Hyouka – 19

Once again a really nice standalone episode for Hyouka, so close to the end. I have to say: I’m really enjoying these episodes more compared to the individual episodes of the first half of the series. It’s not just because we now know the characters and that this show is now able to use this in its storytelling (most notably the interplay between Oreki and Chitanda), but the mysteries themselves also have gotten more interesting. I relaly liked the idea of piecing a story together from a random strange announcement over the school intercom.

This was just two people sitting in a room, trying to piece together something that happened, and I like episodes like this, especially considering how much detail the writers managed to put into it and how everything just started with one simple sentence: Oreki picked apart every single detail of it in order to get to his conclusion. Satoshi and Ibara were completely absent, so this was just about Oreki and Chitanda.

Now, I wouldn’t actually mind if the show ended on random episodes like these, or even a short arc of three episodes. In fact, it’s great for the variety in this series to play with the set-up like this, especially after the long school festival arc. Having a series in which the arcs are all the same length does get a bit boring, but here they are able to switch things up, and especially this episode was significantly different from the others. That’s great! Yay for variety!
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

75 thoughts on “Hyouka – 19

  1. It was really refreshing and funny to see Chitanda and Oreki alone and how they are more comfortable around each other.

  2. Chitanda and Oreki were definitely very cute together. I was thinking initially that as this show is really not a romance that we would not have any resolution of the Chitanda / Oreki situation, but it is as clear as day to everyone (including the other characters) how much Chitanda and Oreki crush on each other I’m now not so sure. I thought that last line from Chitanda jokingly asking him to investigate himself as to why he put the effort in for her (its for you dummy!) and his smile back was simply awesome.

  3. Oreki is too good for this series. I thought it ever since the beginning of this anime. A man like Oreki deserves to be solving murders and mass conspiracies. Stick Oreki into the role of a detective in an anime with a cat and mouse act between a serial killer and that would be gold. But no, he’s instead wasted on this mundane triviality. It’s such a pity.

    1. Personally I disagree as the whole point of the show IMHO is that the mysteries are ones that we can relate to. No one solves murders as teenagers. It just doesn’t happen.

      1. And if mech’s existed, teenagers wouldn’t be the ones piloting them , yet that is the case in 99% of anime involving mech. No average looking generic teenager would have a harem of beautiful girls , yet that is the case in almost all harem anime. No females would be able to win swordfights, or any fight in general, against a male, yet it happens frequently in battle manga/anime where a female is the lead.

        1. So i guess in summation i guess i agree with Aidan. Oreki would fit in much better in a role like Light or L had in Death Note. Or in a series like Spiral.

        2. This is exactly why it is refreshing to see a show more grounded in reality. It makes it easier to identify with the character and place yourself in the characters place. It is true there are a lot of shows that do not do that but Hyouka is not one of those and does what it does very well. I do not think it needs to change. You may disagree but there are plenty of escapist shows out there for you to watch.

          1. Well i don’t completely agree with Aidan. I like Hyouka a lot, and completely understand what you are saying. Would i like to see Oreki in something where he could have more of an impact? Sure. But i don’t feel he is completely wasted on the show he is in. He makes a good show even better so i really can’t complain too much.

          2. Scruffy, realism sucks. I merely require something to be feasible.
            Let me say it this way. Imagine a man fist fighting a dragon. Now obviously in real life this is impossible as dragons don’t exist. However if by some small chance that a man encountered a dragon in real life that man could not even make it flinch by punching it and would get eaten in seconds. However in fiction it is possible for a man to fistfight a dragon and even win. Thus it is more interesting and undeniable awesome.

            Besides if you are going to throw the realism card I should point out again that if you were in Oreki’s shoes you would have a hard time finding friends interested in the mystery of Chitanda’s uncle and why the teacher liked helicopters. Honestly realistic or not what’s the point if the end result is a story becomes less interesting as a result?

          3. @Aidan: Not everything has to be excapism and for me personally reality doesn’t suck. Like I say there’s heaps of good escapist shows out there (eg Eurkea AO) so if that’s your thing then go for it. However that doesn’t deny the fact that some of us want shows that are somewhat grounded in reality.

          4. I didn’t say reality sucks. I said realism sucks. Let people be able to fly and shoot laser beams out of their hands. That’s what fiction is for.
            Also you clearly stated that you liked this because it was escapism for you.(I quote “This is exactly why it is refreshing to see a show more grounded in reality. It makes it easier to identify with the character and place yourself in the characters place.”)

            You want shows grounded in reality? Try some live action television. Breaking bad for example. Anime is great because it can push the boundaries of acceptability. A show like Dragonball z and Gurren Lagann would never work in a live action format. However they work in anime. That’s the magic of it.
            And come on. Eureka seven AO? You say to watch good escapist shows and recommend me the pile of mediocrity that calls itself Eureka seven AO?

            That said I probably wouldn’t be bitching about this anime so much if it hadn’t been animated by KyoAni. If it was another animation company I may even agree with you. But it’s such a damn shame to look at this and think “You can do better KyoAni.” (COUGH, Sharin no kuni, COUGH!)

          5. @Armpit, breaking bad gets better with each season. I only see up to season 3 but DAMN….it’s awesome.

      2. Pretty much agree with Aidan on everything except AO sucking – aside from having a few too many threads, I reckon its pretty decent so far.

        And yeah, Sharin is one of those games that could potentially be amazing if animated (especially considering the fairly linear way the story is structured).

    2. Weirdly enough, despite all evidence to the contrary, Oreki still insist that he does not have a natural talent at deductive reasoning. He’s not completely wrong, he’s wrong all the time, and the investigative legworks are often done by others. He’s in direct contrast the the main character of the author’s other series, the ordinary people series, where the lead was once a well regarded teen detective, but people turned on him because of his ability, so he decides to hide his talent and strive to be an ordinary citizen. Oreki seems to be preempting that by denying his talent in the first place.

      And the focus has always been youth(seishun) for this author, Oreki behaves very much like a teenager with no real confidence despite his ability, and he has to be thrusted into a position to do something

    3. I personally think he’s perfect for this series. Save murders and mass conspiracies for Conan. Although it’s likely Oreki is being partially modest, he’s right in that his theories also leave a lot up to luck. That’s why he reaches the wrong conclusion a lot more than your average detective. Even in this episode, without Chitanda’s assistance, Oreki would have never gotten as far as he did in his theory. Sure, detectives usually have sidekicks to help them out, but in Hyouka, Oreki literally (and not subjectively) accomplishes nothing on his own. He would die in a cat and mouse game, or at the very least, endanger everyone around him.

  4. Teenagers and shows about them solving murder mysteries can work, I wouldn’t be opposed to the creation of them but I like Hyouka because its a bit different than usual and by that I mean by having ordinary, rather than out of the ordinary mysteries.
    As for mecha in real life, in most cases I guess yes teenagers would not be piloting them, it could depend of the type of conflict though and conscription and views on that could vary from country to country.
    Don’t really I agree with the bit about women though in general not being able to defeat a man in real life though, I think thats more to do with the individual, but okay you have your opinion and I’ve mine.
    I think based on body type/height a woman could have a speed advantage in a sword fight though, if they were small they could use that to their advantage too.
    I think the issue can be resolved if you have a highschool boy with a harem of giant female mecha involved in sword fights but thats just me! lol

    1. Actually while I have nothing against and often enjoy things grounded in reality I actually like escapist and unreal themes more because that is generally more interesting. I guess in Hyouka’s case and mystery anime I’m seeing this differently though.

  5. Kaiser not to sound like a dick , but the part i stated about women was a fact. Yes if a trained female fighter was fighting an average guy, she sure as hell could beat him. That isn’t what happens in battle manga or swordfighting anime. They are fighting other males who are also trained in fighting. They would lose 100/100 fights.Thats just the way it is. It is the same with sports. You take the U.S. womens soccer team for instance.Best in the world easily. They would be destroyed by any of the top 50 male high school teams. You could assemble the 12 best womens basketball players in the world, and they would be destroyed by over 50 male AAU 15 and under teams.Or we could apply it to MMA (which i am a huge fan of). If a trained woman fighter could hang with a trained male fighter, then we would see men and women fighting in MMA and boxing. The reason it doesn’t happen? Because the woman would up with brain damage, broken limbs, or worse.

    1. Sorry … but unfortunately you do sound like a dick :(.

      Whenever someone starts off a sentence like that (I don’t mean to be racist, but .. I don’t mean to be a bigot, but …), invariably people portray the stereotype they say they were not going to do.

          1. For the record, i understand completely where you are coming from. When people start their statements with the comments you mentioned you are correct in that is usually just a way to hide sexism racism or whatever else. In regard to me, i only stated not to be a dick because i consider Kaiser a good friend, and i didn’t want him to think i was attacking him or being rude. That is the ONLY reason i started that way in my sentence!

    2. Honestly armpit I said that bit to try and prevent some kind of arguement that might start as the result of it and to avoid a debate about sexism. I guess its a case of not wanting to believe that fact more..I know what you mean and all I kind of jumped the gun a bit there cause I get uncomfortable sometimes with the idea of this men outclassing women thing when it comes to sport/fighting and my first thought is the line “women are weaker than men” and I don’t like using that word about women.

    3. Random sports comment, best 12 women basketball players in the world would absolutely destroy any AAU under 15 teams hands down. Mainly because A. Women basketball player can actually shoot and run plays, and B Most AAU player cant play defense, and will indeed foul out against even the most unathletic crafty player

      1. Are you kidding me? The top 15 and under AAU teams are comprised of an entire team, save one or two players, who can dunk. There is exactly 2 womens player who can dunk worldwide, and they can only do it a completely wide open fast break. Furthermore these top AAU teams are full of kids who are all already commited to top end Division 1 schools.It wouldn’t even be a close game..The AAU kids would win by 30+

        1. In fact there was an under 15 AAU team from Florida sometime in the last 10 years that scrimmaged a mid major conference division 1 college mens teams, and won by double digits.

          Lebron James was beating Division 1 college players in one on one games when he was at the ripe old age of 13.

          1. I won’t claim to have sports knowledge but a boy that age trouncing adults in a basketball game, thats one impressive kid.

          2. Armpit, I know you follow Kuroko but have your heard of slam dunk? Thats a basketball manga people seem to like.
            If you were willing to put up with an annoying lead and the idea of a load of mechs involved in the game. basquash could be another one but I only ever saw a bit of that one.

          3. Yes but kids like Lebron and many others have ridiculous physical tools and size at a young age. And with a bunch of the top 15 and under AAU teams the coaches recruit kids from out of their districts, which is illegal, but still happens all the time. A regular 15 and under AAU team, in which there are literally thousands, would get creamed by a top womens team. I am talking about the best of the best. AAU teams that have all players 6 feet and taller. Mainly these superstar teams come from states like Florida Texas and Cali.

          4. Yup love Slam Dunk. Nothing too flashy about it. Nothing too unrealistic about it. And yet it is simply awesome in my opinion.

          5. Lebron James is also once a lifetime player, with no comparison. You also did not say the best AAU team, but you did mention the best Woman Basketball players in the world. one team in the past 10 years can probably beat a mid-major team, but the collection of the best women in the world should at least be even with a mid-major team.Dunking isnt all there is in the game. If a game like that, ever happened, it’ll probably be a 3 point parade by the women

          6. And those women would be blocked almost every single time they shot the ball.Whatever it is a pointless argument. I came to Florida numerous summers to visit my grandparents. I played AAU ball myself. I was on some good teams too. We killed a bunch of teams, yet whenever we went up against the super power recruited teams we absolutely got demolished.

            And yes i stated the top teams clearly.I never said all, or even most AAU teams would beat the best women. That would be absolutely stupid. There are 1000’s upon 1000’s of AAU teams in the U.S. In any given year 30-50 of them are the cream of the crop. Teams that are full of kids already committed to division 1 schools at 15 years old. Sorry anybody who knows sports, i mean really knows sports, knows that the womens team would be destroyed. It doesn’t matter how much better the women can shoot, which isn’t better than the top AAU kids anyway. It doesn’t matter if they can run plays , which the AAU kids do also. The males have superior athleticism and speed. That is what basketball is all about in this day and age. The NBA isn’t about teamwork anymore. The era of guys like Magic and Bird and their ultimate team over themselves approach don’t fly anymore. It is also about 1 on 1 isolations. Chucking up 3’s. Using superior athleticism to blow by people.

            Not to mention women use a smaller sized basketball. They would be totally f’d having to use a regulation size ball. And if they used a women’s regulation ball then they end up losing by even more.

          7. I think its in away though kind of unfortunate at the same time for these basketball kids, its alot of pressure on young shoulders.
            I know this isn’t a basketball series but seeing how we’re on about sports anime one of the few I liked was that one with the girls playing baseball that was done by JC staff.

          8. Don’t feel bad for them Kaiser. These kids live like gods, and most of the time they can get away with anything they want.

            There was a high school kid who just got sentenced to prison the other day. He was a star high school basketball player who had numerous offers from big division 1 schools.

            His girlfriend broke up with him some time ago. He got mad and went to her apartment to try and reconcile. She didn’t want to so he dragged her out of the apartment and beat her up. Luckily the douchebag was caught on the apartments video cameras. So he got charges with kidnapping and a few other felonies. His coaches, family and even the ex who he beat, all requested to the prosecutors that he get probation instead of jail time. Being a star athlete of course he thought he was untouchable and wouldn’t do time. Justice was served this time. The judge wasn’t playing games and sentenced him to 3 years in prison. He immediately dropped to his knees and started crying in the courtroom. The officers in the court actually had to lift him off the ground. There is video of the courtroom scene somewhere online. I saw it on msn like a week ago.

            In the end justice was served, but usually these POS athletes get away with anything they want.Hopefully he gets abused in prison so he can understand , at least partially, what he put his ex girlfriend through. Justice served!

          9. Nah, I mean height wise Candice Parker, Lauren Jackson, Brittney Griner can all hang with high school boys. though they dont match with strength

        2. I completely understand the argument that just a good high school team can easily beat a WNBA team, Athleticism wise you cant compete. I also feel like if you are talking THE BEST in the world, they should be more than competitive against under 15 players as they are. I think it’s a step up on the development ladder when they all truly reach 6-2 and over average height that they truly leaves the women in the dust. but I have underestimate the sheer number of AAU players in the nation, maybe there are 50 teams where they players all developed under 15

          1. That boy will be out in a few months or so for good behaviour I’d imagine, the law never ends up being able to fully and properly punish young offenders. I’m assuming this kid is 15-16?
            I don’t get the girlfriends reaction though at all if I was in her situation I wouldn’t have asked for probation for him after what he did.
            Goddammit..guys like that who do those things to women..just argh I don’t have the words!

          2. I played for a team in Brevard County Florida Wicked. I was 6 feet at 15, and i was only the 4th tallest person on the team. And we were just a decent team. We couldn’t hang with any elite teams. I am not even talking about the super power teams i mentioned earlier. We played one of them super powered teams from Miami and lost by 60+ with their backups playing half the game. We lost to a team who was like the 10th best in Georgia by 35 points.

            Baseball was rough for me as well in the U.S., but at least i had somewhat expected what i was getting myself into there, since there are tons of great young baseball players in Japan. There are no really talented basketball players in Japan so it took some getting used to.

          3. Nope Kaiser he is 18 and a senior in high school. I don’t think he will be getting out that early for what he did. He is still lucky as he could of been sentenced to something like 30 years for the charges he faced.

            Here i found a youtube link to the court scene if you are able to view it.

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrR1Qgl4Tv0

          4. If there were 12 Candace Parkers to fill out a team then man that team could probably hang with some smaller mens college teams.

            That girl is a beast.

          5. I’ve watched that video just there and I don’t really buy his tears as genuine.
            Nor do I sympathize with him either.
            Heh I have to wonder, had there been a sports episode of hyouka, how the discussions would have gone lol

          6. Armpit you played Baseball in Japan or the US? It could be because I’m from Texas, but baseball was never as well regarded or thought to be competitive as football or Basketball, even though in term of pro salaries, you really cant beat a MLB contract in the US.

            I totally understand how dejecting it could be to be beaten by a far superior team. Our school played Gerald Green once and he literally fouled out the the starting 5 with in 10 minutes of the game

          7. Wicked that is awesome man. I know Gerald Green as my favorite NBA team drafted him. The guy was a ridiculous talent in high school.

            I played baseball both in Japan and the U.S. I was just more prepared for baseball when coming to the U.S. because i got to play a lot of very good players in Japan. I dominated basketball while in Japan. So when i came home for summers it was like playing in some bizarro world. It was fun though. Had to stop playing basketball when i was 17 because i dislocated my knee in a hiking accident and it ended up shredding my acl mcl and pcl.

          8. Boston Celtics? too bad they didnt stick it out with him, but he was just too raw for the NBA, got by with athleticism.

            Geez, your knee injury essential took you out of competitive anything. You pretty much tore all the connective tissue on that knee

          9. I still played baseball after that.I still play basketball to this day in parks and the gym. You are right though i could never of played competitively after that. No way i could take any part in the grueling b-ball practices on a regular basis. Some day the knee is fine others it is rough. The weather plays a big part in that. I also had to give up playing futbol which i played a lot because it is constant running. Baseball i had no problems, and even played in college. I just didn’t have the talent to go any further.

            And yea the Celtics are my favorites. I was born in Boston before i left the states so i have followed all Boston teams all my life.

    4. I love how you act like it is a 100% sure thing. Nothing is. No matter what others say, your argument seems completely sexist to me. I’m not saying the things you have said are completely wrong, but you can’t act like it is 100% fact with no uncertainty.

  6. See i am not talking about things like Claymore and stuff like that. Women being stronger in those makes sense. I am talking more along the lines of things like Tenjou Tenge Ikki Tousen Kenichi etc.

    1. I hate tenjou tenge though, I let freezing away with it though because its more intense. Claymore while its dragged on and dulled a bit lately was great for being a guys show with strong women in it that didn’t feel like objects.

      1. I actually like tenjo tenge the manga, because it’s utter nonsense in beautiful lay out, I liked the fact the person that fought the last fateful battle was a guy with no powers at all

  7. It isn’t really sexist though Kaiser. I mean women have many advantages over men. Males are actually way more defective in many ways. It is why the average woman lives longer than the average man. It isn’t because a man works more, has a more stressful life, or any other bs like that. We have defects in our chromosomes. Really being physical and athletic is one of the only things men have over women.

    1. I agree..on proper consideration its not sexist. I was just worrying too much and thinking someone else would jump in and this would get derailed into some kind of debate about men and women and sexism.

      1. But heh, I’d well believe any regular person male or female could kick my ass lol. The mixed martial arts thing is something that caught my attention a bit through films. I think I’d see you being a boxing fan armpit, I think you’d love the manga Shamo.

  8. And if that happened, i would jump right back in, and fight for females everywhere. I wouldn’t let a stupid sexist argument start because of me, then just sit back and watch the chaos ensue :).

    You know what is really sexist? Most mecha series where there are women and men fighting each other. The males almost always end up being the stronger ones who win the fights. Or they make the females a sacrificial lamb who sacrifices herself so a main character can have some sort of epiphany. If mechs really existed i see no reason why a woman wouldn’t be just as strong as a male piloting one.Heck i could even see women being better in general as pilots since they can keep anger and rage in check more than the average male can. Anger and rage can get you killed in the real world.

  9. I never even heard of Shamo maybe i should check it out.. Is it anything like Hajime no Ippo? That is one of my favs of all time.

  10. Oh man thanks Kaiser. After reading about Shamo on Wiki it sounds like something i will enjoy immensely. Thanks so much for the recommendation!

  11. Your very welcome armpit. I need to continue it myself.
    I think Oreki in Hyouka is a great character he’s not the average loser but at the same time he’s not simply just a Kyon clone, he’s a clever character that because of that intelligence holds his own.
    My favourite character though in the show beyond him was Irisu though even if her arc didn’t always hold my attention.
    I think these episodes, the standalone ones by putting Oreki and Chitanda in the limelight it fleshes them out a bit better.

  12. My injured brain, was useless at solving this mystery. Currently suffering from some side effects and a headache. I don’t know if I could have figured it out, it’s a bit late to try this, but I may pause the next mystery before most clues are given in order to see how far I can go.

    Aside from all that, I must say, ever since we hit the halfway point I’ve been enjoying Hyouka more and more. Not only for the high entrainment value, but for the characters that are starting to feel increasingly fleshed out. On top of all of this, I feel like there is a lot to be learned from. I get the feeling that the person who made this doesn’t like to be bored, thats not it either, they’ve but something special into the character of Oreki.

    I’ve had a realization! I think someone said these were based off of light novels? This is a wild guess (a matter of luck huh?) But hopefully the wave of commenters isn’t over and someone will play with me. First off, I mentioned the creator of Hyouka, and that got me thinking. What type of person would they be? This is the mystery. Lets begin.

    Second I mentioned Oreki and how I believe something special was put into him. When it comes to creating stories, this something special is usually A: Things you wish you had in you (qualities, ambitions, characteristics) B: Pieces of yourself (your warm side, your cold side, insane side etc. C: Just made up character to fulfill purpose. With Hyouka I believe the answer is this story is B. I know that lots of writers (including myself) tend to create characters that represent different aspects of ourselves, and that the A/C are usually mixed in but just keep that fact in mind.

    Third, the other main characters. Mayaka likes manga. Satoshi is Satoshi. The two are used to display the theme of “Jealously/how it feels to see people who are much more talented than you.” I even recall comparing her Mangas to others saying how its way worst and such.

    Where is all of this going? To be a pretty obvious and simple conclusion (which may be completely wrong).

    The creator (whos name i just googled) Honobu Yonezawa is a person who liked manga in his younger or later years, Honobu (due to the fact that he thinks a lot) was probably inspired to make his own, however despite that, he couldn’t draw manga/had no talent for it. Which was probably discouraging. However, The answer to that disappointment was Hyouka, a novel written with words.

    I never thought about it until now, but Honobu has a real talent for writing which is probably the most upstanding thing about Hyouka. Perhapes even Oreki not knowing about his own skill is the way in which Honobu may have languished over not being able to draw manga, but didn’t realize he could write so well. Thus, talent he didn’t know he had.

    Got off track there, my whole point with this was that I think a lot can be learned from Hyouka. I know the creator probably gets the solution first than works backwards to make the details that replayed from the beginning in Hyouka, but the point is that using this kind of thinking in real life might make you one hell of a smarter person. I really love it, I want to implement this type of thinking, I want to integrate it into myself. The whole reason I watch anime/watch movies/read books is to add to myself, whether that be enjoyment or inspiration.

    Sorry for the random self consumed rant… I really love Hyouka.
    I definitely feel that it has been getting better.

    1. I think most if not almost every single LN author likes anime and manga in general, but then again: the whole YA media in Japan cover more or less the same topics and tropes.
      I can’t think of Hyouka as a backup plan of a frustrated mangaka; narrating trough a novel is very different from narrating through a graphic novel, and Hyouka’s author doesn’t seem like an improvised novel writer (I think). Many authors in manga are just writers teaming up with artists after all, so he had that choice if he had wanted to.

      1. Well yeah, its a matter of luck too, there are many different scenarios that could be possible, but I don’t think this necessarily discounts my theory. Not every person likes to team up with others so to speak. Novels and manga are inherently different, but the good story telling in manga requires the same kind of good story telling in a book. hey! A novel is a never a back up plan, in fact that’s not even what I meant. Its one thing to try to do something one way not be able to do it and then to try another and be successful. I get the feeling that the author would care what his fans think about it, or rather care about what he feels. With all this being said I’m going on on a limb here, but I really like this show, I suppose I could completely wrong, but I feel like I’m at least partially right.

        There are just a lot of points in Hyouka that really strike me as a curious. This is unrelated but I really like Orekis example the beginning of this ep. The microphone example. Really shows us how we think so much inside the box we forgot that there is an outside.

    2. You’ll be surprised if you looked at early editions of Hyouka. In fact, Hyouka was first published with no illustrations at all, and was not marketed as a light novel, and the characters on the cover resembles nothing like manga characters.

      http://www.chitanda.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/hyouka-characters-2001-2012-comparison-001.jpg

      He’s an avid mystery/detective fan, and so he always intended to write mysteries. In fact I think he quit school to write the Kotenbu series

      1. I find that quite interesting.
        not sure what your stance is on my theory but this could either support or discount it depending on how you look at it.

        I hope I’m not being a moron here, but I feel like this could be the case and that he is the person I imagine him to be.

        At any rate, I’ve got lots of respect for the guy and he is a great writer, I really like his mysteries and have never seen them as mundane, I imagine that he’s clever. Anyone who would risk quitting school to follow their dreams is fucking admirable in my eyes.

  13. >Let people be able to fly and shoot laser beams out of their hands. That’s what fiction is for.
    >You want shows grounded in reality? Try some live action television. Breaking bad for example.

    Hahaha, these made my day.

    Fiction is for anything you can do with it. You don’t like realism? Fine. But you’re obviously not the one who’ll decide what stories are for. Particularly when you clearly favor cheap escapism over true art.
    By the way, you DO like emotional realism, even if you don’t know it. And that’s what matters in a story. How close it is to real life or not is another thing altogether and, when it comes down to it, just a flavor. It’s the themes that matter.

    Also, live action doesn’t equal realism in stories and Breaking Bad is not realistic. I mean… do I really have to say it? Do you think that Gus is a character that could exist in real life? He is kind of a cartoon and that’s actually the point.

    1. I am sorry, but did you have a point?

      “Particularly when you clearly favor cheap escapism over true art.”

      Yes, clearly I don’t like both and which I favour could depend on mood. Because I must like one or the other. Wow, you managed to map out my psyche with just a single sentence. Bravo!

      “By the way, you DO like emotional realism, even if you don’t know it.”

      I said that anime needs to be feasible didn’t I? I am well aware that a certain amount of realism is needed to prevent people from rejecting the story. I don’t need you to tell me that.

      Naturally if someone was looking for more realism then isn’t the logical choice to move to the medium closest to it? And yes, I am well aware that breaking bad is not realistic. I just wanted to recommend a good show.

      1. In response to the ‘Naturally if someone was looking for more realism then isn’t the logical choice to move to the medium closest to it?’ comment.

        Not so.

        This is a bit off topic here, but I’d like to briefly talk about a video game. LA Noire is probably notable for using technology which implant actors’ faces onto characters in the game. It’s extremely realistic. However, in the opinions of other developers on whether to implement this tech into their own games, the reaction was mixed. One person ( I only vaguely remember who it was ) said that while the tech was good at showing human emotion, it was limited. Because the environment wasn’t controlled, it was hard to create specific types of emotions that the developers needed. If a developer wanted to have a character to show a specific expression, using a model would be easier as this was something you could manage.

        Relating that to animation, animation is a controlled environment. In regards to the characters, it’s possible to put in all the details that the creators want without adding anything or losing anything in the process. Many people regard Kyoani to have great animation. But keep in mind, most of the subtle details were planned out. In other forms of media, it would be likely that other variables would slightly affect how things would work out. And it would likely be against the creator’s intention.

  14. We think one reason Oreki doesn’t want to acknowledge his amazing deductive abilities as a talent is that without proper motivation, he’d never be bothered to use them. Chitanda is the primary source of that motivation, as it is here. He’s always been stingy with his energy exertion, but with her, he finds himself going the extra mile every time.

  15. Its a runaway discussion train!
    Breaking Bad is realistic, and believable!
    Screw you both.

    Yeah seeing Chi and them together is oddly nice.

  16. >Oreki is too good for this series. I thought it ever since the beginning of this anime. A man like Oreki deserves to be solving murders and mass conspiracies. Stick Oreki into the role of a detective in an anime with a cat and mouse act between a serial killer and that would be gold. But no, he’s instead wasted on this mundane triviality. It’s such a pity.
    ===================================
    Wow, those are exactly my thoughts. It’s a shame when such a good character is wasted in a series like this.

    And I just don’t understand why people like Scruffy dismissed your opinion in the grounds that there are “plenty of escapist shows” you could be watching instead since that doesn’t make ANY sense. Or is Scruffy suggesting that interesting and serious cases don’t happen everyday? For example, any mystery novel grounded on reality like Sherlock Holmes is an “escapist” novel just because it’s interesting and an episode of Hyouka is “realistic” because its cases are uninteresting and trivial? Wow, that’s new to me. I never knew that interesting and serious cases can only happen in “escapist shows.” This world sure is ALWAYS boring, mundane and trivial, isn’t it?

    1. Wow, those are exactly my thoughts. It’s a shame when such a good character is wasted in a series like this.

      Mmm. Don’t get me wrong. I like Oreki. He’s smart, perhaps even outstandingly so for his level, but he has his limits. They were especially tested during the “Why didn’t they ask Eba?” arc. He’s still inexperienced, handicapped by his lack of motivation and social skills and dependent on his friends to spoon-feed him clues, although to be fair, I think even master sleuths may need this. And a lot of the conclusions he comes up with are theoretically possible but not fully proven true. And personally, I find this setting very outstanding in how even in the so-called mundane everyday, there are interesting and even compelling mysteries and drama to be found that don’t require the usual shock factor in crime shows.

  17. Wow that was strange. I just wrote an very long comment but after I
    clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyways, just wanted to say excellent blog!
    ABC102D.

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