The very first Anime related Google Search Term to break 10 referrals in a single week is Hyouka! As promised, since this blog doesn't provide much Hyouka other than the season preview and the coming season review, I'm going to provide. Since what you guys are actually looking for can't be determined by the search terms I'll just be providing a bunch of stuff including videos, art, screenshots, and an in depth review of the first episode (spoilers)! Also due to this blog's increasing popularity I'm going to set the next goal to 20 referrals. If this article receives enough feedback (needs moar comments!) I may consider blogging the entire series as some other authors do.
Summary:
The episode begins much like that of Haruhi or any other Kyoto Animation work with Oreki Houtarou (Nakamura Yuuichi: Okazaki Tomoya - Clannad) and his depressing walk into high school. He and his buddy Fukube Satoshi (Sakaguchi Daisuke: Sunohara Youhei - Clannad) are chatting after school about his outlook on life: "I don't do anything I don't have to do. What I have to do, I do quickly." Unlike Kyon of Haruhi, Houtarou has a much more optimistic opinion about his low-energy lifestyle.
Satoshi begins to tease Houtarou about how he won't join any clubs until he reveals a letter from his sister demanding that he join the Classics Club because it needs members not to be closed. As he later reaches the club room he finds a girl, Chitanda Eru (Satou Satomi: Tainaka Ritsu - K-ON), who wants to join the club for personal reasons. Relieved that he may no longer have to join the club, Houtarou begins to leave when he is literally captured by her eyes (gif by Ecchi King):
Eru realizes that because Houtarou entered the room with a key, that she was somehow locked in despite only arriving minutes earlier to an unlocked club room. The two catch Satoshi eavesdropping and pull him into this mystery. After a little brainstorming the three eventually solve the mystery. Satoshi then ropes Houtarou into joining the club anyways.
The next day Satoshi fills Houtarou in on a rumor that Eru told him. Fearing that he would be dragged along trying to solve another mystery later that day after he finished his late homework, he asks if there were any other mysteries that he could distract Eru with. When she eventually arrives, Satoshi tells her a story about a secret club that the student council has never been able to find called the Golden Web. Houtarou says that the best place to find a flyer for this secret club would be the main hall and quickly finds the flyer. It turns out that he planted the flyer on that board because it would bring him closest to his goal of handing in his homework in the office in the main hall, then escape before Eru wants to investigate the previous rumor. True to his motto: "I don't do anything I don't have to do. What I have to do, I do quickly." However Satoshi points out that he could have just played dumb like he does with anyone else, implying that he is giving Eru special treatment.
Review:
So far so good. The pace is comparable to any other serious KyoAni work, they pretty much all start this slow and we only keep watching because we expect KyoAni magic. It's like a weird mix between Clannad and Haruhi with Okazaki and Sunohara being dragged all over the place by an adventurous female lead. Chitanda however, is not nearly as eccentric as Suzumiya so it maintains a little bit of it's own flavor. So long as the mysteries they solve become a little more involved and the character development is deep enough I can see myself really enjoying this one. The Animation, of course, is fantastic as you can see in the OP:
Finally, here are a few wallpapers I pulled from the episode (720p). There don't seem to be any good others online quite yet.
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