It’s funny how I’ve sort of ambled along with Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou for a full cour now, without every really committing.  It’s another one of those series that’s easy to take for granted and not necessarily easy to write about, which makes it a sometimes problematic blogging candidate.  But I do like it quite a lot, and it has a habit of surprising me pretty often in a good way.  We’ll see how this season plays out schedule-wise, but at this stage I imagine I’ll probably stay with Youkai Apato to the finish.

There are indications that a number of new developments could be on the way in the second cour – new faces in the OP mainly (and at the end of this episode).  And I find this shot especially interesting – we all know what happened with Ryuu-san and that third eye thing last week, but there seems to be an implication that there’s a deeper connection between Ryuu and Yuushu-kun than we’ve been led to believe so far.  Indeed, the general tone of the new OP suggests that Ryuu is going to be a more central player in the second cour.

Most of this episode, however, is taken up with the return of Hase-kun to Kotobuki-so – where he notes that intends to spend his entire summer vacation.  Naturally he dotes on Kuri incessantly – he’s brought a Noah’s Ark of plushies from down under for him, along with pretty extravagant gifts for the rest of the residents (except Yuushi).  Hase, it should be noted, also pays Yuushi’s rent and for an entire month of food – not to mention buying a “unicorn horn” from Kottou-ya for the sizable sum of 60,000 Yen.  He’s full of mysteries, this one – is it simply a matter of his family being loaded, or is there something more to it than that?

We also see that Akine-san has taken the garden hose training about as far as it can go with Yuushi, and she decides what she really needs is a real waterfall – which she promptly asks the landlord to “install” in the basement.  The logistics of just how that happens and the matter of just what the landlord is aside, Misogi and/or Takigyo is actually a fundamental rite of Shinto and ascetic Buddhism (Shugendo), and something I always kind of wanted to try (public lessons are offered) but never had the nerve to.  I’ve ben to a few onsen with waterfalls, too, though never one on the scale of this one…