Hyouka

[leokiko.]

About 3) I thought that the entire episode.

I was like wtf?

[Fumoffu!!]

1) Am I right to say that Houtarou is Kyon with a longer fringe? Because that's who he is: he always gets drawn into Eru's wishes (perhaps with the help of Satoshi's whims) relunctantly, is as optimistic as Ray Romano... in fact, I feel like I'm watching The Melancholy of Haruhu Suzumiya sans the alien/deity/time traveler elements. Could you blame me, especially when Chitanda said that the club should be doing club activities (i.e. fun stuff), just like how Suzumiya thinks SOS Brigade should do fun stuff?

2) What's with all this "eye power" thing that Eru and Mayaka have? Are they supernatural and even mean something, or are they just signs that KyoAni is trying to show off visually? Because there's nothing supernatural about the story... maybe there's something more to the story because Eru apparently has motives but so far, it's been about high school students solving mysteries that no one cares about.

3) If I were there to solve the mystery, I would suggest asking one of the borrowers in person. Problem solved... or am I missing the point?

Kyon wasn't so adverse to doing stuff, as in he wasn't as obsessive about not doing anything. I do see the resemblance of course, but he is a different (and better) character. The relationship he had with Haruhi made up a large part of his character, and the relationship between Oreki and Chitanda isn't the same apart from the point you mentioned.
The eyes are meant to signify them suddenly getting curious as to the events. It's supposed to be that "It's a mystery, I WANT TO KNOW THE ANSWER!!" moment.
Yes, you are kinda missing the point. It's about how they solve the mystery that interests Chitanda, not necessarily the solution. If you work it out for yourself, it's more satisfactory.

2:

I like Satoshi. He goes outside the usual role of the main characters best male friend, and I like how he has his own relationships to develop. The set up of 2 girls 2 boys feels a bit convenient, but I like it much better than what they had in Clannad, where there was 2 guys, 4 girls, and all the girls like Tomoya, and Sunohara was just a comic relief character who got no love.

I think the show is well worth watching.

[The Big Guy]

But then they would have to wait a week, which would be bad because people have short attentio... What was I just talking about again?

2:

The visuals in this show are awesome in so many ways. It's actually quite amusing to see how Orito tries to squirm out of everything, to no avail. And yeah, personal space be damned in this show.

Edit: Expanding on my previous points: Probably the most compelling part of this episode was the use of space. It was amusing just to see how many ways Chitanda could invade Oreki's personal space, and it also played into Oreki's real issue, the fact that he's socially withdrawn (not sure if this is the best term for it, but it is the best I could come up with). Watch the episode again and try to see how many times he is some distance away from the rest of the characters, from being on the opposite side of the table from Chitanda in the clubroom, to how Chitanda, Mayaka, and Satoshi were in close proximity to each other near the library desk while Oreki was a comfortable distance away from them. The most important scene in this episode was not the mystery reveal itself, but Oreki's response when he sees the three laugh together afterward, thinking that "he doesn't belong." This is his real problem, and it is why he clings to this "low energy" idea, because it allows him to maintain a safe distance from others. It makes him a much more relatable character, in my opinion, because I think everyone at some point feels doubt about their friendships and whether or not they truly belong. Much more than an energy hoarder, I would think.

[SQA]

2:

Three points:

1) Am I right to say that Houtarou is Kyon with a longer fringe? Because that's who he is: he always gets drawn into Eru's wishes (perhaps with the help of Satoshi's whims) relunctantly, is as optimistic as Ray Romano... in fact, I feel like I'm watching The Melancholy of Haruhu Suzumiya sans the alien/deity/time traveler elements. Could you blame me, especially when Chitanda said that the club should be doing club activities (i.e. fun stuff), just like how Suzumiya thinks SOS Brigade should do fun stuff?

2) What's with all this "eye power" thing that Eru and Mayaka have? Are they supernatural and even mean something, or are they just signs that KyoAni is trying to show off visually? Because there's nothing supernatural about the story... maybe there's something more to the story because Eru apparently has motives but so far, it's been about high school students solving mysteries that no one cares about.

3) If I were there to solve the mystery, I would suggest asking one of the borrowers in person. Problem solved... or am I missing the point?

For #2, I want to say "production budget", but it's possible it is important.  But I'd still lean towards KyoAni going "we've got a budget, bitches!".

[The Big Guy]

3:

Now I'm reading the source material as I watch the show, and I have to say that the anime is much better. The directing in this show has been awesome thus far, and it really has breathed some life into an otherwise lifeless light novel. Considering what I just read was terribly boring, I'm hoping that this trend will continue for the rest of the show.

[AC]

3:

I find Chitanda's discomposure to be damn annoying. Compose yourself, girl.

Now I'm reading the source material as I watch the show, and I have to say that the anime is much better. The directing in this show has been awesome thus far, and it really has breathed some life into an otherwise lifeless light novel. Considering what I just read was terribly boring, I'm hoping that this trend will continue for the rest of the show.

I said before how I find the show's visuals to be somewhat annoying. It's aesthetically amazing of course, but now I've figured out why I felt annoyed by it: it lacks purpose. It's creative with the visual narrative, but when the story is otherwise mundane and thus doesn't really warrant a creative narrative, then it feels a little deceptive. People would say that this show is amazing, but to me it's only amazing at face value. At the end of the day, if I may, I would give credit to KyoAni for the style, but not to the show itself.

As for the episode, I wonder why Oreki couldn't just smell the cigarette smoke odor. Cigarette smoke odor is naturally very stubborn, and even if one smokes in a well-ventilated area, it sticks to clothes and is very stubborn to get rid of. I personally don't think that someone with a keen sense of smell is needed to notice that. Smart (although unneeded) deduction from Oreki, though.

[AC]

4:

This episode is a lot more interesting than the previous ones; I found myself to be quite engrossed at the deductions and arrival to the overall conclusion of the mystery behind the case that happened 45 years ago. But here's the problem: while the plot picked up, I found myself ignoring the visual brilliance of the show. It's only after I finished watching the episode and rewatched it, that I realized what I missed during the episode while I paid attention to the dialogue.

And thus, this raises an issue that's related to what I've mentioned before: the visuals and plot don't go hand-in-hand that much. The visuals are brilliant, yet I don't think the show would crumble if KyoAni doesn't do what it does. In the end, the visuals don't mean much if the plot is weak; it's just there as a consolation.

[TypicalIdiotFan]

4:

Having caught up to this one, I can sum up my feelings in three words:  Boring to Not.  The first episode nearly put me to sleep, and maybe it did.  Perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for an anime like this, or perhaps I just wasn't seeing what it was trying to do.  Regardless, while I thought it was pretty to look at, I was hesitant to continue.

After episodes two and three I realized that this was going to be one of those "mystery" anime, something I have not had a lot of love for in the past.  Most mystery anime tend to be poorly done for basically one of two extreme reasons:  they're either really childish and easily solved or not done right so that the audience CAN solve the mystery before the revelation.  To give you the extremes, Detective Conan on the first end, GOSICK on the other.  I tried to enjoy Conan and just couldn't.  It was somehow even worse than Encyclopedia Brown novels, to me.  GOSICK refused to show us the clues necessary to reach Victorique's level of awareness, and thus it came off way too Mary Sueish for me.  Thankfully GOSICK had other shit going for it.

Hyouka seems to be somewhere in the middle, and not necessarily because of the show's fault.  In this case, my understanding of Japanese culturalisms and history has prevented me from seeing what Oreki sees on occasion, but not in all cases.  The mystery of the uptight newspaper dude I had figured out fairly quickly, though I admit I didn't think smoking was involved.  I actually thought drugs.  That's my American cynicism getting in the way.  The fourth episode's mystery is more what I mean.

I am not that aware of the cultural and societal struggles of the Japanese 1960s.  I know there was some shit that went down, and some very interesting things happened, but I'm just not on the level to know everything.  It is interesting how closely Japanese society and American society mirror each other in history.  For two cases in point, the civil war that led to the Meiji Restoration came not long after the American Civil War would lead to reconstruction; and the 1960s were turbulent times for both countries socially, especially amongst students and college campuses rebelling against the establishment.

Anyway, the lack of necessary details prevented me from coming to this conclusion, and so I found the episode both fascinating as a curiosity and as a history lesson.  This is one of the few mystery shows where I've leaned forward intently, betraying my desire to focus on the details of what is being said and shown, and wishing I had a tub of popcorn with me.  This was a good time.

There's still more to be had, too.  They don't really know everything, and in fact I would guess that they don't actually know anything.  At least not anything important to the grand mystery of what Chitanda's uncle actually went through.  I have theories, but without evidence they're just that.  It's funny to me.  The way the show presents information and has multiple persons bring up points of view reminds me heavily of these threads and how, when we get into a show, we toss out our own theories and thoughts while trying to figure out what's going to happen next (often times with dismal failure).

So, in short, Hyouka has gone from dull to interesting in four episodes, which is good, and the reason I give all anime at least three episodes to show me what they've got.  Another winner for the 3 ep rule.

[SQA]

On the cultural bit: realize that Student Movements popped up in every advanced economy in the late 60s.  You'll find violent clashes most everywhere.  We just tend to think of the Japanese a bit more uptight than that.

Yet, there is normally about 1 fight per year in their lower Congress (the Diet).  I don't think there's been an actual fist-fight among US Congressmen/Senators since the 50s.  At least, not that I've heard of. 

Another thing I've heard about Hyouka is that the source material is actually quite weak.  So this might end up being the "Best Adaptation" of the season, though not the best series.  It's definitely a change of pace series. 

[TypicalIdiotFan]

5:

Oh that's ****ing brilliant.

[AC]

5:

Yes, that was brilliant.

Houtarou wasn't really wrong with his theory; in fact, the general outline of his theory was all sound. The main difference between his theory and the general truth was more of the nuance, as how both are two sides of the same coin. What was originally thought about Sekitani being a martyr (or sacrifical hero), turned out to be him being a scapegoat (or sacrificial lamb, or "rabbit" to be more appropriate). Same word used differently.

And the kanji character/word play... oh god, do I love them. Not used for fancy reasons, but for substantial ones. But you know what else makes this episode amazing? The KyoAni boastful visuals was kept to a minimum, and the only time it was full-blown was when the mystery behind the cover picture was revealed. And when that happened, it was with purpose. Unlike in previous episodes where the visuals seemed to just embellish mundane story points, this one visualized the meaning behind it. That's what I would call "meaningful visuals".

Right now though, here's something to ponder on: it seems that the height of the show's interest is in the mystery in topic. What about the interactions between the club members? They still look like a realistic carbon copy of TMoHS, and I've never been that interested in any of them. The KyoAni visuals? Only if they mean something or is substantial to the discussion at hand, would I give kudos. Therefore, I think this show should really focus on solving mysteries.

[Reckoner]

This episode posed problems for the non Japanese speaking individual as the eventual solution to the mystery, well the nuance to it at least, required an understanding of the Japanese written language and well you know, I only speak english so this point flew over my head. This isn't the show's problem of course, but appreciating the mystery is impossible for me here.

Overall I have to say that this anime has been improving little by little since its terrible start. The main character I've warmed up to a bit, but I still don't find him remarkably interesting or entertaining. I'm not really much for either of the girls in this show because one is just a grump while the other is just a spaz. But whatever, the cast is at the very least largely inoffensive, but by far this is not the strongest part of this work.

Of course where this series shines the most is its visuals, but its application of them at times is a bit uneven. A lot of the time they're caught giving unnecessary attention to detail, overloading scenes with pointless animation, but this episode they got it just right. Most of the episode was normal animation and the one scene where we went into the past is where they unleashed the creativity. That's how it's done. More meaningful visual input is appreciated rather than more motion for the sake of it as AC pointed out.

For me these last 3 episodes were either sink or swim really, but for now Hyouka is swimming. I don't think it's anywhere with the other great series this season, but it is at the moment passable. In fact, I would even give this latest episode the thumbs up. Lets see if they can continue to build up after a very rocky and slow start.

[AC]

6:

I don't get it; specifically, I don't get the point of this episode. It's just like that mysterious book-returning thing: why would anyone be so interested to know a mistake someone made? This world's full of idiots, everyone knows that, so a person like me would just conclude that the teacher's an idiot and move on. No point trying to crack a case that nobody else is begging to know about. But more importantly, the case was solved with a conjecture: why not ascertaining it? Isn't that the point of solving a problem: to get the answer right, just like you solving an equation and then turning to the answer sheet to know if you got it right?

Oreki thinks Chitanda's a mystery. I just think she's an idiot who gets angry for God knows what. I know I got angry at seeing how annoying she is whenever she's curious about something useless, like a noisy kitten that makes noise to the point that it's more annoying than cute. And yes, first it's the sparkling purple eyes, and now it's a band of small red Chitanda babies.

And yes, I'm perplexed on how a lower case (non-typecast) "a" can be confused with lower case "d" when, based on personal experiences, the former is more often confused with lower case "o".

[TypicalIdiotFan]

And yes, I'm perplexed on how a lower case (non-typecast) "a" can be confused with lower case "d" when, based on personal experiences, the former is more often confused with lower case "o".

Ah, but you're thinking like an English-as-first-language person.  To a group of people who don't repeatedly write their letters in a particular language, it can get fuzzy.  I do the same thing with my hiragana and katakana, and if you're not careful, some of those katakana end up looking like various kanji.  Like how "チ" (katakana "chi") can look like "千" ("sen"; 1,000) if you're not careful.

As for the episode itself, I thought it was mostly a cool down episode from last week's big conclusion and another excuse for them to use another unorthodox animation style for a sequence there.  I don't know if Hyouka is really that good of an anime, but the care and love that the creators are putting into it have to be noted regardless.

[TypicalIdiotFan]

The internet does it's job once again.

I don't know what's more disturbing about this, that Oreki has this kind of ****ed up imagination (and this is NOT THE FIRST TIME he's had some flipped out ****ing mental image about something) or that they actually animated this.