Hyouka – _Images

Hyouka (氷菓?) was originally published as a mystery novel by Honobu Yonezawa, who is known for his stellar work in the Shoushimin series and a number of standalone mystery novels.
It later served as the first volume of the Classic Literature Club series and five volumes were published between the years 2001 to 2010.
A manga adaptation was later written Taskohna which were serialized in Kadokawa Shoten’s Shonen Ace magazine.
It started publishing on March 2012 and as of today, there have been 7 volumes published thus far.



PLOT:

Oreki Hotaro is a high school boy, who always acts passively.
One day, he enters "Koten Bu (Classic Literature Club)" as recommended by his elder sister.
There he meets Chitanda Eru, Fukube Satoshi, and Ibara Mayaka.
Chitanda is a calm beautiful girl but she turns into an embodiment of curiosity once she says, "I'm interested in it".
Fukube is a smiling boy with a fantastic memory; he never deduces anything on his own.
Ibara is a short girl and is strict with others and herself.
She loves Fukube, but he always dodges her approaches.
They begin to investigate a case that occurred 33 years ago.
Hints of the mystery are buried in an old collection of works of the former members of Koten Club. The collection is titled "Hyouka"."



CHARACTERS:

Houtarou Oreki is the main protagonist of the series. He is overly rational, trying to rationalize every little thing he does: “if I don’t have to do something, I won’t, but if I really have to, I’ll do it quickly”. He is later invited to join the Classic Literature Club by his sister to prevent the club from disbanding. He dislikes doing something that has no higher purpose. But when given with a mystery to solve, he finishes it through and tries to solve it with his rather brilliant and logical deductions. It was hinted in the series that he has feelings for Eru.


Eru Chitanda is overly curious and inquisitive girl who later joins the Classic Literature Club. Although quite smart and getting top scores in exams, she is oftentimes portrayed to be rather ditzy and hides behind excuses. She is knowledgeable and well-versed when it comes to the town’s old traditions and customs having come from a long line of wealthy farmers. She admires Oreki for his undeniable mstery-solving skills. She is shown to have feelings for Oreki.


Satoshi Fukube is Oreki’s classmate who takes pride in his rather impressive memory to the point where he keeps calling himself as the “human database”. It was later shown that he is actually jealous of Oreki’s talents and his critical reasoning abilities. She later confessed that he actually has feelings for Mayaka and the two are seen dating in the spring of their second year.


Mayaka Ibara also a member of the Classic Literature Club although she did join after the other three did. Although she did go to the same middle school as Fukube and Oreki, she doesn’t get along well with Oreki. Mayaka’s passion lies in drawing manga although she is quite shy about her work.


UPDATE:

Kyoto Animation released a 12-minute OVA (original video animation) of Hyouka on January 2013.
It was based on a plot written by the novel author and will be bundled together with the third volume of the manga.
It was directed by Yasuhiro Takemoto.


Anime shows I’d highly recommend that are quite similar to Hyouka include The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Gosick, Kokoro Connect, Dantalion no Shoka and Detective Conan all of which are mystery shows.


source: Zerochan; written by carllustre87

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