Hyouka

Conveniently Seated?

So I guess the biggest mystery yet is in the spirit of this show, that is, not really noteworthy and barely a mystery.

And speaking of mysteries, the one for this episode was pretty obvious really. I mean, I didn't take all the hints to their logical conclusion, but I only needed a couple of the visual clues they gave us. At least the show has some subtlety though.

I'm not a fan of the artstyle, but I want these characters to shine, so I'll keep watching.

edited 6th May '12 9:03:45 PM by UltimatelySubjective

Which mistery?, they set up three misteries that will be the main plot.

1. What did Chitanda's uncle tell her?
2. What happened 45 years ago, that "shouldn't be remembered"?
3. Where is the first anthology book?

1 and 2 are probably the same thing, and 3 should be the first to be resolved, but as of now they seem intriguing to me.

This week's mistery was okay, my only complaint is that the moment the motion sensors were shown it was kind of obvious what was going. Though, I guess if they don't show them prominently, Houtaro's reasoning would come across as an Ass Pull.

Also, LOL at Satoshi's costume.

edited 7th May '12 9:52:04 AM by shark33

-Houtarou sees the motion sensors while approaching the classroom-

Me: "GEE. Ya think THAT won't be important later on, dooya think??!!?!? DUUUUUUUURRRRR!!!"

I guess its anime is meant to be safe for work, when I watched that I though: That guy make drugs or something while he just smoked...

Anyway what I am interest far more is Satoshis ttitud toward that Ibara-girl. He belive she just lying herself about her feeling toward him and in reality she is in love with protagonist instead Either that or he is gay

From reading the novels (I've only read 6 chapters, and episode 3 covered chapters 4 and 5), it does seem like he has some sort of crush on Houtaro.

One thing I found interesting is that when Mayaka is introduced, in the novel, she is the that makes the joke about Houtaro and Satoshi being "the best couple at [their] middle school" and not Satoshi like in the anime.

Also, the guys working on translating the novels are moving fast, last week only 6 out of 9 chapters from the first book had been translated, now they are already working on the second novel.

I had no clue what those motion sensors were w hen I saw them. I just knew they were conspicious but had no clue what they were.

I like the main characters, that's all I need to watch the series( though I do enjoy the mystery part). Also I've found that Chitanda is voiced by Satomi Sato, never would've guessed it.

In my opinion the question of where the first anthology is relates directly to what happened 45 years ago, since it came up investigating that mystery and they were referred to it for more information from the second anthology, which has been their best source of information about Chitanda's uncle and 45 years ago so far.

edited 7th May '12 3:59:42 PM by UltimatelySubjective

Well then, I'm glad I gave this show a chance.

Episode 3 was miles better than the two previous episodes. The main thing that it did right was to create a suspenseful ambiance throughout the episode. The execution of the mystery was top notch, I'd say.

Unfortunately, the mystery itself wasn't as good. While it's a step up from the locked room mystery or the borrowed book mystery, the solution was still unconvincing. If anything, it was more of an excuse to show off Houtarou's skills.

The arc mystery (with Eru's uncle) seems interesting. Of course, could just as well have been a poor excuse for Eru to share her backstory to Houtarou, but it still struck me as intriguing enough to not mind much.

As with the previous episodes, Houtarou still ends up getting all the characterization love, but that's just fine with me.

I thought the anthology books mystery was interesting.

But instead of the guy smoking, I just sort of replace it in my mind with Marihuanna.

After all I did knew some guys from HS who got busted and had a world of trouble after it so it seems more convincing in my mind.

And that would explain the paranoia!!!!! Hotarou just told the others he was smoking tabaco because he knew that their japanese minds were not read for such a felony coming from an apparently respectable senpai.

edited 7th May '12 7:24:05 PM by Baff

Are tobacco rules different in Japan?

Not that I'm aware of, but as previous posters mentioned it's all a question of image.

Smoking is generally prohibited in schools, ain't it? And to violate a school regulation when you're from a family full of people in the field of education...

Another great episode. The mystery was better than the previous ones, the sort of mundane fare that I've come to expect from this show. The clues are still obvious and thus it's really easy to come to the right conclusion, but the execution was top-notch nonetheless.

Also, I can't stop tearing up over the beautiful, beautiful animation. Really, just... wow.

According to what I've heard, Japanese private schools (which Hyouka takes place in) are very strict when it comes to smoking rules. You don't get suspended if you get caught; you get expelled.

On an unrelated note, here's an interesting post that someone else wrote, which I thought I'd share:

''I didn't really understand what was the point of having Houtarou experience these "alternate reality scenes" in the past two episodes other than perhaps to give the animators some differing scenes to experiment on, but in here I get what they were gunning for. The reason of having Houtarou thinking about the events he sees in such a manner isn't only to make impressive looking scenes, it's to also make us understand how exactly does someone like Houtarou who isn't really all that intelligent could manage to solve these puzzles so easily by merely taking in a few details and without further research.

What these alternate reality scenes aim to do is give us an idea of just how imaginative and attentive Oreki really is. When he noticed these sensors(lol) or when he deduced where the safe was from just going into the room and managing to figure out what the Senpai was hiding, when he kept on trying to avoid eye contact with Eru and focused on the customers newspaper all the while imagining her story with her uncle as a pop-up book, or when he saw Eru as being like a child trying to find something she lost ... these are scenes that give us insight into how Houtarou views the world, how he solves the "mysteries" by reconstructing the world in a different light to get to the answer he wants, how his mind wanders into an imaginary world where he can see people in the way they are deep down, and how creative his brain actually is.''

Those fantasy scenes are too far from reality, either. I find myself trying to imagine graphs, maps, or other things while thinking and walking around.

Why'd they look at satoshi at the end? Did he have volume 1?

Probably just because he's managed to set himself up as the answers guy.

This episode's mystery was probably the easiest yet, though I didn't figure out the smoking part. I figured he just spilled something smelly. Oh, and here are the usual TL notes.

I don't like Chitanda much. I find myself hoping that bad things happen to her. Failure at her goals, love confession rejected, that kind of thing.

...Why is this show doing so well? It's pretty but that's about it.

It's not exactly reaching for the heavens and all that, but we have Eureka Seven AO for all our heaven-reaching needs. Hyouka is 1) not bad and 2) extremely pretty, which is more than enough.

Yeah, but it's beating Fate Zero II apparently. I'm watching three other anime this season and they all seem to be better. Mind you, I'll admit that the series could get better later, but for the moment it just doesn't seem that impressive.

I have Fate Zero and Eureka Seven AO for plot. Hyouka being very, very pretty is enough for me

'Better' is always relative. Hyouka is the only slice-of-life-ish series I'm following (out of five total), and it has solid plot (though nothing special) and superb art that makes it a treat to watch regardless of other factors. I skipped out of Fate/Zero, but I don't think they have much overlap.

I hope the protagonist stays almost completely disinterested in things. He's more interesting that way. Sadly, Chitanda is presumably going to rub off on him.

Yes, how dare he succumb to character development!