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Jul 09 2012

Categories: episodic review, hyouka
Tagged: hyouka

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“Please bless us with good fortune for the next three days.”

Let’s just say that the cheering in my family room rivaled…

A. Drunken rowdiness after any major World Cup match.
B. Celebrations after Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown.
C. Simon getting his groove back and saving Nia.
D. 99.9% discovery of the Higgs boson.
E. Me finding a copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 22 years ago.

Meido Chitanda! I give her a 17 out of 10. The outfit just fits her perfectly. I knew Kyoto would deliver since they too are meido connoisseurs (my new personal dream: star in my own franchise where I’m a meido connosisseur trying to find the 12 apostles of meido and the divine meido to rule them all… not that this is an original idea or anything). But I am heavily disappointed in how short the segment as well as lacking the pan and scan sequences that heavily dominate episode 11.5 (which I’ll blog when the BD releases so I’m not working with raws as terrible as camcorder rips). Is it too much to ask for (significantly) more meido Chitanda? I think not.

Also, Kyoto, here’s a money making idea: Meido of Kyoto Animation 2013 Calender. January would be Mikuru, followed by Fubuyashi twins, then Chitanda, then Tess, then Afterschool Tea Time, then Mikuru Prime, then Mio, then Mio/Yoko/Yui, then Waifu Material Sayuri, then Itsuki, Nagisa for October, followed by Chidori, and lastly Yuki for December. This is tier one “Shut up and take my money!” level.

“SEIZON SENRYAKU!”

The other Chitanda cosplay shots are adorable too… though why is the camera tiled like this? Why not just do a normal vertical shot if she’s shooting F11?

Sidetail Chitanda? My gosh. Sidetail meido Chitanda? One can dream.

Only slightly less than the studio equipment necessary to capture meido Chitanda’s adorableness. I like how Kyoto gets the details of the cameras right… and they are definitely pro-Nikon.

I did enjoy watching Chitanda get completely derailed at the school festival. Just so much in character and quite cute as she tries all these club activities.

This episode is the best episode of Hyouka so far. Three key reasons:

1. Meido Chitanda.

2. The build-up to the fair. It was nice to see all the characters eager and anticipating the fair. I liked how Chitanda couldn’t sleep and how Satoshi was planning his schedule like someone the night before a big anime convention. “Oh, I have to hit the Sunrise panel, but it’s the same time as the meido cafe opening…” It just felt like something high school students would do.

3. There isn’t a bullshit mystery. While they could still add a mystery to this arc (which will probably happen), I hope it’s not as terrible as most of the mysteries presented thus far. Kinda sad that mysteries are the weak link for this show. If they were just slightly improved, it would be a much better show– Encyclopedia Brown-like mysteries would vault this show to the top. Like episode 11.5 didn’t need a mystery. We all know white substance on a women’s ear can only be ice cream or jizz. There’s no other possible answer.

I don’t like how we don’t see Houtarou’s sister’s face. It makes her seem like a cross between Charlie Brown’s teacher and a sex offender that has her eyes covered by a perpetual black bar. For all we know, she could be Charlie Brown’s teacher and a sex offender. Still, I would prefer her to interact with Houtarou a bit more naturally and a lot less like Wilson from Home Improvement.

(I did like how she gave Houtarou that pen. He got a backstage pass for the pen… maybe in the next episode, he trades that pass and then keeps trading until he turned that pen into an iPad, two plates of yakisoba, and an ukelele that needs to be restrung.)

Is it just me, or is Houtarou’s math wrong? Two for each member, one for the supervisor, and one for archiving makes ten. Unless we’re counting the mysterious fifth member, Fuko-chan.

(Though my favorite part of this scene is just how happy Houtarou is at doing nothing but such a boring job. He’s going to grow up to become one of people who work at a parking garage but solve cold cases on the side. I’m pretty sure this is a TNT drama already. Since they know drama and stuff.)

Houtarou slow clap. *slow clap*

If Shaft animated this episode, the manga club would be populated by Kyubey, Madoka, Zetsoubou Sensei, Hoshi, and Mariya. And I would have swiftly approved, especially if Mariya were petting Kyubey. Though I am disappointed Kyoto didn’t sneak in an Ayu-chan.

(Cosplay elitists? What is this world coming to? Mayaka should have shot back, “Hey, at least I didn’t get my costume off a second hand dealer on eBay.”)

Have I mentioned Kyoto’s A-performance in production values? My gosh, they have tossed the kitchen sink at this series. It’s a shame that, if the rumor is true, Visual Arts gave Little Busters to JC Staff instead of Kyoto because Kyoto couldn’t have done it until 2013 while JC Staff wasn’t booked. Isn’t this like going to the deserted drive-thru at Arby’s because there’s five cars ahead of you in the drive-thru for In-and-Out? My gosh. Just wait! Patience.

(And, yeah, if I did a fast food / anime studio power rankings, Kyoto would be In-and-Out and JC Staff would be Arby’s.)

The new ending is great (hey, at least it’s not creepy baby clothes). Houtarou’s monocle gets a solid 12/10, and the balloon getaway is a promising 9/10. Though I can’t shake the feeling the whole sequence is about marriage… Chitanda and Mayaka pursue the men… who then reluctantly get captured and put in ball and chains… and then the men look so hopeless while the women look so happy… and then the men escape and look like they just saw meido Chitanda while the women are upset.

Kininarimasu! Things I’m Curious About

1. Meido Chitanda with a sidetail.

2. What fast food chain would Shaft be?

3. Summer Olympics… do people under 30 actually care about it?