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.