Hyakko - Episode 8

We've already seen her around in previous instalments before, but episode eight finally gives us a proper introduction to Inori Tsubomiya - Thus far we've only really seen her used as part of the occasional blatantly obvious Ring parody (and indeed this gets referenced aplenty here too), and you can see why just from taking a look at her.


However, behind that long hair is an extremely shy girl who has never managed to make any friends, and even her desperate attempts to strike up friendships usually end up getting taken the wrong way thanks solely to those scary looks - Indeed, on that count you could put her in the same league as Toradora's Ryuuji I suppose. Anyway, in this episode the ever-popular Torako catches her eye, and so Inori decides that whatever happens she'll make Torako her friend, and despite some further misunderstandings this does indeed happen.

From here, Torako and company decide that Ino's look needs to be smartened up to make her a friendly face around the school, and a hairdressing session on her soon turns into a free-for-all once Torako gets her hands on some hair wax - Cue hilarity as everyone ends up with various new hairstyles, with Ushio and the teacher in particularly getting some genuine laugh out loud affairs.

While this series still isn't up there with the slice of life "big boys", it is continuing to grow on me - I'm now pretty "bedded in" with the main characters which undoubtedly makes life easier, and the episodes themselves do at least appear to be headed in the right direction with regard to their humour, with the last couple of episodes managing to string together some funny moments, which does a great deal to make the series more enjoyable. So, it's still no classic, but Hyakko is carefully beginning to carve out the tiniest of niches in my heart as a series that does what it sets out to passably, albeit in an unspectacular (and occasionally cliched) fashion.