Crash Station
Member
Stardust Crusaders is the least bizarre Stand part of the series.
-
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Spring 2014 Tokyo MX, er, Anime |OT1.5| ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA
- Thread starter Mandoric
- Start date
- Status
KirbYuuYuu
Member
Part 4 needs to happen... then again, I want to see
FUCKING DINOSAURS
That's not even the most bizarre thing from SBR.
KirbYuuYuu
Member
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
I still think Part 6 is the most bizarre part.
Heavy Weather and Pucci's Ritual are straight up nonsense
Part 7 is more sad, to me.
KirbYuuYuu
Member
And sad. Don't forget sad
Wagnaria!!2 2
Oh joy, Yamada episode!
And now Takanashi has a mini-Inami. I wonder if we'll see it again.
That expression.
Yamada is love.
Oh god, Soma is pure evil.
Dang it, almost made it one whole episode without a punch.
Yamada is...boob jokes?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPLfyPtWSxo
Oh joy, Yamada episode!
And now Takanashi has a mini-Inami. I wonder if we'll see it again.
That expression.
Yamada is love.
Oh god, Soma is pure evil.
Dang it, almost made it one whole episode without a punch.
Yamada is...boob jokes?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPLfyPtWSxo
Slightly off-topic, but the Space Adventure Cobra game for PS1 sure looks amazing.
AnathemicOne
Banned
Atelier by Shaft:
Amazing!
What is neck?
Atelier by Shaft:
Amazing!
Now that's what I call rubbernecking!
killer rin
Member
So I think I'm addicted to the No Game no Life Soundtrack. I pretty much have had This song On repeat in my head for the past couple days and I'm still not tired of it.
.. Wait a second, Shaft doesn't make Atelier. Damnit ShaftAtelier by Shaft:
Amazing!
AnathemicOne
Banned
I was too for the past 2 days... then I got back into iDOLM@STER.
The OP/ED for NGNL is great doe
yeah. I wouldnt worry much about anime so much as the figures and other stuff harder to find.
daaaaamn. I would simply go bonkers I think. I would look like a genki moeshit.
prices for many figs depends on the quality and brand, whether its from a popular series, how many releases for the figure and if it is a particularly in demand item. You can find a lot of figures used in great condition.
hello! Yes that thread will actively attempt to enable you to buy figures. The urge is quite extreme lol.
Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou 9
hooooooooooooooly shit
almost a full half episode of ricchan being adorable IN PYJAMAS
my body was not ready for this
this level of cuteness needs to come with a government warning
loooool
im glad youre enjoying it.
Admiral Woofington
Member
Gonna introduce friend to fate zero tomorrow and the other friend of mine and myself can't wait to rewatch it.
My plan to get everybody to love it as much as I do is on to phase two. Electric boogaloo.
My plan to get everybody to love it as much as I do is on to phase two. Electric boogaloo.
astrogamer
Member
School Rumble 2 11-12
That dream was great. The stealth part was also funny
That dream was great. The stealth part was also funny
looking promising thus far. Really looking forward to the movie.
Its Kurumis world. Some of yall are finally starting to realize it.
Atelier by Shaft:
Amazing!
Very impressive tilt.
PhantomOfTheKnight
Member
Kill la Kill - 03
...well shit, here I thought it'd be a breather after the last two episodes.
...well shit, here I thought it'd be a breather after the last two episodes.
I want it on record that I was on the Kurumi train from pretty much the moment she first appeared in S1.
Kamisama Kazoku 05-07
So an arc that begins with peeping in on the girls' locker room ends with Samataro's best friend getting hurt badly enough that he's hospitalized, and all while he and Tenko have to raise a baby who's growing up fast enough that she goes through two voice actresses in one episode. It's not very often I can say an anime simultaneously reminds me of Happy Seven and Rick and Morty. Taro's mom freaking out about her age is a bit overdone as a gag (and aren't they gods? They're immortal, age is not even a number), but everything else is pretty enjoyable. The scene with Meme and her dad was kinda heartwarming, and, just as I thought, some Shinto mythology made its way into the show. God has an office in heaven where he fishes out Tanabata wishes. Though that freeform approach to mythology also works in the show's favor.
Tenko continues to be cute and tsundere, and with Kumiko out of the picture, all the attention is on her and Samataro. Though the guardian angel deal doesn't include any arranged marriage propositions, it may as well. Everyone in the family is egging them onto it anyhow.
So an arc that begins with peeping in on the girls' locker room ends with Samataro's best friend getting hurt badly enough that he's hospitalized, and all while he and Tenko have to raise a baby who's growing up fast enough that she goes through two voice actresses in one episode. It's not very often I can say an anime simultaneously reminds me of Happy Seven and Rick and Morty. Taro's mom freaking out about her age is a bit overdone as a gag (and aren't they gods? They're immortal, age is not even a number), but everything else is pretty enjoyable. The scene with Meme and her dad was kinda heartwarming, and, just as I thought, some Shinto mythology made its way into the show. God has an office in heaven where he fishes out Tanabata wishes. Though that freeform approach to mythology also works in the show's favor.
Tenko continues to be cute and tsundere, and with Kumiko out of the picture, all the attention is on her and Samataro. Though the guardian angel deal doesn't include any arranged marriage propositions, it may as well. Everyone in the family is egging them onto it anyhow.
Do we know if there will be a second season for Hakuoki Reimeiroku?
And I do apologize for the off-topic but any other gaming news sites like Adriasang? I mean English-language Japanese game news site that often translate Japan's Famitsu games industry magazine into English.
And I do apologize for the off-topic but any other gaming news sites like Adriasang? I mean English-language Japanese game news site that often translate Japan's Famitsu games industry magazine into English.
RurouniZel
Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Well gee it seems I had succesfully erased that one sequence from memory. Thanks for reminding me Hito.
Unless it's at least on the same level as A's I'd rather they not bother.
Wait, 3rd? Are they pretending Strikers doesn't exist or something? Good.
Movie with a brand-new story. And I don't think we've heard any more details on it since it was announced over a year ago.
nintendoman58
Member
I am. Haven't tried out the online mode yet though.
The only piece of news that we got regarding it was that it's going to air sometime this year. With any luck, we'll get some news later this summer.
KirbYuuYuu
Member
Time to begin a new cycle
*sore about cure diamond being web exclusive*
*sore about cure diamond being web exclusive*
Nippon-Yasan bro.
That is, if they actually come through for me on my Tamashii Nations stuff.
It's in Arlington Heights. What? Maybe I'll go.
dakkumauji
Member
Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou 09
Fun episode, facing things only known as terror.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V 07
Advanced summons and XYZ summons?!? It's like the show remembers there's more than the new flavor of the season.
Ginga e Kickoff!! 38
And suddenly, world class soccer players show what real fear is.
Atelier Escha & Logy 08
Hey an event that is part of the plot in the game. Will this actually advance the plot in the anime?
Another useless Wilbell focused episode instead? Should have expected as much for this bad adaptation.
Fun episode, facing things only known as terror.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V 07
Advanced summons and XYZ summons?!? It's like the show remembers there's more than the new flavor of the season.
Ginga e Kickoff!! 38
And suddenly, world class soccer players show what real fear is.
Atelier Escha & Logy 08
Hey an event that is part of the plot in the game. Will this actually advance the plot in the anime?
Another useless Wilbell focused episode instead? Should have expected as much for this bad adaptation.
darkblade77
Member
I hope they bring back Subaru at least (maybe Teana if she's less tryhard). The rest of StrikerS can pls go.
KirbYuuYuu
Member
will keep that in mind
Ah, the full sales list for May 19-25 is up:
http://www.someanithing.com/?p=1466
New and ending shows:
- Ace of Diamond vol. 1 finally arrives with a 1,210 DVD-only sales total.
- Yozakura Quartet -Hana no Uta- finishes up a six-volume run with a 2,089 BD+DVD average.
- Walkure Romanze ends six volumes as well with a BD+DVD average that's somewhere between 1,500 and 1,700.
- Outbreak Company winds up with a BD-only average of 1,364 after six volumes as well.
- And finally, Gingitsune limps in with a mere 551 BD-only average across its six volumes.
As usual, plenty more numbers/commentary at the link.
http://www.someanithing.com/?p=1466
New and ending shows:
- Ace of Diamond vol. 1 finally arrives with a 1,210 DVD-only sales total.
- Yozakura Quartet -Hana no Uta- finishes up a six-volume run with a 2,089 BD+DVD average.
- Walkure Romanze ends six volumes as well with a BD+DVD average that's somewhere between 1,500 and 1,700.
- Outbreak Company winds up with a BD-only average of 1,364 after six volumes as well.
- And finally, Gingitsune limps in with a mere 551 BD-only average across its six volumes.
As usual, plenty more numbers/commentary at the link.
Joe Molotov
Member
This is Shaft's world, we just live in it.
astrogamer
Member
Date A Live 2 8
Kurumi is So GOOD.
And Shido isn't being a wimp
Kurumi is So GOOD.
And Shido isn't being a wimp
KirbYuuYuu
Member
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Steel Ball Run
Johnny's dad is a shit
Johnny's dad is a shit
Oh hey, 14 year old wives
I need it. Maybe tomorrow.
hmmm. I guess it works for them. I was kind of put off by the layout changes. Need to adjust my own backgrounds.
Wagnaria!!2 2
Oh joy, Yamada episode!
And now Takanashi has a mini-Inami. I wonder if we'll see it again.
That expression.
Yamada is love.
Oh god, Soma is pure evil.
Dang it, almost made it one whole episode without a punch.
Yamada is...boob jokes?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPLfyPtWSxo
Tiny Popura is squee. This show knows how to use her height to its hnnnngvantage.
its a good song. Not quite catchy enough for me.
Thats a good lad.
Careful or youll end up like me!
Jex
Member
Er, it generally does when you have nearly 0 frames of animation (or just a couple) like any number of terrible KLK fights. Shot composition has nothing to do with animation, it's two completely different skill sets and for the record there were plenty of rather poorly composed shots in that series as well. The fight choreography was, for the most part, bad.
man, I love this guys crossovers Season Openings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUXVv6B1x_M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUXVv6B1x_M
Wish I had a list of all the shows. I dont recognize some.
In the second part he shows the original opening next to the crossover and notes the names of the anime used in every scene. He also only uses anime of one season. His best one was the Jormungang one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3cmL3fC_ZY
Date A Live S2-07
I've found this whole season to be a complete step backwards from S1. This arc is beyond grating in that Miku is an awful character and none of the girls have been really that interesting. Hopefully this arc ends next episode so I can they can move on to better shit.
The drama doesn't work at all in this series.
I've found this whole season to be a complete step backwards from S1. This arc is beyond grating in that Miku is an awful character and none of the girls have been really that interesting. Hopefully this arc ends next episode so I can they can move on to better shit.
The drama doesn't work at all in this series.
A Huge Battleship
Member
http://someimage.com/9zKnjl7 (NSFW)
Why. Is. She. So. Perfect?
Why. Is. She. So. Perfect?
I want it on record that I was on the Kurumi train even before Koushi began writing vol 3. And no-one can prove otherwise.
Fair enough. I'll concede that the animation wasn't great. I just mistook the overall look of the show as the "animation" where you guys are specifically referencing the actual motion and frames.
Regardless, I still think the show looks great and far more pleasing to the eye than the majority of shows out there, that to me, look cookie-cutter.
You could definitely make a good argument that they worked well with what limitations they had. They made a lot of compromises, but they did well to mask them (as much as they could) with particular stylistic choices that played to the fact that there was a lack of budget for it.
Obviously the show came out how it did and the others points still stand, but overall I at least felt they did a great job (enough to get me to buy all the blurays!).
Yeah I went there.
I could forgive you for using the white theme, but not for posting the wrong amount of pages.
HYOUKA--SERIES IMPRESSIONS
I really, really hate dropping anything so much so that I resumed this show for like, the third try. I'm not going to delve too deeply into spoilers. On the one hand, I will try to mark anything I judge absolutely necessary, but frankly I was under the impression that I was the only guy in the entire community who hadn't seen this show yet, and judging by its content I cannot rightly say I feel much, even regarding the ending, is the kind of stuff people would be upset about hearing spoilers for, since after the first episode or so one can quickly see where more or less everything in the show is headed, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
By way of preface, let me say I would not have voted for Hyouka for AOTY. Not even now that I've seen it do I really think it would top my list. However, I understand now, I think, why it won. There are things about this show I suppose I will never enjoy because it isn't in my nature to enjoy them and I guess that's a loss on my part, but at the same time I suppose we'll all be pleased to know that the rage I felt when last I threw down the show and walked away from it is more or less quelled at this point and replaced with a sort of respectful understanding that gives me hope that, in spite of my lack of interest in Yamato and utter disdain for its CGI, it may yet turn out to be a similarly endearing experience.
One final comment before I begin, and this I add with the uttermost care because I cannot quite find a way to truly express this without the fear of being misunderstood, but I would be remiss to not at least attempt to make it. Consider, then, my preemptive apology and know I mean no harm when I say what comes next: I think that part of what improved my experience with this show was in fact seeing it without interacting with anyone about it. At times I form very harsh opinions of things early on, and that is a failing of my own, but I also abandon and rethink these opinions given time, I feel. On the other hand, because I have a terrible habit of accentuating just about everything I dislike in anything, I give people the wrong idea and those who find something they love under attack rightly feel the need to set me straight, which, for the sake of brevity, can occasionally snarl everyone's experiences. As it was later put to me, at times it is best to experience things in a void, and to dwell on my impressions rather than voice them one at a time. This was, at several points in the series, rather difficult, but I endeavored to keep it to myself, more or less, for as long as I could.
To be honest, I had no intention of ever coming back to Hyouka, because I really had found myself utterly frustrated by it early on, but you may all thank Narag for getting me to give it a second chance. It sort of drove me mad to see someone whose tastes I pay particular heed enjoying something I had so disliked, and made me reconsider it until at last I felt that it was absolutely necessary I try it again. Compounded into this decision was that I had recently finished the vast majority of The List and I needed something more grounded in reality after the likes of Yami and if I was going to watch 50 episodes of Clannad then I figured I could man up and handle the last 11 episodes of Hyouka while I was at it. Afterward came all that business with Yamato, and for a brief moment I really did despair of ever really finding myself in tune with the community's tastes again (a moment of rather intense melodrama on my part, I confess.)
That said, I think I'll give my general "what I liked and what I didn't" and then post whatever remaining impressions of the show I had throughout its run.
WHAT I DID NOT LIKE
Well, I'm not at all a fan of the character designs. They're really not my thing, but that's not really a matter of the show's actual worth, you know? They were consistent, but I never really clicked with them. Mind you this is only really about the designs and their style, and not so much their function. Functionally they were still quite expressive and of course hair and motion remained captivating even if I was not a fan of the actual designs.
Furthermore, I regret to say I'm not at all a fan of Chitanda Eru. I'm not really sold on the bubbly energy characters anyway, and Chitanda's constant disconnect from her alleged intellect continued to annoy me in one way or another for the space of the entire show. Her character never truly felt like an actual person to me, but rather a sort of fabricated automaton whose behavior was only to move the plot along a course that did not need her forcing it along as much as she did. There was also this weird childishness to Chitanda that clashed with the way she would occasionally become sexual or the object of Oreki's desire that I cannot really claim I enjoyed in any sense. To be honest the most fun I had with her was mocking her and pretending her actions were explained by a tragic bout of excessively early onset Alzheimers during the School Festival arc. I also found it strangely out of character the sudden calm, poise, and maturity she displayed in the show's final episode, and wish dearly that she had behaved thus more often in the show.
Lastly, I did not like the Murder Mystery Movie arc one bit. The entire thing feels contrived, contains far too many references to this and that kind of mystery series for the sake of name dropping them, and what I suppose some would call development I found tiresomely melodramatic. As an addition to this I feel there were far too many episodes in which I did not really feel the cast was in any way advanced by the mysteries they solved, and that the mysteries themselves were wholly underwhelming. This problem, though largely relegated to the first half of the series, still cropped up once or twice in the post school festival episodes. Arguments could be made in favor of it, and I'm certain its all things that were dreadfully apparent, but none of it felt significant, and I am not one to feel that the insubstantial and the subtle are one and the same.
So what did I like?
Mayaka. I liked Mayaka.
Going more into depth, I felt that the show was visually quite impressive, and that at times, when the classical music didn't feel lifted from some high school band director's book of classical classical music, the score could truly be impressive and combine quite well with what was going on. The last couple of episodes were absolutely breath-taking in their use of light and colors, and, Chitanda's dumb, vacant expression aside, character expressions never failed to be, well, expressive.
Most of all I love the School Festival, which is perhaps the most puzzling thing in the world to me, because there is nothing in all the world of anime less original than a school festival arc. However, what really sells this arc is that it has a lot of energy going for it. It's clear that everyone who worked on it was having fun, and that they wanted you to, too. The mystery is overarching and engaging, without the previous' arc's need for melodrama to drive it. The character development is clear, concise, and in the case of Mayaka, extremely relateable. The events are fun, and while many of Chitanda's antics are Chitanda being Chitanda, her attempt to learn how to get men to do what she wants from Iris is entertaining at the very least. The arc never dwells over much on any one of the characters, rather giving each on a chance to do what they want/need and make those interlace. Oreki getting caught up in one of those Legend of Zelda trading quests without ever getting up was itself a fairly interesting part of the arc, too.
But most of all, I really liked Mayaka. I felt her character was the most human of the four, and her reactions the most like teenagers I knew. She was perfect at putting Oreki in his place, but at the same time their interactions weren't just naggy mcnag and sirdouchealot, and I really appreciated the rare times when they betrayed how much they actually cared about one another, especially in the last two episodes. And of course, her relationship with Fukube was fun to watch, even if it was no less typical of the genre than Chitanda and Oreki's.
Although I would not vote this show AOTY, nor can I say I found it excessively original, or even particularly my own personal cup of tea, I can say that against my own dislike it ultimately did win out, and I did find myself cracking smiles and enjoying it the longer it went on, and that I would not at all be opposed to further seasons of this show. It rather surprises me, in fact, that there has not yet been one. It is certainly a well made show, and its clear that the time and care that went into its animation and writing are a large part of what endears it to so many. So if I cannot say I loved Hyouka, I can say I did find myself enjoying it by midway, and if I cannot say that I would rate it as highly as others, I can say I now understand why. If I cannot retract every negative, vile thing I ever hurled at it in a moment of short tempered heat, let me at least say now that the dislike I experienced is replaced with no small measure of good-will toward the show.
I am not certain if I have accurately articulated everything in this post I set out to articulate. I wanted to say a lot and I often thought about how I would say it, but as I'm sure this post has gone on long enough already, I suppose I will have to let this suffice and trust that if my words fail me, my intent will not.
I really, really hate dropping anything so much so that I resumed this show for like, the third try. I'm not going to delve too deeply into spoilers. On the one hand, I will try to mark anything I judge absolutely necessary, but frankly I was under the impression that I was the only guy in the entire community who hadn't seen this show yet, and judging by its content I cannot rightly say I feel much, even regarding the ending, is the kind of stuff people would be upset about hearing spoilers for, since after the first episode or so one can quickly see where more or less everything in the show is headed, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
By way of preface, let me say I would not have voted for Hyouka for AOTY. Not even now that I've seen it do I really think it would top my list. However, I understand now, I think, why it won. There are things about this show I suppose I will never enjoy because it isn't in my nature to enjoy them and I guess that's a loss on my part, but at the same time I suppose we'll all be pleased to know that the rage I felt when last I threw down the show and walked away from it is more or less quelled at this point and replaced with a sort of respectful understanding that gives me hope that, in spite of my lack of interest in Yamato and utter disdain for its CGI, it may yet turn out to be a similarly endearing experience.
One final comment before I begin, and this I add with the uttermost care because I cannot quite find a way to truly express this without the fear of being misunderstood, but I would be remiss to not at least attempt to make it. Consider, then, my preemptive apology and know I mean no harm when I say what comes next: I think that part of what improved my experience with this show was in fact seeing it without interacting with anyone about it. At times I form very harsh opinions of things early on, and that is a failing of my own, but I also abandon and rethink these opinions given time, I feel. On the other hand, because I have a terrible habit of accentuating just about everything I dislike in anything, I give people the wrong idea and those who find something they love under attack rightly feel the need to set me straight, which, for the sake of brevity, can occasionally snarl everyone's experiences. As it was later put to me, at times it is best to experience things in a void, and to dwell on my impressions rather than voice them one at a time. This was, at several points in the series, rather difficult, but I endeavored to keep it to myself, more or less, for as long as I could.
To be honest, I had no intention of ever coming back to Hyouka, because I really had found myself utterly frustrated by it early on, but you may all thank Narag for getting me to give it a second chance. It sort of drove me mad to see someone whose tastes I pay particular heed enjoying something I had so disliked, and made me reconsider it until at last I felt that it was absolutely necessary I try it again. Compounded into this decision was that I had recently finished the vast majority of The List and I needed something more grounded in reality after the likes of Yami and if I was going to watch 50 episodes of Clannad then I figured I could man up and handle the last 11 episodes of Hyouka while I was at it. Afterward came all that business with Yamato, and for a brief moment I really did despair of ever really finding myself in tune with the community's tastes again (a moment of rather intense melodrama on my part, I confess.)
That said, I think I'll give my general "what I liked and what I didn't" and then post whatever remaining impressions of the show I had throughout its run.
WHAT I DID NOT LIKE
Well, I'm not at all a fan of the character designs. They're really not my thing, but that's not really a matter of the show's actual worth, you know? They were consistent, but I never really clicked with them. Mind you this is only really about the designs and their style, and not so much their function. Functionally they were still quite expressive and of course hair and motion remained captivating even if I was not a fan of the actual designs.
Furthermore, I regret to say I'm not at all a fan of Chitanda Eru. I'm not really sold on the bubbly energy characters anyway, and Chitanda's constant disconnect from her alleged intellect continued to annoy me in one way or another for the space of the entire show. Her character never truly felt like an actual person to me, but rather a sort of fabricated automaton whose behavior was only to move the plot along a course that did not need her forcing it along as much as she did. There was also this weird childishness to Chitanda that clashed with the way she would occasionally become sexual or the object of Oreki's desire that I cannot really claim I enjoyed in any sense. To be honest the most fun I had with her was mocking her and pretending her actions were explained by a tragic bout of excessively early onset Alzheimers during the School Festival arc. I also found it strangely out of character the sudden calm, poise, and maturity she displayed in the show's final episode, and wish dearly that she had behaved thus more often in the show.
Lastly, I did not like the Murder Mystery Movie arc one bit. The entire thing feels contrived, contains far too many references to this and that kind of mystery series for the sake of name dropping them, and what I suppose some would call development I found tiresomely melodramatic. As an addition to this I feel there were far too many episodes in which I did not really feel the cast was in any way advanced by the mysteries they solved, and that the mysteries themselves were wholly underwhelming. This problem, though largely relegated to the first half of the series, still cropped up once or twice in the post school festival episodes. Arguments could be made in favor of it, and I'm certain its all things that were dreadfully apparent, but none of it felt significant, and I am not one to feel that the insubstantial and the subtle are one and the same.
So what did I like?
Mayaka. I liked Mayaka.
Going more into depth, I felt that the show was visually quite impressive, and that at times, when the classical music didn't feel lifted from some high school band director's book of classical classical music, the score could truly be impressive and combine quite well with what was going on. The last couple of episodes were absolutely breath-taking in their use of light and colors, and, Chitanda's dumb, vacant expression aside, character expressions never failed to be, well, expressive.
Most of all I love the School Festival, which is perhaps the most puzzling thing in the world to me, because there is nothing in all the world of anime less original than a school festival arc. However, what really sells this arc is that it has a lot of energy going for it. It's clear that everyone who worked on it was having fun, and that they wanted you to, too. The mystery is overarching and engaging, without the previous' arc's need for melodrama to drive it. The character development is clear, concise, and in the case of Mayaka, extremely relateable. The events are fun, and while many of Chitanda's antics are Chitanda being Chitanda, her attempt to learn how to get men to do what she wants from Iris is entertaining at the very least. The arc never dwells over much on any one of the characters, rather giving each on a chance to do what they want/need and make those interlace. Oreki getting caught up in one of those Legend of Zelda trading quests without ever getting up was itself a fairly interesting part of the arc, too.
But most of all, I really liked Mayaka. I felt her character was the most human of the four, and her reactions the most like teenagers I knew. She was perfect at putting Oreki in his place, but at the same time their interactions weren't just naggy mcnag and sirdouchealot, and I really appreciated the rare times when they betrayed how much they actually cared about one another, especially in the last two episodes. And of course, her relationship with Fukube was fun to watch, even if it was no less typical of the genre than Chitanda and Oreki's.
Although I would not vote this show AOTY, nor can I say I found it excessively original, or even particularly my own personal cup of tea, I can say that against my own dislike it ultimately did win out, and I did find myself cracking smiles and enjoying it the longer it went on, and that I would not at all be opposed to further seasons of this show. It rather surprises me, in fact, that there has not yet been one. It is certainly a well made show, and its clear that the time and care that went into its animation and writing are a large part of what endears it to so many. So if I cannot say I loved Hyouka, I can say I did find myself enjoying it by midway, and if I cannot say that I would rate it as highly as others, I can say I now understand why. If I cannot retract every negative, vile thing I ever hurled at it in a moment of short tempered heat, let me at least say now that the dislike I experienced is replaced with no small measure of good-will toward the show.
I am not certain if I have accurately articulated everything in this post I set out to articulate. I wanted to say a lot and I often thought about how I would say it, but as I'm sure this post has gone on long enough already, I suppose I will have to let this suffice and trust that if my words fail me, my intent will not.
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