lately i've been reobsessing over hyouka esp satoshi and mayaka's relationship, which has implanted a corny tattoo parlor/flower shop AU in my brain and it's slowly taking over...
satoshi just makes sense as a plant guy to me and mayaka's art could easily translate to tattoos. rn in my head their first meeting is mayaka buying flowers for eru's bday; afterwards mayaka is a little flustered but chooses not to think about it, meanwhile satoshi realizes he likes her... oh no (later ofc mayaka realizes and gets direct, while satoshi starts making excuses lol)
this AU has expanded to include eru & houtarou, who are an art museum assistant/intern and coffee shop barista respectively lol. eru eventually invites him to the museum and asks him about each piece omg wdyt of this one I'm Curious~ and he is utterly exhausted but sticks around
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(224/?) A new goddess emerged from the mist, she took the blade from my wrist!
Right, let's talk about Hyouka...
(this is how much of the series looks in general, because the Kyoto Animation peeps extensively plan their production cycles)
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Hyouka is a series based on (and taking the name of) the first of a series of mystery novels called "Classic Literature Club", written by one Honobu Yonezawa, that takes place in the sleepy fictional town of Kamiyama (which is the city of Takayama in all but name). While it might easy to say "If you've played Persona 4, you get the gist of it", it's kinda not like that at all. For one, there is no murderer on the loose. What's there, though? A lot of small mysteries to uncover.
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Whenever I see a new anime with the same old "Middle School or High School" setting, I tend to be on my guard. I've been through the same ol' song and dance too long as an anime watcher, so it's easy to want to keep your distance. Hyouka, however, manages to use the high-school setting to inject the mysteries with a surprising amount of endearing investment, especially given the "low stakes" of almost all of them.
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The series has the stable of usual suspects when it comes to the cast for a mystery series that borrows a lot from the old canon, we have our "Sherlock Holmes"...
(yes, his social skills are as terrible as the OG; how can you tell?)
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...one Houtarou Oreki, a disaffected young man that lives by a very simple creed: "If I don't have to do it, I won't. If I have to do it, I'll make it quick." Unfortunately for our lazy anti-social boy du jour, he has his own Mycroft Holmes in the form of his older sister, who cajoles him into joining her old stomping grounds, the Classic Literature club, and when he gets there to submit his application, lo and behold...
(this is her at her most physically threatening)
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...he meets one Eru Chitanda, a girl with a kind personality, many incredible talents, and the curiosity of someone around half her age. She's like the one client that will always come back to ask for help. Rounding out the main cast we have our John Watson.
(the faces this posh boy pulls absolutely make this show)
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...the foppish Satoshi Fukube, a boy looking for some exciting shenanigans and the predisposition for facilitating the involvement of the club in said shenanigans if Miss Chitanda up there isn't able to budge our lazyboi out of his self-imposed stupor. And whenever there's a Holmes and a Watson, a Lestrade is not far be--wait...
(I'm mostly playing this up for the post; she's awesome too)
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...really? Ok, well there you have it: Rounding out the main quartet, this tiny firecracker here is Mayaka Ibara, a hot-blooded gal that also brings to the club's attention all sorts of mysteries and curiosities that they can sink their collective teeth into.
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And while I mentioned a bunch of names and how they serve as spins of sorts on old characters from the Sherlockian canon, the series itself is a weird mix between the aforementioned low-stakes mysteries and the sort of slice-of-life occurrences that could liven things up for high-school aged kids in what has historically been one of (if not the one) the most isolated places in the Japanese mainland.
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Quiz Contests involving a huge chunk of the school?
You got it!
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Eating toast with jam on a lazy weekend morning, bedhead included?
You betcha!
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Angry emotional outbursts for reasons that I highly recommend you to go watch the show and not make yourself a disservice?
Abso-fucking-lutely.
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The series goes out of its way to treat the audience with enough respect that the solutions to the mysteries never feel insulting, the framework necessitating the stakes to remain "low" also ends up adding a lot of strength you wouldn't expect, and the emotional scenes will get your old ticker wondering what's going on.
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All of this courtesy of Kyoto Animation at the absolute top of their game in all aspects, with scripts adapted to near-perfection and the direction always leaving that sensation of just wanting to see a little more. I amply recommend it! See ya' later, alligator!
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Posting some drawings I've done over the past year. Starting off with Hyouka drawings, the first two being Secret Santa gifts to our discord server and the third being my contribution to the Hyouka zine.
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