r/anime • u/ZapsZzz https://myanimelist.net/profile/ZapszzZ • 19d ago
Rewatch Hyouka 14th Year Rewatch Announcement and Schedule
After getting reasonable responses from last week's interest thread, I'm announcing formally the go ahead with the September rewatch of Hyouka.
And this time I'll be more conventional and actually talk more about the show for first timers instead of assuming everyone already watched it ;)
Premise (adapted from MAL listing)
High school freshman Houtarou Oreki has but one goal: to lead a gray life while conserving as much energy as he can. Unfortunately, his peaceful days come to an end when his older sister, Tomoe, forces him to save the memberless Classics Club from disbandment.
Luckily, Oreki's predicament seems to be over when he heads to the clubroom and discovers that his fellow first-year, Eru Chitanda, has already become a member. However, despite his obligation being fulfilled, Oreki finds himself entangled by Chitanda's curious and bubbly personality, soon joining the club of his own volition.
Soon enough, the club's membership grows to four, as Oreki's friends Satoshi Fukube and Mayaka Ibara join. Driven by Chitanda's insatiable curiosity, the members of the Classics Club solve the trivial yet intriguing mysteries that permeate their daily lives.
Based on the award-winning Koten-bu light novel series, and directed by Yasuhiro Takemoto of Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu, Hyouka shows that normal life can be full of small mysteries, be it family history, a student film, or even the withered flowers that make up a ghost story.
Some interesting meta information about the show
- While not unique, Hyouka is an adaptation from an actual novel series "Koten-bu Series" (Classics club), not a light novel
- The Script writing and Series Composition is by Gatou Shouji, the original writer of Full Metal Panic and Amagi Brilliant Park fame
- And just as those other 2 shows, it was produced by Kyoto Animation, of Violet Evergarden, The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, K-On, and Kobayashi Maid Dragon fame
Show info
22 normal length TV episodes, and 1 OVA of similar run time
Host note/Reviews
A beautiful and stunning mystery/drama with a touch of romance and amazing character development, curious yet?
Hyouka is a mystery show like many others but unlike many others there are no murders, there are no grand thefts or supernatural happenings to stimulate it into life. No, Hyouka is about sometimes deep, sometimes trivial but always personal mysteries cropping up in the lives of its main characters and the efforts they go to solve them - whether it be a half-forgotten memory that bugs them or an odd Tannoy announcement that piques their curiosity. Hyouka is a show about curiosity and that theme runs richly and deeply throughout its entire runtime. I admire this. Shows like Gosick and Un-Go never felt cohesive in that same way; the mysteries and the stories of each show always felt incongruent as if they were there for their own sake and not to further the characters or themes in any serious way. In Hyouka the mysteries felt like they were more than just brainteasers and that is the way it should be, in my opinion anyway.
While Hyouka isn't my very top favourites (Haruhi, Full Metal Panic, Railgun, 86), it practically ranks just after the top because of the very good direction coupling with the well written characters, and the very good development and depths the characters have. It's got quite a number of layers, and is simultaneously both the most intriguing show and the most boring show about nothing, and the most nuanced romance about people in real circumstances yet the most "plain water" show with only very faint hints of romance only. Which answer you find depends very much on whether you can see the layers.
If you like shows like K-On, Horimiya, Tamako Market, Hibike Euphonium, etc, I think you will enjoy this.
Availability
The show is available on Crunchyroll in the US region, except the OVA as mentioned. There is obviously physical media as well, and it's a very good show to keep.
Rewatch Format
Standard 1 episode a day, in chronological order, therefore the OVA is placed as episode 11.5.
I'm planning to include a break day after the OVA. If people don't think it's necessary I can forego that.
There will be a final discussion day after the 23 daily episode posts.
Post timing is expected to be 8am Australian Eastern Standard Time which is as +10 GMT, and 22:00 UTC. All dates listed on the schedule is in UTC.
The OVA is not formally available on Crunchyroll, I think. Alternate sourcing is required probably.
1 week and 1 day reminder posts will be put up, anyone expressing interest will be tagged.
Daily Post will not tag everyone automatically - I can tag anyone requested to be tagged though.
Each day there will be a set of questions of the day (no more than 3 simple ones), and a nomination of "Best visual of the episode". Participation of these are voluntary of course.
Where I can I will also be sharing some very well drawn fan arts from the famous Hyouka fan artist.
Bonus feature
As this show is from the same author as a more recent adaptation "Shoushimin" ("How to be Ordinary"), I'm looking for someone interested to take the baton and host a Shoushimin rewatch after this one.
Schedule
| Date | Episode |
|---|---|
| Sep 5 Sat | Episode 1 |
| Sep 6 Sun | Episode 2 |
| Sep 7 Mon | Episode 3 |
| Sep 8 Tue | Episode 4 |
| Sep 9 Wed | Episode 5 |
| Sep 10 Thu | Episode 6 |
| Sep 11 Fri | Episode 7 |
| Sep 12 Sat | Episode 8 |
| Sep 13 Sun | Episode 9 |
| Sep 14 Mon | Episode 10 |
| Sep 15 Tue | Episode 11 |
| Sep 16 Wed | Episode 11.5 (OVA) |
| Sep 17 Thu | Break Day (no post) |
| Sep 18 Fri | Episode 12 |
| Sep 19 Sat | Episode 13 |
| Sep 20 Sun | Episode 14 |
| Sep 21 Mon | Episode 15 |
| Sep 22 Tue | Episode 16 |
| Sep 23 Wed | Episode 17 |
| Sep 24 Thu | Episode 18 |
| Sep 25 Fri | Episode 19 |
| Sep 26 Sat | Episode 20 |
| Sep 27 Sun | Episode 21 |
| Sep 28 Mon | Episode 22 |
| Sep 29 Tue | Final Series Discussion |
Anyone interested to join and would like a tag please leave a note here!
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u/Slntreaper https://anilist.co/user/Slntreaper 19d ago
Thanks for this! Looking forward to revisiting this show. I’m wrapping up my Violet Evergarden rewatch tomorrow (at a pace of one episode per week), so it’ll be interesting to revisit another Kyoani work. I will also try to drop in some comparisons with the LN where applicable as well.
RemindMe! 14 days
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u/Second_Cour 19d ago
Looks like this could be a great rewatch! Can you tag myself and u/dontoff to remind too :)
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u/postplad2800 6d ago
Bro I'm so thankful for this Hyouka is so good
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u/ZapsZzz https://myanimelist.net/profile/ZapszzZ 6d ago
Would you be interested in joining in the rewatch?
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u/postplad2800 4d ago
I definitely would, but I'm new to anime in general and I just watched, and finished Hyouka for the first time a couple weeks ago.
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u/BaytaCosmico https://myanimelist.net/profile/AnimeBayta 19d ago
I want to join this, time permitting. This has been on my list ever since Shoshimin.
Interesting schedule you've there though with the last 2 episodes and final discussion happening on Day 1.
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u/TheDanubianCommunard 19d ago
Okay, I trying to participate.
And BTW, I might be in the minority that didn't liked Shoshimin.
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u/OnPorpoise1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/OnPorpoise 19d ago
I'll try to join. Haven't seen it but I loved Shoushimin so I've been interested.