Hyouka – 17

Well done, Hyouka. I applaud you. This episode brought things together perfectly and it gave everyone a conclusion after so much time of build-up.

Chitanda had her part with the broadcasting club, followed by that interesting advice Irisu gave her. After so long trying to advertise the club, she indeed ended up doing things a bit ham-handedly, and got pointed out for it, and I like that she too realized that she’s not going to do that again and that it was just something necessary to sell all of those anthologies.

Ibara meanwhile had this really genuine conclusion with that one girl, and I like how it indeed was true that there was a reason for her acting like that. That on its own was perhaps nothing special, but it removed so much stress from Ibara that it was really charming to see her, after how well the previous episodes portrayed her state of mind.

The real stars of the episode were Hotarou and the actual culprit: the vice president of the student council. My guess turned out to be half-right, I guess. Hotarou just went with his hunch speculated a bit and successfully managed to unmask the guy. And I think that that is the difference between him and Satoshi: imagination. Hotarou is really able to think between the lines. And the story behind everything was awesome, in which the whole plot was used as a way to ask a really good writer to continue with what he was doing.

This is really how you create a slow-paced series right. Instead of dragging things out, you use the extra time to give mode detail to the setting, characters, storyline. It’s because of all that build-up that this episode was so good, and I really like how believable the cast turned out here. If the creators can take this even further for the final arc, then it’ll really become amazing.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

31 thoughts on “Hyouka – 17

  1. I loved this arc! The interaction between Satoshi and Ibara was good. Watching Satoshi admit disappointment in himself was interesting, I wonder how his development will progress from there. Chitanda was her usual self but she seemed to have realized that the Irusu’s advice was not suitable for her because she’s too direct (blunt). Oreki was definitely interesting. Now we know why he said that he did not want to involve Chitanda because she “might not approve” of what he wanted to do (ie, blackmail). All in all, a nice arc. I suppose that the next arc will, sadly, be the last.

  2. Great episode to conclude a great arc. Of course Oreki was awesome and the continuous development of Satoshi is as interesting as always but what surprised me the most was the conclusion of Mayaka’s sub-plot. I mean, I wasn’t THAT interested in her’s and even when we already knew that her story was going to be involved with the main plot: the way it exemplified the “genius vs hard-worker” premise that started the movie arc and how much of a bitter-sweet end it was; the highlight of the climax for me.

    1. Same. Especially that Manga Club senpai. She’s by no means lacking in talent but to be soundly beaten out of the blue by a close friend who, as far as she knew, didn’t even read manga much. Well, I think she’s the whole package while her friend was just a writer though. She tore through that Manga Poster contest, complete with coloring while Mayaka could barely get through the penciling.

  3. I consider this a quite a wild theory, but I believe that Hyouka gave fans a little bit of freedom to interpret their own conclusion; in terms of romance. Where Satoshi admitted his disappointment to Ibara, I believe the cut-off for that scene was purposely rough; especially, when you consider Hyouka’s transitions are usually so smooth.

    I think at this point, it’s clear that there have been definite subtleties in terms of romance, especially surrounding Satoshi. Hyouka has definitely suggested forms of fan service between; Satoshi and Houtarou; and Satoshi and Ibara. At that cut-off, I’d like to presume that fans were meant to either interpret the scene to be Ibara confessing, or even Satoshi maybe admitting his feelings about Houtarou. Of course, it’s all down to interpretation and maybe even wishful thinking on my behalf.

    1. Wow. The theory that Satoshi is gay for Houtarou is the stuff of the most *intriguing* doujins, but probably nothing more.

      That’s not to say it’s impossible, of course. 😉

  4. I really enjoyed the underlying theme of this whole arc – expectations. Made me remember some of my own experiences that are related, and the fact that I learned it the hard way that one should pretty much not expect anything from others, or else he’ll be only let down one way or the other.

    Back to this anime. Everything concerning this topic was wrapped up so beautifully: Chitanda’s expectations of Hotarou to find the reason behind the lost items case, Satoshi’s expectations for Hotarou to find the culprit, Mayaka’s expectations of the authors behind “A Corpse something something” (can’t remember the full title) as a masterpiece, the student council president’s wish for his talented friend to continue creating manga… Only Oreki seems to fall out of the equation. At least he would have if we were talking about the beginning of the story. Now, however, he seems to be the only one who’s actually trying hard on his own, while not expecting much help from others.

    Overall, this was a great episode of Hyouka – the best one so far. When you come to enjoy some anime as much as this one, you really start wishing for it to continue for a long time to come.

    1. Only Oreki seems to fall out of the equation.

      No. Hourarou has someone he admires and envies too. As great a difference in ability Satoshi feels towards Houtarou, I think Houtarou feels a great difference towards someone too. The someone who practically dropped the answer to the puzzle on his lap. I wonder if she’s the reason why Houtarou doesn’t try hard at anything anymore.

      1. Haha, well played as always, professor meow! I certainly didn’t see that myself, and only now that you mention it do the signs start to appear to me. And it makes perfect sense! Kudos to you!

        If they can weave the sekitani jun + expectations themes together for Houtarou, I can foresee only victory in the character development department.

  5. Yup, this was awesome. The story of course was good, but the direction also felt great. Really, Kyoani is doing a great job with this series.

    All in all this was a great arc. The festival felt really alive, all the characters got a lot of development, the theme of expectations was excellent and the whole thing of talent vs hard work was awesome too (there was a little bit of that in the previous arc as well).

    Small correction :

    “which the whole plot was used as a way to ask a really good writer to continue with what he was doing.”

    I believe it was a really good artist. I mean they already had the story and script for the new manga, but the artist didn’t want to draw it, because drawing manga was only a passing interest of his.

    1. About Muneyoshi, there were two other theories I considered.

      One was that once Anjou Haruna transferred out, his motivation to continue the project disappeared.

      The other was that maybe he felt that the work he’d done on “Corpse by Evening” was the best work he could ever do and he didn’t feel like he could surpass it. While his fans may have expected the world of him, the artist himself may have felt that he had already exceeded his limits and anything else he tried would only pale in comparison and let down everyone’s expectations.

  6. I think that the theme of this arc really was frustration, in particular the frustration of those that have the desire to achieve something watching those disinterested doing it better than they can. There’s nothing that pisses you off more than trying your best and failing, then seeing someone just ‘have a go’ and pulling it off.

    1. Differences in ability, geniuses and average people, savants and those who aspire, basically, how we all feel about ourselves in compared to others. I honestly think its quite cruel that skill can’t just be earned with just effort, however it is far more cruel when someone is blessed with ability you desperately want; and they don’t even care about it, its nothing to them, this was highlighted earlier in the series when Irisu was manipulating Oreki with that story

  7. Yes, this episode really brought up Hyouka another step from “good” to “great”. If only they can capture the spirit of this now and move on cleanly and not suffer too many diversions into pandering… *crosses fingers*

  8. I’m sure we can all agree this episode was rather great.
    It was fantastically fun to watch, and I think it was able
    to show just how overwhelming Oreki’s prowess is
    Hell even I’m jealous, because I’m sure that there are people with
    that kind of deduction ability.

  9. What about Oreki’s sister???? What role does she play in this? How the hell did she figure out the whole thing just by reading the newspaper club’s posted report? And to give Oreki the manga? Hopefully, we will learn more about her in the final arc.

    1. She seems to already had that manga before she read anything. It’s not like she made multiple trips to school.

      1. The manga she gave to Oreki was the key piece to the puzzle that allowed Oreki to solve it. There’s no way he would have known about Kudryavka’s Order otherwise. I highly doubt it was a simple coincidence. Why did she even bring it with her to the Festival? XD

        How the hell did she figure out the whole thing just by reading the newspaper club’s posted report?

        I don’t think she was reading the Newspaper Club bulletin. I think she was outside the Executive Committee Meeting room staring at the Kanya Festival poster drawn by Kugayama Muneyoshi (the Student Prez and artist of that “A Corpse by Evening” manga). Her tapping foot seemed to indicate that all the gears were turning in her head before she seemed to come to some kind of conclusion and she headed straight for Oreki. I think she graduated a year or two before Oreki came in this year so she may have been acquainted with all the parties involved in this case.

  10. This was such a wonderful and lively arc, I’m so satisfied with the ending!

    By the way, could it be that Satoshi’s pink iPhone case is an allusion to A Study in Pink from BBC Sherlock? Since he said that he is Sherlockian earlier. Well, Satoshi really likes ‘shocking pink’ so it might be just a councidence, but those phones look really similiar.

    1. Oh you have noticed this too?! It could be a coincidence but since Hyouka has all these little nuances I also think that it was on purpose.

    2. probs coincidence due to publishing dates/sherlock air dates. though it could be an anime orig thing, if so idk

  11. I think the thing that makes Houtarou different from the usual shonen detective that’s interesting is that he is almost always wrong on the motive, and usually he’s not even close

  12. Contrarily to the majority I found it profoundly anti-climactic.

    All that build-up for just that : fuzzy angsty feelings ??? Plus the bad taste of displaying exactly the same feelings from two different senpais ???

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