Hinako Note (ひなこのーと) is an anime series based on a manga of the same name written and illustrated by Mitsuki. It aired in 2017 with 12 episodes. The series was a standout compared to similar slice-of-life series because, while preserving the "cute girls doing cute things" theme, it went deep into fanservice to the point I was doubting myself while watching.

The story follows a first-year high school girl named Hinako Sakuragi as she moves from the countryside to Tokyo in the hopes of joining a theater club. She has lived most of her life in a very secluded place, which limited her interactions with people. This caused her to become quite shy and unable to speak properly in public, effectively turning into a "scarecrow."

Once in the city, she starts living and working at the Hitotose Bookstore (which has a coffee shop attached to it) together with three other unique girls, hoping to make some friends. Unfortunately, the school's theater club is on hiatus, so Hinako and the other residents decide to create their own theater troupe.

The story follows the various difficulties that Hinako faces in everyday life as she gets accustomed to the city and her first experiences as an actor. The original manga was a 4koma, so we have plenty of small, funny skits without moving the storyline forward too fast.

One thing worth mentioning is how satisfying Hinako’s gradual character growth is, seeing her slowly overcome her fear of speaking and gain confidence through acting in the troupe makes the series feel more emotional than you might expect at first glance.

She struggles quite a lot a the beginning, at some point even thinking of going back to the countryside to her parents, but with the support of the other girls around her she finally manage to find her new "home" at Hitotose and her passion in acting. 

The main characters (aside from Hinako) are:

Kuina Natsukawa

A first-year high school girl with long blue hair who works at the Hitotose bookstore. She loves teasing people with jokes and has a huge appetite. She sometimes eats pages of the store's books without realizing what she is doing (the first encounter with this terrorized poor Hinako).

Mayuki Hiiragi

A second-year high school girl with long blonde hair who works at the Hitotose coffee shop. She usually wears a maid uniform and has an extremely small figure, to the point that people mistake her for a small girl. It doesn't help that her personality is sometimes quite innocent too...

Chiaki Hagino

A second-year high school girl with short brown hair. She is a member of the on-hiatus theater club and is the landlady of the Hitotose Manor. She is calm, collected, and generally the voice of reason in the group. Her figure is very adult for her age, causing her fanservice scenes to be quite explosive.

Yua Nakajima

Hinako's classmate who is deeply in love with Chiaki. She sees Hinako as a rival for her attention and tries to challenge her in any way she can. Unfortunately, she is an extremely good girl, so every time she ends up helping and caring for Hinako, causing the latter to consider her a good friend.

Ruriko Kuroyanagi

A nine-year-old child actress who is also the advisor of the theater club. She went away to "search for herself" before the beginning of the story, which caused the club to go on hiatus. She returns midway through and helps Hinako grow as an actress with her experience. She is way more mature than her age suggests and behaves mostly like an adult (except in some situations).

My favorite character was definitely Yua. I loved her interactions with Hinako, specifically the conflict between her nature to do good and her wish to antagonize Hinako for being too close to Chiaki. I have to admit that, looks-wise, Chiaki is just on another level compared to almost everyone else (except maybe a bit of Hinako). Most of her fanservice scenes were really... interesting.

I heard this online, but apparently the author (a woman) decided to conclude the series earlier because she wanted the manga to go more heavily on fanservice, but the publication follows another genre (more in line with traditional slice of life) and she didn't want to limit the characters.

Give this anime a shot as it is really worth your time. As a slice-of-life, it is quite good, and it has the plus side of having quite a bit of fanservice on top.