Hyouka Discussion Thread

[Ashyukun]

Originally Posted by HitokiriShadow

Oh man, Kouchi-senpai's reaction to the girls trash-talking the manga Mayaka couldn't find. And Yuasa-senpai is on a first name basis with Kouchi Ayako... or perhaps Kouchi was in love with Haruna, going by the "there's something about her you can't say" thing. At first thought it was that Yuasa just didn't want to tell Mayaka "Yeah, we totally planned the whole thing. We were trolling you for shits, giggles and sales. It was hilarious BTW." but after it ends, I'm not so sure. But still, first name basis and the way she acts.... ZOMG, its a yuri love triangle! ....Yeah, probably not.

My bets are on Kouchi having been the artist on the Manga that Mayaka can't find. Wasn't Kouchi the girl competing with Mayaka in the poster-drawing contest? The manga was a collaboration, so likely Kouchi did the art and Haruna wrote the story...

[Fencedude]

An Aneki is afoot!

"A Corpse by Evening" arrives, courtesy of the aforementioned aneki.

The illusive, dangerous and very high level SHIRANUI MAI cosplay appears.

Eru appears on a radio talk show.

And just what is, "Kudryavaka's Order"?

[something]

Episode 16:

- It's Satoshi tiiiiiiime~!

- Scratch that, it's onee-chan tiiiiiiiiime~! Man, her being here throws everything out of whack. She can and will affect the situaton in unpredictable ways.
- Eru recognizes her. Hmmm.

- Juumoji stole from the keionbu! That fiend! It also breaks the pattern, at least in terms of order. Or he's already stolen from a Ku club.
- Satoshi is taking this a little too personally... but it's not so much that Juumoji is beating him, as that he's losing to himself.

- Heh, I like what passes for excitement from Houtarou.
- I love they ways they hide his sister's face.
- Trading quest continues and Houtaruo gets... A Corpse by Evening! Well I'm sure that wasn't a coincidence at all.
- Ohhhh, ohhhhhhhhh! Mystery. Christie. The next Kanya festival. Hmmmmmmmmm.
- Kudryavka. Finally the book three title comes up.
- So onee-chan left behind a very important item for both the mystery, and for Mayaka if she finds out.

- Oh wow, Eru hit the jackpot. A chance to adevrtise her club on the school radio show!
- And back in the club room. Houtarou rather enjoyed the manga. Rare praise coming from him.
- Eru recognizes the art? It feels like Eru has all the pieces of the mystery in her head somehow but needs to bring them together.
- WATASHI, KI NI NARIMASU! Throw in boob power (in the most modest downshirt fanservice scene ever, that's KyoAni for you) and Houtarou's resistance fades.

- Haha, oh wow, Kouchi really did cosplay Mai!
- Fuuuuuuuck these manga club girls, seriously. She didn't intend to spill the whole thing on Mayaka, but trying to spill any at all was a massive dick move. Feeling bad about it only makes her slighly less of a jerkoff.
- Yay, Mayaka and Chii-chan together for once! Does not happen enough.
- Annnnnnnd I'm only halfway through the episode, haha wow.

- Aww... damn. One of the members of the Corpse by Evening threesome is a guy. So no yuri subplot. ;_; It'll just be a break-up over a hetero love triangle. Oh well.
- Bwhahah, Houtarou either has to have the others thing he doesn't know who the student council president is, or acknowledge he didn't know how to read the name. Neither would be flattering.
- Ooh oh oh oh! gah, I could type up thousanda of words about an episode of this show. There's so much I want to call out, so much I want to praise, sooo much going on. Everything with the four of them back in the club room was great but the highlight for me was Eru's reaction when Houtarou didn't want to talk to her about it. I definietly get the sense she feels left out, or rather feels she's not taken as seriously, when they're solving mysteries. She's just as passionate as any of them but Houratou keeps trying to avoid her.
- And manages it again by scaring her off with talk of adult topics.
- I do feel a little bad for Houtarou. Satoshi too, but poor Houtarou has no idea why Satoshi is showing such sudden mood swings. That must be disorienting.
- Ouch. 'Don't let us down, Houtarou" sounded to me like Satoshi's admission of defeat. Poor guy.

- Eru's radio debut! Except now she's probably all flustered after what Houtarou said. I hope this doesn't go badly.
- Hahah, well. Okay, not off to the best start. ;sd:

THIS SHOW IS SO DAMN AWESOME. Seems like next time should end it. That leaves 4 more TV episodes for the fourth novel, and the most recent fifth one won't be covered.

[strangefour]

-Satoshi (& some fops) vs Juumonji.
-Oreki's sister is a crazy hippie...
-Yui & Mugi are in danger! Must save the light music club from thievery.
-The trade quest continues once more. Wait... that manga!? What are you psychic Oreki aneki?
-Tanda-chan has luck powers.
-Swallow it. Swallow it!
-GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL! Nippon Ichi! :D
-Rainbow Parakeet? I though she was a communist pig.
-Jersey-bu! Maru~

-The ears are identical. Yep same artist. Ears are a bitch to draw and we all develop our own short hand for those ugly little appendages.
-Aww that's why Ereki is always so cranky. He has kanji dyslexia.
-Tanda-chan can jump from deep sadness to ecstatic glee in a heartbeat.
-Laika's real name!
-Eru uses Headbutt. It's moe.

Ah hah! I was right. Mai Shiranui was inevitable. Shame she wasn't on screen much. :\ Interesting to see Satoshi get so damn mad at Oreki for this seeming so easy for him. Then just burying that anger that Oreki doesn't even notice. Satoshi puts up with a lot to be a great best friend.

Longest culture festival ever.

[ultimatemegax]

Originally Posted by something

THIS SHOW IS SO DAMN AWESOME. Seems like next time should end it. That leaves 4 more TV episodes for the fourth novel, and the most recent fifth one won't be covered.

Agreed on the show quality. This week's KyoAni site update included the promotional picture for the fourth novel, so it looks like that is next (though surprises may occur).

Having read about the fifth novel, I'm not surprised it won't be covered. I personally don't feel as though it could end a season with its contents.

This show just seems to be getting better each and every week somehow. KyoAni continues to find ways to top themselves. Also, that broadcasting room looks familiar....

[something]

Originally Posted by something

Seems like next time should end it. That leaves 4 more TV episodes for the fourth novel, and the most recent fifth one won't be covered.

So I looked into page counts of the novels. This is based on the bunko re-releases with the anime design covers:

Volume 1, Hyouka: 217 pgs, eps 1-5. 43.4 pg/ep.
Volume 2, Gusha no Endroll: 245 pgs, eps 8-11. 61.25 pg/ep.
Volume 3, Kudryavka no Junban: 393 pgs, eps 12-17. 65.5 pg/ep.
Volume 4, Toomawari suru Hina: 410 pgs, eps 18-21. 102.5 pg/ep.
Volume 5, Futari no Kyori no Gaisan: not animated

I'm assuming Kudryavka ends next episode and Toomawari runs the rest of the show, and concludes at ep 21. I can't imagine they'd make us wait for the last BD in mid 2013 for the ending, so 22 must be another side story.

Episode 6 was the "why did Eru's teacher get mad" episode. Not part of a major arc. Same for episode 7, the onsen ghost. 11.5, the pool episode, is anime original if I'm not mistaken.

At first the huge jump in pages per volume for the final animated arc looks a little unsettling, but if eps 6-7 were taken from Toomawari that might knock off 100-150 pages or so and leave us with something a little more manageable, around 65-77 pages per episode.

I'm guessing a sequel is going to be all but impossible. Only one novel remains, and it's already been 11 years since the series started with only 5 total published. I find it unlikely that either 1) enough new material will be written and 2) nearly soon enough to make a sequel at all likely.

Hopefully Toomawari has a good, conclusive ending. I suppose they could do Futari no Kyori in the bonus episode as it's shorter than Kudryavka or Toomawari but it's still 287 pages so I doubt one episode would come close.

[ultimatemegax]

Originally Posted by something

So I looked into page counts of the novels. This is based on the bunko re-releases with the anime design covers:

Volume 1, Hyouka: 217 pgs, eps 1-5. 43.4 pg/ep.
Volume 2, Gusha no Endroll: 245 pgs, eps 8-11. 61.25 pg/ep.
Volume 3, Kudryavka no Junban: 393 pgs, eps 12-17. 65.5 pg/ep.
Volume 4, Toomawari suru Hina: 410 pgs, eps 18-21. 102.5 pg/ep.
Volume 5, Futari no Kyori no Gaisan: not animated

I'm assuming Kudryavka ends next episode and Toomawari runs the rest of the show, and concludes at ep 21. I can't imagine they'd make us wait for the last BD in mid 2013 for the ending, so 22 must be another side story.

Episode 6 was the "why did Eru's teacher get mad" episode. Not part of a major arc. Same for episode 7, the onsen ghost. 11.5, the pool episode, is anime original if I'm not mistaken.

At first the huge jump in pages per volume for the final animated arc looks a little unsettling, but if eps 6-7 were taken from Toomawari that might knock off 100-150 pages or so and leave us with something a little more manageable, around 65-77 pages per episode.

I'm guessing a sequel is going to be all but impossible. Only one novel remains, and it's already been 11 years since the series started with only 5 total published. I find it unlikely that either 1) enough new material will be written and 2) nearly soon enough to make a sequel at all likely.

Hopefully Toomawari has a good, conclusive ending. I suppose they could do Futari no Kyori in the bonus episode as it's shorter than Kudryavka or Toomawari but it's still 287 pages so I doubt one episode would come close.

Not only did episodes 6 and 7 come from the fourth novel, but the second half of episode 1 came from it as well (stories 1, 2, 3 of 7 total). That gives us four stories (alas, I don't have page counts on hand) for four episodes. The OVA is the only newly-written story, but this month's Wilderness Era contains the first short story written since 2010.

As for the fifth, I disagree that it'll come from the fifth novel. For some reason, an 8th short story was written between 2001 and 2007 but was not published in the fourth novel. Said story just happens to be included with BD/DVD volume 9, which contains episodes 17/18. If we assume 17 ends the Kudryavka novel, then 18 could be Renbou wa Harete iru ka (Are the Mountains Clear?), giving 19-22 to novel four (four episodes for four stories).

I agree with the subpar prospects of a sequel, but that does not mean it won't be animated. It could be a movie or long OVA.

[something]

Originally Posted by ultimatemegax

Not only did episodes 6 and 7 come from the fourth novel, but the second half of episode 1 came from it as well (stories 1, 2, 3 of 7 total). That gives us four stories (alas, I don't have page counts on hand) for four episodes.

All one-off stories? It'd be a bit of a downer to go out on one-offs after all these great multi-episode arcs. Oh well, I'm sure KyoAni will make it work.

I agree with the subpar prospects of a sequel, but that does not mean it won't be animated. It could be a movie or long OVA.

It could be a movie, yes but I can think of nothing in the entire anime industry that would be considered more precious a resource than the amount of production time that would be required for a KyoAni theatrical film. Hyouka is successful so far, and I bet it could make a great movie, but I guess I don't see it happening. OVA perhaps.

[ultimatemegax]

Originally Posted by something

All one-off stories? It'd be a bit of a downer to go out on one-offs after all these great multi-episode arcs. Oh well, I'm sure KyoAni will make it work.

Hyouka has gone in chronological order thus far. The remaining stories appear to take place after the Kanya Festival, so they couldn't be adapted before now and have the Festival end it for us. It's disappointing, but there's no other choice with the material they have.

[HitokiriShadow]

Lucky Mayaka, she now has access to a copy of "A Corpse by Evening" thanks to Houtarou's sister's amazingly convenient (or is it....?) ability to give him exactly what he needs. Especially lucky after Mayaka's day just looked like it went to shit.

"Kudryavka's Order" Geez, that's mouthful.

And Satoshi looks like he's very close to snapping with his Houtarou complex.

Also, Eru provides us the least fanservicey cleavage shot ever.