Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu

Haruka Nogizaka is the most popular student in the prestigious Hakujo Academy, possessing unparalleled beauty, talent, and influence. Unbeknownst to her fellow students, however, she keeps an embarrassing secret of being an otaku—something that can potentially destroy her elegant reputation.

Unfortunately for Haruka, an encounter with the timid Yuuto Ayase in the school library spells the end of her well-kept secret. However, the two reach a mutual agreement with Yuuto promising to keep Haruka's secret, sparking an unexpected friendship between them. Nonetheless, with Haruka's status as the school celebrity and her friendly relationship with Yuuto, both of them are bound to be the subject of gossip everywhere they go!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Nogizaka, Haruka Main

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Ayase, Yuuto Main

Hatano, Wataru Japanese

Nogizaka, Mika Supporting

Gotou, Mai Japanese

Amamiya, Shiina Supporting

Satou, Rina Japanese

Nogizaka, Gentou Supporting

Tachiki, Fumihiko Japanese

Sakurazaka, Hazuki Supporting

Shimizu, Kaori Japanese

Asakura, Nobunaga Supporting

Takagi, Reiko Japanese

Nogizaka, Akiho Supporting

Hisakawa, Aya Japanese

Nanashiro, Nanami Supporting

Ueda, Kana Japanese

Ayase, Ruko Supporting

Nabatame, Hitomi Japanese

Satomi, Tetsurou Producer

Nawa, Munenori Director

Iwanami, Yoshikazu Sound Director

Okamura, Masahiro Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Oct 11, 2008

Skadi

Recommended

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu is the most fun and just plain entertaining series I have watched this year. I don’t like to throw out 10s to shows that often and maybe I am rating this show a little high in comparison others. But this is one of the few shows that had me from episode 1 and never let me down through the end. While the overall concept of this anime is not anything new and groundbreaking (though really what is anymore?), Nogizaka does everything exceptionally well.

At its heart, Nogizaka is a romantic comedy with some mild echiiness and a few harem elements. ... The story starts out with our protagonist Yuuto accidentally discovering the schools most idolized girl Haruka Nogizaka is a closet otaku when he bumps into her in the library with a manga called Innocent Smile. After a bit of an overreaction on Haruka's part, Yuuta promises to keep her secret from everyone else. Personally I thought this was an excellent concept for a story but in one of the few things that this series fails at a bit because it doesn’t quite deliver. By episode 3 she’s already exposed her secret at school herself, but there doesn’t seem to be any consequences or reaction to this revelation. The romance elements then take over as the story becomes more about Yuuto and Haruka developing their feelings for each other than her secret obsession.

The series also features a number of anime and manga references, mostly to Shakugan no Shana. If you have seen that series and especially if you’re a fan like I am you will get some extra enjoyment out of Haruka cosplaying Shana. One of my favorite moments was Haruka saying Shana's trademark "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" and replying that she had always wanted to say it (Haruka's voice actress played Hecate in the series). Plenty of other references provided a lot of laughs such as a yaoi doujinshi featuring Inukami! characters Keita and Karina. I also found the cameo by manga loving Japanese prime minister Taro Aso humorous.

As leads, Haruka and Yuuto are very enjoyable and fun to watch. Yuuto reminds me of other anime males I like such as Tomoya and Yuichi from Clannad and Kanon. He feels like a real guy to me, he isn’t perfect but he stands up for his friends and acts like a man. One of the few anime males I would actually want to date myself. Haruka is a bit more stereotypical of anime girls, she is very beautiful and seemingly unattainable on the surface. She’s shy, clumsy, clueless, and very moe. Despite this, I don’t think anyone will not find something to relate with her and she is just so funny and cute that you can’t help but love her. Several of the supporting characters manage to be entertaining as well, in particular Haruka's younger sister Mika. Though she is the most stereotypical of the group as the perverted wise above her years younger sister. The Nogizaka house maids also provide a number of laughs as do the mother and father. Yuuto's sister and her teacher friend are pretty boring though as they are the fairly boring half naked drunkards. Shiina is a classmate who could be considered a rival for Yuuto but she never develops as a serious contender (rightly so I must say). The characters are also kept to a minimum as well so we get to know most of the supporting characters pretty well.

The show really shines in the art and music. The characters are beautifully rendered and the series as wonderfully vibrant colors and detailed backgrounds. The voice acting is stellar and features a great overall cast. I can’t say enough good things about the music. It captured the charm and the tone of the series perfectly. The OP/EN songs as a pair are probably my favorite anime songs to date.

Overall there is little for me to complain about, because I found this show to be exceptional. The length was a bummer because I didn’t want it to end! While not everyone will find this show to be as great as I did, I recommend it to all fans of romantic comedies and Shana lovers.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Dec 26, 2008

Peterp

Mixed Feelings

You know, for all the internet rage I've heard that this show is "Too much Otaku wish fulfillment", it failed to fulfill my wish of being entertained. ZONG! And now, ladies and germs, the actual review:

Actually, I wouldn't argue that the problem with this show is that it's a substance-less, extra generous heaping of Otaku wish fulfillment as some claim, because let's face it, KissxSis and Chocotto Sister REALLY have no critical quality to them, and instead only show me just what I want to see, and yet I'm still entertained by them. No, instead, I find that there are three major problems that ... cause Himitsu to fall short of it's potential.

The first is that for an Otaku-centric comedy, Himitsu feels as though it were written by a non-Otaku. While many of the stereotypes and experiences that we have all become accustomed to through real life and other shows are present, they lack the personality that shows such as Genshiken capitalize on. For example, in Hayate no Gotoku, there's an extremely short scene (Not but a single panel in the Manga) in which Nagi exits the room in order to watch an anime DVD boxset she purchased on a whim. Every fan can relate to the scenario of buying (Or downloading) anime which we have never heard of, simply for the sake of owning it, or because the cover art looked cool. You can also take Genshiken, and the strained relations between the Otaku characters and the "Normal" characters. Undoubtably each viewer has had an experience of their own with someone who was less than accepting of their hobby. Through these shared experiences, the watcher relates the characters, and connects to them. However all of Haruka's adventures feel as though they went through a game of Bohemian Telephone before they were scripted into the show. Oh sure, all the major hallmarks of an Otaku life are there (Comiket, cosplaying, Akihabara, figurine obsession), but the personality and small details have been lost in the process. This lack of a personal touch makes the series seem like a second hand story, as though the author had heard about such experiences from a friend.

The next aspect holding the show back was that the secondary characters are better developed than the main characters. Yuuto, for example, is a total blank slate. While I understand that often lead male characters in such series are made bland so that the watcher can impose their own personalities on the the character, Yuuto has absolutely no personality at all. The only noticeable aspect of his personality is that he seems to mildly care about Haruka. Haruka herself, claims to be an Otaku, but shows a forced interest in everything Otaku related. Her character is just an amalgamation of various "Moe" characteristics, without any new flavoring. At the same time, the trio of Haruka's little sister Mika, and the family maids provided more entertainment and laughs than the rest of the characters combined. They were fresh and original, and quite entertaining to watch. However, this trio was given far less airtime than they deserved, and instead the focus of the series lied with the blander characters. Obviously it would have been absurd if these bit characters became the focus of the series, however I just wish that the same amount of love and dedication went into formulating the other characters.

At the same time that this show tries to be an Otaku-centric comedy, it also plays up romantic elements, which I have no problem with. My troubles however, lie with the fact that neither party seems to make any real effort at making the other like them. This may be due in part to the fact that for half of the show Haruka shows a mild, dispassionate interest in Yuuto, while the other half of the time she seems totally unaware that there are two genders.

In closing, while this series did provide me with a little fun, at best it was disposable entertainment, not to be remembered after it's 8 month relevancy.

One more thing: For an Otaku-centric comedy, I only picked up on like three references (The blatant Shana one from the Hazuki episode, the Doujin that they buy at Comiket was drawn by the person who illustrated the original Light Novels, and the person who voice Gento voiced Gendou from Evangelion, if that even is a reference.). WTF is up with that? I mean in Pani Poni Dash, there was a heaping of thirty references per episode.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 8, 2011

chinlamp

Not Recommended

Story - 4
The initial premise for this series is interesting and is what drew me to watch this in the first place. It starts out strong but by episode 6 or 7 the main reason for the story has been mostly wrapped up and the following episodes become an everyday romance story, except that even that is badly written.

Art - 5
The art is generic and bland, with very little to distinguish characters in this anime from characters in others. It doesn't have any particular flair to it and doesn't grab your attention, but on the other hand, it is also not bad to ... look at. It's just... average.

Sound - 4
The OP and ED songs aren’t memorable or catchy at all, and have very little staying power. They’re just... there, and that’s it.

Character - 2
The characters in this series are horrible. In the first couple of episodes things seem as though they will be interesting, but as early as episode 4 things start getting hard to watch. The main characters are extremely bland and their romance is more of the 'oh look, they're in love because the animators say so' rather than there being any real reason for them to be together other than the initial premise, and there is no chemistry between them. This makes this series extremely hard to watch. I found myself in the middle of episode 6, and having such a hard time watching the two mains that I closed the video and didn't watch it for a few days. I found myself having to do the same thing for every episode after, because all of them had scenes that I found excruciatingly painful to watch. There aren't really any redeeming characters in the series; they're all bland and hard to watch most of the time, making it extremely hard to sit through an episode, let alone this series.

Enjoyment - 2
As I stated in the above section, I had to spend days away from this anime to get the bad taste of certain scenes out of my mouth. There were a few (make that very few) redeeming moments, but they were instantly washed away by the lack of good story, bland art and annoying characters, and there were nowhere near enough of them to make the series enjoyable.

Overall - 3
It's a bad anime, I didn't like it, and I honestly can't see why people would think it's good. The romance is forced, as is the dialogue and situations, and it's got next to nothing in it that could redeem itself. I don't know how I got through the entire anime, I hope I don't ever have to watch it again and I certainly won’t be watching the sequel.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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