Well, I've watched and, wow, this episode is extremely hard to rate.
When I first saw the title for this episode I thought
it would be either a true work of art or a miserable disaster,
But I now realized this assumption was not really right...
Spoiler for for my impression on the ep:
The quality of pictures is just average I'd expect from the series (and thus probably ep 21 was better) and while the first half of the episode was as good as ever, I feel the interaction between characters are somewhat less lively and even less organized than most recent episodes - maybe because they have fired Shiraishi?
And, about the scene of the second half, I can see they tried to be just faithful to the original episode from the manga, which is a real masterpiece by its own, but honestly I expected more than that.
In that regard it was undoubtfully way better than Master Keaton or Gedo Senki, but anyway...
Was that really your best, Takemoto and Gatou?
Though, at the same time, I know this is another low-budget anime and if I think that way it was way more than an excellent adaptation. Umm, but still...
Well now, on the other hand, now I don't think I need to tell how excellent the Kanata scene was, since everyone's saying it already.
All in all my rating is 9.4/10 (rounded to 9) - more than excellent but still not perfect, no more, no less.
And I actually prefer the episode 12 for its singularity.
My opinion here is that it's really one great episode but the borrowed magnificence must not justify the works' own flaws, though it may be able to fill the gap to some extent.
Spoiler for for random thoughts:
I think Shimamoto was not that outstanding in the show, but I think that's because every VA in the show is so capable, not that she was bad at the role.
Wow, even Misao knows some difficult wording, though it doesn't defy the fact she isn't so smart...
But, let Ayano say something! She's got even fewer lines than the one who really isn't!
Mojipittan, cute and good song indeed, but is that a kind of song Yutaka will so eagerly listen to? Maybe she's really influenced by Konata.
And - Pittan ranra mojipittan! - her lyrics are slightly incorect! lol
"Talking of Mom, she's short, and is a friend of yours from childhood, so she's like a character from some gal-game, isn't she?"
"See? She was so cute since our childfood you know..."
Soujirou, at least you should try to deny what Konata says!!!
"I had once told her like, "Because you'd never cared for me I have grown to love these gal-games!" and she married me quite easily."
"Father, you are a real sucker!"
"But it's the true story."
Man, he's so cool. Whether it good or bad I don't know!
"But she was really keen, so probably she'd spotted the only but absolute thing where this sucker is totally confident."
Another line from Soujirou, and the following scene is a memorable one.
The next episode preview - Wow, was that okay? I know they were her own lines, yes, but..?
And last of all, let me say this: Pity that no one here praises Yoshimizu himself!