People actually do research i this serise. People do background checks and look through records very carefully to piece together the puzzle of what happened. It really has been ages since the last “lots of talking” series that was done right, a genre I’m a huge fan of. It’s not the best among them, but just seeing such a series hit the mark again is very satisfying.
What this series still lacks the most compared to the best of the genre is emotion. It’s all very neutral and composed. That’s wonderful as a build-up, and this series can use it, because it’s 21 episodes long. The next step will really be to go wild. But this will come into the picture later on in the series. For now, I loved how each character took his or her time to present what he/she found and the theories he/she had based upon it, and how they all conflict together.
Still, I cannot for the love of me imagine how they would turn this into 21 episodes, or at least without resorting to lots and lots of random stories. This episode looked like it solved about half of the mysteries in this series. THe end of the episode seemed to suggest that about one more episode, perhaps two, would be enough to cover the rest and the deeper meanings behind it, and yet it is the main mystery of this series.
What I also really like is how even though the characters look like the typical idiot teenagers you see everywhere, they actually quite aren’t. Houtarou is at times used as a writer’s vehicle for formulating the right theories, but the rest of the characters feel human in the way they investigate and try to formulate theories, they’re flawed but they really try to use their heads and think over all sorts of possible scenarios. And even Houtarou was wrong in this episode (or at least that is very much hinted).
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Look at it, don’t listen to it, Hyouka.
“Still, I cannot for the love of me imagine how they would turn this into 21 episodes, or at least without resorting to lots and lots of random stories.”
We’re drawing near to the end of the first volume so next week we should get the actual reveal as to what happened, along with the meaning of the word Hyouka. The rest of the novels haven’t been translated but probably follow the same format.
To some extent I think the emotion is dampened down on purpose as it’s a feature of Houtarou’s character. He does seem to be opening up though, and at least admitted that he was jealous of those ‘rose coloured’ people.
Could you elaborate on what you would consider an example of a particularly good “lots of talking” series? I would be interested in watching it, if I haven’t already.
Hmm, let’s see:
– Anything by Mamoru Oshii
– Amatsuki
– Mouryou no Hako
– Ergo Proxy
Hyouka is not as good as these obviously, but it’s been a long while since I watched a show that came as close in this aspect.
Monster and LoGH are also excellent “lots of talking” series.
People do background checks and look through records very carefully to piece together the puzzle of what happened
I doubt if they cleared up Chitanda’s mystery. I suppose it’s a good(?) effort for high school kids. But they’re basically using a handful of general reports of events during the period. At least one of which is a biased opinion piece. (I wish I could actually read kanji or see a translation of the text. I wonder if there’s a clue there that the Classics Club actually overlooked.) A lot of their conclusions are based on assumptions and inference. And Oreki basically came up with a quick theory on the fly that fit all the info they had collected so far. It fit, but…hm. Chitanda said it herself. It had to have been something that could shock her enough to cry and cause partial amnesia. I’m surprised they haven’t tried to contact the author of Hyouka Vol 2 or anyone who lived through that period who might have heard something. Old faculty, janitors, retirees. 45 years ago so we’re looking at people in their 60s for students or 70s/80s for faculty. It’ll be close but not impossible. Heck, what about their own parents or grandparents? The ending sequence bugs me. I doubt it’s a coincidence that they depict the two girls together like that. How are they connected to each other and this mystery?
The thing is that while they investigate, they are still high school students. To be able to track down someone from 45 years ago based on a name is next to impossible (think about how difficult it is to track someone down from 10 years ago base on a name from a high school yearbook. How difficult it would be without the records and tool like facebook) within the time-frame they established for themselves, and Chitanda herself wished to not spread this any further than it already has because she’s not the type of person that can just bring this up to anyone.
the biggest clue was the one Chitanda herself scrapped from her report
Well, you are right on the mark. Hyokka nows lacks some human touch. It does not work well as a mystery, and as a slice of life, the characters are a bit unimpressive for one to follow.
I don’t know about that. It feels good as a slice of life that talks about the process of solving a mystery. You could compare what they’re doing now to how archeologists or astrologists come up with theories about ancient history and the workings of outer space, based only on what clues and pieces of the puzzle they’ve been able to gather.
I think as the story goes on, the characters slowly pick up more pieces to the puzzle and come to realize how important it is to gather as many clues as possible. Concepts like misinterpretation, misunderstanding, red herrings and jumping to conclusions may be covered. It might be interesting if Oreki had access to some of the other data Chitanda had on her desk, like her uncle’s yearbook (to track down all those classmates) and those correspondences (To Malaysia?! And, man, they look authentic.).
Plus, well, one thing about this series: I think it requires some good reading skills. A lot of the clues are in written form, and in kanji – the most difficult form of the Japanese language for me.
Hyokka nows lacks some human touch.
What do you mean?
What I mean could be very personal, but I think the characters are lacking some charm. They are very very stereotypical, the types of boys and girls you always see in slice of life anime, till the point character development is not so nescessary, because viewer already got a good grasp, based on stereotype, what kind of characters they are turning to be. It’s also a result of the way Kyoani likes to play safe with their series.It does not make me care what happens to those characters at all. That’s why its character feel wooden and lacks of human warm to me. Again, it;s VERY personal.
The mystery does not work to me. I evaluate its effort to be very down to earth, but at the same time, it made its mystery quite…dull. Really, I don’t care about the result of whether the guy is solving the mystery or not. The mystery here is just a topping on the slice of life cake.
The topping is nice as a topping, but it is just…a topping, and the cake is not quite good, that’s what I’m saying.
Again, it’s very personal impression
That’d be the original author’s fault. This was his very first published work, it’s very obvious that a lot more energy was put into constructing and slowly revealing the information and mystery, and characterization spent on ability rather than personality. Light novel also inherently create character with clear personalities. If you are looking for development, only 2 characters were really developed in the first arc, Chitanda and Houtarou, and it’s crafted in a way that the changes are subtle and payoffs are pretty much at the very end.
Houtarou especially in the anime is quite fleshed out with detail you dont often see from stereotypes. It’s very realistic the way he tries shed responsibility, not with sly words or fake charm. He avoids, tries to run away, or redirect it to someone else to fit his minimalism. He really spent minimal effort in term of the investigation, he brought a copy of the school history, which he was only aware of from the weirdly popular book mystery. He gets angry when frustrated, and he gets nervous when other expects too much from him. Even when he’s solving mysteries, he wasnt really concern with the truth rather he’s concern with finding an acceptable answer that Chitanda will agree with.
I guess it’s true that the setting is mundane compared to previous KyoAni series. There’s no robot girls, spirits, reincarnations, aliens, time travellers(?) or espers. The characters are pretty low-key, ordinary people and it seems like KyoAni is trying to make up for it with some tremendous eye candy treatment on very ordinary things. (Loved the bicycle ride scene.) Even this big mystery that seems to be the main plotline feels like a very personal crisis that only Chitanda herself would be concerned about, the type of human drama that probably a lot of people can top with something in their own experiences.
On the other hand, perhaps this is something ordinary people could identify with. Perhaps take as a lesson to view their own lives, which they feel are ash-colored and ordinary in a more rose-colored light. Or maybe take a step or two to make it just a little bit more interesting – not as far as Haruhi. Just a thought.
Reminds me of Gosick a lot, except instead of having our main character conveniently walk into all the clues the cast actually puts thought and effort into it. Houtaro solving the cases is similar to Victoria when she pulls out her pipe.
It’s very likely that they will get through all the main volumes of the light novel series following the current pace, or 3 volume with stories from the anthology collections sprinkle in as fillers. The official website definitely include character designs as well as plot preview for the second volume. As far as the source material is concern, there is plenty to make the 21 ep. The mystery of “Hyouka” will be revealed within the next 2 episodes. Houtarou was not wrong per se, rather he did not yet solve Chitanda’s mystery. There will be a bit of emotional payoff, but it would depend on your personal experiences and belief
Why is everyone using the term light novel again? As with Another and several others before this is based on an actual novel.
Light novel =/= novel !!
Sorry, had to get this off my chest.
As several others have said, this is only the end of the first novel, which I have skimmed through in a store downtown a few weeks ago. There are 4 others (The Fools Credits Roll, Kudryavkas Cross Order Incident, The Chick Which Took a Detour, An Approximation of the Distance between the Two) and it appears they will go through all of them more or less, though I suppose they will leave some stuff out.
So far I think the series is quite entertaining, though I think I couldn’t take it without being in a similar setting. I’m not a big fan of Everyday Mystery and I think most people here are the same…they just don’t know it’s a genre over here XD
ふたりの距離の概算
It was published by Kodakawa under Sneaker Bunko moniker, which was the light novel department. Though the intent was to be appealing to both novel and light-novel consumers, which it why it had no illustrations. It’s a fine line, some light novel writer are able to write with depth beyond what’s considered light novels, but often it’s a generalization of young adult novels that stars and targets young adults.
Could we say that Hyouka belongs a Proto-Light Novel class of stories of sorts, before LNs really, really became very distinct from a young adult story?
After all, Hyouka was first published in 2001- and the material we are seeing now ironically pre-dates almost every other Light Novel adaptation of the same genre in recent memory.
It’s somewhat arbitrary distinction after all, light novels were essentially what we called young adult novel here in the west, but as popularity of certain series started to take hold as well a Japan’s own unique culture influence, it became more associated with the ACG therefore almost uniquely Japanese. I mean at it’s very core, something like the Percy Jackson series or A Series of Unfortunate Events, even Twilight series, are not very different from what I’d call Light novels
ahh just wanted to say there were some really beautifully animated scenes, animators definitely showing off their skills
Where do you think i can read the vol 5 of hyouka