天下制覇

All’s fair.

Impressions:

Shinbo lost control of the animators again. It wasn’t as well managed as episode 1 was, but there were a ton of funky camera angles, zoom ins and zoom outs, and a lot more directorial and artistic tricks that are a lot more in line with stuff like Zetsubou Sensei or Pani Poni Dash than Hidamari. It was enjoyable, but definitely a departure from how the majority of this show has gone. It did mean that the backgrounds were a lot less detailed than usual for most of the show and a lot of the character animation was a little stuttered and rough around the edges, but… you know… just pointing out that the budget for the antics obviously taking it away from others.

It was a little strange to me too, because this is one of the Hidamari mini-stories that really could stand on its own without too many problems. They actually throw a wrench into the normally placid characters and mix things up a bit with some (gasp!) drama. Hiro and Sae have a spat and Yuno and Miyako are completely shell shocked by it. Sae even snubs Hiro to sit with Natsume while Hiro just angrily gorges herself. She has all the rage and menace of a fluffy teddy bear. The dynamic duo get them back together, there’s some great make-up sex, and then they all go decorate the tanabata tree that the landlady put up in the yard. I did find it funny that the Widescreen cut was really obvious for the first time (at least to me) with Yuno’s name cut half out of the picture. Oh well, I guess after all the craziness of the first half, Shaft got a little lazy. I did find Yuno acting out a fight between herself and Miyako at the very end to be rather funny as well.

And yes, I’m pretty sure this is an ef reference.

Preview: 

<Totali> (>-.-)> wassha!!!
<Totali> <(-.-<) wassha!!!