First of all, something good is clearly happening over at A-1 Pictures. Between Makeine and Nigewaka (at sub-studio Cloverworks) they have the two best-looking shows of the season. Like, by a mile – not even close. Over the years their track record has been more middling with a side of inconsistent, but these two shows are strictly penthouse apartments.  I’m not sure where in the world the budget for this series came from – are the novels massively popular and I just didn’t know it?

I do like this series generally so far, but frankly it’s the visuals (the music is nice too) that are making the headlines for me. Director Kitamura Shoutarou was not a name I knew well but he’s absolutely on my radar now. The series is just beautiful – the animation is silky smooth, the backgrounds detailed and gorgeous, and Kitamura’s direction is clever and artistically eloquent in a way that never feels too busy. The visuals wouldn’t look out of place in a theatrical film, and there’s not a trace of exaggeration in that statement. In fact they’re better than most anime movies I’ve seen in the last couple of years.

As for as the content, I still find it to be very solid. I didn’t think this episode was as good as the premiere in that respect but then, it didn’t have the element of surprise behind it here. This ep was also a good deal weirder and ecchier than the first, which if anything adds an element of uncertainty that’s kind of intriguing. After showing us a teacher bugging the nurse’s office in the hopes of hearing her underage patients banging, one assumes there aren’t going to be a lot of sacred cows here.

The storage shed scene certainly flirted with cliche. But it was an open flirtation, to the point of parody. Remon’s (Wakayama Shion) behavior once the heatstroke kicked in was certainly uninhibited. That whole sequence was pretty brash – the spray, the squealing, the tanlines – but it does indeed seem as if the boundaries here are pushed pretty far. And when Asagumo-sensei walks in on quite the scene, all she has to say is “let me know when you’re finished”. At least it didn’t go to the proverbial slapping moment, and Nukumizu-kun didn’t get in trouble for not doing anything wrong.

Then the nurse’s (Konuki-sensei) office. She’s even worse, talking about getting laid in that very room while she was a student. And then the whole recording thing, which is very edgy indeed. And I assume she was the one who wrote “Nukumizu Yakashio” on the notepad, though where the story goes with that I’m not sure since very clearly neither Remon nor Nuku-kun have any inclinations in that direction. Fortunately for Nukumizu Remon remembers none of what happened, and the only thing that eventually comes back to her is his promise to go with her to the literature club so she can borrow books for Mitsuki.

There were some good gags around the lit club, like Yanami-san getting the name wrong. And that locale is the home base of the third losing heroine, Komari Chika (Terasawa Momoka). Unlike the other two however she’s a homewrecker. She’s into the club president Tamaki Shintarou (Kobayashi Yuusuke), but he’s at least one year ahead of her and maybe two, and has his own osananajimi who he seems very close to. As for Mitsuki-kun (Kobayashi Chiaki) he does stop by the club, and Tsukinoki-san does remark that they seem like a couple, but he denies that in no uncertain terms. Then drops the bomb that he has a girlfriend (Chihaya, his cram school buddy). That leads to Yanamai inviting Remon to a consolation meal at Gusto (clearly a paid advertiser), where poor Nuku once more get stuck with the check.

All in all I thought this worked pretty well. Not as natural and effortless as the premiere was, but nonetheless pretty funny and refreshingly odd. The chemistry among the major characters is good, and I like all of them individually too (though these freak teachers are still a question mark for me). But let’s be honest – if they can keep the production values at this level (and that has to be a big if), it’s not as if the rest of it has to be great for Make Heroine ga Oosugiru! to make the grade – just “fine” would be plenty.