Unlike the one for J2, this entry is going to spoil minimally, but still. Caveat emptor.

Midori no Hibi was the last series from my happy anime days, and perhaps this is why it feels more special than it should. But even now I think it's generally underappreciated, like Dai-Guard.

I already expended three great entries for beginning, middle, and end. But there's plenty more.

One of my biggest bones with characters is that Seiji treats Midori poorly. He rejects her heart-shaped carrots, scolds her for sneezing, etc. I really want to think that I would raise above such petulance and meanniness in his place. We know that he cares for her, which is great and all, but this kind of behaviour does not bode well for their future. It's 20 years of marriage experience speaking here.

This is a "flashforth". Note the cat, a recurring gag, wearing the same glasses. I have a feeling that animators had fun working on this.

Shiori is supposed to play a role similar to Futaba in Shingu. Sadly, I think she's not quite there. For one thing, she's not as innocent in her advances. Also, the gag nature of the series undercuts her character by making her waste her screen time on the gags. And finally, she's at the center of weirdest pedagogical case I've seen in a while (unfortunately, too spoilerish to discuss — I'm talking about the end of ep.06).

The series' true otaku is not as annoying as he could be. Not unexpectedly, he drives the visit to Comiket and thus a whole episode of filler. I found the fillers in Midori rather bearable. Most or all of them are made to include some elements about Midori or Seiji, plugged into the continuity (I call them fillers because they are easy to cut), and generally are fun. It's somewhat like Kamichu (where certain people liked ep.08; and I liked ep.12).

In some ways, Midori has a sensible world. For example, Seiji questions the fact that Midori is so skilled at housework despite coming from a typical anime rich family with a mansion.

In other ways, not so much. Little Midori never eats (if I remember right), but she certainly drinks. Does anyone else wonder what happens to the material she consumes? It probably is unfair to ask. She is a magical creature. But for some reason I find it easier to accept that she can rotate a full circle upon her attachment than problems with her body design. I would not say that my suspension of disbelief was unduly taxed overall, but there are some small yet intractable problems.

Animation in Midori is generally acceptable, and some parts are just done very well. I especially like designs of secondary girl characters like Iwasaki and friends of Ayase. But at Studio Pierrot they just cannot seem to keep it up for 13 episodes without a lapse. Azumanga, where are you?

Almost looks like a fishbowl shot, doesn't it? I'm not telling what (or whom) they are seeing though.

The love umbrella.

This much fetish power made me reel, I have to admit. Not sure if the name signifies anything or not.

Iwasaki, it's impossible not to love you (unless one is extremely unobservant, evidently).

This is the scene from ep.11 where Midori is trying to hold Seiji to his word. More importantly though, we can see Seiji's pencil case. The weird part for me is, in my school students generally stopped carrying them by the 7th grade (or earlier). But I guess not in Japan. I began paying attention to it back when Azumanga included every girl's pencil case into DVD extras as some important design element (mind, the infamous eye cheatsheets were not included). Is there a meaning here I fail to grasp?

I don't know if I could take living in Japan, where people are happy to eat a roasted hamburger patty... I know that Seiji's finances are rather shaky, but this is just bad.

And finally, Ayase. I like her. I think one of the points of having her around is to let Midori to remark on their similarities. Aroduc also remarked at #animeblogger that "every time having Ayase on screen was painful", and in ep.07 I noted "OK, Aroduc was right, this is painful." Perhaps part of the pain for me was to realize that her idiotic theatrics only hurt herself. Also, it was impossible to guess if she liked her own visions of grandeur more than reality and/or Seiji (fortunately, the question was resolved in the grand finale).