AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post - Hyouka

joeboygo · 2012-08-10, 04:29

Why not show Tomoe’s face?

It looks like it’s my turn to guess the reason for this artistic decision by Kyo-Ani (I haven’t read the novels but I don’t think a tacitly obscured face is something that will show up in print).

I think it’s because Tomoe is the only recurring adult role in the entire series.

Due to the Noitamina time slot and plain broadcast economics, the target audience of the anime is significantly older than the original seinen demographic of the novels. The challenge this creates is how to make an older viewership give a damn about the travails of a bunch of high school kids. What may appear as a major crisis to a 15-16 year old is no big freakin deal to a twenty or thirty-something who holds down a job and pays the rent or mortgage each month. And as some have observed on this forum, the “mysteries” presented are in fact largely kid stuff.

Kyo-Ani's solution is to eliminate or minimize the roles of the grown-ups. The series is set in high school, but we hardly ever see the teachers. Whenever a grown-up appears, it’s usually a fleeting one-shot, and even if a particular grown-up’s role is extended, he or she is never shown performing the traditional child rearing adult roles of:

1. Providing basic needs that teenagers cannot yet provide for themselves, such as food or money;
2. Giving behavioral correction or guidance; and most importantly
3. Imposing discipline for unacceptable behavior.

This way, an older audience can see the world through the eyes of much younger characters without the condescension, objectivity and distance that usually results from the age gap. The results speak for themselves: Noitamina’s ratings are excellent, half the commenters on this thread are over 30 -ahem- and some of the latter even care deeply about whether Houtaro “likes” Chitanda (sings “and they call it puppy love…”).

Unfortunately, for a recurring character like Tomoe, the ordinary tricks will not work. There’s simply too much of her in the story. Hence, the creative solution is to obscure her face. This technique disembodies Tomoe’s voice and partially reduces her physical presence to an abstraction. As a result, when we see her patting her baby brother’s head and basically treating him like a child, the spell is not broken and the adult audience is not alienated from his adolescent character.

I suspect that when the development of Houtaro’s character reaches a respectable level of maturity, we will finally see Tomoe’s face speaking to him.

I could turn out to be way off, but my guess is as good as anybody else’s at this point.

2012-08-10, 04:29	Link #108
joeboygo mechaii Join Date: Jul 2009 Age: 44	Why not show Tomoe’s face? It looks like it’s my turn to guess the reason for this artistic decision by Kyo-Ani (I haven’t read the novels but I don’t think a tacitly obscured face is something that will show up in print). I think it’s because Tomoe is the only recurring adult role in the entire series. Due to the Noitamina time slot and plain broadcast economics, the target audience of the anime is significantly older than the original seinen demographic of the novels. The challenge this creates is how to make an older viewership give a damn about the travails of a bunch of high school kids. What may appear as a major crisis to a 15-16 year old is no big freakin deal to a twenty or thirty-something who holds down a job and pays the rent or mortgage each month. And as some have observed on this forum, the “mysteries” presented are in fact largely kid stuff. Kyo-Ani's solution is to eliminate or minimize the roles of the grown-ups. The series is set in high school, but we hardly ever see the teachers. Whenever a grown-up appears, it’s usually a fleeting one-shot, and even if a particular grown-up’s role is extended, he or she is never shown performing the traditional child rearing adult roles of: 1. Providing basic needs that teenagers cannot yet provide for themselves, such as food or money; 2. Giving behavioral correction or guidance; and most importantly 3. Imposing discipline for unacceptable behavior. This way, an older audience can see the world through the eyes of much younger characters without the condescension, objectivity and distance that usually results from the age gap. The results speak for themselves: Noitamina’s ratings are excellent, half the commenters on this thread are over 30 -ahem- and some of the latter even care deeply about whether Houtaro “likes” Chitanda (sings “and they call it puppy love…”). Unfortunately, for a recurring character like Tomoe, the ordinary tricks will not work. There’s simply too much of her in the story. Hence, the creative solution is to obscure her face. This technique disembodies Tomoe’s voice and partially reduces her physical presence to an abstraction. As a result, when we see her patting her baby brother’s head and basically treating him like a child, the spell is not broken and the adult audience is not alienated from his adolescent character. I suspect that when the development of Houtaro’s character reaches a respectable level of maturity, we will finally see Tomoe’s face speaking to him. I could turn out to be way off, but my guess is as good as anybody else’s at this point.