An episode with Hika-nee? Today is a good day.
Impression
You know, sometimes I feel like the whole of Non Non Biyori could be carried solely by Hotarun’s point of view as she discovers lots of new things about the countryside every episode. I really think it could work. Hika-nee is clearly a fan of Tokyo, and Ren-chon was definitely captivated by stuff she’s never gotten to see in person before, like amusement parks or Tokyo Tower, but the reverse is just as true for someone moving to the countryside after having lived in Tokyo all their life. A pipe dispenses free spring water by the side of the road, fruits are sold at unmanned stalls and you can see and do all sorts of things you can’t do in Tokyo – including jumping off a bridge into a shallow river below. I thought it looked almost too shallow, especially when Nattsun was the one jumping, but it looked deep enough by Hika-nee’s turn. And if even Koma-chan can do it, so can you!
I was also thinking the bus depot would be light years away, but it was a surprisingly walkable distance in the end – but really, if this was anywhere but the countryside, getting back a lost bus item would be a lot harder than simply visiting the depot immediately after your journey. At least we now know that it’s not everyone else who’s short, but rather Hotarun who is tall and developed – Hotaru is slightly taller than both Hika-nee, who is in high school, and Nattsun, who is a couple of years older. Her friends are what fifth-graders should be looking like! For a second, I thought the girl on the right was a younger version of Hotaru, and that the picture was from the last time she went to an amusement park – but it didn’t fit the context at all.
I was hoping there would be more bragging from Hika-nee that would end up falling flat after Hotarun inadvertently steals Ren-chon’s attention – just like how her previous brag about trains in the first season ended up with Hotarun revealing she’d flown on a plane before. I guess they thought they’d used that joke enough. Instead, we had Hika-nee and her array of weird noises. The baby ones were really cute, I have to admit.
