Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquifina
I'll echo this--all four leads in my view get a good deal of character development, and even Eru, who might have remained for the entire series a 2-D comedic moe-magnet (which I still would have liked) gets a lot of great characterization that makes her into a delightful character.
For me, though, Oreki is just priceless--smart, snide, and sarcastic, but without being malicious, and a soft spot for the girl he likes. There's also a real charm to his insecurity--for so many male anime leads, insecurity leads to a sort of adolescent angst that is just painful for me to watch sometimes. Oreki really is way too down on himself, but he presses on to help Eru and his friends, and they repay him by showing him that the world is not as gray as it seems.
The visuals are also just drop-dead gorgeous.
|
I think one thing Hyouka did well is developing the characters by showing what they did rather than telling us that they changed, especially in case of Houtarou. He might as well screaming his angst inside, but the only part we saw is a brief one on the movie arc. All too often, "character development" was done by screaming at us the audience as part of a dialogue or inner monologue. I'm not saying Hyouka didn't do that, but I think a lot of them was shown rather than told. For example, Houtarou's description of Eru has never changed, I think. If someone asked, his answer would be the same in episode 20 as in the first: a proper lady who is a manifestation of curiosity and a little bit annoying because she just won't let him ignore her. But when we look at his responds to her "kininarimasu" it is cleared that he changed.