hyouka 14
Categories: episodic review, hyouka
Tagged: hyouka
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“She doesn’t get it.”
Move over Rosie the Riveter, we have Chitanda the Iron Chef! While Honobu Yonezawa might have intended Houtarou to be the star of this series, it is clearly Chitanda. She carries the show. We’re not in this to watch yet another crappy mystery unfold (with the current one basically background noise for three episodes thus far) nor are we in it to watch Houtarou brood a la Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins. We’re in it to see Chitanda do Chitanda things namely: kick ass and look good in a ponytail while doing it.
Chitanda was like Hiroyuki Sakai, Morimoto, Chen Kenichi, and Ching-He Huang combined. My gosh. She make like seventeen dishes in twenty minutes! By herself! The only way the sequence good have been more perfect is if she did it all in her meido costume and swirling wine a la Gilgy. And I would have died from moe if that happened… so maybe it’s a good thing.
(Kyoto’s animation during the cooking contest– exceptional. They do not fuck around. Though I felt like if Chitanda were in her meido outfit, and they had a good insert song playing in the background, this sequence could have been the 2012 God Knows, and Kyoto would have raked in a fortune with Chitanda figures and CD sales. But alas.)
We all knew what the flour would be used for once Houtarou traded for it. Also, if you were running around trick or treating people, would you carry:
A. Candy.
B. Eggs (to throw).
C. Toilet paper.
D. Whole wheat flour.
“Try to ask people of the opposite sex in a private room.”
Liked how Irisu basically gave Chitanda the blueprint for seducing Houtarou, but Chitanda’s too naive to know it. It’s like the author knows that he’s (or she’s) teasing us with the slightest bit of shipping between Houtarou and Chitanda but not going to indulge it. Basically, a kindergarten version of X-Files seasons 1-4 when what we want is Skins with Chitanda and Irisu as Grace and Mini.
If that were Kyubey and Bonta-kun… run. Run for your lives.
“Kininarimasu…”
I like how Chitanda pulled out “kininarimasu” for this scene. With the flour, Mayaka should have gone with blooming onion. So good. And “kininarimasu” is such a good catchphrase… I find myself wanting to use it in normal conversation, but I’ve stopped myself thus far. I just know I’m going to slip up and say “Kininarimasu Azu-cat-o!”
(I want to change my iMessage tone to it, if I knew how.)
Meanwhile, Houtarou basically did nothing for this episode except read Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Night Flight. Curiously, that book has a theme where the long term goals are more important than an individual’s life. Basically, The Dark Knight, except with air mail in place of Harvey Dent.
Beginning to think Kyoto likes to animation cute girls running. I am predicting a “Kyoto Animation Is Developing An Anime Based On A Female Cross Country Track and Field Team” headline for 2013. Heck, I would much rather see this than Little Busters.
It must be fun going to this school if they have a three day festival with such elaborately planned activities. Hell, it seems like they have more activities planned than Fanime. The preparation to get the ingredients, set up outdoor cooking stations, and recruit people who know how to cook (seriously, how many high schoolers know how to cook well?)? Just seems like a fun school.
(Chitanda batting her eyelashes her… 22 out of 10 on the adorable scale.)
“Kininarimasu!” Things I’m Curious About
1. Will the Classics Club sell more than 30 copies?
2. Can Chitanda break 30 out of 10 on the adorable scale?
3. Is the Jumonji thing related to Jumanji?
6 Responses to “hyouka 14”
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That last shot of Chitanda… I knew I’d see it here. The ponytail is strong in this one. Surprised that the chef’s son didn’t blush.
Chitanda asking Irisu how to induce people to do things for her was a bit unexpected given that she had overwhelmed Irisu’s defenses quite effectively just before.
Nice to see Misaki Sawakiguchi (triple hairball girl) again. Any of the others from previous episodes show up in the background?
And not a SINGLE mention of Kyon-as-cooking commentator? You disappoint me, Jason.
>And not a SINGLE mention of Kyon-as-cooking commentator?
Seriously, and he even stole the Kininarimasu tagline in his commentary. Also liked the back and forth with Satoshi and Chitanda during the cooking. When Satoshi is cooking, Iron Chef Chitanda wants to tell him he’s doing it wrong and when Iron Chef Chitanda is cooking, Satoshi desperately wants to tell Chitanda not to use up all the damn ingredients.
I’m glad to see the law of no average cooks in anime has been followed, with Chitanda’s godly cooking being balanced by Sawakiguchi’s demonic cooking (The expression on her and her teammate when they cook is wonderful too). And not only did Kyon get to ham it up throughout the contest, there was even a trademark facepalm from him just before the judging when he sampled the Astronomy club’s concoction.
@dbm: At the start of the cooking contest you can see the 3 girls from the movie in the audience. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if there were others around as well.
3xHairball is even in the new intro, I think along with most of the rest of the movie cast (and Irisu).
My guess is that they’ll finally start to take the mystery seriously after Juumonji steals the ç§ from the calligraphy club. Because it’s all fun and games until somebody loses an “I”.
@Neriya – Indeed there they are. Hmmm, the guy with the sage-colored suit and side-locks sitting down in the back row looks a little familiar – maybe from another anime?
@CBongo – I think Misaki is with the other girl & boy from the astronomy club, with whom she enters the cooking contest. But who is the girl with the glasses and braided-pony-tail-hime-cut right before? … got it – it’s Kaho Juumonji from the superstition club, they’ve both got a mole under their left eye.
Both Satoshi and Mayake seem to have slightly broken relationships with their classmates. Mayaka seems a little scared whenever she’s with the Manga Club, and the interaction between Satoshi and Tani-kun is a little off. But I think it might be more interesting if the anime does not explore this, and just leaves the characters with a richer background than is necessary for the plot.