Obligatory “moe Chitanda” picture.

Aren’t you CURIOUS to see what happened this week on Japan’s Highschool Mysteries? Yeah? Well look no further, my dear anime connoisseur, this review has got you covered.

PLOT (advancement)

This week: Chitanda reveals her Time Lord origins.

After two weeks of Houtarou solving underwhelming (and in one case, self-made) mysteries, we finally get to the actual mystery of the show: something from 40-something years ago, centering on Chitanda’s uncle. Which, incidentally, was the “personal reason” for Chitanda joining the club in the first place.

The real mystery of the show: why she likes that idiot Satoshi.

Turns out, Chitanda’s reason for calling out Houtarou to the nice quaint little cafe wasn’t to confess her undying love, but rather to recruit him to help her solve a mystery. This being “what her uncle said to her eight years ago that made her cry”. Scintillating stuff. Houtarou naturally agrees, since he’s a fucking beta and is probably still hanging on to the slim hope that Chitanda will touch his wee-wee.

TOUCH IT! TOUCH HIS WEE-WEE!

We’re then treated to another highschool mystery. The Classics Club anthologies have gone missing! Oh noes. Thus the gang (minus Satoshi, who’s much too sophisticated for this puerile shit) must track down a locker containing the wayward volumes, which leads them to the newspaper clubroom, where a guy who looks suspiciously like Koizumi Itsuki from Haruhi Suzumiya answers the door.

Still fabulous.

Turns out, “Koizumi-kun” was secretly smoking cigarettes in the clubroom. Bad Koizumi! Through his excellent sense of deduction, Houtarou…deducts this and manipulates Koizumi into giving up the anthologies. Once the gang peruses the volumes, they find an article referring to Chitanda’s uncle. Bingo?!? Not quite yet, because the article refers to events occurring in the previous year, and that year’s volume has mysteriously gone missing. How mysterious! The episode ends thus, leaving us all curious for more.

THOUGHTS AND FEELS

We would like an answer regarding why Houtarou’s so fucking lame. But we probably wouldn’t be able to imagine it.

Once again, this show moves on at a snail’s pace, leaving no detail undetailed and no mystery unsolved. However, this attention to detail, and the little things that Kyoto Animation adds to the show, are precisely what makes it so enjoyable. Take the opening scene: at the end of episode 2, Chitanda takes Houtarou to a cafe. She’s visibly nervous, and seems about to ask Houtarou something, and the episode ends. The viewer is naturally assuming that the question has something to do with romantic intentions; the opening of episode 3 seems to indicate that Houtarou assumed the same thing. Prior to Chitanda revealing that the question pertains to a favour, the scene is shown with a rosy hue, and the pendulum on the wall-mounted clock is heart-shaped (which even skips a beat/tick just prior to Chitanda’s revelation, furthering the visual metaphor). In the scene, Chitanda is also much more subdued than her normal, continuously curious self. Maybe nervous/shy Chitanda is her real personality? Who knows, but I’ll bet we’ll be seeing more of it in future episodes.

It’s like their first date!

Another thing: Chitanda’s uncle supposedly went missing in India, and Houtarou’s sister was also in India when she sent him the letter asking him to join the Classics Club. Could his sister also be searching for the mystery? I don’t think her being in India could have just been a coincidence. His sister’s VA also voiced Kaname Chidori from Full Metal Panic!, two seasons of which were produced by Kyoto Animation. Is this also a coincidence? Could there be a crossover forthcoming? Perhaps! Damn, I’m so curious.

Chitanda’s uncle is actually Gandhi.

The slice-of-life…-iness is also very present in this series, which is one of the reasons why I’m rather fond of it, I suppose. The slow scenes, with the camera lingering on a single shot for maybe a dozen seconds before moving on to the next still shot, really helps to convey a sense of the slow passage of time. It allows us to feel closer to the characters as well, and focus more on their expressions and feelings. Since the central mystery is dealing with the past (and all the feelings of nostalgia that it inevitably comes with), such a slow pace actually compliments the plot. I know a major complaint from some viewers (one of which shall remain unnamed) is that “nothing of importance happens in this show”.  To which I’ll say: this show is much more about the characters and their interactions with one another, and their growth. It’s unlike K-On! or Lucky Star and other shows of their ilk, in that it doesn’t take every opportunity to make a cheap joke. Case in point: the magnificent Satoshi walks into the clubroom dresses as a sunflower, right after Ibara accuses Houtarou of being weird. However, this visual joke is not remarked upon after this, with the show moving on in favour of more serious developments (i.e. the missing volume). I suspect that in most other shows, the joke would be milked for all that it’s worth, thus killing any humour present in the first place.

How this character made it into the story is the real joke here.

In terms of music, this episode once again features a classical piece, this time being Gabriel Fauré’s “Sicilienne”, from this play.

The play’s (according to Wikipedia) theme is the cycle of creation and destruction. Sorry folks, but unlike episode 1 I can’t bullshit some connection between the music and this episode. It’s, uh, pastoral feelings does compliment the “40-years-ago” scene perfectly though.

No KyoAni show shall go without some blatant fanservice.

Also, the ED. What’s up with the imagery? Why are the two girls wearing nighties and on a bed, acting all sultry and shit. Man, this show’s too deep even for me. Maybe’s next week’s episode will enlighten us more about this affront to Puritan morality (and the mystery of Indian uncle).