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So first here’s a summary of both animes from MyAnimeList for your reference:

Hyouka:

Clannad:

Obviously these animes are not the same, but you know… really? Wow, it’s this passive dark haired high school boy who doesn’t want to make an effort in life. Meets this cheerful, bubbly and slightly strange girl and gets roped into joining a club. Same in BOTH cases, by the way. (this is why I chose to compare only the first episodes, only so I can make fun of that point, because I’m guessing as the anime develops Hyouka becomes a really Sherlock Holmes-y anime and Clannad is just… Clannad).

CLANNAD- Opening

Clouds. Blue. Dark. A bird’s eye view of the city. Soft, otherworldly vocals in the background.

“Kono machi was kirai da.” (I hate this city.)

The beautiful music from before now immediately becomes more eerie and gloomy. Sights of the town in the same dull, dark blue flashes in front of us. The voiceover continues.

“It’s full of all the memories I want to forget about.”

“Go to school, chat with friends, and then go back to a home I don’t even want to go back to. Will something eventually change, doing this?”

The string instruments are introduced. Cut to Tomoya, our main character, stopping in his steps, exhaling, and then continuing his trek up the slope to school. The voiceover continues.

“Will that day come?”

Hint. Hint. It probably will.

Tomoya is walking quietly through a purple world, the strings continue. Suddenly we see a cut off side view of a girl taking a breath. The music quickly changes to a light piano playing single notes, the melody of Dango Daikazoku. Cut to Tomoya and him up, closer to her. He looks at her sideways. She coughs, then mutters under her breath: “Sweet bean bread!” Tomoya is taken aback.

“Do you like this school?

I really, really love it. But nothing can stay unchanged.”

Tomoya’s voiceover comes back. “A girl I’ve never seen before. The words weren’t directed at me. She was probably talking to someone in her heart.”

“Fun things… happy things… all of it… They can’t all possibly stay unchanged.” It’s the girl again, this time in between her words the purple world flashes in and out of normal color. “Even so, can you keep loving this place?”

Tomoya looks down, then speaks up. “Just find them.”

She starts, and the dark, purple world is suddenly taken over by blinding color, flashes of it, flashing closer and closer until we see see a closeup of her face. The world is now permanently in normal, warm color. Her hair blows in the wind as we pan around her and away, Tomoya is now in the shot. Sakura petals are falling. The camera stops.

“Just find new and happy things.” Tomoya. The girl stares at him. He shrugs. “C’mon, let’s get going.” He begins to walk forward again. The girl follows.

“We start to walk up… the long… the long… uphill climb.”

Fade to white. OP begins.

HYOUKA- Opening

Paired with the crescendo of string instruments, a closeup of a thousand cherry blossoms appears on the screen, with petals floating everywhere and birds chirping in the distance.

CUT

We see a high schoolers walking by a long line of sakura trees, the scene hasn’t changed, but the real focus has appeared. We now see the entrance of the school, kids of the same uniforms entering, the normal chatter and friendly banter, some random guy tackles the other. Normal school stuff. Cuts back to a view above the place where they were all passing to walk to school, the long line of sakura trees. Then a shot of what seems to be a group of people welcoming new students and advertising their clubs. It’s a montage of school life. Here enters the voice of our main character.

“When we talk about high school, we describe it as very rosy. And, all the same, the color of roses reminds us of our time in high school. Japanese society overrates high school, much how it overrates living a rosy life. I doubt all high schoolers want their days to be adorned with roses.”

He walks past the shouting crowds of students raising banners to advertise their clubs in silence, his silhouette dark against their energy and color.

“Academics, sports, and romance all add a little color to your life. But not everyone is interested in them. There could be students who prefer their days to be gray and colorless. I guess that’s a sad way to live, though.”

We are in the classroom now. We see his face up close for the first time.

“I didn’t know you were into self-deprecation.”

The best friend character appears. Much like Sunohara, he’s got a cocky voice and an accent… oh WOW, this is hilarious, Sunohara and Fukube (the best friend) are voiced by the same person.

Fukube begins analyzing all of what Houtaro, the main character, just said.

“You’re cynical about academics, sports, and romance. Basically, a gray person. That describes you, doesn’t it?”

“I wasn’t being cynical.” Denial.

“That’s what you think. You’re all about energy conservation, aren’t you? You’ll never be interested in things that are tedious or a waste of energy. Basically, your motto is…” Shoves his finger in Houtaro’s face. Cut to Houtaro’s surprised face, which turns into a fed up look.

“Don’t bother doing things you don’t have to do, and just rush through things you have to do.” Houtaro states.

“I guess.” Fukube shrugs lightly, agreeing and yet dismissing. “But you know, Houtaro… Kamiyama High is known for its strong tradition of club activity, and you’re not even in a club. Looking at the facts, you’re the definition of gray. You said that was a sad way to live, didn’t you? That’s clearly self-deprecation.” Hint hint. This foreshadows what is to come.

“You never know when to shut up.”

“Why are you saying this now? You’ve known me since middle school.”

Houtaro’s annoyance and refusal to acknowledge Fukube’s theories just confirms for us the fact that all of what Fukube said was true. And Fukube’s analysis provides us a further introduction to Houtaro’s character, and his own relationship with Houtaro.

Houtaro then tells Fukube not to wait for him after school, showing up a slip of folded white paper. Fukube leans in for a closer look, his minimal curiosity turning into incredulousness. “Is that… No way! A sign up sheet? You’re joining a club?!”

We find out that Houtaro is joining at the request of his sister, to keep the club alive. After reading the letter, Fukube reasons the possible pros of joining the club, saying that since no one else is in the club, Houtaro can have the club room all to himself. “Private space”, as he calls it. Houtaro looks interested by this notion.

We cut quickly to team sports, then of Houtaro saluting them inside the hallway as he walks down. His narrative continues. “I don’t look down on active folks. I’m just true to my motto. Don’t bother doing things you don’t have to do, and just rush through things you have to do.”

Houtaro takes a key from the teacher’s office and goes up to his new “club room”. He finds the door is locked, and takes the key out to open it. Entering the classroom, bored and nonchalant, he suddenly sees a long, dark haired girl standing at the window looking out. Her back is to him. We follow Houtaro’s slow, easy footsteps towards her. Closer and closer. She turns. Houtaro stops. They stare at each other for a long time. This moment resembles the one in Clannad when Nagisa notices Tomoya’s presence and they stare at each other.

After a dragged out cutting back and forth between their green and purple eyes, the girl finally smiles. Houtaro is taken aback, like Tomoya when Nagisa mutters: “Sweet Bean bread!”

OP begins.

So. First impressions here, before most people skip the OP and go on to the rest of the episode. Both start with a montage and a voiceover, showing glimpses of their lives. Characters are briefly introduced. In Hyouka more than Clannad, characters are set up and Houtaro’s “motto” is established. A lot is said about his character. The girl appears briefly and dramatically, and we end on her before the OP. In Clannad, the mood of the anime is set up in a more artistic way, and although the voiceover gives a lot of hints, direct and indirect, about Tomoya and his life, no conversations occur between characters and everything is dream-like, until the world is blasted into warm colors and the story starts. Then the OP begins. Certainly, it is clearly established that both Houtaro and Tomoya are high schoolers that are not interested in making an effort in life. Houtaro is more “because I don’t feel like it” and it’s my “motto”. Tomoya, on the other hand, seems to be completely given up on life, and his voiceover hints that it has something to do with his past. Every important character has a sad backstory. It’s a thing in anime. I’m not saying Houtaro doesn’t have a sad backstory; something must have caused him to develop this outlook on life. However, unlike Houtaro, Tomoya’s past and his pains are the main thing in Clannad, how Nagisa sort of “heals” and changes him I guess. The main thing in Hyouka, I’m guessing, is solving mysteries and through that there are always character breakthroughs and developments between their relationships etcetera.

Clannad is certainly more depressing, more deep and philosophical (I guess you could call it), but both animes have the school life, quiet type of feel. Personally, school life animes bore me. Some are alright, bearable, like Hyouka and Clannad, but god I can’t stand Haruhi Suzumiya… It’s always a club, WHYYY?? Is there nothing else to school life?? No other way for a group of people to get together and form a story of unrealistic Japanese school life? They’re both produced by Kyoto Animation. Which is not the reason for the similarities in plot (they were created by different people), but the fact that they share this much plot-wise and production-wise (including voice actors like Sakaguchi Daisuke) is interesting- it really shouldn’t be a surprise, since there are so many similar anime/manga to the point that it’s pointless to have both (especially if they’re by the same mangaka, hello Fushigi Yuugi and Ayashi no Ceres).

P.S. I was going to analyze the entire episode but I was too lazy.

Maria

Here’s a synopsis from MyAnimeList:

“Synopsis

Matsumiya Kana’s world is turned upside down when her father is arrested on charges of embezzling from the Ministry of Defense. She decides to escape the trauma by transferring to a private boarding school, but trouble follows…

Megane bishounen Kisaragi Kou gets Kana to open up to him, but what’s this?! He isn’t really who he says he is? And who’s the dude in the trucker’s cap lurking outside her window? Welcome to C-blossom -case729- a series with action, intrigue, and well…a plot.

[Summary from Condensation]“

This entire manga is only 4 chapters long, so it’s not an extremely long read, but each chapter is also a hundred or so pages each.

I usually don’t like shoujo that isn’t really shoujo. Don’t roll your eyes at me and say that I’m pathetic for liking the repetitive, boring romances and the stupid stereotypes and cliches. That’s what a lot of shoujo is, and if you don’t like it, then you can’t call yourself a shoujo fan, can you?

Anyway, C-Blossom isn’t the normal kind of shoujo. The artist’s style is clean and the characters aren’t drawn to be beautiful. By an unfortunate turn of events, a normal schoolgirl is forced to become captive and suddenly shoved into the complicated world of adults. There is gun shooting, secret organizations, blackmail, and betrayal, but it’s not the overly dramatic, superficial kind. The characters are ambiguous, the romance is subtle and the ending is not the typical, happy conclusion. It was an ending where a teenaged girl matures and faces reality.

“Sup gaiz, you guys don’t really know me and I don’t really know you.  I also don’t normally read shoujo, even though I do occasionally read this blog. As a manly man, I spend most of my time watching Gundam and learning how to make and sell drugs by watching Breaking Bad. One day I was chillin with my bro and co-host Andy and he came across Harutoshi Fukui’s rather hilariously amazing attempt at writing shoujo manga, C-Blossom Case 729.

In case you don’t know, Harutoshi Fukui is a renowned author of awesome novels that involve things like Japanese nationalism and war, and all that jazz. He’s essentially Japan’s equivalent of Tom Clancy. Among the anime community, he has become a really big name because he wrote the Gundam Unicorn novels that have been adapted into a 6 episode OVA that also just happens to be the highest selling OVA of all time.  Now, while mentioning Gundam Unicorn I can’t help but stress that it is amazing, I am supposed to be talking about C-Blossom here.

Basically, Fukui opens the manga with the rather gruesome image of a tree talkin about slitting wrists and all that.

Given the rather gruesome imagery that conjures up, you might assume that this would be some emotional roller coaster that spirals with the full force of gravity at its back off the rails. Given that the premise of this short manga (it’s only 4 volumes) is a girl’s daddy who is a big time politician is found to be embezzling money from the ministry of defense (come on the ministry of defense, Japan needs that money to fund all its wars AMIRITE?) and then loses all her friends and her fancy home.

For like I don’t know, 30 or 40 pages or so it is completely normal shoujo manga with all the right conventions and everything, there’s a teacher who is young handsome who is all like ‘LETS DISAPPEAR TOGETHER’ and all that typical stuff may you expect from formulaic shoujo. OF course, this manga cues you in to the fact that this was WAY too formulaic in a brilliant act of self-reflexivity that foreshadows that there is a lot more to than is just seen. Having already seen the name Fukui and with all this foreshadowing, I already knew that this would radically change and become something interesting.

That change comes after those first few pages chronicling a teenaged girl’s angsty crisis there are like political kidnappings, conspiracies and gunfights with grenades. And then in chapter 2 we discover the REAL love interest in the manga and he is basically hilarious…. Or at least he would be to anyone familiar with Gundam Unicorn. Because he starts talking about his ideology behind his actions… and it turns out that his ideology is basically the exact ideology of Daguza from Gundam Unicorn. He does all this crazy stuff like rescues and kidnappings BECAUSE HE’S A HUMAN BEING AND THAT’S HIS CODE OF HONOR.

Fukui’s love for romantism in anime shines brightly with the few panels where ideology is concerned. In fact, that’s basically why we have found Fukui writing shoujo. He actually went on to say that the value that Shoujo manga has for authors is how flexible it is. Whereas shounen manga has crazy deadlines and is extremely formulaic, shoujo has plenty of space for authors to explore ideas like romanticism, etc.

You might probably think that this article has contradicted itself by talking about how earlier I was all like ‘THIS MANGA BREAKS SHOUJO CONVENTIONS’ and in the previous paragraphs I go on to say that shoujo manga is more willing to accept alterity, but there is no contradiction.  Naturally, within any genre there are going to be conventions that pop-up after a while because having these conventions is what defines genre. Fukui’s observations on the problems associated shounen manga are not as simple as ‘one has convention and the other doesn’t’ but rather involve more of a critic on industry issues like deadlines that produces uninteresting shounen manga.  (Just so we’re clear here)

Ah, look at me; I have already gotten way off topic by talking about romanticism and criticisms of shounen and all that jazz. I suppose the real point to talk away from this (if you’re being all like TL;DR) by this point is that Fukui finds more freedom within the shoujo market and thus exercises this new found freedom to explore ideas like humanism and romanticism which scream throughout this manga. So I suppose the basic message is that this manga is awesome, and you should probably check this out. (unless you are not an awesome person, if you aren’t grab someone who is awesome and learn what it means to be a human being before the machine gets you!)

I probably won’t ever do this again, so if you want me you should check out my podcast Anime Graruru that I do basically every week, at this point I should say, every other week. We talk about all kinds of awesome things there because we are trying to rediscover our love of anime and all that jazz. So, I suppose it’s good-bye. Bye I guess.” – Anime Graruru

I’m not crazy about this manga, but it’s a good read and presents an interesting story, so I recommend it to those who want to read shoujo that doesn’t revolve around romance and a ditzy main character (ugh to shoujo girl stereotypes). :)

Maria

So it’s out! CLAMP’s wedding dress designed based on CardCaptor Sakura. And they featured Sakura and Chii wearing it, just like I wanted them to. They would have anyway.

Honestly, I’m a bit disappointed. Don’t get me wrong: it’s a very cute dress, but this clearly isn’t a wedding dress. It definitely looks wedding-related on Sakura in the art panel, but the real life version just looks like a one of the nicer cosplay costumes of Chii’s outfits from Chobits, not at all like an actual wedding dress. This is actually more like a bridesmaid’s outfit, not the bride’s outfit. This could’ve been a side piece, in addition to the actual dress.

I was expecting something more 华丽. It’s really CLAMP’s Chobits/CCS style but if you’re going to design an actual wedding dress you’d make it much longer and less cutesy, wouldn’t you? It’s supposed to be a bridal gown, not a bridesmaid’s outfit. I can’t really see anybody getting married in this.

At least it looks cuter worn on the model.

This is really pretty, though. They really should just make another wedding dress with a full skirt and incorporate this into the design. That, I think, would be a gorgeous wedding dress and perfect for an CLAMP-crazy otaku couple to get married in! ^_^

Maria

SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY

This is what I would give you as a present (if I could):

Thanks for always reading my blog (even though I know you’re not a fan of shoujo) and always skyping me and fb :))))). You’re a really interesting person and I hope you know that! You’re a good debater, whatever you think –> you’ve got lots of opinions. Thank you for your insights and have a great birthday :)

Sorry this is short I will edit this later: just trying to make it on the day :)))))) Maria

… is you ♥

3 days till Christmas!! So far, no plans of celebration have been made. This is sad…

In honor of all the lucky people out there who has someone who loves them, here is a list of must-watch Christmassy episodes from anime affiliated with romance (a.k.a. shoujo, but there are a few exceptions)!

Love Hina Christmas Special

Toradora episode 19

Warning: a very sad episode (or so I’ve heard from multiple sources)

Haven’t watched it myself, but I am going to.

Card Captor Sakura episode 35

I am a Syaoran x Sakura shipper, so this episode doesn’t make me go nuts (since it’s about Yukito) but it’s a cute Christmas episode from one of my all time favorite anime!

Kimi ni Todoke episode 22

Watched the first few episodes of this anime. Incredibly shoujo, I must say, but very sweet :) Am looking forward to watching this episode!

Love makes you happy like nothing else… Of course, it makes you sad like nothing else but we’re going to ignore that for now. I will be reviewing each of these episodes later. Merry Christmas everybody!

Maria

She may be hated because she is Hiyori’s love rival. She may be hated because she’s one of those “perfect people” in manga that are made fun of. She may not be as pure or honestly kind as Hiyori, and she isn’t perfect (remember what she asked Hiyori to do).

What she did for Yuushin and Hiyori is unbelievable. She loves Yuushin that much but gives up on him because she knows that Yuushin will eventually realize that he loves Hiyori the most and she wants the best for them. And so she leaves the game quietly.

What strikes me the most is her story of getting Yuushin’s second button from middle school graduation. I cannot believe that she would give it to Hiyori. That is the single most sweetest thing ever. My heart was twisting through the whole chapter. These heart wrenching moments in shoujo, I think, is what makes shoujo so amazing. Love can making you happy like nothing else, but it can also make you feel pain like nothing else. Shoujo is all about romance (they go hand in hand), but what makes it great is that it also includes familial love, friendship love and other kinds of love as well. Shoujo is not shallow.

Maria

Forgiven Reina already… this scene makes me smile. So Reina’s not the bitchy love rival who’ll do anything to get her way after all. Yay!

This is why I love Hiyori. She’s so sweet. You’re my love rival? Hi! Let’s be good friends :)

Ahh… Shoujo :)

Maria

FUCK YOU.

YUUSHIN DON’T LET HER DOWN GENTLY.

And I thought Hiyokoi wouldn’t follow the pattern of average shoujo manga. I mean, sure, it was getting really close with the childhood friend possible romance business and all but it surprised me because Kisaki was actually genuinely nice to Hiyori and from the beginning Natsuki was completely ruled out…

AND THEN THAT ANNOYING BITCH CAME ALONG…

And here the popular, always-shapelier-than-the-main-character, super-annoyingly-clingy love rival stereotype pops up. After 10 chapters of awesome-not-romance-yet-but-kinda-like-it between Hiyori and Yuushin.

What I like about this manga is that Yuushin, unlike most male leads in shoujo manga, doesn’t do an overload of flirting and doesn’t make himself higher than anybody. He can be sort of placed in the “bad boy” area because of his constant rule breaking and carelessness but he is such a popular and nice guy and is on great terms with everybody, so he deviates from the shoujo couple stereotype. And although Hiyori is a weak character that I can see people getting very fed up at, I can relate to her so much and she isn’t one of those overly energetic, outspoken shoujo girls who are full of “I will change myself and make friends or this is the end” crap. Ahem ahem. Rockin’ Heaven. Obaka-chan Koigatariki. I mean, Hiyori wants to change herself and make friends too but at least she’s nice about it and doesn’t have a huge sob story that she keeps referring back to.

And I have mixed feelings about Kou… He was an asshole at the beginning and sometimes he still is but sometimes he acts nice so I’m not sure if he’s putting up an act and secretly just hates everybody or he’s actually nice…? And I don’t know how he’ll play into the story. This is intriguing. He better not steal Hiyori away from Yuushin though. I will get VERY upset.

VERY UPSET.

Ok, I’m overreacting. I’ve read hundreds of shoujo manga. Yuushin will end up with Hiyori. IT’S JUST THAT SHOUJO MANGAKAS LOVE AGGRAVATING THEIR READERS WITH A TON OF CRAP IN THE MIDDLE, TOYING WITH US BY PUTTING THESE ANNOYING CHARACTERS IN BECAUSE THE MAIN CHARACTER WON’T BE ABLE TO CONFESS TO THE GUY SHE LIKES AND START A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM OTHERWISE. ARGHHHHHH. This is why I love Arina Tanemura. She doesn’t do this (albeit a little bit, but subtly and not in an annoying typical shoujo way and makes it a good read). Furuba too. Never forget Furuba.

I love Hiyokoi. It’s so much better, in my opinion, than manga like Dengeki Daisy and Stardust Wink. Just saying. Feel free to disagree with me… but honestly? Stardust Wink- childhood friend, love triangle, blah blah blah. Been there, done that. Not in the least bit original. Great art. Okay-ish story. Not wasting my time with it. Dengeki Daisy- why is this so popular? The beginning wasn’t half bad, but it just went on. And on. I don’t even remember what happened last time I read it.

I know it sounds like I hate shoujo manga right now… but I really don’t. Trust me, I really don’t. I love shoujo manga to death. GOOD shoujo. All that bad shoujo out there is the reason why people like Anna (my friend) hate shoujo- they turn away because of some crappy ones they read and didn’t like and assume the rest are like that, and are so closed off to the idea of the existence of any good shoujo that it’s completely impossible to get them to even look at the cover. It like: ugh it’s shoujo *SHUN*… And: “no Maria I am NOT reading that sappy bullshit”

But then again they’d never learn to love shoujo for its predictability, those sweet moments between the (right) couple, the awesome best friend characters, the side pairings and of course, the progression of the main couple’s relationship. Obviously. Whatever people tell you, shoujo is all about the relationship between the main couple. Every character and event the mangaka puts in affects their relationship in some way. Unless it’s a bad manga. This is why shoujo anime always sucks in comparison to its manga version because anime has countless pointless filler characters and episodes and such that just mess up the plot and ruin the whole story.

Ok, I’m done. Haha and this post was supposed to be about Hiyokoi. Fail XD Major off-topic ranting here…

Maria

So… It’s this time of year again :) Christmas is here! I don’t really feel it yet because I’ve been stuck in boarding school this past time and I’ve been cut off from all the usual festivities that go on in cities and stuff. I will soon, when I fly to Hong Kong this weekend :)

Spending this winter break living and breathing my beloved city… and catching up with all my old friends, whom I haven’t seen in AGES!! I’m so excited!

Anyway,  I will try to do some anime reviews and stuff later on, this is just a brief catch up post. :)

Maria