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Aug 27 2012

Categories: episodic review, hyouka
Tagged: hyouka

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“That’s impossible! That’s not realistically possible! That’s not theoretically possible! This is a failure! A catastrophe!”

JUST SHUT UP AND SMOOCH ALREADY!!!

With only two (!!) episodes left, Hyouka is either going down as a frustrating series that never quite got its act together, capable of some awesome moments yet also some catastrophic ones (Jake Plummer)… or it does down as one of the greats (John Elway). There’s no in-between. Hyouka‘s legacy, much like two quarterbacks (one who just abruptly quit and one who went out with a Super Bowl win), will depend on the how the story concludes. If it ends on a weak mystery with no further development of characters, the series is a disappointment. It needs to nail the final two episodes, which obviously isn’t enough for a great mystery and development, so just give us one: the metamorphosis of Houtarou from the homeless man’s Encyclopedia Brown to the second coming of Encyclopedia Brown. He needs to rise to become the detective that we need and deserve.

(And if he scores some Chitanda, he goes into the male lead Hall of Fame, which is still quite empty. It’s that simple.)

I’m not sure what the show is doing at this stage, but the past two episodes have been pretty much just Chitanda and Houtarou (with Satoshi and Mayaka and the normal huge cast completely absent this time around), so I hope the final arc puts Chitanda and Houtarou front and center. And, really, they should have been all this time. They are the show’s two strongest characters. Chitanda has been on an unparalleled run of adorableness. She’s like a dozen shiba inu puppies combined with a baby sloth mixed in with some Potemayo. This year? She’s the Mike Trout of anime. Houtarou? He is the backbone of the series. For the series to be great, it needs both development and adorableness, and Houtarou needs to come through with the development (either character or story) aspect. Otherwise, Hyouka is just K-On! with a classics club.

We went from Houtarou trying to figure out why a previous teacher who was never seen previously nor will be seen again cared about helicopters to Houtarou spending twenty minutes to decipher a 15 second announcement. In other words, he’s turned into one of those anime bloggers who write more words than are actually spoken in an anime episode. Nonetheless, this episode is still basically twenty minutes of Houtarou and Chitanda examining a single announcement as if they were JFK and Robert McNamara going over Soviet missives during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

(Though the funny part about that old Binchou-tan post is that no one called me out for writing 4,000 words a post on Bakemonogatari… which probably is because Bakemonogatari hadn’t aired yet, and there’s probably more than 4,000 words in a typical Bakemonogatari episode.)

Houtarou just channeled Kyon for a second. While this moment would suit a typical Kyon and Haruhi scene, it seems really out of place for a Houtarou and Chitanda.

Houtarou plays this “game” as he calls it with Chitanda to show that his theoretical powers are just theoretical. But I’m not so sure. I think he was a bit bored and saw the chance to impress Chitanda. It’s something to do to get over the awkward silence of just the two of reading together since usually Mayaka or Satoshi would interject some much needed drama. Maybe Houtarou realized this and started on this game to get to know Chitanda better. Well, I can dream.

(Can I say that Houtarou’s power levels are… OVER 9000!!!)

At least with K-On!, the girls got out of school and played instruments. This episode (and the last) really didn’t properly showcase Kyoto’s animation prowess. It’s quite wasted just depicting a lot of dialogue in the middle of a fairly boring room. Though part of me is just complaining that we haven’t seen Chitanda in as many outfits as I would have liked.

(The whole mystery… ugh… wouldn’t it be solved if the stationary store just checked the bill before accepting it? Especially since it’s a large denomination? Whenever I try to pay with a $100 at Taco Bell, they check my bill. Also, only in Japan could someone feel so guilty about a crime that they wrote a note back to the store. I cannot imagine this happening in 2012 America. But the mystery did keep me focused the whole episode, though in a, “Wait, they plan to kill twenty minutes with just this?!” way.)

Best. Chitanda. Ever.

“Kininarimasu!” Things I’m Curious About

1. What the final mystery will be.

2. Will Houtarou and Chitanda break the Morisato Barrier.

3. How long will this Gangnam Style fad last?