At the start I was a bit disappointed that out of all the possible locations for a trip, the creators went with a hot spring. Still, this episode had its merits, and I can see that it had fun subverting a lot of cliches that you usually associate with these kinds of episodes. For one, there was more male fanservice than female, visiting them felt more natural and realistic, and the traditional ghost story in the inn had an incredibly simple explanation.
Underlying themes here were siblings, again not portrayed as black and white as usual: these two kids had their issues together, but they weren’t completely hostile against each other. This definitely was meant for both Hotarou and Chitanda to relate to (Hotarou through his sister and Chitanda through not having a sibling), and it worked well. Hotarou’s car sickness also was an interesting touch to his character.
Now, it’s clear now that Hotarou has a large crush on Chitanda. This leaves me to wonder whether the creators have any intention to resole that, or whether they just intend it to be random romantic tension for the sake of romantic tension. Either way, I do like how she lights up in the scenes shot from his perspective.
Rating: * (Good)
I don’t know if it’s the anime or the source material, but I find it hard to care about chitanda. She doesn’t annoy me, but I’m not interested in her either. The whole thing about siblings could be more interesting if I cared about how Chitanda feels about it.
Anyway, it was a good episode.
You aren’t the only one who doesn’t care about Chitanda. And there is good reason for that. Chitanda is just a incredibly bland character. The biggest thing that we know about her is that she is a saint. Thing is that saints are boring. Her only roles in this anime are to provide mysteries and annoy the main character into solving them. In the mystery solving she doesn’t do much of anything.
I think Kurogane put it best. The past two episodes were basically “Chitanda gets mad! Hotarou explains why.” and “Chitanda gets scared! Hotarou explains why.”
There are some elements to Chitanda’s character for example such as her story with her uncle that make her less of a paper bag of character but in the end I mostly see her as a device trapped in the body of a cute looking moe girl.
And I think psgels did pretty good coverage of this episode. Though and I mean no offense to him, praising something for more male fanservice than female when he complains about female fanservice?
This isn’t for the sake of male fanservice of course, but I like how it avoided some of the most obvious cliches of these hot spring episodes.
I loved this episode soooo much, that I went from your blog to another fav blog of mine, waiting for someone to say something about it for the past 24hrs !! lol
*Houtarou has a large crush on Chitanda* <– it's a HUUUUUUGE crush!
I think, all the one-episode mysteries and clever dialogues aside, I watch this show for Chitanda and Oreki ! <3
The greater emphasis on male fanservice was something I couldn’t help but notice too. I thought it was an interesting writing choice more than anything. I can’t help but wonder who KyoAni believes is their target audience here.
Anyway, the best part of this episode was the portrayal of siblings here. It provided some nice closure to the episode. More episodes like this, please.
mmm… Can’t tell if it’s a crush or if it’s just lust on Houtarou’s part. Although if I saw this episode only by itself, I would have gone for the latter. Chitanda is very well animated though, esp. her hair and skin and her sparkly, glassy eyes.
This onsen thing in slice-of-lives is really getting on my nerves, though. It’s cliche, no matter how well it’s done. People in the real world go to the onsen to 1) relax, 2) escape the stress of everyday people and things, or 3) be with their loved ones (lovers, or husbands/wives) in an isolated area, not to spend time with people that get on your nerves, even if they are friends.
It’s interesting how something nicely woven like a Yukata could dry overnight in a humid environment. And it’s beyond me why the parents would buy a pretty yukata for only their elder child and not the younger. That’s only asking for trouble. But I’m glad that it ended on a more positive note, though not all elder siblings would care if their younger siblings fell over a pebble or the train tracks. Some would just mock them.
The premise was that she did not get soaked, rain came and went quickly(though the are made it looked like she was soaked)
It’s not unusual for one of the sibling to get something the other doesnt. pretty yukatas are expensive, they are different children that gets treated differently. It’s not as simple as the parents being fair or not, it’s more unreasonable to ask for equal treatment for children as different as these two. I think you described the relationship Oreki has with his sister, as he was cynical of Chitanda’s ideal of sibling relationship
I watched the OP after skipping it for a few eps and realized that it feels a lot like an OP for a romantic series. I wouldn’t be surprised if all these mysteries turn out to be just catalysts for Chitanda and Houtarou’s romance.
I disagrre with you guys I find chitanda’s character admirable why? because she isn’t scared to be who she is and doesn’t care what people think about her. unlike other female characters who put up a facade because everyone else’s opinions matters to them except their own.
They played Bach’s Prelude after the Opening!!!! O: