Hyouka - General Discussion

[kimpleng]

KyoAni attention to detail is superb.

Spoiler for stamp:

Scan from this http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-8147...ure-circa.html

[rulfo]

Ichirou Miyoshi is Yoshiji Kigami btw.

Originally Posted by kimpleng

KyoAni attention to detail is superb.

Scan from this http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-8147...ure-circa.html

This makes it twice for KyoAni to reference Malaysia.

In Nichijou and here.

[tera_ha]

After watching 4 episodes. I think that this show is a bit overrated and over-hyped but that's just my opinion about the show. May be it's not my cup of tea

[Patriot's Blade]

Originally Posted by rulfo

It begins?

Spoiler:

are those actually the genderbent girls?

[zeniselv]

Originally Posted by DRAGUN H.E.X.

are those actually the genderbent girls?

the guys crossdressing.

[Skane]

Originally Posted by zeniselv

the guys crossdressing.

I want this ED to be official. Even if only as a DVD extra.

Cheers.

[Patriot's Blade]

Originally Posted by zeniselv

the guys crossdressing.

you've got to be kidding me , well since this is Kyoani we're talking about, they're probably gonna make them lying on the bed while holding hands, wearing nothing but tight speedos, while their bodies got entangled in ribbons then decorated with roses.......

[rulfo]

Originally Posted by DRAGUN H.E.X.

you've got to be kidding me , well since this is Kyoani we're talking about, they're probably gonna make them lying on the bed while holding hands, wearing nothing but tight speedos, while their bodies got entangled in ribbons then decorated with roses.......

OH GOD...... :barf:... :hurl:.. :regurgitate:...

There is no emoticon to express such disgust?

Originally Posted by zeniselv

the guys crossdressing.

TBH I really thought that was a gender bent Mayaka till I saw Oreki's eye color.... Oh hell no...

[teja208]

Originally Posted by DRAGUN H.E.X.

you've got to be kidding me , well since this is Kyoani we're talking about, they're probably gonna make them lying on the bed while holding hands, wearing nothing but tight speedos, while their bodies got entangled in ribbons then decorated with roses.......

And to make it perfect, we need to have the ED song sung by both male leads as well.

In addition to what most people had been speculating about next episode, Question still remains about the title Hyouka: You Can't Escape. What is it that you are supposed to escape from?

[Sylphic]

The title isn't you can't escape anymore. It got changed with the current edition.

It's niece of time now.

The answer to cant escape is actually fairly obvious. It should show up next episode.

[tsunade666]

nice episode with a hint of darkness in it. The mystery is solved but some parts are omitted maybe for Chi-chan's sake. But in the preview it looks like Oreki is telling the truth to Satoshi or maybe Satoshi notice that Oreki is hiding something.

This anime is really superb. And Chitanda making riceball makes it super SUPERB!

[ttdestroy]

I like the slow pace, I feel like they're really doing some world building in this series.

[Yui Is My Wife]

Everything about this show is perfect minus the unbearable apathy and sarcasm of the sociopathic and emotionless male lead, who frankly is as much fun to watch as listening to glass being ground to powder and having said powder shoved under your eyelids. Thankfully, the warmth, idealism and adorable cuteness of Chi-chan makes it completely bearable and makes this show worth coming back to week after week.

[Guardian Enzo]

It's funny, as I watched the Hyouka ED the first couple of times I thought, "someone is going to do a male version of this, like the legendary remake of the Needless ED".

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by Yui Is My Wife

Everything about this show is perfect minus the unbearable apathy and sarcasm of the sociopathic and emotionless male lead, who frankly is as much fun to watch as listening to glass being ground to powder and having said powder shoved under your eyelids. Thankfully, the warmth, idealism and adorable cuteness of Chi-chan makes it completely bearable and makes this show worth coming back to week after week.

While I wouldn't be as blunt as you I'll have to agree: the male lead is seriously getting on my nerves with how much negativity comes out of his lines. It's putting me a bit off. Of course that the other 3 characters are more than enough to balance it out but it's really very close...

Originally Posted by tsunade666

This anime is really superb. And Chitanda making riceball makes it super SUPERB!

Strangely the moment that scene came up I started considering how Chitanda would probably make a very good wife.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Dextro

While I wouldn't be as blunt as you I'll have to agree: the male lead is seriously getting on my nerves with how much negativity comes out of his lines. It's putting me a bit off. Of course that the other 3 characters are more than enough to balance it out but it's really very close...

I'm actually starting to see it as the other way around: He's there to provide balance for them. It's kind of like Azusa's role in K-On, imo.

Really upbeat characters are often at their best when you have good foils for them to gradually win over, similar to what the K-On crew did with Azusa.

Also, if you have a cast of nothing but really upbeat characters you risk being diabetes-inducing. Oreki makes sure that this show never gets too sweet for its own good.


I largely liked Episode 4, though the speed with which this mystery was (seemingly?) solved is a bit disappointing to me. If this whole Uncle arc ends next episode, I hope they have a good arc-based mystery to follow it up with.

[Guardian Enzo]

For me, it's the girls who're the weakest link so far - apart from the obvious fact that they look fantastic (especially Chitanda) they're incredibly generic. "Anime Girl A, Anime Girl B". I don't mind Hotarou so much, even though he's also pretty much a trope, mostly because his odd couple relationship with Satsohi is the most interesting one in the series. Satoshi is certainly the most distinctive character so far, especially after his soliloquy in this episode.

[Qilin]

I finally finished reading the currently translated novel, all I can say is that it conveys the mystery better. While it lacks the anime's frills and visuals, it better presents the clues that lets the reader/viewer come to his/her own conclusion. At least, it allows the reader to digest everything at his/her own pace. That is especially true in this case since the evidence in this case is a handful of historical texts that involve through reading and rereading.

Spoiler for thoughts on historical context:

What I find most appealing is the attention it gives to historical context in their discourse analysis. From the start, I was puzzled by several questions concerning the mystery, but the most salient one was: "Why go through so much trouble for the sake of a cultural festival?" I mean, cultural festivals are pretty cool and all, but I don't think that cutting it down warranted a school-wide resistance, no to mention all the sacrifices they made because of it.

But then, I figured that student freedom was probably not as widespread in the past as it is now. If we assume that school administration back then was much stricter in restricting student freedom, the cultural festival takes a whole different meaning. It becomes one of the few channels for students to express what little freedom they had. As such, they could only react violently when it was threatened. The prevalence of student activism at the time is likely a reflection of such a relationship between the administration and the student body. Even the Principal's speech about improving the school's education standards takes on an entirely new meaning when viewed from the lens of that particular zeitgeist.

This all goes to show the importance of understanding the historical context in any piece of text. As time goes on, cultures and meanings change alongside it, so it is understandable for certain meanings and nuances to become lost in the process. That is why complete understanding of historical context is invaluable when it comes to reading any piece of text.

The foreword for Hyouka vol. 2 puts it rather eloquently:

Once the subjectiveness is taken away, this story will become a classic as it transcends all historical perspectives.

Will the day come when our stories become a classic for someone in the future?

Once a work can be appreciated from an entirely different era, once it transcends its own time, that is when a work truly becomes a "classic".

[PiggyBank]

Unlike many here, I like Hotarou as the main character. A lot of the charm of this show is about the contradiction between Chitanda and Hotarou, energy and enthusiasm vs apathy and cynicism.

Besides, it's somehow refreshing to see a main char who's not jumping all over the place shouting his head off or choking on his bottled up emotions.

[Kaioshin Sama]

I'll just offer that personally I'm finding the sarcastic main character with the rambling inner monologue a touch played out of late, though still not as undesirable as the weak-willed male lead that can never seem to find his bearings despite everybody trying to point him on the right path. These seem to be the popular things to do with male main characters nowadays though and Japan seems to love it so I sort of understand why it's a trend.