So, it indeed looks like Hyouka will be a collection of mystery stories, with this episode closing off the first major arc. And I have to say that even though most of the mysteries were solved last episode, this episode did a very good job of filling in the missing blanks, and making those important enough to be left out. This really puts everything together.
I have to say, it’s quite interesting for the author to have named the title of this series Hyouka of all things, especially since the origin of the word is a lame pun thought up by a high school student. He managed to put a lot of meaning to just that one word, though, with Jun being the victim of an uprising that he had been shoved into with the role of “leader”. The conclusion of this and the hints of how he felt about it: they were a great way for this arc to conclude.
The only big question remaining is who really organized the protests: the student who put Jun into his leader position. With this, I wonder what type of mystery series Hyouka will be: the type that strives to explain everything, or the type that deliberately leaves holes open for the audience to fill in themselves. At this point, both options are possible: on one hand, we are talking about an incident that happened 45 years ago. You won’t be able to remember some details and Oreki’s theories just remain theories without proof. On the other hand though, the past arc did meticulously try to answer the tiny details.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
the real organizer of the protests… if it all comes back to someone we know, the remaining people(s) would be Oreki’s sister or the librarian… seeing that she knows lots of insider’s information
I have mixed feelings about Hyouka now that this first arc is done. First about the visual, KyoAni went full force, this is probably their most ambitious work, employing lots of different visual styles. Then about the plot/mystery/narrative, rather than being uninteresting it’s just lacking any appeal. Whatever was going on with Eru’s uncle, although that’s quite a big deal for her (oh my god, kininarimasu), they never succeed in making me wanting to know what this is all about. bla bla bla.
I think we are supposed to care more about the characters than the mystery itself. I enjoyed how they attempted to solve the mystery. I also enjoyed Oreki’s monologues and his whole soul searching. I also really enjoyed seeing the feelings of Chitanda’s uncle, it made for decent social commentary as well.
I really don’t care about Chitanda though. The only time she said anything interesting was in this episode where she said how she doesn’t want to forget her current feelings in the future. Other that I didn’t find anything to be remotely interesting about her. She’s not annoying either though, so I guess it’s not all that bad.
This is anime, 99% of the time people are watching/caring only about the characters, the plot is only here to expose them. Hyouka is definitely a work that should have stayed in its original medium.
“I think we are supposed to care more about the characters than the mystery itself.” I absolutely don’t care about the mystery and characters are decent at best. I’m watching it for its production value.
Mhm…yes, I don’t think either the mysteries are that impelling to be solved, is how they tell them, and the masterfuly way are unfolded. I love it for that.
Sorry for reposting, it’s just I remembered that indeed the librarian seemed to know some more, and be lying before the revelation behind the title Hyouka. And well, personally I thought the meaning of it would be Love Scream -Ai(Jap)- since Jun possibly really loved those rose-colored days to be lived by the students, so that willingly he accepted being the sacrifice.
I believe the title were just chosen because it was the first book in the series and therefore is better known. The books that follow had more elaborate titles, but as a series, it’s a story of the classic literature club(actually it’s really more of a old book club), but that’d be less appealing as a title.
I warned those that expected plot-twists, as this author does not really write it that way, in fact the mystery might not even be compelling, it’s a bunch of high school student satisfying their own curiosities to the extent of their ability
With this, I wonder what type of mystery series Hyouka will be: the type that strives to explain everything, or the type that deliberately leaves holes open for the audience to fill in themselves.
I think for now this chapter is concluded. Chitanda made a request to Oreki to help her regain her memories before her uncle’s funeral. Oreki fulfilled that wish, I think beyond anyone’s expectations. So for now this chapter may be closed. Something might happen later during the next School Festival once their article about the student movement 45 years ago is actually printed and read by an audience. It might just ruffle some feathers and Chitanda’s uncle may finally make a reappearance then to settle things once and for all. *shrug*
Personally, I’m a little worried about how much we can trust that librarian’s words. I suspect she wants to keep the past hidden to the kids, particularly it’s uglier details and may have simply pretended to confirm Oreki’s theories so as give the kids the closure they wanted, without actually revealing too much. I kind of winced inside when Chitanda revealed to her that Oreki had gathered information and had formed a theory. Showing all their cards to her would make it difficult for Oreki to catch any discrepancies in her version of the story. I’m pretty sure she knew the true meaning of the Hyouka phrase and possibly the identity of the true ringleader of the student movement 45 years ago. Well, I guess the most important piece of the puzzle that had to be solved was the true meaning of Hyouka, which Oreki had to do himself.
I warned those that expected plot-twists, as this author does not really write it that way, in fact the mystery might not even be compelling
I suspect that’s why it’s getting KyoAni treatment. This series feels like K-ON, except being centered around japanese classic literature club instead of a girl band. Pretty niche. Only KyoAni would have the slightest chance of making something like that even remotely interesting to a wide audience. I think another key point to this series is to introduce it’s audience to finer points of the japanese language in literature. I had no idea Hyouka translated into “Ice Cream”. I thought it meant “influence” like ripples of water forming a huge wave. Interesting pun too. Why did he use an english phrase? I would have thought a japanese pun would have been more appropriate for this club.
The characters also seem to have several levels of subtlety. I’m curious about Satoshi. I’m not sure but there seem to be some hints that his cheerful personality and his apparent shocking pink lifestyle may be some kind of front and that he might envy Oreki’s nerve to reject the rosy path in favor of the gray path of blending into the background. I’m also curious about Mayaka’s anger towards Oreki. She seems nice to almost everyone except Oreki. I agree Chitanda is the most boring of the four right now. With this mystery solved, there seems to be very little left to her character for development other than as a cattle prod for Oreki or as a human bloodhound. But I doubt this story would leave her like that for long.