Hyouka - Episode 18 Discussion / Poll

[NCP]

Originally Posted by GalacticPulsar

The whole confusion lies in the commie subs which states Ogi was the one being insensitive not Oreki. That is the where it gets confusing to understand. If Oreki was the one being insensitive then it is more understandable.

Yes, you are exactly right about the source of the confusion. In conversational Japanese, the speakers tend to omit pronouns as much as possible and instead use context for implicit meaning. It appears that Commie misunderstood that context and then began to warp the rest of the conversation to make it consistent with that initial botched line.

Interestingly enough, this is not the first time that we have seen this side of Houtaro. Way back in Episode 6 he expressed very similar sentiments when thinking of Chitanda's motivations for pursuing the mystery of that episode.

Spoiler for Episode 6 Monologue:

"Perhaps Chitanda wanted Omichi to have had his reasons for getting angry, and wanted to believe she got angry through her own fault."
"Maybe that's just the kind of person Chitanda Eru is?"
"No, what do I even know about her?"
"Even if I'm sometimes able to predict her actions, I couldn't hope to understand what she feels in her heart."
"That would be one of those deadly sins she was talking about."
"Pride."
"I need to watch out for that."

As can be seen, this unassuming attitude is nothing new for Houtaro. The biggest difference this time, as pointed out by GMT, is that rather than simply claiming he wouldn't be able to understand and leaving it at that, Houtaro is now actively attempting to understand others.

As for why he might be making that change? It is the natural progression of his transition from a "gray" life to a "rose-coloured" life, however muted that rose color might be.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by NCP

Yes, you are exactly right about the source of the confusion. In conversational Japanese, the speakers tend to omit pronouns as much as possible and instead use context for implicit meaning. It appears that Commie misunderstood that context and then began to warp the rest of the conversation to make it consistent with that initial botched line.

Interestingly enough, this is not the first time that we have seen this side of Houtaro. Way back in Episode 6 he expressed very similar sentiments when thinking of Chitanda's motivations for pursuing the mystery of that episode.

Spoiler for Episode 6 Monologue:

"Perhaps Chitanda wanted Omichi to have had his reasons for getting angry, and wanted to believe she got angry through her own fault."
"Maybe that's just the kind of person Chitanda Eru is?"
"No, what do I even know about her?"
"Even if I'm sometimes able to predict her actions, I couldn't hope to understand what she feels in her heart."
"That would be one of those deadly sins she was talking about."
"Pride."
"I need to watch out for that."

As can be seen, this unassuming attitude is nothing new for Houtaro. The biggest difference this time, as pointed out by GMT, is that rather than simply claiming he wouldn't be able to understand and leaving it at that, Houtaro is now actively attempting to understand others.

As for why he might be making that change? It is the natural progression of his transition from a "gray" life to a "rose-coloured" life, however muted that rose color might be.

Good point that this isn't really the first time this kind of thing has been seen from Houtarou. In this case he just went a step further towards wanting and trying to understand someone. I like seeing this step forward for him. While it may be impossible to fully understand someone's heart, at least he's now giving the effort.

As to why this change has happened I think it just connects to the last couple arcs. Failing to read Irisu's motives and initially what the script writer truly wanted from her story. Then following that up with seeing how Tanabe truly felt frustrated at how the Student Council President didn't understand his feelings or intentions. Maybe Houtarou just doesn't want to be left making people feel that miserable because he didn't understand them enough.

Do think this change will be tied quite closely with the key point of this arc. Might tie into Houtarou getting closer to Chitanda and even understanding how Satoshi has been feeling as of late.

[Julio C]

I thought this episode would be the beginning of the last arc. I guess that only leaves 3 episodes left to make an arc.

[MeoTwister5]

I didn't even realize the green signal after Oreki's parting words until Haak pointed it out. Goes to show that a lot of the great things in this show can easily fly above a viewer's head if he doesn't pay attention.