Heartwarming / Hidamari Sketch

• Yuno comes down with a heavy cold and has to stay in bed. Miyako checks up on her and decides that she should change her into a fresh set of pajamas, which is not that easy since Yuno is just about unconscious from her fever. Miyako's funny comment when she spots a mole on Yuno's body only adds to the total sweetness of the scene.
  • The second season, however, blows it out of the water in its last episodes, after Sae apologizes to Hiro after the two spend most of the episode avoiding one-another like the plague, and Hiro collapses into Sae's arms in tears. Again, Miyako throwing Sae a pillow to help her cushion Hiro falling in her lap makes it another insanely sweet scene.
    • Which is echoed nicely in x Honeycomb Episode 6 where Sae helps an emotionally distant Hiro come to terms with the loneliness she feels from knowing that she will shortly have to graduate from Hidamari Apartments and leave all of her friends, especially Sae, behind. Sae responds that if they are ever separated she would feel lonely too, but that she believes nothing could ever really come between them, and that they would only grow closer and closer in the time they had remaining together.
  • Sae doesn't express her express her feelings that well toward her younger sister Chika, so just about as often as they speak with each other, it degenerates into verbal sparring. Chika wanted Sae's autograph (using her penname, Aya Tachibana), but Sae ostensibly refused (it's unclear whether she initially refused, then relented, or was just trying to save it so she could make it a surprise), leading to a fight which sent Chika to Yuno's room. After a while, though, all five girls ended up there, and sleeping on the floor. After Chika is gone, we learn that Sae did give Chika her autograph, but what makes it for me is the image of Sae stroking her sleeping sister's hair. Awww.
  • Yoshinoya-sensei has been putting off her work, and her latest thing is making her summer cards for her students. The principal chases her all over school trying to get her to do her paperwork. When she finally finishes, she's rounded up and put to work with Nurse Kuwahara on watch. The principal finally motivates her by saying they'll go play with fireworks after she finishes. She does, and they do. While Yoshinoya is making shapes in the air:
  Kuwahara: She really is a handful.
  Principal: But she cherishes her students and has a never-ending passion for art.
• Hoshimittsu: the scenes showing Nazuna's character development — most notably when she finally decides to join the morning exercises.
• The end credits of the first SP special. Yuno is sleeping in her room alone when her friends sneak in and do little favors for her. Hiro leaves her some cake, Sae leaves some books, Nazuna and Nori cover her with a blanket, and Miyako either writes a note or draws a picture for her. Watching Yuno in her dream before she wakes up and notices everything makes it even more endearing.
• Yūko Gotō's return to voice acting after her long hospital stay due to her autoimmune disorders.
  Did you notice?
  I was playing Hiro.
  I was able to return to Hidamari Apartments.
  I'm so glad.
  Everyone was waiting until the last possible moment for me, even though I was told I wouldn't work as usual this year.
  Two of my managers carried me to the studio.
  All of the studio's staff working with me wore masks to prevent infection.
  I received a "welcome back" from all of the cast of Hidamari.
  Even Ume-sensei was waiting at the studio to tell me "Welcome back."
  When I first said "I'm home," I was tearing up.
  I knew it, I always knew it,
  It's really warm.
• Hiro is feeling depressed and doesn't want to graduate because doing so will mean having to leave everyone at the Hidamari apartments. Sae is able to cheer her up by encouraging her to follow her dream of becoming a teacher and also reminding her that, even when they're apart, they'll still be best friends.
• Along with being one of the funniest, Episode 8 of Honeycomb is perhaps one of the sweetest in the whole series.
  • After Miyako sprains two of her fingers and can't use her right hand, Yuno takes care of and feeds her.
  • The simple and uplifting message on the heart-shaped balloon in Nazuna's class's balloon room.
  • Yuno showing her parents around the school festival.
  • Watching both Yuno/Miyako and Nori/Nazuna dancing after the festival ends.
• Episode 10 of Honeycomb has Miyako come up with the idea of a Hidamari Cheer Squad to support Sae and Hiro. She leads the other girls through an impromptu chant, then promises that the Hidamari Cheer Squad will be there to support them everyday through graduation.
• Vol. 7 has some great ones:
  • During the Sports Festival, Natsume takes Sae by the wrist and runs with her, as her Scavenger Hunt item was "Friend". Also funny because Sae's glasses have been borrowed by Nazuna for her hunt and she can't read what she's supposed to find without them anyway.
  • Miyako telling Yuno that she gave her strength and happiness.
  • Nori telling a sleeping Nazuna that she's fine the way she is.
• Sae and Hiro's (optional) senior project: Using everything they could from the most recent activities at Hidamari Apartments to showcase the wonderful memories they've been able to create with their friends. Sae also explains that they didn't take the time to do another project because it would have taken time away from creating those memories with their juniors.