Look, did you think I wasn’t going to write an article celebrating Hyouka’s move to Crunchyroll? Anyway, here is my contractually obligated squealing about Crunchyroll nabbing what could well be the best television anime of all time, along with some hopefully convincing illustrations of why I’m so damn excited. Hyouka is the best, and I am thrilled that so many new people will now get to experience it. Get to it!
Kyoto Animation’s Masterpiece Has Arrived on Crunchyroll!
Today I’ve got my review of Hyouka’s second half, which unsurprisingly turned out to be just as strong on this viewing as any of the others. Hyouka is just a ridiculously good show in every single capacity, maintaining a level of richness and beauty throughout that is simply staggering. It is remarkable that this show exists at all.
You can check out my full review over at ANN.
Today I’ve got a review of the first long-awaited Hyouka release! After far too many years in limbo, this straight-up masterpiece is finally getting released over here, and I was happy to revisit it. Hyouka is an experience that feels richer every time, full of great details and suffused with a strong atmosphere that completely transports you to its world. I hope my words do it some justice!
You can check out my full review over at ANN.
And here we are, at the very last episode of Hyouka. It’s a tremendous episode, but I almost don’t want to write about it – after several months of cataloging all of this show’s beautiful twists and turns, I really don’t want it to be over. Rewatching this show has reaffirmed my opinion of it as Kyoto Animation’s crown jewel, a masterpiece of a production that’s about as good as any show can be. It’s understated and graceful and grand, a full-bodied production that marries intimate character work to some of the most consistently great framing and animation in any television anime ever. It’s a show worth holding close, an achievement I can only hope they’ll one day match again.
As the heated feelings of the festival have cooled, Hyouka’s last pair of episodes have focused on Oreki and Chitanda almost at the expense of that arc’s starring pair. That hasn’t really been a problem; in fact, it’s more appropriate for the fall and winter season to prioritize those two, given theirs are the feelings that are actually moving close to real, honest expression. But a great deal of time has now passed in this world, and as Valentine’s Day and the end of their first high school year approach, it’s clearly time to revisit Mayaka and Satoshi’s tempestuous relationship. Mayaka has been very patient, but she can’t sit around waiting for Satoshi to grow up forever.
Hyouka’s twentieth episode opens with a small light growing through a crack in the wall. As the light expands, silent shots of gardening supplies creating a sense of peace in a small space, until the silence is broken by Oreki’s breath. Clearly some time has passed since the last episode, the truth of which is confirmed by Oreki’s first words. “Hey, Chitanda. Do you think the saying, ‘what you do on New Year’s, you repeat all year’ is true?” And Chitanda gives him a thoughtful but comfortable reply as the camera hones in on their new level of intimacy, simultaneously expressing their emotional proximity and the claustrophobia of their situation. But it’ll take them a while to reach that point of closeness. First, Oreki needs a reality check.
Hyouka’s eighteenth episode made explicit the distance Oreki and Chitanda have moved towards each other, and brought them even closer together over the course of a mystery investigation that might as well have also been a date. By the end of that episode, Oreki’s classic blushes at being caught by Chitanda’s stare were matched by Chitanda’s own feelings, as she found herself struck by new emotions she couldn’t really describe. Relationships have shifted slowly across the course of this series, but at this point, Oreki and Chitanda are so close together their noses are already touching.
The school festival has ended, with half of Hyouka’s characters left at their most tense and unhappy moments so far. Satoshi has attempted to match Oreki and failed, ultimately validating his own lack of confidence. And though Mayaka is trying to reach out to Satoshi, she’s also left with feelings of inadequacy – not only can she not help the boy she cares about, but her passion for manga has been rewarded with the knowledge that even those far better than her feel like failures in their own eyes. Given all these sad, climactic character shifts, you might expect Hyouka to now start ramping up towards some final, cathartic revelations.
The grand finale has arrived! We’re finally at the last episode of the school festival arc, the school festival arc to end all festival arcs, the arc pinpointing the anxieties of young identity and self-expectations by the studio best able to make those feelings real. The episode opens with the continuation of Chitanda’s climactic radio announcement, where she makes use of all the perhaps misguided advice Irisu has given her and all the confidence she’s gained over three days of propositioning people to ask the whole school for help in catching Juumoji, and also maybe selling a few anthologies.
Episode sixteen opens with Satoshi prepping himself for his great mystery adventure. Having resolved last episode to finally come out ahead of Oreki for once, he arrives at the festival bright and early, only to see that the newspaper has already put out a call for any would-be detectives. Over at the current events club, where the next Juumaji theft is theoretically scheduled, the floor is lousy with self-confident schemers and bored sleuths. Satoshi is ready to shine in a way only he can; but then his annoying rival gets a call, and Satoshi learns he has once again been defeated. Shots are framed to avoid his face and emphasize his powerlessness, as his “that was pointless” echoes his feelings on the magic show fiasco. Satoshi may have finally decided he’s going to commit to something, but that doesn’t mean the world is willing to play along. Sometimes you just can’t win.