Hidamari Sketch xHoneycomb 09 includes the six Hidamari residents, the Landlady, and Chika. The episode follows the Hidamaris and the Landlady playing a modified version of a generic replica of “The Game of Life.”
Scene 01: 00:08 - 00:44
C: Yu
Yuno dreams of days gone by. She begins alone in a field of snow, after which it is shown she is watching Miyako writing “LOVE & PEACE” in said snow (see Hidamari Sketch 01). Yuno compliments Miyako for getting it correct this time, referring to how in real life Miyako misspelled the phrase as “LOVE & PIECE.” Miyako therefore has more skill in Yuno’s mind than she actually does, meaning Yuno’s mental image of Miyako is an entirely positive one, conveying a strong admiration for her that significantly raises her readings. She later asks Miyako if she has picked all the tomatoes (see xHoshimittsu 12), a fond remembrance of time with her that reinforces her previous readings so that Yuno earns 3.
Scene 02: 00:44 - 02:06
C: Yu, Mi, La
The Landlady gifts a board game to Yuno. While the Landlady conveys a particular kindness to Yuno in this scene, joining Miyako in calling her nickname “Yunocchi” (ゆのっち) to her and giving her the game as opposed to any of the other tenants, she also shows fondness for Miyako by gently petting her head while complimenting her and a desire to be with the other Hidamaris by joining on a plan for them to play the game together. She easily earns a 4, with Miyako’s happiness at being pet giving her a 3; Yuno’s somewhat formal attitude to the Landlady and worry at seeing her wanting to play keep her at 0.
Scene 03: 03:42 - 04:57
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi, No, Na, La
The Hidamaris open their new game. Nazuna thanks the Landlady for the game, receiving slight readings for gratitude. Sae asks why the Landlady is there, and the Landlady replies that she wanted to see everybody’s smiles, which as an explanation for having given them the board game is rather plausible and consequently earns the Landlady significant readings. Yuno and Nazuna ask Hiro if she and Sae can join the game to which Hiro agrees, showing both a desire to spend time with the others and her readiness to act as an agent for Sae and earning a significant increase that Yuno and Nazuna receive moderate side readings from for excitedly agreeing to her request. The Landlady then leaves to nap in Sae’s room (possibly out of comfort from having slept there previously in xSP 02), conveying a comfort with having intimacy with Sae. Sae, however, irritatedly asks why the Landlady chose her room, negatively impacting her readings. Overall, the Landlady ends at 4, Hiro with 3, Yuno and Nazuna with 2, and everyone else at 0.
Scene 04: 05:01 - 08:23
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi, No, Na
The Hidamaris customize the board game. Yuno gets initial readings from letting the others use her art supplies, though as a minor kindness it is not a particularly strong help. The entire group is impressed by Miyako’s high-quality miniature model of Hidamari Apartments, giving the others slight readings and Miyako moderate readings for having her care and attention to perfectly recreating the building implicitly show her affection for the building and its tenants. When deciding professions to include in the game, Sae and Hiro write art teacher and bestselling author for each other, expressing a high opinion of the other’s future prospects and earning moderate increases. During a montage of art things happening, Miyako is at one point seen to be lying on top of a flustered Sae, a strongly intimate bordering on erotic act that gives Miyako significantly raised yurilevels for initiating, Sae moderate levels for permitting with yuri-embarrassment, and Yuno and Hiro slight readings for watching. Nazuna, while writing event cards, creates one where the person who receives the card has to massage the person to her left. In addition to the undertones of yuri in Nazuna believing everybody is close enough to massage each other, it’s notable that, at that point in time, Nazuna is sitting to Nori’s left, suggesting that she is subtly asking Nori for a massage, giving her a very significant increase. The group the breaks to prepare lunch, with Sae offering to help Hiro cook and Nazuna asking the same of Nori, earning all four slight readings for conveying close relations with another Hidamari. Miyako and Nazuna end with 4, Sae and Hiro with 3, and Yuno and Nori with 1.
Scene 05: 08:25 - 12:26
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi, No, Na, La
The Hidamaris and the Landlady eat and then begin the Game of Hidamari Life. Miyako describes her rice ball as having the warmth of Hiro’s palm, an affection for Hiro’s body that earns her a significant increase, particularly combined with her hug of Hiro’s waist and subsequent rubbing against her side. Hiro, however, interprets Miyako’s comment as an offense, hurting her readings for instinctively assuming Miyako is trying to hurt her. Yuno, Sae, Hiro, and the Landlady all compliment Nazuna’s miso soup, receiving slight increases for their praise of Nazuna; Nori’s yurilevels are negatively affected by joking about being afraid to watch Nazuna cook and insulting her efforts. The Landlady is again helped by her praise of the work the Hidamaris put into the board game, earning similar readings to earlier. Before the game begins, to keep from having too many players the Landlady cheerfully grabs Nazuna and declares Nazuna and herself a team. Her readiness to have such strong physical contact with Nazuna, including hugging and face-rubbing, belies a very strong comfort with her that significantly aids the Landlady’s readings, though Nazuna is unaffected due to her terror at the situation. The majority of the rest of the scene is a string of continuity references without noticeable emotional reaction or reminiscing on the part of the Hidamaris. At one such event, the Landlady teases Sae that she should pray for larger breasts, possibly suggesting a desire to see a bustier Sae, a lustful desire toward her that aids the Landlady significantly. Later, Miyako is forced to give Yuno money, but instead hugs her to convince her to change her mind. Her action conveys a physical intimacy between the two since Miyako is trying to use it as leverage, but at the same time it is in a self-serving interest, so her increase from this contact is only minimal. Miyako and the Landlady end with 4, Yuno and Sae receive 1, and Hiro, Nori, and Nazuna remain at 0.
Scene 06: 12:26 - 14:01
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi, No, Na, La, Ch
Chika calls Yuno and speaks to Sae. Chika gets an initial moderate increase for making the call in the first place as a desire to speak with Yuno, with Yuno earning a similar but smaller increase for reciprocating by accepting. Nori receives similar readings to Yuno since she contacted Chika about the modified game, as does Miyako for excitedly calling out to Chika. Upon learning Chika is Sae’s sister the Landlady shouts toward the phone that Sae wants to talk with her while touching Sae’s shoulder, a physical contact which here suggests mocking teasing more than physical intimacy and does not earn her significant readings. Sae and Chika are both unwilling to speak to each other, hurting them both for their emotional distance; Chika’s later mocking of Sae and Sae’s angry response intensify these negative effects. Yuno, Miyako, and Nori all receive 1 for their friendliness with Chika, and Chika earns 1 for her fondness toward the Hidamaris. The rest stay at 0.
Scene 07: 14:01 - 19:10
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi, No, Na, La
The Hidamaris and the Landlady continue the game. The scene opens continuing from the previous one, with everybody laughing at Sae. While their readings are all hurt by this, Nori and Nazuna receive moderate net increases from the physical closeness of Nori clutching Nazuna’s soft, soft arm. After her laughing subsides, the Landlady tells Sae that she is good at taking care of others, then pats her head and calls her cute, a further suggestion that the Landlady has a particular fondness for Sae which aids her moderately. She then leans over on Nazuna’s lap and uses it as a pillow, again expressing a close familiarity with her tenants. Nori asks the Landlady what profession she wanted when she was young, expressing a casual curiosity about her, though the Landlady’s readings aren’t affected because she refuses to answer. Yuno then reassures her that she is young and can follow her dreams, which the Landlady denies with dismay, earning no side readings from Yuno’s increase. The Landlady’s evasion leads all the Hidamaris to begin questioning the role of the Landlady in the Hidamari order, a disloyalty that decreases all of their readings. In response, the Landlady hugs Nazuna to her chest and argues that having secrets makes her more attractive, conveying she believes herself attractive to the others. Hiro offers to take care of Sae by sorting her money, which Sae reciprocates by paying for her services*, giving both moderate increases for their partnership. After the game finishes, the Landlady offers some constructive criticism in an attempt to improve the Hidamaris’ game; the Hidamaris agree that they ended up putting in too many positive events because their memories of living at Hidamari Apartments are too positive, earning all of them slight readings from enjoying the time they have spent together. The Landlady again receives 4, Yuno, Sae, Hiro, Nori, and Nazuna all get 2, and Miyako earns 1.
Scene 08: 19:12 - 19:48
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi, No, Na, La
The Hidamaris see the Landlady off. The Landlady tells her tenants she enjoyed spending time with them, receiving a slight raise for this friendliness toward them which is balanced out by her rejection of Yuno’s compliment of her. Yuno also has her shoulders grabbed by Miyako, a display of physical closeness that raises both of their readings moderately. Yuno and Miyako both end with 2, with everyone else staying at 0.
Scene 09: 19:48 - 20:24
C: Yu, Mi, Sa, Hi, No, Na
Nori summarizes the events of the episode. She first praises the signs Yuno, Miyako, Sae, and Hiro made, receiving a slight increase for her approval of their work, then says she enjoyed hearing stories about Hidamari before she moved in, a fondness for her upperclassmen that she ties into a fondness for Nazuna by telling her that they should make good memories together. Nori earns a 3, with Nazuna receiving 1 for reciprocating Nori’s sentiment at the end and the others remaining at 0.
Scene 10: 20:27 - 21:10
C: Yu, Mi
Yuno and Miyako pack away their board game. The increase from Miyako’s excitement for their modified game to last through generations of future Hidamaris is balanced out by Miyako having created a game space which made watching Yoshinoya cosplay worthy of sympathy, so ultimately both she and Yuno end at 0.
Scene 11: 21:11 - 21:23
C: Sa, Hi
Sae and Hiro drink together. Sae’s request to study the next day shows a desire to spend time alone with Hiro, helping her readings. They smile fondly at each other at the end of the scene, an affection that gives them each moderate increases, leaving Sae with 3 and Hiro with 2.
Scene 12: 21:23 - 21:56
C: No, Na
Nori and Nazuna lie next to each other on Nori’s bed. Nori wonders idly what she can do for the next generation of Hidamaris in light of her upperclassmen having cleaned out her room before she arrived, a devotion to women that earns her moderate readings. She then casually insults Nazuna, who responds with the threat of violence; they are quickly able to cool off and laugh about the situation, ultimately rendering the entire exercise futile and having no net effect on either’s readings. Nori ends with 2, Nazuna with 0.
Scene 13: 22:00 - 22:09
C: Yu
Yuno throws her duck in the air. Nothing to note in this scene.
Final Yurilevel Readings: (both Aokis and Umes are out of 4)
Episode: 1.6684A
Characters:
- Landlady: 3.374U
- Miyako: 2.228U
- Sae: 1.492U
- Hiro: 1.464U
- Yuno: 1.276U
- Nazuna: 1.268U
- Nori: 0.759U
- Chika: 0.000U
Moderate yurilevels for the episode as a whole. Though the episode gave a strong focus to the shared memories of the Hidamaris, it was packed too tightly with continuity references to allow the Hidamaris to actually emotionally respond to them, and as a result they did not receive especially strong readings from it. Nazuna and Nori, by merit of not having these memories, ended up with the lowest yurilevels of the Hidamaris, while Miyako earned 4s in Scenes 4 and 5, which, by making up two-fifths of her total scene time, moved her to the top of the Hidamari rankings. Overall, however, the Landlady’s repeated shows of fondness and warmth toward her tenants secured her place as the gayest character of the episode leagues ahead of everybody else. In total there is little else to note about this episode, aside from that it continues the trend of having lots of physical contact between the characters.
Further analysis will continue with Hidamari Sketch xHoneycomb 10.
*: This doesn’t quite make Hiro a prostitute, but it does in some ways make Sae her sugar daddy.
