It’s all about Hinagiku as she makes her entry into the new season.
What They Say:
The students fear Hina, so when she decides to put a smile on her face. The students see a walking time bomb.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the show finding its own way compared to past seasons a bit, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed in the show that they didn’t play up the American angle from the first episode. Bringing the group over to the US for a few episodes could have been fun. But they pivoted to a different direction and spent the previous episode working on giving us a potential younger sister for Nagi that lead to some good comedy and laughs but didn’t quite hit any sweet spots. For this episode, it’s back to more familiar territory with a look at Hinagiku, a real favorite among many fans.
Hinagiku’s a fun character because of the way she carries herself, which causes many people to be wary of her even as they like her. To help change this perception, she makes a change to put a big smile on her face a lot more regularly. That serves to really put everyone off balance as “Little Miss Angry” is anything but now. It’s amusing to see how they’re all so nervous around her when she’s like this even when they screw up, but it doesn’t sit well with others at all. So they try and force a situation that will cause the smile to vanish from her face by using Hayate as their bludgeon. Getting him to ask her out on a date should cause it all to explode, but instead she ends up taking advantage of it since she figures it must be because she’s been acting so nice to everyone lately.
The date starts off fairly well when you consider what’s going on, but it starts to turn badly when Ruri shows up and then they all end up going to the movies as Hayate initially asked her. To make matters worse there, it’s filled with little kids in their uniforms and yellow hats that just start mocking them mercilessly. It goes even worse from there, which is hard to believe, but we get to see Hayate try and save it a bit more as the two spend more time together out and about after they get away from the kids. It’s pretty nice to see Hayate getting out on his own a bit and for Hinagiku to show this side, but it does also feel just a little bit off as well since it’s not how Hinagiku usually is. And I need more Nagi.
In Summary:
While the original series wasn’t one that won me over handily, I liked a good amount of it and enjoyed the humor and silliness. This episode feels more like a traditional slice of life comedy show in this particular episode than the other two. It feels a little odd, though I definitely liked parts of it. I can see easily why the long time Hayate fans are having a harder time with this series and this episode is likely to be conflicting as well. It’s good to have Hinagiku brought in to play for a bit, but the whole date aspect does feel a little weird. I had fun with it for what it is, but it’s not something that really comes together really well. I can only imagine what new viewers would think of the series at this point.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
