Hyouka - General Discussion

[ImagineThat]

Even with the subtitles that PV was incredibly underwhelming. From the the the still images and other promotional material released prior, It wasn't a huge stretch of the imagination to guess the personality types of the characters.

From watching that PV without knowing anything, i would've had no clue that this was going to be a mystery anime. So i hope any future PV's they release at least reinforces that idea.

[Kismet-chan]

"Boring trailer" this and "uneventful trailer" that... No one ever said Hyouka was going to be an action-packed space opera thriller or anything. What exactly were you people expecting?

It's hard to make a trailer for a show of Hyouka's genre/theme mind-blowingly exhilarating, imo. The way I see it, most of you should've expected a trailer that lacked excitement before you even hit the play button. *shrugs*

[ImagineThat]

Originally Posted by Kismet-chan

"Boring trailer" this and "uneventful trailer" that... No one ever said Hyouka was going to be an action-packed space opera thriller or anything. What exactly were you people expecting?

It's hard to make a trailer for a show of Hyouka's genre/theme mind-blowingly exhilarating, imo. The way I see it, most of you should've expected a trailer that lacked excitement before you even hit the play button. *shrugs*

If you're referring to me, its called a difference of opinion learn to accept them. More so, i have no issue with the pv lacking action. As i implied, i find the idea of introducing the characters before introducing the concept of the series stupid.

Its like having a game show with the host going "and lets meet the contestants..." before the audience or anyone else for that matter knows what the hell the show is about.

Also i'm struggling to see the point in releasing a 3 minute PV to say " this character name is __ he/she is __" which is info that can easily be provided on the official site.

[Kismet-chan]

Originally Posted by ImagineThat

If you're referring to me, its called a difference of opinion learn to accept them.

I was referring to everyone in this thread complaining about it, not just you. Hence why I said "most of you" and "you people".

And I know it's a difference of opinion. I was just giving my opinion on the matter. Learn to accept that.

(And whoever downvoted me for "reading more clearly would be nice"? Please, grow up. Loser.)

[Reckoner]

I think the subbed version of the trailer just made me even more concerned that this is going to be boring drivel. I thought at least he might be saying some interesting things in the trailer, NOPE!. Just introducing characters. How boring can you get. Hopefully there's more to learn about this anime than what the trailer just showed.

[Ithekro]

It does start to make you wonder what all the text around the PV was.

Sometimes mystery stories are the kind that give you clues, that that suspense. If the clues are in a language you don't understand, you will not know there is a mystery, since there is no suspense presented.

[Goggen]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

Just introducing characters. How boring can you get. Hopefully there's more to learn about this anime than what the trailer just showed.

Of course there's more to this anime than the names of the characters. Give me a break. This isn't even legitimate criticism, you're just complaining for the sake of it now.

[leokiko]

Originally Posted by Goggen

Of course there's more to this anime than the names of the characters. Give me a break. This isn't even legitimate criticism, you're just complaining for the sake of it now.

The trailer didn't show something interesting. It purposely took focus on the characters for some reason. Which seems like this is all they are trying to sell to us.

[Haak]

Well I thought the trailer was kinda classy so I think it's good that it's trying not to be completely generic. Though it could've given more than just character introductions. I doubt it would be particularly impressionable to anyone that wasn't already interested.

[amatakamata]

Originally Posted by leokiko

The trailer didn't show something interesting. It purposely took focus on the characters for some reason. Which seems like this is all they are trying to sell to us.

Well, you're actually kinda nail it though. It's more like a seishun novel with a mystery (at least the first two books that I've read), and I'm kinda glad that they made the PV like that and not making a deceiving PV that makes it looks like a larger than live drama or full-blown mystery. If they do that, I can't even begin to imagine how many people here would scream murder when they actually watch the series...

Heck, as much as I enjoyed the novels and thankful that it actually got animated, I still think KyoAni and Kadokawa is crazy for even attempting to animate this and hoping for commercial success. Still, there's some part of me that hoping they could somehow pull it off so that there is a chance that my favorite Yonezawa's series, Shoushimin series get animated...

[Archon_Wing]

MM, I think the trailer reminds me of those somewhat boring Japanese tourism videos, where they take you around to boring scenery and start describing the surroundings. It can be relaxing, but it can also put you to sleep.

I mean, did we really need to say the names of those staff members so slowly and attempt to look high class with that repetitive music?

In any case, in the context of an anime trailer, it's a bit lacking.

[Triple_R]

Just recently watched the Hyou-Ka PV twice. Here's my take on it, and how it shapes my expectations for the upcoming anime:

1. I know that Demi Soda and some others might disagree with me here, but I like how the character designs in this harken back a bit to Haruhi 2006, imo. In particular, the female lead for this show makes me think of Bungaku Shoujo's Tohko Amano with Haruhi Suzumiya's mannerisms and dominant personality, all done to that classic Haruhi 2006 art style. If the female lead of this show ends up being like a fusion of those two anime characters, I'll be extremely pleased with that.

2. The animation quality is very good, if not excellent. The fluidity in character movements in particular is quite nice.

3. It's interesting how KyoAni is putting such emphasis on eye color and the overall look of eyes in this. This isn't just for the purple-eyed female lead, although she gets the greatest focus here, but even the eye colors of the male characters stand out unusually nicely. KyoAni does seem to be hoping that having really beautiful and dreamy eyes on its characters might help to draw in larger audiences. It is an interesting approach, that I admit does give this anime at least one stand-out visual strength, but I'm not yet sure if I agree with it.

4. Character designs are exceptionally nice, but the settings themselves seem a bit basic to me. In fairness, maybe that's intentional, as maybe they're trying to convey just an average school (or even a humble/modest school). However, I honestly did find Hanasaku Iroha and Guilty Crown's settings to be more pleasing to the eyes than the settings that we've seen so far in this PV. Mind you, the settings are still above the anime average, so I don't have any major complaints here. KyoAni is still one of the very best in the business for art style/animation quality, but some studios (Production I.G., P.A. Works, White Fox, etc...) have more or less caught up to them.

5. The musical choice was nice and pleasant to listen to, but I'm not sure what to make of it given the fairly busy visuals (in the sense of the female lead coming across as pretty hyperactive). Still the overall effect was nice enough. It was a good PV...

6. Except it was three minutes long. I appreciate a honest PV that isn't trying to pretend that the anime is something other than what it actually is. But at the same time, if you're a lowkey slice of life anime, I wonder why you'd need three whole minutes to showcase that. Something with a complex and/or action-oriented plot, sure, jazz it up, but for something more relaxing and/or straightforward than that, a minute and a half probably would have been a more suitable length for the PV.


Now, this PV is leaving me with the following ideas:

1. "Best Case Scenario" (at least for me) is that this is Bungaku Shoujo meets The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (perhaps minus the supernatural aspects). If this is what it ends up being, I'll likely end up loving it a lot.

2. "Worst Case Scenario" (at least for me) is that this is a very poor man's Ano Natsu. That's what I'm expecting here if this ends up being primarily a romcom (with only four major characters, it likely won't have as much to work with as Ano Natsu did).

3. "Probable Scenario" - This will be the mystery anime equivalent to that "music" anime K-On!, if you catch my drift. Only with half the main cast being male (which is nice for a change). If this is the case, it'll be a pleasant enough watch, but probably a bit disappointing to serious Mystery anime fans.


Well, I think that covers everything. If nothing else, this anime is now amongst my five most anticipated watches of Spring 2012.

[totoum]

Seriously,this trailer is not any more boring than the vast majority of trailers out there,most trailers just show off random clips presenting the characters like this one does.If this wasn't KyoAni it'd be a non issue.

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

3. "Probable Scenario" - This will be the mystery anime equivalent to that "music" anime K-On!, if you catch my drift. Only with half the main cast being male (which is nice for a change). If this is the case, it'll be a pleasant enough watch, but probably a bit disappointing to serious Mystery anime fans.

My bet is on this one as well. I'm getting really big K-On on a "mystery" setting vibes from Hyouka and would strongly advise anyone expecting a hard code mystery story out of this to cut down the expectations fast before they end up disappointed.

[ImagineThat]

Originally Posted by Kismet-chan

I was referring to everyone in this thread complaining about it, not just you. Hence why I said "most of you" and "you people".

And I know it's a difference of opinion. I was just giving my opinion on the matter. Learn to accept that.

I'm not going to play the semantics game.

As for opinions, Mine as well the majority of posts in the thread was on the PV. Yours however was to make generalizations and baseless assumptions on people with an opposing viewpoint to your own. So you're going to have to forgive me if i'm unwilling to accept that.

Originally Posted by amatakamata

Well, you're actually kinda nail it though. It's more like a seishun novel with a mystery (at least the first two books that I've read), and I'm kinda glad that they made the PV like that and not making a deceiving PV that makes it looks like a larger than live drama or full-blown mystery. If they do that, I can't even begin to imagine how many people here would scream murder when they actually watch the series...

Heck, as much as I enjoyed the novels and thankful that it actually got animated, I still think KyoAni and Kadokawa is crazy for even attempting to animate this and hoping for commercial success. Still, there's some part of me that hoping they could somehow pull it off so that there is a chance that my favorite Yonezawa's series, Shoushimin series get animated...

I thought this series might put more emphasis on the characters than the mysteries at play but i would like to know what the mysteries are like. How complex would you say they are and what kind of themes are involved?

[HasuMasu]

Originally Posted by totoum

Seriously,this trailer is not any more boring than the vast majority of trailers out there,most trailers just show off random clips presenting the characters like this one does.If this wasn't KyoAni it'd be a non issue.

No way, the criticism displayed here are just and deserved. Ofcourse the fact that KyoAni isn't making FMP, Haruhi, or LB has absolutely nothing to do with how meticulously we are picking this PV apart piece-by-piece as an outlet for our bottled-up KyoAni rage which doesn't even exist. We look at this independent of the studio's other works because we believe in giving this show a fair chance at least until it actually comes out.

How could you even think of such a ridiculous idea?

[Ithekro]

Riiiiiight....absolutely nothing.

Even Kyonko gets the sarcasm. (Which is something else some would like to see animated by KyoAni....even as a joke).


So. Many. Uses.

[Reckoner]

Well yes, KyoAni is touted as one of the bestest studios ever, so of course they're gonna get attention. Other studios have an excuse for boring previews, their anime usually suck. Them? We expect more .

[HasuMasu]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Riiiiiight....absolutely nothing.

Even Kyonko gets the sarcasm. (Which is something else some would like to see animated by KyoAni....even as a joke).


So. Many. Uses.

Would it help if I remove the formatting?

[Ithekro]

No it was fine...I just had something to use for once.