I think it’s been a long time I haven’t posted anything for Throwback Thursday since my Throwback Thursday post was in November 2015. Yup, that seems like a long time. So, for the first Throwback Thursday post for this year will be dedicated to Hyouka.

Another reason for me to write about Hyouka is because of my previous post featuring Hyouka. Though I only mentioned Hyouka briefly, I feel like Hyouka deserves a dedicated post on its own. And this post will do just that.

What Hyouka is all about

Here’s the synopsis for Hyouka from ANN:

Hōtarō Oreki doesn’t like to do things that he considers a waste of energy. However, things start to change when he enters high school because even though he does not want to join any non-compulsory school activities, his older sister requested that he join the memberless Classic Literature Club so that it won’t get abolished. Unbeknownst to him, another student, Eru Chitanda, already planned to join; but instead of being free from club obligations, Hōtarō eventually joined as he is strangely unable to refuse or escape from Eru’s passionate gaze of curiosity. Together with his friends Satoshi and Mayaka, they began to discuss a variety of mysteries in school that only Hōtarō seems to be able to solve, including the mystery that lingered on from Eru’s childhood memory.

That doesn’t sound like a bad anime, does it?

Me and Hyouka

When I read the synopsis for the anime, I was thinking that the anime must have something related to solving murder mysteries. Well, I have no idea why I’m thinking mysteries are equal to murder. But maybe that’s how it is if you read detective manga like Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbou and Detective Conan.

In a detective manga, any kind of mystery whether it’s a legend told from many generations to myths spread all over the Internet, it will always lead to the murder case.

Of course, it doesn’t look that way in Hyouka because the anime looks way too peaceful to have something so mind-boggling. Heck, I should have noticed earlier that there’s no way someone will die in Hyouka. I guess I must have read too many detective mangas that make me think Hyouka is that kind of anime.

After watching the first few episodes about unraveling Chitanda’s childhood memory, I no longer sense that Hyouka is a mystery anime that will lead us to anything to do with murder.

Do I feel disappointed with that?

Well, I won’t lie that I feel a bit disappointed. But with how Houtarou is able to solve mysteries surrounding him, I guess it’s okay to watch something like this for a change. And Houtarou’s ability to solve more mysteries shines more in the later episodes.

If you’ve been in the otaku circle, I’m pretty sure you may have heard them musing about Chitanda’s infamous statement, 私気になります (Watashi Kininarimasu) all over the Internet. Well, that’s what I notice when Hyouka was around the corner. It seems like it becomes like a catchphrase whenever you think of Hyouka. That’s what pops into my mind too whenever I think about Hyouka.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever come across anime and manga like Hyouka, which it’s just a plain mystery anime without any blood spilling. If you can’t stand the murder anime and manga but loves mystery, then Hyouka is something that you’ll enjoy.

It’s an old anime, but it doesn’t hurt to watch an old anime once in awhile. I know I do sometimes.

I also read the manga

As much as I enjoy watching the anime, it’s still not the kind of anime that makes me want to buy the merchandise. But for some unknown reason, I ended up buying the manga.

Maybe it’s because I want to read something besides Kingdom Hearts. And at the same time, I want to read a manga that can test my Japanese skill.

Well, that should be it because that’s the reason why I buy the manga in Japanese since manga is one of the reading materials that has furigana (the hiragana at the top of the kanji which shows you how to read the kanji) and it’s something that I enjoy reading.

If I want to read something as a part of the learning the language, it’s better to read something that I enjoy. I know that manga isn’t the best material to learn Japanese, but that’s the only thing I like to read. Light novels don’t even have furigana, so reading light novels is out of the question for me.

After reading the manga, I realize that it’s way too challenging for someone like me who has minimal Japanese skill. It even takes me a long time to finish reading the manga. And my busy schedule doesn’t even help me at all when it comes to finishing reading the manga as fast as I can.

With the first book is already struggling enough for me, the second book is the same as well. So, from the look of it, I guess I won’t buy the third book until I’m done with the second book.

Will I continue to buy the manga? You may not believe this when I say that I will still buy the manga. I’m struggling to read. And I don’t even understand much what they’re talking about. And yet, I’m still thinking of buying the next book.

I guess it doesn’t hurt to buy the manga since reading manga that I don’t understand much is more like a challenge to myself. Who knows that the challenge itself will make me want to improve my Japanese so badly.

I did say that learning and mastering Japanese is also one of my goals for this year. So, Hyouka manga seems like a good motivation to get me excited to learn and master Japanese.

I don’t know yet what’s the best way for me to learn Japanese without making my busy schedule falling apart. But I’ll let you know the method once I’ve already found one.