Hyouka 19 (Rewatch)
Another episode dedicated fully to a classroom, but this was pretty enjoyable. Probably because the structure is a tiny bit different, as there's no mystery. Instead, it's dedicated fully to the brainstorming process, and not just an explanation of a conclusion. Of course, the fact that they were building it from nothing was also unusual, and the whole ordeal was self-aware of a number of things about Oreki and the show. The script was quite solid due to that and a number of nice details and gags inserted throughout the episode. It's interesting that a Kyoani employee wrote it (Miyuki Egami, an inbetweener). Just another aspect of the studio; promoting inbetweeners to scriptwriters started with Nichijou, and continued with Hyouka, but no inbetweener was present in Chuu2 or Tamako. I wonder if someday a Kyoani employee will compose an entire series for them.
But for an episode that consists of a conversation between two people sitting in a room, I thought it flowed pretty well. It speaks of the strength of the characters and their chemistry after 19 episodes, and of the director's talent. Taiichi Ogawa did the episode, and his staging is pretty good. It's obvious that he's young and new, since sometimes I think he goes a bit overboard with his style, but he shows a lot of potential.
These two I liked. The first establishes the setting and our characters, and while not revolutionary, it's perfectly placed at the beginning. The second is mostly layout, but I thought it did a nice job with the situation and Oreki's "challenging" attitude. This over-blowing of irrelevant stuff is one of the best points in Hyouka due to how it's executed.
The nice point spicing things up is, of course,
the sexual tension between the two leads. From this episode up until the end, it's heavily played up, and rightly so. It's a new element in the show that keeps it fresh, and gives the animators and directors plenty of stuff to work with. The last three episodes are some of the more enjoyable due to this aspect (and well, because they're very character-centric). But there's also what I thought was an above average visual representation of the brainstorming. It was pretty consistent, fitted the obscure mystery "solved" through abstract speculation, and the kinda analytical approach to the imagery was mostly unseen in Hyouka. It was also wacky and fun. Since this stuff is interspersed with the classroom scenes, it took a decent amount of screentime, and it was another good decision to make the pace steadier.
Other stuff I liked were these two shots:
For the would-be conversation between X and Y, using the camera angle and the tone of Oreki's voice to make the scene register instantly. These little things are very nice for the slow episodes, and go a long way to making them good to watch.
The animation level was not as good as the peak of Hyouka, but it complemented the episode perfectly.
Chitanda's expressions were nicely drawn and the scene at the end too. Seiichi Akitake was the AD for the episode. He did a pretty good job for his two Hyouka episodes, which are better than his usual work.
I also appreciated
Air's return at the end. The piece is always used for the more reflexive sequences dealing with Oreki and Chitanda's relationship and how their views might clash or interact, and it does a pretty damn good job of enhancing the scene it's in. Props to Bach, lol. The lightning in the second part, and in that whole sequence at the end was also top-notch, and as it was also a display of character development, it's easily the best part of the episode. Hyouka really likes endings.
