Such a good episode! Although it was lacking in Kuroneko (and Rinko, lol), it did a really good job with everyone else. I loved how everyone was portrayed in this episode. Kirino was less abusive and more otaku dere, Kyousuke was expressive and passionate, Manami had more facial expressions than probably all of last season, and Ayase was basically the star of the episode.
I agree with the people worried that they might not have enough time for the rest of the plot. What I'm worried about, though, is that they might use these character-centric episodes (Ayase and Manami next, I assume) to gloss over any character developments that might be in the novels because they've already had screen time.
That being said, I enjoyed the comedy and the light mood. It was really entertaining. I'm not sure if I ever enjoyed an episode from last season as much as I did with this one. So much Hayami Saori too. Hayami and Nakamura Yuuichi did a really great job this episode. The episode's pacing felt good and all of the jokes hit the mark for me. Great episode overall.
I also keep hearing Chitanda and Oreki lol.
Edit: Oh, UltimaDrago might be right in that the next episode is about Saori. I'd like that, although I'd still be worried about the pacing.