Hyouka – 17-18
Yep. Hyouka is all about sunshine, rainbows and getting struck by lightning.
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I should probably be talking about Hyouka here, but THIS (and THIS as well) have me too excited. …Also, it’s relevant because part of the reason I’m late for episode 17 of Hyouka is due to my quest for 100% pin completion. THE TIMING IS TOO PERFECT. I ADMIT TO PROCRASTINATING. …Okay, back to the mysteries. |
Episode 17
The narrative style for this episode was pretty interesting since they started with the conclusion of the mystery and THEN went back and explained that the entire thing was planned. Bringing up a couple of episodes back when Satoshi mentioned that Christie liked to write narrative tricks into her books, I found this episode kind of like that (and I figure it was intentional since they already pointed out that the entire mystery here had links to Christie). I still don’t know a thing about the ABC Murders, but in And Then There Were None, it kind of ended similarly where the mystery played out, everyone died (or in Hyouka’s case, everyone ‘lost’ something), and only afterwards were all of the contradictions explained. Not a huge deal, but I figured I’d point it out since this arc was more Christie.
…That being said, HOLY CRAP did Tanabe ever put a ton of effort into this little mystery here. Seriously. All of that just to ask some guy if he’s read a script? That’s pretty subtle. So subtle that I’m wondering how the intended ever even got the message. He obviously did (or at least, he knew Tanabe was behind it all) , since he addressed Tanabe during his speech, but that has to be a huge blow to Tanabe that even despite his effort, the script still wasn’t read. Poor Satoshi as well. The answer to the mystery came pretty easy this time around after so much buildup, but I think that it’s because it was so easy (for Houtarou at least) that Satoshi had such a hard time coping with it. …On top of his inferiority complex. Like I said last episode, Houtarou DID have something to build his case on and Satoshi just didn’t see the connections that Houtarou did. …He seems to be taking it pretty hard. I hope Hyouka does something about his inferiority complex by the end of the series since this guy has done nothing but be proven wrong the entire run. Being Mayaka was suffering as well since her whole reason for being miserable was all due to a comment said on a whim because of some admiration-envy thing. I guess the lesson here is that there are just some things you can’t convince people to do.
Romance-wise? I can see Eru and Houtarou happening, but Mayaka and Satoshi seems like a longer shot, even though it’s pretty clear that Mayaka likes the guy while Houtarou’s feelings for Eru (and vice versa) are still somewhat up in the air. …Plus there’s the whole point of Satoshi’s sexual orientation being ambiguous. I don’t really talk about it much, but I’ve read quite a few people around the net saying that Satoshi is gay (the fact that his room is covered in purses aside) since that would fit into the whole Sherlockian lore better (…since Hyouka seems to favour that series. Though after the last arc, you could argue the same for Christie to some extent). Personally, I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt, but I figured I’d bring this up since I’ve never really mentioned it before.
What intrigued me the most this arc? Houtarou’s aneki had figured out the mystery before Houtarou did, since she gave him that manga. Seeing how Tanabe didn’t really react to Houtarou’s name and the whole thing seemed like an internal problem, I assume she was never in on any of it and therefore, figured it out herself. …So is this where Houtarou gets it? Do logic skills just run through the family? I’m curious. She’s been involved in the main Hyouka arc as well (and possibly the movie arc, though that one’s a bit more ambiguous), making her role much larger than it seems. Sure, Houtarou gets the credit for his skills, but a lot of it comes from his sister. She’s like his subtle guide. Is she a hurdle that Houtarou will need to overcome? I guess only future episodes will tell.
Episode 18
…Only Hyouka could turn something small like a teacher saying that he liked helicopters once into a full blown mystery that requires it’s own episode. I was a bit unsure if Houtarou could solve this one since mysteries from the past always seem to have more ambiguity to them than an ongoing one, but Houtarou seemed to have pieced this one together quite nicely. I was half expected something like the lightning strikes effecting his personality, but nope. Hyouka takes a way more logical route. While the mystery took the main focus of the episode, it was just a roundabout way of displaying more of Houtarou’s personality.
Hear that? That’s the sound of hell freezing over.
The message to all of this? Houtarou is actually more people-oriented then you’d think. …Though that doesn’t quite sound right (maybe the word considerate would work better here…? Sensitive to others…?) For lack of a better term, he’s not really motivated to do things for himself but for others, he’s willing to put in more effort (I think this was Chitanda’s understanding of this too). I took his actions this episode as him feeling a bit guilty (or maybe not quite guilt, but still feeling bad) of making assumptions of his old teacher like that and he wanted to clear up the misunderstanding. I only say this because Houtarou said that he didn’t like the fact that he said that the teacher liked helicopters. I’m sure you could argue that Houtarou just really wanted to know the truth for truth’s sake, but I don’t think he’s one to actively seek it like that unless someone asks him into it.
So I can’t really say much more about this episode, but Houtarou is definitely growing as a character. It will be interesting to see where he and this series ends up (I think there are 4 episodes left…? That’s enough for at least one last big arc). Especially since there isn’t really a set route for this anime and mysteries seem to come and go without any real goal.
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Poor Mayaka won’t get anywhere with Satoshi, even though she’s apparently confessed to him in Middle school and still hasn’t given up. I need to go watch it again, but some have said that Satoshi’s biking conversation with Houtarou in the Hyouka arc was a roundabout way of coming out of the closet.
I am hoping to see Houtarou get interested in Eru. But he also needs to work out some hand signals with Satoshi to not let on that he’s thinking something, cause this is twice in 3 episodes that Satoshi’s activated Eru’s eyes on him. The first time he got out of it by lying about ‘adult discussions’, but this time there was no escape. Although I think Satoshi likes getting them together, if only just to tweak Houtarou.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I… I don’t remember that conversation OTL. If she really did confess though, she has guts to stick around him like that even after being rejected. I don’t know if its better or worse for her that he treats her just like one of his close friends. As for the bicycle conversation, I didn’t really pick up on that if it was a roundabout way. I took it more as an introduction to his inferiority complex.
Ahaha I think he slowly is. Or at least after 18, it seems like he’s slowly opening up to her (or maybe it was a spur of the moment thing). Yeah, I think he likes getting them together as well. He was fairly encouraging when he first noticed that Houtarou had some interest in Chitanda.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
In Episode 2, when we first meet Mayaka in the library, Satoshi is joking about she and Houtarou being the “best couple” from Junior High (she clearly dislikes Houtarou). She responds that he shouldn’t make jokes like that, “knowing how I feel” and Satoshi responds “Sorry, didn’t mean to reopen old wounds”, at which point Houtarou explains to Eru that Mayaka has had a crush on Satoshi since Junior High.
Given Mayaka’s seeming tendency to stick with things she likes, even in the face of less than responsive people around, I can see why she’d still hang around with Satoshi. Although it is kind of weird: at the beginning of the show she loathes Houtarou’s laziness and still feels rejected by Satoshi, so why would she even start hanging around with them?
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 323 comments
lol T__T , i can’t find this Episode ~~
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Try finding the episodes here. I recommend you go with the low quality ones at the bottom half of the page. The quality of episodes is great.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Episode 17: Houtarou is just awesome. What a perfect deduction and manipulation. He got a two for one figuring out the thief’s identity and blackmailing him to sell off the rest of the anthologies. My mind was all over the place trying to figure it out. At one time, I thought it was someone in the Student Council, not Tanabe. But then again, Tanabe got a lot of screentime if you think about it so him being the culprit was plausible.
Episode 18: Houtarou creating a mystery, wanting to do something out of his own will and says that he’s curious?! Blasphemy!! This has to be some kind of a dream here because I can’t believe it!!! Those words should be taboo coming out of his mouth. Even Satoshi and the others are in disbelief. Eru probably has gotten to him.
I’m surprised Houtarou created an interesting mystery from something so superficial and that no one would really care about but his theories are compelling. It adds to the realism in this anime a bit which is one of its strengths. If someone wanted to become a detective in the real world, they are not going to find a murder around every corner. So what are the other options? Unraveling the mysteries of everyday life, or of the lives of people around you.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
17: I didn’t even really notice Tanabe having a ton of screentime until the end, AFTER it was all explained. …The whole thing was definitely done for reasoning that I would have never been able to predict. Sure, I figured that it had something to do with the manga team, but all of that to ask if that other guy had read the script? Again, hell that’s subtle.
18: Everyone’s reactions when he said he was curious. That was priceless. Though that’s what had me convinced about his sincerity during his speech at the end of the episode. He’s NEVER curious.
Yep, once again, Hyouka dominates the realism factor. …The only part that had me doubtful was the whole struck by lightning 3 times. Once? Sure. I suppose it was necessary to have something unusual though for Houtarou to pick up on the weather region thing. I think twice would have been more realistic and still unusual enough. Ah, well. Details.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
This is going to be a bit confusing, but people who have been struck by lightning once tend to be more likely to have been struck by lightning more than once than the rest of the population of people are likely to be hit once. This is because people who have professions and hobbies that would expose them to lightning strikes once tend to keep doing those things that increase their chances of being exposed to lightning. So it’s a known phenomenon that jibes with what they’re saying. If you’re more likely to be struck by lightning when climbing a mountain, you’re more likely to be struck multiple times because you keep being a mountain climber than someone who isn’t a mountain climber at all.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Nah, I understood that. I guess that all makes sense. I think the main thing I have a problem with isn’t so much the fact that he was struck, but more the fact that he survived. Aren’t the chances of surviving incredibly low? Let alone surviving it 3 times. …Unless there’s some phenomenon where some people are more resistant than others that I’ve never heard of. Or maybe there’s gear for that? I don’t know. I’m not an expert on being struck by lightning. I just can’t picture anyone surviving it multiple times.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Okay, I did some research and I guess more people survive lightning strikes with injuries as opposed to dying from them.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
BB, Something I thought from the very beginning of the show was that the ‘mysteries’ they’re dealing with are almost entirely minor things that are currently unexplained to them. Of the plot lines we’ve seen so far, only the Kanya Festa arc really moved to a true ‘whodunit’ type mystery. The film arc was a manufactured cat’s paw situation by Irisu who employed the Classics Club to produce an investigation to cover her desire to spice up a boring film, with an actual revelation by Houtarou that he was being used.
All the rest of the things have been really minor. So I don’t think it’s that this story was the aberration, being something so minor. Rather, it was the Kanya Festa arc that was the major aberration, with the EBA arc as a confounding data point, since it was manufactured.
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 28 comments
I feel like Houtarou and his sister’s relationship is similar to Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes. Mycroft, Sherlock’s brother is much smarter than him in deducting ability, but he’s too lazy to go out and prove it. In this, the sister figures it out, but leaves all the leg work to Houtarou to do…
Also, I’m curious, when did they ever show Satoshi’s room being full of purses? O.o
Though I hope Satoshi has a solution to his ‘lack of talent’ as well. Guy works too hard to get nothing…
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
At the beginning of the Kanya Festa arc, in the cold open, they showed everyone anticipating the Festival, and showed his room, which is definitely full of purses. (Episode 12)
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Day has a post on it
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
-Off topic-
2 Days left 4 the SE Teaser site!!
-On-topic-
Wait til I watched up to this.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
-still off topic- YES, I AM SO EXCITED. YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW.
POWUH: Meta Resident and Werewolf Chaser with 1270 comments
Still excited??
~iOS poorrrtttt~
(Joking)
POWUH: 600-699 and Wingman with 655 comments
im back 😀 (well hopefully somebody remembers i was here)
im not sure thou 😛 im in univ, and is trying to catch up on this delicious anime 🙂 hopefully I come back again to read more posts since im terribly busy with hws 😉
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Ahaha I remember you if only for the fact that your name sits in the top 15 commentators xD have fun catching up!