Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb - Episode 3

With the summer break about to end as Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb and its ever-jumbled timeline reaches its third episode, Yuno and Miyako have big (albeit ill-defined) plans for the final day of their holiday.

Unfortunately, little do either of them realise that there's a typhoon on the way, and cvome the next morning any thoughts of going anywhere or doing anything are blown away on the high winds.  What's more, there isn't even any food in their apartments, leading to them (and the other residents) to make a beeline for the one person who is always going to be well-stocked no matter the weather - Hiro.  Cue a half episode of hanging around in Hiro's apartment, eating, playing cards and generally having a lazy day of fun indoors.

With their holiday now over, it's back to school for the first day of the new term - a day dominated largely by a fire drill and test evacuation of the school.  If nothing else, this gives us an opportunity to see some of Hidamari Apartments resident's special skills in action, whether it's Sae and Hiro's ability to communicate no matter what, Nori's smart attempt to save Nazuna from an embarrassing predicament, or Miyako's innovative solution to the problem of not having a hankerchief.  Oh, and Yumo gets to "enjoy" experiencing an earthquake at first hand.

From its slow start and a better second episode, this week's instalment of Hidamari Sketch feels like the series has gotten up to full speed now, with a great vein of humour running throughout it with great jokes and amusing moments aplenty.  Sure, I'm a big fan of the series so I'm terribly biased from the outset, but this still felt like some of the better material this show has to offer when it's firing on all cylinders, and as a result I enjoyed it immensely.