Hyouka - General Discussion

[MartianMage]

Well just watched episode 2. Well it's better than the first episode but still fails to really hook me. Well at least the cafe scene in this episode is hinting for a more interesting mystery in the upcoming episodes.

@Wilfriback

I don't see much similarities between the 2 but I will agree on you that I find Ruru to be more addictive and sexy.

[Westlo]

Hyou-ka is started to sell well on the light novel charts.

*5, 14,509 101,357 Hyouka

IIRC it did 9k last week and near 8k the week before.

Also been ranking in the #60s since Episode 2 aired, around the same as Haiyore! Nyaruko-san and a bit better than the Eureka Seven Ao (these seem to be the only 3 shows ranking in the top 100 this season).

It's no Nichijou, but @ this rate it won't get past 10k either.

Originally Posted by felix

...

What are guys smoking?

Since when is boy & girl school drama invented by "haruhi / k-on"? Is it because *gasp* there is a-girl in it... gosh what innovation...

The only similarity between the three is that they all revolve around solving "school" problems; from various angles.

Now, put those cigaweeds down.

True that man, and even if it was true (lol) Hyou-ka predates Haruhi by 2 years anyway...

[Merilyn Mensola]

I just made these...


if anyone want to use them are for free...

[Qilin]

Picked this show up.

Despite many criticisms, this actually wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The flowing animation and character designs strikes me as typical Kyoani, which is to say good enough. The story set up is generic, but the show executes it well enough to keep it interesting. The abundant use of visual metaphors in particular is a nice touch.

Categorizing the show as a "mystery" seems like a mistake though. Like a lot of other people here, the solutions felt to me flat and convenient. As such, anyone watching this for the "mystery" is sure to be bored, but watching this for the characters might make it more worthwhile.

What keeps me watching this show is Houtarou. As the MC, he seems assertive enough as a lead to control situations (or at least manipulate them in his favor). Also, his chronic apathy might be caused by some deeper dysfunction than is apparent on the surface.

I might just be reading too much into this, but as long as it keeps me interested.

[Arturia Polaris]

Merilyn would it be too much to ask of you to make one where Chitanda has a ponytail?

You know, near the ending of the 2nd ep?

Niker

[Sylphic]

Originally Posted by Merilyn Mensola

Ittadakimasu! I humbly receive!

[alarmadadna hadi]

Categorizing the show as a "mystery" seems like a mistake though. Like a lot of other people here, the solutions felt to me flat and convenient. As such, anyone watching this for the "mystery" is sure to be bored, but watching this for the characters might make it more worthwhile.

I somewhat had an inverse impression, although the characters are solidly written 2 eps in, I still don't feel any deep intrigue regarding them, not even Eru (at least not yet). On the other hand, I like the fact that the approach to the mysteries is designed to get you to think along with a number of hints (Was fun stopping the episode midway trying to form my own theory), regardless of the mundane actual solutions. (The only exception so far would be the music class mystery)

[FredFriendly]

Originally Posted by Niker117

Merilyn would it be too much to ask of you to make one where Chitanda has a ponytail?

You know, near the ending of the 2nd ep?

Niker

Niker, will either of these do?

[Xaturas]

Hmmm I don't know.
Maybe you people watch this show for mystery, but for me those "common day" mysteries are just boring. Last ep I didn't even care about the book and why and what for was it used. Even characters emotions were more interesting for me than the mystery itself. Emotions like the librarian girl face mimics when talking about main hero and such.
Forgive me for not knowing the names because I didn't care enough to remember them yet.
Will give it another 2-3 eps and see if its worthy following, or if animation is the only strong point of this anime (for me that is).

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by ImagineThat

...Then you have the hyper active little miss sparkly eyes. How on earth am i supposed to take that one seriously?

She seems fairly realistic to me. I've known people like that: intelligent but enthusiastic and naive. And sneakily forceful. It's a neat trick, having a rather moe and child-like character, but making her a senpai, so she has some authority.

I'm actually beginning to love this show. The "mysteries" so far have been pretty simple, but the reasoning still interesting. I like the MC. And I find the sidekick acceptable. I hated Sunohara in Clannad, who was also played by Sakaguchi Daisuke, but I think a similar character has been toned down to something fairly sensible here.

In this episode, I was totally bowled over by Kayano Ai's work as the osananajimi library aide. That's real voice-acting, giving a character a vivid presence.

By the way, I have made a characters/seiyuus page for this show. Only has four characters on it so far, but a look at the cast list suggests that will soon change.

[Arturia Polaris]

Originally Posted by FredFriendly

Niker, will either of these do?

I love you

Niker

[blaze0041]

Images

Various Hyouka fanarts (5 + 2 + 1 fairly large images)

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by ImagineThat

If by that you mean mysteries with more substance then thats good to hear because these "who left the light on?"esque mysteries are not cutting it for me.


Then you have the hyper active little miss sparkly eyes. How on earth am i supposed to take that one seriously?

Not all mysteries have to be grand on the scale of murders or Lupin style thefts as long as they keep the audience thinking.

Second, Eru is probably one of the more realistic heroines. The glowing eyes are a bit exaggerated, but the anime is doing a good job of presenting a girl that really is forcing the protagonist to go along for the ride. That's far different from say, Shu in Guilty Crown, who thinks he was pulled in at the beginning but really he was in it for the attractive girl.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

It's a neat trick, having a rather moe and child-like character, but making her a senpai, so she has some authority.

Eh? There are no senpais here. All our kids are the same grade.

[Qilin]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Second, Eru is probably one of the more realistic heroines. The glowing eyes are a bit exaggerated, but the anime is doing a good job of presenting a girl that really is forcing the protagonist to go along for the ride. That's far different from say, Shu in Guilty Crown, who thinks he was pulled in at the beginning but really he was in it for the attractive girl.

I don't know. Calling her "realistic" might be a stretch at this point. That's not to say that her character traits by themselves are far fetched. But the thing is, we simply know too little about her at the moment. Right now, I can't see her as anything beyond "the girl with an avid curiosity with the weird glowing eyes". Not exactly unrealistic, but she's still much too two-dimensional to draw judgements about her.

Originally Posted by alarmadadna hadi

I somewhat had an inverse impression, although the characters are solidly written 2 eps in, I still don't feel any deep intrigue regarding them, not even Eru (at least not yet). On the other hand, I like the fact that the approach to the mysteries is designed to get you to think along with a number of hints (Was fun stopping the episode midway trying to form my own theory), regardless of the mundane actual solutions. (The only exception so far would be the music class mystery)

Well, for me, I saw the use of " mystery" elements and the show's characterization as related to one another. Arguably, having all these little problems they keep solving conveniently was just an excuse for us to take a peek into how Houtarou's mind works, and it didn't disappoint.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by Qilin

I don't know. Calling her "realistic" might be a stretch at this point. That's not to say that her character traits by themselves are far fetched. But the thing is, we simply know too little about her at the moment. Right now, I can't see her as anything beyond "the girl with an avid curiosity with the weird glowing eyes". Not exactly unrealistic, but she's still much too two-dimensional to draw judgements about her.

I probably should'ved said "Houtarou and Eru's character dynamic" instead. I like how it really seems like he's getting pulled in by her, and he's not just following her out of attraction.

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Not all mysteries have to be grand on the scale of murders or Lupin style thefts as long as they keep the audience thinking.

Second, Eru is probably one of the more realistic heroines. The glowing eyes are a bit exaggerated, but the anime is doing a good job of presenting a girl that really is forcing the protagonist to go along for the ride. That's far different from say, Shu in Guilty Crown, who thinks he was pulled in at the beginning but really he was in it for the attractive girl.

Her eyes aren't exaggerated since they don't really sparkle or anything. It's how our hero is perceiving them. I am going to call it creative illustration or symbolism but there is a word for it. It's not meant to be literal, to him their eyes are like sparkles.

Take the hair scene in the first episode, that was him being trapped by her charisma, innocence and everything else that contrasts him.

[winhlp32]

Episode 2:

- I don't really get the SHAFT feel quite a few people are getting. Kyoani's visual metaphors and art lacks the minimalist/post-modernism that SHAFT shows boast, and SHAFT art are a lot bolder in their use of colors and contrasting. If I had to compare...Kyoani is like Microsoft and SHAFT is Apple?

- I also found that Hotarou's behavior with Chitanda at the cafe was a bit much, but I can overlook it since its not done for comedy, and unlike many male protagonists who pulls this card, Hotarou seems like he genuinely wanted to leave.

- The dialogues was a lot better this time around than in the first episode. Maybe having one more person to talk to helped. And they're slowly introducing some comedic moments as to not make the whole episode so somber. Chitanda and her energy is really carrying the show in this regard.

- ED song is nice but not great. I see the visuals and think, "Oh Takemoto-kun, you..."

[Arturia Polaris]

The ED keeps growing on me, the more I hear it the more I like it.

Niker

EDIT: I'm kind of intrigued at the whole "polaris" thingy in the ED....

[FredFriendly]

Originally Posted by Niker117

I love you

Niker

Thanks, but not as much as I love making avatars of Eru!

Here's another one that's up for grabs:



I gotta say that some of the animation in these episodes is simply amazing. Although in some (if not most) sequences, the actual frames repeat themselves two or three times to create the illusion of motion, to get the very fluid effects, such as in the original of the window scene above, or also during episode 1 when Eru entraps and entwines Houtarou with her hair, each and every frame is an individual, separate image with incredible detail. Whereas my avatar of Eru at the window uses only 19 frames in about four seconds, the original four second sequence was composed of 96 individual and unique frames.