Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu 11 ~Sorry To Keep You Waiting~ & 12 ~It’s A Secret~ (END)

In the end, Mika acquired *pedo* some *pedo* fan *pedo* boys *pedo* in Akiba.

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Episode 11

Looking at things through rose-colored glasses

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It’s Haruka’s birthday. Yuuto was called up by Mika to attend her birthday party. Of course, it being her birthday, Yuuto went around Akibahara to look for a present for her, which he figured to be a figma of Dojikko Aki-chan. He was helped out by Nobunaga, who is very knowledgeable about them (of course). When he thanked him, Nobunaga voiced out that it was great that he was now interested in the otaku culture then reminded him of the time when they were children when he swore never to come to Akiba again. At the time, Nobunaga told him that he gave away the original issue of Innocent Smile, which he could never find again.

When he got back home, he (along with Ruuko and Yukari) was picked up by the maids and brought to the venture of the party, which was in a small island that was brought especially for her. He started becoming intimidated when he saw all the birthday presents that were being brought out of the plane’s cargo haul, while all he had was a small token he picked up from Akiba.

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Anyway, he ended up meeting an old man who he tried to help (unsuccessfully) find something in the beach. The girls called for him and they had a great time in the beach. When Haruka almost drowned in the trench in the beach, the girls concocted a plot to have Yuuto to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. But of course, Haruka wasn’t in any trouble and she was able to open her eyes when he was already thatclose to Haruka. In one of the yachts, some blond dude and his friends looked at them.

Later that night, when Haruka’s birthday celebration was about to start, the blond guy came up to Yuuto and asked Yuuto how he was related to Haruka and what his present was. Then he bragged about the things that

He got for Haruka, which composed of a diamond-studded dress, a complete jewelry set with a tiara, fully intimidating Yuuto because of his cheap gift.

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Plot device that wasn’t even necessary in the first place.

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Thoughts:

As much as it was understandable that Yuuto became intimidated with Haruka’s wealth, I got really annoyed with him here. If Haruka ever given any inclination to being a spoiled little girl who was only interested in extravagant stuff, his insecurity would have been understandable. But she never gave any indications of that and it was quite odd that he’d get insecure about such things when he knows her to be a sweet, down-to-earth person who had no propensity to be materialistic.

Also, there are a lot of bloggers who would blast Yuuto for nosebleeding at the sight of women in their bathing suits, but I was like… I would rather see him like that to prove that he’s normal. I mean, there are tons of guys who would be like that. There’s nothing wrong with looking and Yuuto, a gentleman as he is, can’t help react like that when fanservice is being waved at his face. I abide by the look but don’t touch rule.

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Episode 12

Certainly the ugh-liest cake I’ve seen. It’s like they couldn’t quite figure out what kind of cake they were serving so they just piled one of top after the other. And what the hell??? Purple ladyfingers on the genoise layer???

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At the party, Yuuto didn’t really want to go inside because he’s still feeling really insecure. He had to be dragged by Mika inside. While he was waiting his turn to give her his present, he bumped into the blond dude who was named Shute. He told Yuuto that the reason why he was telling him to just stay away was because he was being kind. Then they started throwing his present around and when they saw that it was a figma, he and his friends wondered why he was giving he such a cheap gift when everyone else was giving her cars, jewelry and gowns.

Yuuto got the message and tried to leave the hall when the old man that he met in the beach earlier told said that he thought that he was someone different but maybe he was wrong. Yuuto started to realize that from the first time, he and Haruka were mismatched because of their station in life. But he also knew Haruka’s biggest secret and it was just something only the two of them had. Anyway, his number was called, and Shute cut the line since he was next and the guy in front of him was obviously not coming. He was to the point of introducing himself when yuuto came up to him and handed Haruka his present, which made Haruka the happiest.

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;A; Yuuto, you bastard! You have just decreased the re-sale value of this figma…

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Everyone in the party realized it, especially when Gentou (Haruka’s father) offered him his hand. Shute told his father that Yuuto was insulting him and his father was on the verge of attacking Yuuto. But the old man told them that the only thing that was happening was that Yuuto was just giving Haruka the present. Shute tried to bully the old man but he ended up being hit by his own father. It is revealed that the old man was actually the retired head of the Nogizaka family and Haruka’s grandfather.

Anyways, she and Yuuto ended up in her room after the party and they talked about her treasures, which were all Aki-chan stuff, starting from the Innocent Smile book. Yuuto remembered the time when he gave it away when he saw a crying girl in the park and realized that it was him. hanyway, they ended up making out on the bed, but all the possible cockblockers in the series came out and they ended up running off the beach when Gentou tried to chase him off with a sword. Yuuto asked Haruka to go with him to Akiba next time.

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The freaking closest they get to a kiss in the scene… they didn’t censor out panty shots and the loli in her underwear but they sent a frickin’ rainbow snake to censor out a kiss… Gimme a frickin’ break.

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Thoughts:

The episode was blatantly predictable and obvious in this episode. But it’s really no big surprise since it’s been like that since episode one. It has it’s own cute charm, but in a way, I was quite disappointed in it. I would have preferred Haruka knowing about Yuuto’s whole insecurity thing and gave him hell for it. Seriously.

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Overall Impression:

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I really enjoyed this show.

I know there are a lot of people who were disappointed that this show didn’t feature more of the otaku lifestyle and all that. Of course, I am a little disappointed with that aspect, but that wasn’t the primary reason why I picked up this show. It was more on the pairing and the potential love story angle.

This is probably on of the most predictable shows for the summer season. But predictability good once in a while. But the best thing about this show is that for all its predictability, it never pretended that it was anything more than that. I also especially enjoyed Yuuto’s character. He’s one of the few characters, which can be categorized into the stable male lead. His presence alone made this anime less of fodder. But of course, predictability brings about the usual problems like being boring.and dragging. And this show has its share of it.

This show is far from being the best show of the season. But it’s a very enjoyable show that fed my need for shoujo love that isn’t out-of-this-world (Itazura na Kiss) or stupid (Special A).