot springs cliches are rolled out, from the "don't touch me there" shenanigans through to that time-honoured tradition of switching the male and female baths around at night just to confuse people. Does that ever actually happen anywhere in Japan by the way?

To be honest, I'm actually rather disappointed by the lowest common denominator path this opening episode of Purezza took - While the initial series was hardly clean-cut, it still kept the fan service to a minimum to instead focus on the characters and their relationships while still throwing some genuinely entertaining (at times anyway) comedy into the mix. In this episode a lot of that rather sweet relationship-building and the like is gone, replaced with fan service galore. Now, I'm no prude, but to be honest the way the entire thing was handled was pretty dull really, and I can only hope for more from future episodes... Assuming the entire animation budget hasn't been blown on producing steam, that is.