Hyouka - General Discussion

[Guardian Enzo]

Actually they're "Ns" not LNs, and I think that might be important in terms of style and tone.

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Actually they're "Ns" not LNs, and I think that might be important in terms of style and tone.

From what I've heard about them they probably would have been marketed as LNs had they been released today. Keep in mind this series is eleven years old.

[Julio C]

The light novels are that old? Interesting, I thought it was more recent like other Kyoani adaptations.

[Sides]

Thumbs up from me. Love the wee section with the piano mystery, and how they adjust the colouring after Houtarou mentioned that it wasn't actually sunny yesterday.
Only thing I didn't like were the cars in the background, they just look to perfect. Cars are suppose to have dents..

[Ithekro]

That depends on the age of the cars and the general sense of the drivers in the region.

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Not so original, but I can only agree that this pilot episode was a tad too safe for my liking, and doesn't present a engaging mood... yet.
If I discard the mystery label put beforehand, the first episode did accomplish an appropriate setup for a "regular not ambitious high school boy".
Bland? Perhaps, I wouldn't be surprised if much more events are set on motion: after all, Houtarou did something unusual compared to what a "CBA" guy would do.

That being said, I sure hope things will have more dynamics from now on, as Satoshi is the main catalyst of everything right now, which is a bit plain (In fact, I was wondering if the voice acting direction was a bit misplaced or truly depicting Satoshi's character since... he talks as if he was in a drama/theater). Speaking of which, I was nearly expecting some cameo or seiyuu joke, since Houtarou/Satoshi duo isn't without similarities with Tomoyo/Youhei from clannad, albeit hardly that extreme (I plead guilty that I sort of expected Eru to be voiced by Nkahara )

I would say of all their shows, this one really presented the least reason for me to care about what's going on. I don't mind calm and slow moods; hell I usually like my music as such. But like I said, even shows like Nichijou got me an idea of why I should watch it, being a wacky comedy even if I didn't like it. I suppose that would be like K-on but even that had something by its first episode.

Meanwhile, I'm sort of surprised about the criticism regarding animation and design for this series: I dunno, KA isn't really prone to dish out things for eye candy aspect alone. The strength for Hyouka however is that things -do- look alive here: it isn't only the main characters, but you have some environment cohesion with a sheer amount of details regarding students walking around, furniture in the rooms etc.

The animation is great and the background is good, but I'm just not sure why they're dumping so many FPS into things that don't really need them. To me I felt like it looked all fluid just for the hell of it, tbh. It's just that I don't like the character designs being so simplistic and I don't really find them attractive or even good to look at. They just feel generic. Which means you're right. It is a better version of k-on by looks. :S

So yea, I can say the visuals had quite a bit of work and are impressive, but I didn't find them breathtaking by any means as opposed to other series which may not have the same level of technical proficiency and am not sure why copying Shaft makes Kyoani geniuses. Shaft with their single dight FPS at times can create imagery that confounds and amuses, after all.

So all and all, it's not horrid, but certainly below average for me since I simply can't think of too many premieres that I liked less in the past year or so (Maken-Ki, c3, Uptotte, and Persona 4) I think that's it. I guess Tasogare Otome was similar and is the only one out of the 5 for me to not completely ignore afterwards.

[Cyz]

What music was it playing when Eru was asking Houtarou about giving her the application form?

[MUAHAHAHAHAHA]

Originally Posted by Cyz

What music was it playing when Eru was asking Houtarou about giving her the application form?

Canon in D-Johann Pachelbel

[Klashikari]

No. That's Bach's "Air on G String". That intro with the violin is quite characteristic to it.
I must admit I didn't expect the use of real classical pieces there, although the choice certainly was good. I guess it isn't the only track used in this ep, maybe I should give it another try (aside of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata obviously mentioned by Satoshi).

[ThereminVox]

Well that was certainly a pleasant surprise. Obviously it's way too soon to call this adaptation a success, but it's nicely presented, and the cast already seems pretty likable. I see that the cast list is... extensive, so there's not much worry that we'll get stuck with just the big 4 too often.

As with most shows this season, I'll give it 3 episodes before making any real value judgement on it, but I'm enjoying it so far. Nice to see a generously mixed cast too.

[Bonta Kun]

Originally Posted by Sides

Only thing I didn't like were the cars in the background, they just look to perfect. Cars are suppose to have dents..

Haha I can understand that considering where you live but not every car is a beat up banger.
Altho saying that my sister-in-law marked up my brothers BMW few months ago

As for the episode, not quite sure what to make of it atm.
Wasn't exaclty overly impressed with it overall expect the visuals which as noted many times before are rather amazing.
But the story/plot or whatever the hell is going on didn't quite grab me yet.
Sure I don't need every new anime to grab me by the baws at the get go and be "Oh My Gawd!" but still I'd like them to grab my attention to a degree, don't think this has done it quite yet at least.

Don't think I'd say it was bad or even boring just not quite attention grabbing for me.
I can live with the slice of life mystery stories instead of kids doing what adults are supposed to be doing so if it does indeed stick with the small slice of life mysteries and done well I'll stick around but if it starts going off the deep end into god knows where than meh I'll leave it till it finished airing to watch it one go when I find the time.

Now don't know if it's just me but do the Japanese like using Bach's Air on G-string in anime, pretty sure I've heard it in few other animes, not that I'm complaining, love a bit of classical music

[Sides]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

No. That's Bach's "Air on G String". That intro with the violin is quite characteristic to it.

I think that is actually a rearrangement of Bach's Air by someone else

Originally Posted by Bonta Kun

Haha I can understand that considering where you live but not every car is a beat up banger.

Well in my world all car have dents, shoes are used for stepping on sh*t and chewing-gum are for people who have bad breath or used as a temporary adhesive ^^

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by Blue-kun

It's much more about a "group of friends going on their small adventures on school" than "a group of 'real detectives' trying to solve real cases". The hard part is making such trivial matters interesting and fun to watch,

Yes, it's hard. I write for this age group, and I've wanted to do a "group of friends going on their small adventures at school" type of mystery, but I haven't pulled it off to my own satisfaction yet.

When the plot is about mundane subjects, the only thing you've got left to generate interest is the characters. Unfortunately, in the opening episode, the main character Houtarou mostly annoyed me. I'd say he's "Kyon on steroids," but that's kind of a contradiction in terms. Kyon on anti-steroids, maybe? But perhaps he'll change as the series goes along.

[alarmadadna hadi]

Now this is interesting, I felt pulled into the first episode without knowing why.

It is a case where nothing ground breaking took place, whether in-story or as a concept for us viewers, furthermore the characters could use some mystery themselves to make me more eager to learn about them, but I suppose some charm must've been at work. Indeed, perhaps it is because rather than try to baffle with colorful flashy BS, I was given an honest style that conveys without too many pretenses.

Furthermore, I felt the air of mystery was genuine and I enjoyed thinking about them, simple as they were.

I hope they tackle bigger, episode-arching mysteries later on, though.

Unfortunately, in the opening episode, the main character Houtarou mostly annoyed me. I'd say he's "Kyon on steroids," but that's kind of a contradiction in terms. Kyon on anti-steroids, maybe? But perhaps he'll change as the series goes along.

I have some motivation troubles myself (you know, PC term for lazy ) so I understood him but can't really say I encourage that attitude.

[DragoonKain3]

Eru is too friggin cute.... no ::shakes head:: must resist the dark side! XD

[relentlessflame]

I think the reactions in this thread are as much a sign of the times as anything else. With the abundance of one-cour anime and the ultra-fast-paced marketing cycle (people are already hyping up next season when this one's barely started), you have a lot of people whose attitude is basically "You have 1440 seconds to impress me. Go.". For the staff here to pick a decade-old novel series and open with an episode like this really suggests that they're not playing that game, at least not on the story front. I think you can only afford to do that when you don't have producers breathing down your neck every second saying "We've gotta make this a hit! We need a bigger hook! We need to sell more product!" It feels like they know they have all the time they need. (And ultimately I think a lot of people aren't familiar with the pacing of two-cour shows anymore, since they were getting to be so rare.)

They have very competent staff helming this project (including, perhaps an irony given past conversation, the original novel author of Full Metal Panic doing the script, along with the FMP:F/TSR director at the helm), so I'm confident they know what they're doing. Whether it'll be commercially successful or not, who knows...

[Reckoner]

^ I find your unwavering optimism admirable .

For me I'm actually normally pretty patient. I just ran into issues because I was stuck several times staring at the screen and not registering any of the dialogue that was going on because I found it rather dreary which led me to rage a little bit (I'm just disappointed in the studio's decisions post clannad so don't mind me).

I actually came into the episode yesterday extremely open minded, and was willing to give it all the chance in the world. I just felt very betrayed. At the very least I can watch this almost just for the visuals, but I hope they give me something else down the road. Episode 1 just left a very very very weak impression. If another episode never aired again, I'm almost 100% certain it'd fade from my memory very quickly.

[leokiko]

I just wish they would actually set up some ground on the first episode. Even the first episode of Mouretsu Pirates was more eventful than this.

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by Cyz

What music was it playing when Eru was asking Houtarou about giving her the application form?

Originally Posted by Klashikari

No. That's Bach's "Air on G String". That intro with the violin is quite characteristic to it.
I must admit I didn't expect the use of real classical pieces there, although the choice certainly was good. I guess it isn't the only track used in this ep, maybe I should give it another try (aside of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata obviously mentioned by Satoshi).

For the record, I called it first. I attribute it to listening to Devil on G-string's OST so much.

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

That was fantastic. Really, really fantastic. This is going to be a great series. Not to mention the voice actor choices are great - Tomoya and Sunohara together again!

And playing Air on G-string was a great choice. Sometimes, you just gotta go with the classics.

Spoiler for YouTube:

Air is the second movement from Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major and Air on G-string is a rearrangement, as said by Sides.

Originally Posted by Sides

I think that is actually a rearrangement of Bach's Air by someone else

[SRanger]

I for one thoroughly enjoyed the first episode.

I was one of the Haruhi fans that was kind of irritated that KyoAni was putting Suzumiya aside for some 11 year old novel, but I'm pretty pleased.

One, the animation to me is gorgeous. Beautiful. I don't quite understand why people are complaining that the first episode was boring or nothing happened - first episode animes have done FAR worse, and I thought the 1st episode of Hyouka was pretty darn interesting.

The mysteries aren't like hard boiled detective cases, but they were fun and built the kind of gloomy/rainy day/relaxing type of atmosphere for the series.

I mean, the series as of right now seems like a blatant ripoff of Haruhi (jaded main character, girl intrigued by phenomenon, boy joins club against his will) but, it's still damn good.