AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post - Hyouka

~~Pocari_Sweat~~ · 2012-05-07, 09:07

So after 3 episodes, I think it's time to bring out the ultimatum - to keep or to drop. Very surprisingly, it's quite comfortably kept my "keep" threshold.

Now, I've been quite critical of Kyoani in the last few years. Disappearance was the only damn thing that was remotely interesting for me post Clannad: After Story era, and even then I didn't think either series were particularly masterpieces. So in a nutshell, my experiences with Kyoani haven't been the most flash.

However, despite being pretty (but not mindblowingly so), somewhat boring and with pretty lacklustre mysteries, credit should be given when it's due, and for me the series has very much caught my attention by its 3rd episode. After 3 episodes, I figured out why. And before people ask, no its "dem purple eyes" or "dat yuri ed", those were just excuses for me to continue watching until I found the real reason as I'm definitely definitely not one to follow an anime due to some fanservice

.

The first reason is obvious, character interactions. There is some great chemistry between the 4 characters and none of the characters are hateable. In fact, I quite like Oreki's "facade" of "lazy prick/dickhead" on the outside, but it's obvious he's a caring person in the inside. He honestly reminds me of a mixture of Kyon and Okazaki in that regard. And Eru, well... I like her assertive, somewhat naive personality, but most of all I like the fact she is definitely not a "moeblob", "tsundere" or any of those extreme character archetypes.

Which brings me onto the second reason: it has a breeze/air or at least an attempt of subtlety that I did not feel from any other previous Kyoani series. Now before the "anti-Kyoani group" or "snob" group comes and rebute this claim (hey, I'll admit to being a bit of an anime snob), let me explain. Have a look at every other Kyoani series and you can see patterns. Kyoani is usually quite "extreme" in their delivery. Key series switched from "slapstick comedy" to "heavy melodrama", Lucky Star/K-on had almost diabetes inducing levels of moe to the point it was offensive to some people and Nichijou was just flat out balls to the walls weird. Haruhi was also quite weird, and also had entire episodes or sessions of silly comedy and melodrama (S1 more notably the former and Disappearance more notably the latter). Hyouka? Well aside from camera zoom in to "dem purple eyes" and Oreki's " Imaginary World of Sparkles", it's quite restrained. Seriously, I'm not seeing much slapstick comedy, melodrama or "moeblob" in Hyouka, which was totally ironic for me since at least one or more of the above was what I expect Kyoani to do, given past history. To find out none of these three elements are overwhelming was very satisfying for me to see.

And third reason: every episode has been slowly but surely getting better and I think I'm partially sold that there's a much bigger picture to portray in the future. I mean it's still relatively boring at the moment, but it leaves me hypothesizing that the 'payoff' might be excellent later on since this is effectively 2 cours. There has been some faint elements of romance and drama in the series too, which leaves me hypothesizing that these romance/drama elements might actually hit centre stage at one point? Further proof? The OP. Initially I thought that the Hyouka has been very inappropriate, but as the episodes aired, it's becoming more and more appropriate. That OP is way too melancholic and bittersweet to mean absolutely nothing. Same goes for the classical music BGM. Perhaps the series ends with Oreki looking back at his highschool days being nostalgic on how much "fun" he had being the Classics club and how he partially wasted by because effectively a "lazy prick" only bothering to do something because "Eru told him to".

Alternatively, what I just said just results me in reading too much into the series and indeed turn more slapstick, melodramatic, moeblob or otherwise lose its subtlety in the future. However, the potential is there and I'm very much taking note of it.

Now, despite me praising this series, it is in no way on the same level as Sakamichi no Appollon, Space Brothers or Fate Zero. But considering how Accel World has completely flopped from a relatively strong start (imo) and decided to go for asspull plot twists in the last two episodes, and Lupin III and Jormungand losing a significant amount of its initial charm, I can surprisingly and safely say that Hyouka actually ranks at about Lupin III and Jorumgand levels for me, which is above Accel World but below the "top 3" mentioned above. I was totally not expecting to rank it this high, but it's always a good thing for me when something exceeds your expectations. Now it's up to Kyoani to see if continues to build up on how they have been doing the episodes so far, or just give in to people claiming it's too "boring" and decide to go off into more or less pandering or emotion manipulation (i.e. heavy melodrama) which is what they have a history of doing. So which path/direction will you take Kyoani?

EDIT: Forgot to add. I never expected or thought of Hyouka as a mystery series, since they are pretty mundane. Particularly when I watched Another just last season. Instead I see the mysteries as a way to build characterization, which it is succeeding with, albeit slowly. I guess that's what happens when you set expectations a certain way.

2012-05-07, 09:07	Link #1076
~~Pocari_Sweat~~ <em style="color:#808080;">Disabled By Request</em> Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Australia	So after 3 episodes, I think it's time to bring out the ultimatum - to keep or to drop. Very surprisingly, it's quite comfortably kept my "keep" threshold. Now, I've been quite critical of Kyoani in the last few years. Disappearance was the only damn thing that was remotely interesting for me post Clannad: After Story era, and even then I didn't think either series were particularly masterpieces. So in a nutshell, my experiences with Kyoani haven't been the most flash. However, despite being pretty (but not mindblowingly so), somewhat boring and with pretty lacklustre mysteries, credit should be given when it's due, and for me the series has very much caught my attention by its 3rd episode. After 3 episodes, I figured out why. And before people ask, no its "dem purple eyes" or "dat yuri ed", those were just excuses for me to continue watching until I found the real reason as I'm definitely definitely not one to follow an anime due to some fanservice . The first reason is obvious, character interactions. There is some great chemistry between the 4 characters and none of the characters are hateable. In fact, I quite like Oreki's "facade" of "lazy prick/dickhead" on the outside, but it's obvious he's a caring person in the inside. He honestly reminds me of a mixture of Kyon and Okazaki in that regard. And Eru, well... I like her assertive, somewhat naive personality, but most of all I like the fact she is definitely not a "moeblob", "tsundere" or any of those extreme character archetypes. Which brings me onto the second reason: it has a breeze/air or at least an attempt of subtlety that I did not feel from any other previous Kyoani series. Now before the "anti-Kyoani group" or "snob" group comes and rebute this claim (hey, I'll admit to being a bit of an anime snob), let me explain. Have a look at every other Kyoani series and you can see patterns. Kyoani is usually quite "extreme" in their delivery. Key series switched from "slapstick comedy" to "heavy melodrama", Lucky Star/K-on had almost diabetes inducing levels of moe to the point it was offensive to some people and Nichijou was just flat out balls to the walls weird. Haruhi was also quite weird, and also had entire episodes or sessions of silly comedy and melodrama (S1 more notably the former and Disappearance more notably the latter). Hyouka? Well aside from camera zoom in to "dem purple eyes" and Oreki's " Imaginary World of Sparkles", it's quite restrained. Seriously, I'm not seeing much slapstick comedy, melodrama or "moeblob" in Hyouka, which was totally ironic for me since at least one or more of the above was what I expect Kyoani to do, given past history. To find out none of these three elements are overwhelming was very satisfying for me to see. And third reason: every episode has been slowly but surely getting better and I think I'm partially sold that there's a much bigger picture to portray in the future. I mean it's still relatively boring at the moment, but it leaves me hypothesizing that the 'payoff' might be excellent later on since this is effectively 2 cours. There has been some faint elements of romance and drama in the series too, which leaves me hypothesizing that these romance/drama elements might actually hit centre stage at one point? Further proof? The OP. Initially I thought that the Hyouka has been very inappropriate, but as the episodes aired, it's becoming more and more appropriate. That OP is way too melancholic and bittersweet to mean absolutely nothing. Same goes for the classical music BGM. Perhaps the series ends with Oreki looking back at his highschool days being nostalgic on how much "fun" he had being the Classics club and how he partially wasted by because effectively a "lazy prick" only bothering to do something because "Eru told him to". Alternatively, what I just said just results me in reading too much into the series and indeed turn more slapstick, melodramatic, moeblob or otherwise lose its subtlety in the future. However, the potential is there and I'm very much taking note of it. Now, despite me praising this series, it is in no way on the same level as Sakamichi no Appollon, Space Brothers or Fate Zero. But considering how Accel World has completely flopped from a relatively strong start (imo) and decided to go for asspull plot twists in the last two episodes, and Lupin III and Jormungand losing a significant amount of its initial charm, I can surprisingly and safely say that Hyouka actually ranks at about Lupin III and Jorumgand levels for me, which is above Accel World but below the "top 3" mentioned above. I was totally not expecting to rank it this high, but it's always a good thing for me when something exceeds your expectations. Now it's up to Kyoani to see if continues to build up on how they have been doing the episodes so far, or just give in to people claiming it's too "boring" and decide to go off into more or less pandering or emotion manipulation (i.e. heavy melodrama) which is what they have a history of doing. So which path/direction will you take Kyoani? EDIT: Forgot to add. I never expected or thought of Hyouka as a mystery series, since they are pretty mundane. Particularly when I watched Another just last season. Instead I see the mysteries as a way to build characterization, which it is succeeding with, albeit slowly. I guess that's what happens when you set expectations a certain way. Last edited by Pocari_Sweat; 2012-05-07 at 09:55.