I've seen 12 episodes and saved the last one to be savoured later. But no matter what happens, Midori no Hibi has already done a remarkable thing: it made me to like the filler. I've seen some pretty strong filler before, in RahXephon 15 and Kamichu 12, for instance. But Midori Days 08 was special.

From certain point of view, neither of the three are pure filter. In RahXephon's case, we even learn something of material importance about the background of the characters. And in Midori's case, she probably learned a thing or two about herself. It's just that in neither case there was a direct impact on the story and all three are a filler in a sense they can me omitted without damaging the story.

One of the best things about the Midori's case is the way creators played with the characters without overdoing it. I've seen many convoluted dream sequences before. Some were downright delirious, like Hidamari Sketch 05. MnH, however, does not become recursive, or such (even in the final frame, the depth is limited to 2, see the screencap above). And in general, the episode was plain old nice, e.g. the Iwasaki's anger at dense boys.

Due to Netflix's idiocy I interleaved Midori no Hibi with Nanoha disc by disc, and the former wins hands down. It's more entertaining, more sophisticated, more interesting that its highly acclaimed and popular accidential rival. Who knew?!