Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「優しさの理由」 (Yasashisa no Riyuu) by Choucho
Watch the OP!: Streaming ▼
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「伝統ある古典部の再生」 (Dentou Aru Koten-bu no Saisei)
“Revival of the Classics Club and its Traditions”
Nearly three weeks into the spring season and one of the hottest shows finally makes its debut. While Hyouka may not have been exactly what you were expecting, its first episode really highlighted the main reason I picked up the show — interesting mysteries that didn’t feel overly dramatic or too unrealistic. Of course, when a huge studio like Kyoto Animation is handling the adaptation of an award winning light novel and has two-cours to tell its story, I can’t fathom it being anything less than spectacular. (Except for endless eight, which we shall no longer mention anywhere in this post!)
To start things off, I personally was blown away with how perfect the casting choices were. For all the CLANNAD fans out there, it felt like a blast from the past with Oreki Houtaro (Nakamura Yuuichi) and Fukube Satoshi (Sakaguchi Daisuke) chewing the fat with each other. While their respective character personalities may have been slightly different than what I was accustomed to with Nakamura taking on a more somber character and Sakaguchi being extra perky, I can’t complain when a show puts one of my favorite male duos together — especially when their synergy with each one another overflows into the characters they’re portraying.
That said, before witnessing and having a seiyuu-gasm after listening to my two favorite “bros”, I was probably more psyched with the promise of Satou Satomi finally taking on a lead role in something I was covering. While I personally prefer her lower more boyish voice (Ritsu anyone!?), I was surprised how much I enjoyed listening to her more feminine side; most likely because of how well it complimented that air-headed feeling Chitanda gives off. However, I don’t think her seiyuu was enough to change my feelings about her character. Even though I do enjoy her presence, there’s something about the way she handles herself that doesn’t quite appeal to me. It may be her catchphrase or just the way she behaves when something piques her interest but I’m hoping my feelings will change within the next few episodes.
In terms of the story, I’m happy to say that Hyouka delivered on its promise to be an interesting mystery show. Unlike other offerings that aim to create a gigantic mystery and horribly fail to deliver a satisfying ending, Hyouka seems to be taking the other route of having shorter and easier to palette ones. However, it seems to pack all the depth that a big mystery would have into each of its shorter ones, giving each of the reveals something substantial to stand on top of. Not to mention that it also helps that each of the characters have their own skills: Chitanda’s love for mysteries and wanting to solve them, Satoshi’s gigantic database of information on anything and everything, and Houtaro’s innate ability to turn into a Japanese Sherlock Holmes.
Even though this week’s episode only tackled real simple things, it feels like the foundation for a great show has been laid down. There is not a single doubt in my mind that Hyouka will deliver on its promise to be a great mystery show. But what I wasn’t expecting was an interesting cast of characters that seem to string each other along — specifically Houtaro and Chitanda. Sure it may be way too early to say that the two will end up with each other, but it’s becoming really interesting to watch the low profile Houtaro step out of his comfort zone and engage in things that he normally wouldn’t all for the sake of satisfying a girl.
With our fourth character, Ibara Mayaka, still missing from the fray I can’t imagine how interesting things may get from here. Besides the potential love struggles that may appear due to Ibara having an interest in Satoshi, I can’t wait to see how crazy things will get when the Kotenbu decides to tackle a true mystery.
Preview
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animation was preety spectacular, and the premise looks very interesting too =]
Chitanda > new Yuno with her purple eyes?
Can’t wait for next episode.
I know I’m quick to judge this anime but the 1st episode kind of bored me in some areas. Not much action going on and just a lot of talking and explaining. But I know that will all change once we get all the main characters together 🙂 (hopefully).
But the animation is beautiful! It’s just so stunning! So glad KyoAni ditched those huge, googly eyes! I like this style waaay better. The opening was good and amazing casting choices for the voice.
I’ll keep watching this. Hopefully it will get exciting. But to be honest anime should blow away the audience in the first episode if they want to hook us to it XD And Sakaguchi Daisuke finally got a role where if isn’t JUST a comic-relief yay!
Well, not all anime should blow away the audience in the first episode. Many people dropped Steins;Gate after only watched episode 1, and guess what? Almost all recent anime watcher automatically want to shout El Psy Congroo or “I’m mad scientist, it’s so cool” every time S;G is mentioned.
I admit the first impression is important, but there’s a lot factors other than that to make a wonderful anime.
El Psy Congroo.
Now that I got that out of my system, I really enjoyed this episode. the animation is just amazing, the characters are instantly likable, and the Show Spoiler ▼
Leads me to wonder if she will actually go forth and try to Show Spoiler ▼
Looks boring. Doesn’t have the magic of the first episode of Suzumiya, and I did not drop Steins;Gate after episode one. I already had the feeling that it was gonna be great.
None of the characters are slightly interesting, except for the female lead’s Yandere-like eyes. Lush animation, though, i’ll give Hyouka that but I’m keeping my expectations real low.
Perhaps the characters themselves are trying to fill a void of interest within themselves by creating mysteries out of equally interest-devoid daily affairs. I wonder how such a cast would work; it seems our threesome centers on a boring, “gray” main character and comes together due to that very struggle with disinterest, in an effort to find intrigue in the most mundane of affairs — even if they must fabricate it themselves.
I’m hooked. Moar, moar dammit!
Damn man. After finally watching Episode 2, I felt like such an idiot for dropping it when it first aired.
I don’t usually listen to the BGM when I’m watching anime, but when you can immediately recognize Air on G String in the background, you know it’s perfectly executed.
They used a bunch of famous other classical pieces throughout. Cue the ghost scene for one of them.
It’s not all about the G String. Take it from your fellow man.
For a show that is so cliched. Apathic boy gets dragged around by energetic girl accompanied by goofy side character best friend. It’s annoying they even got the same voices that did the same thing in clannad.
It looks amazing!! …yet I still have no idea where it’s going with the school-mystery bent.
https://randomc.net/image/Hyouka/Hyouka%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2024.jpg
AM I KAWAII YET, UGUU~
No, just no.
You are very kowai now. 😛
Shameless plugin: If you want to read the novel, here it is in process of being translated into English by Baka-Tsuki. Currently recruiting COMMITTED translators and editors.
http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hyouka
私気になります
The line that rings my ear to no end.
-Anyway, I like how the episode ended. Its not like other anime that ends the story with a cliff hanger or end in a conclusion but it some how leaves something that say “this will continue that is for sure”. Although its not 100% for me what this anime tells about but for sure I will continue see this one. The music and the art just grabbed me inside and how they mix portrait it in some one that I like it.
-As takaii said in this post, the CLANNAD bros are back. Though the Sunohara version in this anime is somehow smarter and sly.
-Oh, last thing for sure is that, the way the characters develop, I like it. I don’t have a good reason for it though but I just like it.
First, to dispel some misconceptions: Hyouka is not a light novel, but is sold in bookstores in Japan amongst other more “serious” fiction where they have no illustrations whatsoever. Examples of these novels getting the anime treatment include: the Monogatari series, Another, Fate Zero and Kara no Kyoukai.
Light novels OTOH are simply lumped with the mangas, and naturally all have illustrations inside.
Second, perhaps I should warn you guys to adjust your expectations for this show accordingly. If you’re expecting a mystery with a grand-conspiracy, then you would be mightily disappointed. This is nothing more than an enjoyable light-hearted mystery thingy with the characters as its centre.
To use an analogy, watching Kyo-Ani is like riding on a scenic train route. Spectacular views are on offer that will take your breathe away, there may be a few bumps and turns, but don’t expect a roller-coaster ride.
This felt like watching a mixture of Clannad and Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu. A brilliant start. It looks quite promising. There were too much talking going on in some scenes but I guess it’s to be expected of a light novel adaptation. Maybe it won’t feel that way when I’m less sleepy while watching it.
Hyouka was great and has huge potential. Although the first ep was a bit boring, it was normal, because it was just the first episode and the real plot hasn’t even begin yet. I hope it will get more interesting. So far 3 main characters are likable and their development should be interesting (love seeing sunohara tomoya duo back). Animation was really awesome, probably the best animation in anime I’ve ever seen and it was very detailed. The OP blew me away And that eyes……… Will definitely watch this until the end
With the launch of this show, I feel like the classic Kyo-Ani is back once again since Clannad and K-ON ended.
Nichijou had its epic laughs, but I don’t know how to put this, that show just somehow lacked the oomph and hype (and mindless haters) that Clannad and K-ON had. I even contemplated dropping Nichijou half-way due to its underwhelmingness, and being a self-confessed “Kyo-Ani-tard” I’ve never dropped a Kyo-Ani show halfway so far. Fortunately, Nichijou switched gears at just the right time and had me laughing till the end.
It’s good to see Nakahara and Sakaguchi reunited and still retain their chemistry they had when working together in Clannad.
Satou Satomi may be better known as Ricchan, but she already has experience doing gentle polite girls in Seitokai no Yakuindomo and OreImo. If you have seen video of her interviews, you’ll notice Chitanda is not that far from her own personality. So I am not surprised she got Chitanda form the novels absolutely spot on. Kyo-Ani has a way of making characters cuter than the original work portrays them.
I expect Kayano Ai to also swoon me over with her portrayal as Ibara next week.
Watashi wa Eru desu.
Come on man, it’s time to see the Light.
Beautiful animation and a unique feel despite the all too familiar elements
“That said, before witnessing and having a seiyuu-gasm after listening to my two favorite “bros”, I was probably more psyched with the promise of Satou Satomi finally taking on a lead role in something I was covering.”
Agreed to that, Satomi Satou needs more attention over her K-On! co-workers!
Still, I wonder how KyoAni will stop those cute moments and move on to the more serious side of Hyouka? Man, I can’t wait!
maximum quality animation (doesn’t know how much money and energy to make that)
but others studio make hit by optimum animation
and then kyoani defeated again
I’m always a bit sad to see Endless Eight get panned, and since the hate against it seems almost universal I feel compelled to try and defend it. People label it as ‘trolling’ and I don’t know the actual intentions of the producers, but isn’t it preferable to consider it as an experiment? It’s an experiment that failed catastrophically, of course, having failed its onus to entertain. However I feel–merely as a personal opinion–that creators should get some props for trying something different.
I really don’t want to sidetrack too much into Endless Eight, though, so I’ll stop here. On Hyouka, there’s a question I want to ask, completely out of curiosity. Is there something about literature clubs in Japan that I’m missing? It may be just my limited sample size, but they seem to regularly get hijacked in Japanese fiction.
Couldn’t have said it any better. Some of the more rabid anti Kyo-Ani people were using Endless Eight as justification to dismiss anything else produced by them ever since without so much as have an open mind about what it is they’re producing.
The Endless Eight experiment shows that Kyo-Ani are also human, but compared to other studios, how many “misses” have they made compared to “hits”. How many Kyo-Ani episodes have you seen sloppy drawing? Though I do admit that they may have choosen to settle for less-risky simpler plots so as not to distract too much resources from their trademark consistent quality animations.
Nobody ever joins the literature club, although the club is pretty much a fundamental in culture related clubs. The few literature clubs that I’ve seen in other stories (I know you’re thinking of Haruhi) usually become part literature club, part manga club. More specifically, there’s a girl who uses the room to write her light novels, while the manga club uses the other free area to work on their manga. One girl doesn’t need a whole room, right?
Personally, my old school doesn’t have a pure literature club. But there’s an English drama club and a library club, so…
I did not understand what had happened this entire episode throughout but eye porn was everywhere and that eye-gasmic and ear-gasmic OP was spectacular.
From the PV, I get the Haruhi vibes.
But Oreki is actually clever enough to plan ahead and not get dragged around like Kyon.
Somehow the atmosphere in this ep reminds me of Another.
The stylistic scene of the Music Room Mystery, the hair-binding scene, kanji overflowing, everything is nicely animated.
Interesting story, I love mysteries like Chitanda.
“Fushigi mystery!!” ~Mayura Daidouji 😛
I almost instantly liked this anime.
Mostly because Houtaro’s personality is almost exactly like mine (when I’m in a good mood that is). But this anime has this feeling that makes me enjoy watching it.
Hopely that wasn’t a first episode fluck.
And them using Moonlight Sonata is a giant plus. I love that piece.
Reading the first two chapters of the novel weeks after this aired, I’m quite pleased with the additions they added. It really makes the establishment/introduction of a character were more concrete. Also it seemed less tame than it was in the novel.
@Kinny Riddle
I’d take it you have gotten far enough on the novels. If so I’d like to ask some questions regarding the novels in the IRC.
I rarely go on IRC, for starters, our timezones might not even match.
So instead, try PMing me on the Baka-Tsuki forums.
http://www.baka-tsuki.org/forums/
Those eyes!! Its so dazzling, its Hypnotizing me and Oreki. What sorcey is this??!!
Chitanda’s family grows weed.
That explains the scene with all those tangled weeds springing up whenever she’s around. Or just…whenever she’s around.
Such symbolism! Light me up, bro.
That’s KyoAni for you, while the overall episode is quite dull (had to make a pause after the first half), it just have their usual impressive presentation that make you come back. Another studio would have turn this into a total bore, KyoAni turned it into a high quality bore.
I don’t really understand what happened on this episode, so they are a “Classic” club then they go on and solve mysteries?
I found the character design of Chitanda quite odd also, I’m not a big fan of her bangs cut that way making her face circular.
Oh well besides that minor complaints, the animation in general seems very high quality and smooth, and this is KyoAni so it is a sin not to watch this!
Wondering when is the next in line for this shows: Air -> Kanon -> Clannad -> (?)
While I found the premier episode not as attention grabbing as compare to the other shows I’m watching this season, still I have a huge trust on KyoAni in doing things the good way.
MAybe it’s due to all the quality series we’re getting this season (Apollon, Tsuritama, Lupin, Space Bros), but I found this rather dull. Everything was so obvious, from the setting, to the heroine, to the “mystery”. It’s good that the protag isn’t your usual spineless overreacting doofus, though.
It’s not bad, just not as good as some of the other high-end stuff this season. KyoAni have some very good animators (even if their character designs are generic), but it’s always wasted on this same school life genre. Also, what was the point of spending all that time/money for that tentacle-hair scene?
Yes! I was wondering if RC was even still going to pick this up!
First episode was light and quiet to me, as with most KyoAni shows. I hope they tackle bigger mysteries!
If you take a peek at our Season Schedule, it says who’s covering what (:
I knew Oreki was going to get pinned as a Holmes. It’s not entirely wrong. You got the wrong one thou. He is much more like Mycroft, Sherlock’s older brother. Actually Oreki and Satoshi together equal a Mycroft. And, no, not the Stephan Fry character.
Aye, as a Sherlockian (or is it Holmesian?) I see more parallels to Mycroft than Sherlock:
“…he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions, and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right.” – The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter
This description of Mycroft fits Houtarou completely to a T. Unlike Mycroft, Houtarou now has Chitanda to nudge him around.
If not Stephen Fry, I guess you could be talking about the one slick modern-day 21st century version portrayed by Mark Gatiss?
OK, off topic again. I really don’t understand why Passerby is getting so many downvotes for expressing an academic opinion in defence of Kyo-Ani, or me as well. Our posts were hardly even “fanboyish”.
For that matter, everyone here seems to be getting one downvote so far for no particular reason apart from it being abused by some troll with nothing better to do.
Once again, RC writers: Scrap the downvote system. By all means, keep the upvotes to encourage quality discussion. Kyo-Ani is one of those studios where hating trolls can just abuse the system and vote down anyone they don’t like.
This needs a thumbs up!
Yeah, and downvotes don’t really help in moderating either. They just draw more attention…
Superb animation and OP. Great characters (Chitanda is better than i thought) and Ibara hasn’t been introduced yet. Good but a bit boring mystery, but definitely will get better.Pretty good music too
Oreki (Tomoya) and Satoshi (Sunohara) duo is my favorite duo
Not recommended for people who dislike character driven anime (i predict)
Overall good start
Agreed 100%. Or better yet, get two thumbs up every one upvotes. ^_^
I prefer this setup -> the down vote up vote system. There are thousands of readers in RC but very few actually post a comment, so this is a good way for people who don’t actually comment/shy to comment to have their say. It encourages more active participation.
I would have to respectfully disagree. (And this is far better than me downvoting you, no? For the record, I did not downvote you. 🙂 )
This just encourages laziness to post disagreements. Rather, people ought to be encouraged to put the effort to type something they feel if they disagree with someone. And if it happens to be a troll, they would be (a) ignored, (b) reported and nuked by the mods. (Omni used to come down hard on these guys)
As per a conversation I had with some of you earier on IRC, it’s much harder to ignore red and green ticks on a white background and walls of trolling texts in black. Your eyes just can’t help but move subconsciously towards them.
And like I said, they’re easily open to abuse. Just look at the amount of downvotes everyone here’s getting even for the most mundane neutral posts.
Just look at this up/down voting system this way: Politicians (the commentators) and the general public (the voters). Politicians speaks the general public approves/disapproves what he says.
I’m sure many wants to participate in the discussion, but if they have an idea that they want to express (or is just too shy) but someone else already written it, so the best way to express approval is by up-voting it. Same thing with negative comments, instead of endless trolling, a down-vote is sufficient to express disapproval of a comment.
As for me, I have a time that I have a comment that receives a lot of down votes, initially its annoying, but eventually I realize that it gives quality to the discussion. Good comments get awarded, bad comments not.
It depends on the down voter attention. If it was meant to express diagreement, i kinda agree but if it was meant to troll or just downvoted because of hate, i completely disagree.
I suppose the problem with the politician analogy is that we are not really politicians at all. I doubt posters post to try and collect popular approval and construct a public mandate and whatnot. It is more akin, I think, to publishing an article in a journal and, rather than getting proper peer review, the article can simply be dismissed by a show of hands. There must be a better way to discuss an opinion than by “rating” it.
That said, the voting system is relatively quick and easy way for the internet to filter itself. It’s simply that the internet is not entirely reliable, to say the least. However, any alternative to the current system will likely take more time and effort.
What Passerby said.
If we want to train ourselves to develop a thicker skin by subjecting ourselves to be ruthlessly rated just the press of a single button, otherwise we would have all gone into politics already.
I came here to discuss so that I could share my enjoyment of anime with other like-minded people, I did not come here to get elected for some post or garner political gain.
If someone thinks I’m talking nonsense, I’d rather him speak up or ignore me completely rather than a lazy thumbs down. As long as he’s speaking in a civic non-troll like manner, I would welcome his criticism. And if it is a troll, there’s always the good-old modding option.
Like I said, keep the upvote but scrap the downvote altogether. It would still reward good posters while bad posters gain nothing, not even the notoriety of deliberately trolling just to get a downvote.
Trolls will be trolls. I really didn’t like the upvote downvote thing in general.
It’s what I hated in youtube or worse…. Sankaku Complex….
I strongly agree. Same here about being distracted by those green & red icons. The worst result of the current voting system is all these comments talking about it instead of the episode. Really, it’s just a distraction.
Downvoting just isn’t appropriate for a lot of websites. This place isn’t like Reddit, after all.
First time posting…
Personally I loved this first episode. The little touches somehow reminded me of Sakamichi no Apollon – the cues that could be overlooked (like how Houtaro starts writing his essay quickly to time his finish with Satoshi’s ending), but if noticed help point the viewer to deeper meanings or silent conversations happening. I don’t mind a lot of talking if it’s going somewhere, and the two male leads so far have not talked without purpose, even if it’s still hard to decipher what the undertones of their conversations mean. So far, it seems their long friendship gives them the ability to understand each other to the point that it was difficult for me to catch everything they were communicating with just one viewing.
For all that their personalities seem opposite, they are clearly close friends. It surprised me what with the first impression of Houtaro, that he actually seems to enjoy their friendship too. I appreciate that his bored demeanor is more laziness than apathy.
I also loved hearing Bach, and hearing it used so well.
Who wants to watch two annoying guys in a slice of life anime. I have to skip ths for better ones like K-On! and Tasogare Otome x Amnesia.
This one is slightly better than those two for me. It will get more interesting i hope. This is half slice of life half mystery
“Houtaro Oreki (Nakamura Yuuichi) and Satoshi Fukube (Sakaguchi Daisuke)”
The links to Houtaro and Satoshi are the same screenshot.
OMG the tangled scene got me ROFL.
https://randomc.net/image/Hyouka/Hyouka%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2014.jpg
Like points for everyone!
@the troll who downvotes everyone: fuck-off dude! Go watch your HBO trash.
i hope no one complains on how the black-haired girl is the nice one.
I had my eye on this anime ever since it was announced. The first episode was great in my opinion, the protagonist of the series already starting to show that he is a well done character. I see people saying how he’s cliche, being the typical withdrawn character, however seeing as once you read/watch enough literature/media, the concept of cliche loses it punch. What matters to me is how well done his character is, and it’s impressing me so far.
I liked especially in the second half where he creates his own mystery simply to entice the girl he’s met. Something that’s definitely opposed to his low-energy lifestyle.
So far so good but IF the conversation is not that good then it’s quite boring… BUT I enjoyed it and hey the animation iz good and that is obviously the main selling point of this one
And no I dun feel any clannad on this one even though they are voiced by the same person
Clannad is epic and this one is just starting so I’m not gonna say like it reminds me of clannad etc etc…..
Does not seem like something I read in bakuman…. I know is diferent,,,, I really hope they shut my mouth up!!!
2DEEP4ME
Refer to naisu bouto daaa-yo.
picking up – conveniently have a free slot follwing ending of the Ozuma!
People still skip Endless Eight?
I rofled like hell when I heard Nakamura & Sakaguchi back again in a duo. For the win!
I didn’t dislike endless eight — it’s just that whenever I try to talk to someone about KyoAni that’s the first thing they bring up.
So I figured it’d be good to get it out of our systems before episode two.
https://randomc.net/2012/04/24/hyouka-01/
This place i remind me. I went to Northern Kyoto prefecture East Maizuru. 😛
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64603636@N08/7109810413/in/photostream/lightbox/
Reminds me, quite a lot, of Iris Zero
Those purple eyes! It was love at first sight 🙂
Kinda off topic, but I thought the Endless Eight was well done. Hell, I watched it twice and still enjoyed it.
As for Hyouka, this is what I’ve been waiting for. A mixture of Clannad, Haruhi, and K-ON! is there. Kyoani once again raises the bar to quality animation.
At least we know two things that are almost for sure about this show:
1. This is going to be a narrative (like Clannad)
2. Will take on a more realistic approach on the mysteries
houtarou and satoshi are really interesting! they got instantly in my fav list. looking forward to mayaka as well!
i’m wondering if hyouka will stay this way with these cases of “mysteries” or if it will turn out completely differently.
I guess KyoAni is conscious about hair quality now. I bet we get to see more of it.
>interesting mysteries
>interesting
YEARRGGHH..!!!
C’mon KyoAni, if you have the time to do another anime by random, give us more FMP instead!
this sucks..
Gauging by lot’s of people rekindling Kyoani’s other mastepices(?) means this series aren’t THAT interesting enough to boot with..?
sigh~
MAL says that Mayaka is interested in Satoshi and not Houtarou. So I dont think this will lead to a love triangle but rather OTPs.
And Houtarou and Satoshi’s link leads to the same picture.
Omg omg omg omg ive been waiting for this show since i first heard about it. FINALLY. Thank you for blogging takaii. Will be looking forward to your posts! 🙂
This looks beautiful. Though I find it a bit over the top with the moe effect XD (then again this is Kyoto after all :p). I read the first two chapters of the novel and found that it didn’t even come close to giving me the same impression as this first episode (it wasn’t as moe for one thing :p). Not really sure if I like which one better, but I think I like both of them for different reasons ;). What surprised me more is that this is two cour, and Zetman only have one. Sigh, anime budgets just aren’t fair :p. Nevertheless, this should be a nice one. Sigh, watching too many anime this season… ^^;
Strange, I actually thought the first episode was pretty good but when I looked over here in RC I saw a lot of negative feedback. Was it that bad or were those people just being biased because of KyoAni and that disaster of Suzumiya season 2?
Animation was great, BGM was great(before I noticed it, they were playing nostalgic songs!), voice acting was great, I think the story’s not really exciting/fast paced but I don’t think it falls under the “bad” category. I definitely don’t see any reason to put it under the “bad”
category.
This first episode really make me don’t understand at all. I guess I have to watch one more time. And kinda feel like a boring anime. But will continue to watch this series.
Goddamn this anime is tripping balls with all that hair and flowers thing. But for all you guys who know symbolism, you know that Oreki is falling hard for Eru.
One liner for the whole series: Shiny Sadako(take that Edward!)
Croos did ask me what I think: I think it’s good. It reminds me of something like Iris Zero. If you haven’t seen that, look into Mangaupdates.
So mystery and slice-of-life put together. It’s nothing big, but it’s way better that some slice-of-life I had seen these days second only to Nazo no Kanojo X.
Now that you mention that, it really can be related to Iriz Zero.
Hmmmm…. First episode and there’s a double-twist in the story. I like.
I think he makes far too many assumptions in his deductions. Seriously, his solution to the ghost problem is plausible, but ANY OTHER EXPLANATION would also be plausible.
That’s what makes him Mycroft. He may be wrong, sure. But is certainty that you are right worth the effort? Nah.
I have a feeling this is paying a homage to Suzumiya Haruhi, with its “mysteries,” subtle character building and nod to classical music (played often by Evangelion). KyoAni almost acts like CLAMP in that it creates a universe for itself and seems to recycle its characters or their personalities. Kyon-I mean, Houtarou, is the epitome of KyoAni male protagonists: stoic, sarcastic, apathetic, a little arrogant, but “contains a warm spot on the inside to a certain someone(s).” Sidekick is Sunohara’s alter ego for sure, and Chitanda is a definitely a more enthusiastic Mio with the sexually-appealing long, healthy, raven hair, probably missed by many Japanese men after their women started to dye/curl their hair.
Well, it looks great judging from the screenshots.
Some are saying this is boring and trite, while others say that the simplicity is a strong point. I’m undecided. The show’s really interesting and has some of potential, but I also didn’t feel that this was the huge splash I wanted it to be. Still though, I’m definitely give this more of my time.
Pretty good start so far.
How the hell can he resist such a beauty?
He isn’t. He’s even pandering to her interests. Like Satoshi said, the easiest thing he could’ve done was say “I don’t know” and get it over with.
think Kyon-Haruhi relationship
By the way, Takaii, since you mentioned eeach character’s peculiar skill in your post, I think you should add that Chitanda also has the good memory.
The animation is aawsome, the characters are really interesting and now that introduction is over the plot can come next without any problems. It began slow but with consitensy, I can´t belive it but it took Houtaro 30 seconds to fall under the influence of Chitanda, this will be a fun ride.
wow man, it certainly is a unique take on the mystery genre. And those eyes…the way they showed how Houtaro became overwhelmed by Chitanda’s gaze was awesome.
Given the beautiful animation, this show would be so much better if it were a slice-of-life. This premises looks quite weak and I only had the guts to finish the episode because how pretty the whole episode was.
KyoAni production + “Tomoya” narration in the opening: AWESOME! 😀
Animation is very pretty but the story itself was insanely boring. Like really, is someone locking the door on you that exhilarating? Generic opening is generic. Showing all your main characters sit/walk around a school with a special water drop filter isn’t impressive. Opening song wasn’t even close to being catchy either. Maybe I’m just expecting too much out of new season shows. Oh well, I’ll be fair though and watch a few more episodes just in case it picks up and blows me by surprise.
Wow. Kyoto Animation, high respect. This is just the first episode, so I’m hoping the series will have more interesting mysteries for them to solve! But I’m in love with the cast so far… This show is certainly not everyone’s type, but I’m eager to watch the next episode, hoping more cases will come soon!
I actually wasn’t looking forward to this because… well, KyoAni’s slice of life stuff did nothing for me in the past. I only liked Haruhi and that’s it.
But this was an awesome premiere, I had so much fun watching this. Everyone thinks the premise/story is boring, but really, that the mysteries are such daily occurences made it so much more intruiging and believable.
This is something new. I will now buy the novel and read the shit out of that.
no ending 🙁
I fell for Chitanda, bait, hook and sinker!
Visually amazing, but I had trouble understanding it. What was all this about holding on? Why are the characters talking so vaguely? Why is there no humor? Why is the protagonist so emotionless? Not sure if I’m sold on this, but I’ll continue to watch for now.
The animation is enough to keep me watching to be honest.
Looks like i’ve found my new favorite anime of the year. i’ve actually read the light novels and i must say that i love being able to see it come to life on my screen. the whole ideal of making an anime based off of light mysteries may seem a bit too simplistic for some, but i find it refreshing to see an anime based off of everyday random curiosity. it may make the story a bit boring but sometimes we have to step away from our magic, maid, moe, robot, action, horror, and yandera’s and enjoy a bit of believable mystery kind of like how, some of us, used to watch scooby doo. after the hype and mystery had been washed away their was always a rational explanation to the events, “humans” “cough cough”, were to blame more times than not. what makes this anime a lot of fun is not the solving of said mystery’s but how the story leading up to it is told. Chitanda’s curiosity and imagination and Satoshi insightful story telling make for a great combo! we just get the added bonus of having Houtaro explain everything in a simply yet interesting way. over all Hyouka gets an “A” in my book so far. let us see if they can keep it by keeping it real. lol
I have some mixed feelings after watching the first episode. It was interesting enough for me to give the show a shot and watch the next few episodes, but it really didn’t pull me in either. I guess this may partly be in part due to my general lack of interest in the mystery genre. I don’t particularly hate mysteries, but I don’t love them either. Thus, for me, it will likely have to boil down to the characters of this show on whether or not I’ll be able to enjoy this show. Still, the first episode showed some promise, so I am hopeful though.
Loving the out-of-left-field, positively gorgeous visuals, but as you said, it’s the characters and their interactions that have gotten me so hooked. Cannot wait to see how this series pans out.
This is interesting; I look forward to more (*o*).
is this complete?
You can be locked from the inside? That’s a pretty bad design.