Anime Review: Hyouka

I've been putting this review off for a while...and now I finally feel like writing it. Here's what I have to say about Hyouka in general~

I thought the anime was very interesting - it took a bit of willpower to continue watching in the beginning, but I then quickly got hooked to the anime and was left wishing for more. To basically summarize the storyline, it's about this boy named Houtaro Oreki whose motto in life is to save energy as much as possible, meaning that he will only do things if it is deemed important. Due to his older sister's request, he ends up joining the Classics Club as soon as he enters high school to save it from being terminated due to a lack of members. In the club meeting room, he ends up meeting a girl named Eru Chitanda...and yeah everything starts from there. The other two characters are Satoshi Fukube and Mayaka Ibara.

When I read the summary of the anime, my initial thoughts were that this involved some supernatural stuff, but turns out I was quite wrong. It's rather interesting how thanks to Chitanda's inability to hold in her curiosity ("Watashi...kininarimasu!"), the group ends up trying to solve small mysteries around the school or some random mysteries outside. I really appreciated how the writers showed us exactly how Oreki and the others came to their conclusions in each of the mysteries they were involved in - because it made me feel like I was there thinking with them. Which doubled the fun of watching the anime for me, so that was awesome. So the anime might be boring as it's mostly the four of them thinking through all the clues given and all...but I like knowing every single detail of how someone came to a conclusion (especially when I'm trying to understand how to solve a certain math or physics problem...hah).

The only really disappointing thing about the plot was that there was no certain conclusion made in the last episode. Like everyone else, I wasn't particularly impressed that they left the romance hanging - sure, we know who's going to be with who, but we were never shown that they actually got together. But then again, I don't really mind that the romance wasn't resolved, because if you observe each of the characters carefully - it's quite obvious that the romance here isn't something that can be easily resolved in 22 episodes. I mean, none of the characters are quite so outgoing and honest with their feelings - well Mayuka is the only person who is. Everyone else is either in denial or oblivious to their own feelings. So that's why it would be nice if there was a season 2 for this anime, haha. I guess the writers are leaving it up to us to interpret the last episode...although I have absolutely no idea how to interpret it. I just ended up finishing that episode confused, because I didn't know how to conclude the anime. Maybe because I'm dumb. Oh well.

Oh, another disappointing thing about the plot was that...well it was really engaging and exciting until the it suddenly shot down for the last few episodes. I had trouble finishing the last few episodes because it just...suddenly got boring. Yes, it isn't possible for exciting things to happen all the time in daily life, but the last few eps were really dull. 

oreki, uninterested as usual.

Now onto talking about the characters. I appreciate how the writers showed us each of the characters' different sides to us - we first get to know what each of the characters are like at the surface, and then as the anime progresses, we get to know their dark sides - their insecurities and such. What I found interesting here was that Oreki seemed like the only person with no insecurities whatsoever - probably because he's the only one out of them who has accepted himself for who he is. My favorite character was Oreki, because I for some reason really like guys who don't talk much. But then again, I also admired him because he didn't seem like he cared about whether he had friends or was making the best out of life (because I personally am mostly going back and forth - I either care too much or don't care at all about not being as social as others around me may be.). He just does whatever he wants to do - until Chitanda came along, haha.

I first found Chitanda a little annoying; I wondered where she got the confidence to continuously push Oreki - someone she barely knows - into solving all these mysteries just for the sake of resolving her curiosity. And how can you get so curious about every little thing that strikes you as weird? Or interesting? So I guess that also explains why Oreki is my favorite character - he was someone I could sort of relate to, as he didn't really care to find out more about something he was only a little bit interested in (hell, he didn't even seem like he was interested in anything in the beginning hah). Later on, it was pretty interesting how we got to get a glimpse of what kind of responsibilities Chitanda has at home, and how that sort of let us see a dark side of her. Sure, she doesn't complain about having to do them, but it's obvious that she doesn't really feel enthusiastic about them either. When she talked about her family and the traditions surrounding them, I got an impression that her family was holding her down, like she was in some sort of prison. That made me feel sorry for her. Chitanda is sort of a mysterious character in that way - she seems happy and optimistic most of the time, but she does have insecurities and circumstances that hold her down - and she doesn't show her negative side explicitly either. When the anime ended, I was left wanting to know more about Chitanda - we really only got to know what she is like at the surface, and was only shown a glimpse of her dark side. And in that sense, she is a mysterious character.

Sadly, I don't have much to say about Mayuka - I like that she's nice and straightforward with her feelings for Satoshi...and that's pretty much it. She wasn't a very engaging character, in my opinion.

Satoshi, on the otherhand - I thought he was a very interesting character, alongside Chitanda. How he talks about his bad points so casually, yet with a dark tone - and how he lets loose his dark side sometimes despite his efforts to hide it with his carefree attitude. I think Satoshi is the most unrelatable character out of all four of the main characters in this anime - most likely because he puts in an incredible effort to hide the points about him he doesn't like. Like with Chitanda, we only got a glimpse of his dark side - his jealousy of Oreki, his insecurities of his abilities, his fear of becoming obsessed with something, etc. Or is that more than a glimpse? Haha.

But I guess I did feel like Satoshi was a relatable character at that one time he explained the reason why he wouldn't accept Mayuka's feelings. As Oreki said, Satoshi used to get incredibly mad whenever he lost to him at a game back in middle school, but now he doesn't really care about winning or losing anymore. According to Satoshi, it's because he realized how scary it was to be that obsessed with something - which is why he won't accept Mayuka's feelings, despite the fact that he likes her back. He's scared of becoming obsessed with her. Although I'm not as extreme as Satoshi, I do relate to him in that I try not to be too attached to anything, particularly a person. Despite the fact that I really like and care about my family and friends, I try not to depend on them too much, or show how much I like them - because I'm scared that I might scare them away. I find it easier to put on a carefree attitude like Satoshi does (although I don't give off a "I'm enthusiastic 24/7!" aura like Satoshi does haha) - it's sort of a brainwash in a way - so that I won't be disappointed when someone I care about lets me down.



Okay, I think that's pretty much it for what I have to say about Hyouka. Overall, it's definitely an anime worth watching - although I didn't obsess over it as I have done with some other animes in the past, I constantly find myself thinking back to how much fun it was to watch Hyouka. Plus, the artwork is awesome - which doubled the fun for me. And I had fun sort of fangirling over the cute moments between Oreki and Chitanda. Shame we didn't get to see much of those moments between Mayuka and Satoshi. Alright, bye for now~

Note: I don't take credit for any of the screenshots and such in this post