Haruchika – 04

This is an odd one.  I’m not going to refute any of the criticisms one might have of Haruchika – it’s lightweight, the mysteries are nothing monumental, Chika is a bit too precious for her own good.  They’re true – I don’t deny them.

But you know, somehow, in spite of all that I like it.  This may simply be a quality Hashimoto Masakazu brings, because I liked Tari Tari more than I could really justify too.  There’s a sort of puppy-dog lack of pretense and nothing at all slick in his work – it’s eager to be liked, but doesn’t put on any airs.  And the kids the shows are about are likeable too.

I really think if Hyouka didn’t exist for Haruchika to be compared to (forget Hibike!, which it’s really nothing like at all) people would judge this show a lot less harshly.  Of course it’s not as good as Hyouka – that series was a masterpiece of its genre.  But this one is quite fun and entertaining to me.  I even rather liked the mystery with the three-story piggy bank, and the interacton between Haruta and Chika continues to be fun to watch.  I also liked how Haruta’s big sister didn’t turn out to be the ogre she initially seemed she would (mostly, anyway).  I don’t have a tremendous amount to say about Haruchika in a blogging capacity, but I do plan to keep watching it and I think it deserves better than the treatment it’s gotten.

KonoSuba – 03

Light as a feather this show is, and there’s probably not enough in here for me to blog it.  But it’s fun too, and it does make me laugh often enough to be a keeper.  I’m not sure Kayano Ai could ever fail to improve a series, and she certainly does here as Darkness, the “M” crusader.  Darkness is the funniest character in the cast for me so far, especially in the reactions she provokes from Kazuma.

Generally speaking this was a pretty funny episode, in fact, mostly because it was quite amusing to see Kazuma’s dismayed take on how ridiculously lame his new adventurer’s life is.  Disastrous fellow adventures, armies of cabbages, stolen panties – a stiff breeze would blow this stuff away, but it works because KonoSuba takes itself no more seriously than it ought to (which is not very).

Ao no Kanata – 03

Ao no Kanata is another lightweight, likeable fluff piece with its heart in the right place.  It doesn’t have the intrigue or subtlety of KoiChoco, but there is a certain dexterity in the execution that makes what might otherwise be borderline-unbearable moe pandering kind of cute.

I sort of like FC, too – I mean, as fake games loosely based on Quidditch go it’s not at all bad.  But of the three shows in this post I think it offers the least in terms of grist for potential blogging.  I very much doubt I’ll be covering future episodes, but I’ll watch for at least a while so you never know.  As always, I reserve the right to change my mind.