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Jul 7, 2017
Story: 10
Hyouka is a series within which a lot of things happen while being seemingly uneventful. Each scene is carefully and sensitively crafted to contribute to a bigger picture; at no point is the viewer given less than is needed to solve the mysteries, and the solutions never feel unreasonable or forced. At each interaction, new information and insight is gleaned, giving the viewer a deeper understanding of the people and issues at hand. It really makes you appreciate the importance of little moments and details that help shape the path of a lifetime. At the end of it all, you look back and realise
...
how far everyone's come. Still, life goes on.
Art: 10
KyoAni outdid itself in designing characters that were distinctive, yet natural in their environment and amongst other characters. In spite of the otherwise generic high school setting, a great deal of visual interest was inserted by way of overactive imaginations, metaphorical explanations, and various distortions as to overwhelm the senses when required. The animation quality was consistently excellent throughout the series, with body language playing a huge part in characterisation and giving insight into mental states.
Sound: 10
The mysteries in Hyouka aren't necessarily big or important in the grand scheme of things; it's more about satisfying curiosities, and doing what feels important right now. For that purpose, background tracks are used to great effect in order to amp up tension and anticipation, giving weight to the current situation. Meanwhile, the OPs and EDs set the light-hearted tone of the series and remind us to take a step back.
Character: 10
With Oreki Houtarou as our main POV character, his "grey"-ness is a sort of extreme that both contrasts against, and complements, the rest of the cast in interesting ways. He and Chitanda Eru are compelling opposites in how their cognitive and affective empathy work in conjunction with personality quirks to produce very different approaches to problem-solving, to say nothing of their actual levels of interest in solving them. With best friend Fukube Satoshi, they both struggle to balance and come to terms with subjectivity and objectivity, from opposite ends of the spectrum. Meanwhile, Ibara Mayaka is a standard-bearer of honest emotional expression and engagement, who rarely tends to extreme behaviours such as controlling and masking, making her clash with Oreki's general disinterest and apathy.
Each character is given depth and their own set of circumstances and motivations for doing what they do, making even secondary characters interesting when they reappear in unrelated situations.
Enjoyment: 10
Even after learning the tricks to the mysteries, it's still fun to rewatch and see how the clues were hidden. At the same time, Oreki's growth, shift in priorities, and developing awareness of the people around him is truly gratifying to see.
Overall: 10
I love everything about this series, except for the fact there's not more of it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jun 30, 2017
Story: 3
Seikaisuru Kado begins with an intriguing premise: An alien arrives on Earth bearing gifts to advance humanity. To ease communication between the alien and the government, a gifted negotiator offers his services. Over time, the alien and negotiator learn about each other and become friends, overcoming their many differences. Meanwhile, the alien's gifts are so vastly powerful and beyond human understanding, that they threaten existing international resource and power relations. Soon, the bigger, more concerning question looms: Why?
That's a lot to work with, and the first 8-9 episodes actually do quite well in exploring these ideas. However, if you're after intelligent, well-considered, or satisfactory
...
answers, you will most likely be disappointed.
In fact, "disappointed" is the word I'd use to describe my feelings about this series as a whole. Many of the issues raised in earlier episodes are resolved by way of shoehorned deux ex machinas, then explained away in empty words as to sound somehow profound or meaningful. While I understood the reasoning behind the solutions and how they had to be done, there was little-to-no lead-up and foreshadowing, making them seem overly-convenient, and leave no satisfaction in the resolution. In essence, poor execution: It felt as though the writers wrote themselves into a corner, had trouble resolving everything in the space of a few episodes, or handed the reins over to shallow mahou shoujo writers altogether.
Art: 7
As a fully CG-based series, Toei did surprisingly well (see: earlier efforts in the sad CG transformation sequences in Sailor Moon Crystal). While it was apparent that impactful action sequences are beyond the reaches of the overly smooth and measured pace of their CG animation, the need itself was rendered obsolete due to the setting and cast of white-collar characters, and it even enhanced the otherworldly quality of the alien. By nature of CG animation, the quality could only be consistent throughout, but overall visual interest is lost through over-reliance on it where there could be better angles or compositions.
Sound: 7
I actually remember very little of the background tracks, but since nothing stood out to me as being particularly out-of-place either, I'll give this a pass. The opening and ending themes are actually quite lovely and help conjure a sense of wonder at the vast universe.
Character: 6
First of all, I was very impressed by the variety of character designs; the old and young, physically imposing and frail, big and small, etc... Even the main character doesn't look terribly outstanding, which lends weight to his professional nature. That said, most of the recurring cast are attractive young people, which kind of ruins that thought. I had trouble taking the main girl seriously, for many, many reasons. The alien's design was appropriately strange, and subtly differentiated him as a whole other species, even while taking a human form.
Design aside, I appreciated the developing relationship between the negotiator and the alien; in particular, the alien's growing attachment to his new friend manifested through subtle glances and not-so-subtle keeping of mementos. The relationship felt believable through their attempts to overcome cultural, linguistic, technological, etc... differences. The love interest, while soundly and reasonably developed as a character, on the other hand, felt lacking in chemistry by comparison, considering her importance in the conclusion.
On a separate note, for all that the negotiator was set up to be one of the best in his field, he does very... little... negotiating...?
Enjoyment: 3
Despite my enjoyment of earlier episodes, the conclusion was poorly done. I spent episodes 9-12 mostly feeling confused and in disbelief over every nonsensical turn of events, disappointed at the waste of potential, and the waste of my time.
Overall: 5
Only the first 8 episodes and a few technical aspects manage to redeem this series. Good job effing it up, Toei.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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