Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu likes to take stock anime tropes and make them interesting and different. For example, Yuuto lives with his big sister and a sexy teacher, which is not atypical for an anime. However, unlike most shows where the guy is pampered, here the guy is the one who cooks, cleans, and takes care of the lazy slob girls. Also, the sexy teacher makes advances (typical anime), but they are pathetic and and he’s not the slightest bit interested (unusual for an anime).

In this episode, the shows takes the stock “shadow someone who’s acting wierd to see what they’re up to” plot and makes it fresh and fun. It was amusing to watch the group’s antics, from Haruka getting distracted by the mirror to Mika and Nanami forgetting completely about the task at hand and going shopping. Haruka’s innocence (“what’s a threesome?”) was entertaining. The self-referential humor (“urusai, urusai, urusai! I always wanted to say that” and the whole “It’s Ueda Kana!” bit) had me laughing out loud. How often does a show have a voice actress play a character that needs to imitate the voice actress’ real voice, for logical, in-plot reasons?

Of course, the whole thing was a misunderstanding, but in the process we learned more about Hazuki’s relationship to the Nogizaka family, have Yuuto (literally) run into Shiina again, and of course watch Haruka and Yuuto’s relationship progress. Somehow, though, I don’t think this is how Yuuto wanted Haruka to meet his sister.