I was surprised that out of all people who Chitanda managed to find to help her, it was that one upperclassman of the previous arc. It made for quite a strange scene with Chitanda being intimidated and all by the tips she gave. Beyond that, this again was a very enjoyable episode in which the characters did all sorts of events. I have to give it to this series: it brought something new to the overused school festival.
This had this degree of detail that is just missing in all of the other school festival arcs I’ve seen. The pacing may be a bit slow, but because of that it could show as much as possible, with the crown being the cooking competition, which showed new things about all four main characters and showed a lot of detail in all of the different dishes that were made and how they were made. This is something that only Kyoto Animation can do, so I’m glad that they at least made use of their talents, as much as I’d like them to do something different from a school series.
I also like how Sayaka pretty much made a big fuss last episode for nothing. As for Oreki, he actually raised his voice. On top of that, I liked how creatively the creators tied in his whole trading subplot with the cooking contest. The next episode will finally be about actual mystery, but heck: this arc already served its purpose to flesh out just about everything in this series. The question now will be to actually use this. It’s of course one thing to have a well fleshed out cast, but what would make that even better is actively using all of that.
Rating: (Excellent)
Who else notice Tomokazu Sugita, voice of Gintoki, shouting out anime and manga reference all the way through the cooking competition, including a Hyouka self-reference
Yup. This episode felt like one of those classic Ghibli movies for me. The music, the colors, the atmosphere. There was much to adore.
I loved the Confectionary Club’s Trick or Treat costumes. XD Mayaka was pretty cute this week too. And Irisu RETURNS! Oh, no! Will she successfully corrupt our innocent airhead Chitanda?! XD (But dammit, I do like Irisu after all. Maybe she’s not all that bad.) Is it me or did Tanabe sound a little bit like Lelouch this week? Chitanda was as impressively airheaded (4 consecutive dishes in 20 minutes!!) as always and Satoshi’s reactions were pretty funny. And the ASTRONOMY CLUB! OMG, I wish this episode was a one hour special that included the tasting part of the Wildfire contest. I’d love to see Kyon’s reaction to the different kinds of food. What’s giseyaki? That looked kind of delicious. Finally, to Oreki getting exhausted after some shouting and tossing a bag of flour out the window: Thank you for your hard work! XD
Now I just wish there were some perfect subs out there to figure out the finer points. I’m wondering if someone out there can help clarify.
What’s on the Manga Club sign advertising the poster contest between Mayaka and her senpai? I saw a translation as “Panther vs Magical Girl” but I don’t catch the reference. I don’t know who Mayaka is cosplaying although the credits mention a title called “Himitsu no Atsuko-chan” so I assume Mayaka is the magical girl but I’m pretty sure the senpai is cosplaying King from Art of Fighting (an old SNK fighting game.) So what’s with the “Panther”?
Kyon returns! Sort of. He makes all kinds of strange remarks to punctuate the cooking club vice presidents comments. I can’t catch the reference. Particularly the one about Chitanda’s fine daikon slicing. What was he talking about?
I thought it was a little strange for a confectionary club to be selling flour. Given the incredible attention to detail this series has had so far, I don’t think it was an oversight but rather some kind of cultural thing. Can someone explain?
I also like how Sayaka pretty much made a big fuss last episode for nothing.
I’m not sure if this subplot is finished yet. Just a hunch. Same with Satoshi’s mysterious rival.
Finally, to Oreki getting exhausted after some shouting and tossing a bag of flour out the window: Thank you for your hard work!
haha, I liked that part too!
Particularly the one about Chitanda’s fine daikon slicing.
They are talking Japanese cousine. He basically compliments her skills because it’s not easy to peel it that way (If you watched Iroha you’ll see Minko practicing it day in day out) Or maybe you are referring to something else?
I don’t know who Mayaka is cosplaying although the credits mention a title called “Himitsu no Atsuko-chan”
It’s Himitsu no Akko-chan. A magical girl from 60ies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himitsu_no_Akko-chan
Or maybe you are referring to something else?
It’s the last part of his remarks. He was saying something like “with that level of skill, she could even .” followed by adding something else as an afterthought. Like wicked said above, it’s probably an anime reference of some kind but I didn’t catch any of the several references he made.
A magical girl from 60ies.
Ah. Thanks! Wow.
Kind of funny how in the anime itself nobody except perhaps those in manga club knew what her costume was, but the show must have been a hit back in its days.
On the other hand it could be that this particular costume was chosen because the show was adapted into a film recently. http://asianwiki.com/Akko-chan:_The_Movie_%28Himitsu_no_Akko-chan%29
Senpai was dress as King from KOF, female panther is a slang term for strong successful woman stereotypical portrayed with appearance like a man(short hair cut and dress like a man). Giseyaki is gisei tofu it’s basically egg tofu and veggies cooked into a tofu shape
The daikon slicing remark was a pun, skin and river are the same sound, He shouted Basara’s catchphrase from Macross7, There’s element change from Aquarion, let darkness devour from blaze blue.
The flour is probably just for plot, unless they were planning on using it as trick somehow
additional meta-stuff, Chitanda used Geass on Irisu(same voice actress as CC)
Thanks!!!
Mm. Learned a lot today. Dammit, my japanese still sucks and I’m still haven’t watched enough anime. XD
Still don’t quite get the punchline to what Kyon was talking about when referencing Chitanda’s daikon slicing.
It made for quite a strange scene with Chitanda being intimidated and all by the tips she gave.
That scene actually oozing yuri subtext, just turn off the sound.
I’ll look forward to the doujinshi next Comiket. XD
I took this scene to be an explanation of the theory behind what Irisu had done to Oreki last arc. I suspect the way Irisu treated Chitanda this time might be a parallel to how she was acting for the scriptwriter. She was trying to be a good senpai, perhaps like how Tomoe was to her. It looks like Chitanda might wind up applying Irisu’s advice on Togaito next week.
Yuri??? I think you have your goggles on a bit tight. Irisu was just explaining how she manipulated men, particularly how she manipulated Hotaru.
Hahahaha. It’s a joke. Like boo suggested, try watching that whole scene again, turning the volume off. Kind of like getting yaoi vibes from Satoshi rubbing Houtarou’s face with his wrap-around. They’re not…actually….wait. I wonder if Satoshi and Oreki flying off in their own balloon as some kind of double meaning…
Please allow me to apologize for my active imagination.
Yeah, it’s very subtle, but Hyouka is full of these little fanservice moments, gay, straight you name it. They are just that fanservice nothing more but all of them are done in a very charming and/or clever way. I’m really admiring the director here.
Aside from the fanservice, it was interesting to see that exchange. It is as if the writer wanted to make it absolutely sure that nobody missed the fact that Iris is a user, a very manipulative person. The scene really drove it home. I too wonder whenever they use this later on (although there is a possibility that the creators were nervous about being too subtle previously.) i guess we will see it soon enough.
To think I almost gave up on Hyouka with the earlier arcs, so glad I stuck with it! The series’ slow pacing has a surprisingly good, subtle build up. Much kudos to the director because I can only imagine how easy it could be to slip into the same old cliche mills with highschool dramas – nothing wrong with them when executed well of course, but it’s very refreshing to see someone handling the material under a different light.
That was a beautiful arc. Slow pacing but I didn’t mind it since it was so rich of details. World building done a way I don’t recall a HS festival ever seeing before.
I was surprised that out of all people who Chitanda managed to find to help her, it was that one upperclassman of the previous arc.
I think Irisu would still feel indebted to the Classics Club for helping her fix her class’ movie. I think she also feels some responsibility for Oreki’s pain. She admitted as much in her messages to Tomoe.
It made for quite a strange scene with Chitanda being intimidated and all by the tips she gave.
I don’t think that’s intimidation. Irisu looked worried after Chitanda mentioned how many copies they had to dispose of, which almost made Chitanda break down. (Notice the passing people taking notice of Chitanda’s reaction.) The arm on the shoulder was meant to be reassuring. I liked how quickly Irisu came up with a working plan to sell the anthologies together with their class’ own pamphlets. It seems like a fair trade, given that there’s no guarantee that Irisu will be able to sell off all 20 copies. Their customers would be interested in the movie pamphlet rather than an unrelated anthology. Whatever they couldn’t sell, Irisu would have to write off on her own.
I don’t think she was intimidated i think she was sort of in awe at Iris capabilities, as these tactics would never occur to her.
Yep. Chitanda being Chitanda. Actually, I kinda thought Chitanda may have been the one to intimidate Irisu a little, after several escalating levels of physical contact. XD Irisu definitely lost her equilibrium there although she got her balance back pretty quickly.
fter several escalating levels of physical contact
…and sparkly eyes ogling!
I loved this episode.
You know in the end this arc was probably for the best, mystery after mystery might be an issue for underdeveloped characters, after watching Bakuman, it’s much easier to understand the creating process. Aside from all that, I loved seeing all the character and world development. It was nice.
Beautiful episode. Made me want to try out some of those dishes I’ve never heard of!
i really enjoyed this arc! it was very cute