Hyouka

[TheBladeChild]

A13817-1664125943.1325596497.jpg

Oreki Hotaro is a high school boy, who always acts passively. One day, he enters "Koten Bu (Classic Literature Club)" as recommended by his elder sister.

There he meets Chitanda Eru, Fukube Satoshi, and Ibara Mayaka. Chitanda is a calm beautiful girl but she turns into an embodiment of curiosity once she says, "I'm interested in it (Watashi, Kininarimasu)". Fukube is a smiling boy with a fantastic memory, he never deduces anything on his own. Ibara is a short girl and is strict with others and herself. She loves Fukube, but he always dodges her approaches.

They begin to investigate a case that occurred 33 years ago. Hints of the mystery are buried in an old collection of works of the former members of Koten Club. The collection is titled "Hyouka".

-My Anime List

Episode 1

Mazui:http://mazuisubs.com/torrents/Mazui_...6F.mkv.torrent

[animus]

The main character's philosophy was frighteningly similar to mine during high school, without all of Houtarou's deductive prowess. I was just about as lazy as he was.

The first episode does have me intrigued with it's execution and high production values.

[Kraco]

As expected of KyoAni, this show is worth watching for the production values alone (which makes me all the more sad KyoAni refused to animate Little Busters). I also found it funny they cast Clannad's Tomoya and Sunohara's VAs for the main roles in this show as well. The dudes aren't even that much different from Clannad, aside from Fukube obviously being a capable fellow, as opposed to the ever-loser Sunohara. What comes to the story, though... Hard to say if it floats at all.

The MAL description in the OP contains some errors. Based on the novel description on Manga-Updates, I don't think it's even a difference derived from there. It must be written by somebody who knew nothing of the story... Or, rather, knew something of it, including spoilers, but didn't have the wits to write a correct or proper description.

[Kraco]

Episode 2 - Mazui
Episode 1v2 - Mazui (with a different encoding and adjusted wording).



- - - - - - - - -






I'm getting used to this and even starting to find this a pleasurable watch for reasons other than the jolly good graphics. The fact Hotaro appearing an energy saver isn't only due to being lazy is a good detail in my opinion. Hard to say yet why it is so, but he seems to be setting himself apart from the way average teenagers act. Of course everybody think they are unique, so I hope there's something rather more fundamental behind that revelation of his in the library. While he's not as rude as manhwa male protagonists, I also find it enjoyable he's not bowing to anybody (except his sister). At least not so far. Yet another pleasant aspect of his personality is that he's not all about solving mysteries but rather giving Chitanda any answer that will satisfy her, truth or not, and thus will get rid of the bother. That's some funny dynamics between them.

After these two eps I'm not anymore wondering at all why KyoAni chose to animate this story. It seems to be right down their alley.

[Buffalobiian]

Chitanda trips me up. Her design is like Yui from K-ON! after her hair-cut plus some Mio attributes to make her both ditz AND top-girl. The dragging-around-solving-mysteries part reminds me of Haruhi. The "friend" even enjoys satisfying Chitanda's desires at the main char's expense.

I guess I'll keep watching. It's interesting.. but takes so much effort.

[Buffalobiian]

Mazui - Episode 03
[ASL]_ChouCho_-_Hyouka_OP_-_Yasashisa_no_Riyuu_[FLAC]_[w_Scans].rar
[ASL]_ChouCho_-_Hyouka_OP_-_Yasashisa_no_Riyuu_[MP3]_[w_Scans].rar

[Kraco]

For some reason I was expecting the newspaper dude to be hiding something worse than tobacco... But I guess that's bad enough already considering it's a school and he's doing it in a club room. And this isn't a punk show.

In the end Hotaro couldn't say no to Chii-chan's sad face, as expected.

[Buffalobiian]

For some reason I was expecting the newspaper dude to be hiding something worse than tobacco... But I guess that's bad enough already considering it's a school and he's doing it in a club room. And this isn't a punk show.

At first when they noticed it was perfume, I was he was having an orgy in there or something. Cuz that's the first thing you think of when someone mentions perfume right?...

Chitanda's cute, but her reaction right at the end "was she going to faint/outburst?" when they found out that the first anthology was missing made me cringe a little. Just that moment, it appeared as if she was just a bit too childish.

I'm sure that will all reset by next week though.

[Kraco]

Chitanda's cute, but her reaction right at the end "was she going to faint/outburst?" when they found out that the first anthology was missing made me cringe a little. Just that moment, it appeared as if she was just a bit too childish.

This is a moe show for KyoAni to animate while there's no K-ON to make. Better keep that in mind. Not that it would really be possible to forget since it looks next to identical to K-ON anyway...

[MFauli]

God, I want to slap her in the face and say "BITCH, SHUT UP".

Animation quality is nice, but it kinda feels like a poor man´s Haruhi. And damn, the annoying girl reminds me of another anime´s girl, I just cannot remember the name. Such annoying overly energetic behavior - really, you couldn´t make an anime that´s more typical "anime-y".

[Buffalobiian]

the annoying girl reminds me of another anime´s girl, I just cannot remember the name.

Her hair and such actually reminds me most closely of Azuki Miho from Bakuman.

Her actions? Too many to guess at..

[MFauli]

Her actions? Too many to guess at..

Haha, true. Though I´m not thinking of Bakuman. Argh, it sucks when you remember something but not the name. This attitude of hers, this outworldish, super-energetic, never-embarrassed behavior, and how she acts towards a boy she just met. Hm ... am I thinking of Clannad? Not sure.

[Buffalobiian]

Clannad?

As in a smarter version of Fuuko?

Yeah, that could work.

[Buffalobiian]

Mazui - Episode 04

[Kraco]

Episode 4 - Mazui




- - - - -

For the first time during the show I actully felt sorry for Chitanda. Hotaro was of course being himself coming up with a perfectly plausible explanation by combining various facts and building a theory that seemingly covered everything they brought onto the table - and, most importantly, didn't take more than one toilet break to formulate. However, like the end showed, it still failed to answer the ultimate question which prompted Chitanda to start the whole process. From the audience's point of view that's the same thing as feeling "that's it?" after so much buildup. I wonder if Hotaro himself is so energy saving he didn't bother to suspect this might not necessarily cut it for long.

[Buffalobiian]

For the first time during the show I actully felt sorry for Chitanda. Hotaro was of course being himself coming up with a perfectly plausible explanation by combining various facts and building a theory that seemingly covered everything they brought onto the table - and, most importantly, didn't take more than one toilet break to formulate. However, like the end showed, it still failed to answer the ultimate question which prompted Chitanda to start the whole process. From the audience's point of view that's the same thing as feeling "that's it?" after so much buildup. I wonder if Hotaro himself is so energy saving he didn't bother to suspect this might not necessarily cut it for long.

The preview seems to suggest that, the way Houtaro stops midtrack with a displeased look as he fully realises his disservice to Chitanda's efforts. I'm sure he suspected that this wasn't all there was to do with the incident, but based on his late start and limited information, this was the best conclusion he could come up with. Brainpower can only do so much when you use it too late.

edit: I've found the animation gimmicks to backfire on me a little. They're nice and interesting, and I'd gather they'd be rather well received by native speakers since watching someone's face yap an explanation to you can be rather boring (unless it's Chitanda). When I'm a subtitle-reader though, my concentration is torn between watching the whole screen and focussing on the subtitles - often leaving me stranded somewhere in the middle. I often get a rushed feeling that I didn't fully appreciate either one. SHAFT can do that to me at times too.

edit2: Ponytail banzai!

[MFauli]

Ugh, just watched ep 3. If this wasn´t an anime, but a real-life tv show, Chitanda would be criticized for over-acting. I hate characters like her. But Oreki is interesting enough, and I like his best friend, who´s basically a carbon copy of the Durarararar banana´s leader.

[Kraco]

Ugh, just watched ep 3. If this wasn´t an anime, but a real-life tv show, Chitanda would be criticized for over-acting.

I dislike overacting in live action TV shows, which is why most Japanese TV drama looks so bad, but in anime I tend like it, if it's there to emphasize a character's personality or fits the mood and atmosphere of the show.

[gos27]

Can't really say it's 'over-acting' in an anime, just fucking irritating. Oreki is a cool character as well as his friend. Only watched 3 episodes, probably gonna wait until gg release episode 4.

[Buffalobiian]

Mazui - Episode 05


----------------------





















I wish I was Houtaro. I'd be differential diagnostic god.