Hello & Welcome - To Replay Value
Episode 5 is easily my favorite Hyouka episode
in the first half of the show.
I could honestly go through each and every
scene talking about how brilliantly it’s
composed technically and narratively - and
I kinda have already by talking about the
opening 2 minutes and indeed the material
I covered in the Sekitani Jun Arc video.
But I realized that I’ve forgotten to breakdown
about arguably the most important moment in
Episode 5 and the first instance of the recurring
aspect that I refer to as “The Hyouka Moment”
— because it comes from the discovery behind
the name Hyouka.
The sequence in my opinion starts when Chitanda
asks specifically why the anthology is called
Hyouka.
Prior to this question, the focus of the vast
majority of shots was wide, incorporating
all 5 of the characters in the room.
Kyoto Animation is very comfortable letting
us sit on wide shots, and then using close-ups
to highlight specifics, which is exactly what
happens with Chitanda’s question.
This shot, blocking out the rest of the cast, is designed to make the audience wonder
how many times the librarian has thought over the last few years what was meant by the word - Hyouka
As we jump back to a more standard wide shot,
Houtarou is missing from the shot.
Until we pan over to him - zooming in as he
whispers “you don’t know?”
followed by a shot from Houtarou’s perspective.
This is a significant change - we went from
group, to Librarian focused now to Houtarou
focused.
She doesn’t have the answer, but this change
tells us before he even declares it that Houtarou
knows.
At this moment, track #43 in the soundtrack
comes on.
I refer to it as “A Silent Scream” because
my Japanese pronunciation is terrible as my
commenters like to remind me - and I’ve
named it that because this is the scene in
which it is best utilized.
This track is beautiful and powerful and it’s
one of the many examples of how Hyouka uses
its score so brilliantly not only in the scenes
themselves but also to convey meaning across
different episodes.
We get the inverse of the previous isolation
shot of the librarian - now isolating Houtarou.
He has knowledge that no one else does now,
and this shot is perfect at making that clear.
We pan from Houtarou’s feet up to his head
as we build towards the resolution, and to
continue this trend of blocking the rest of
the characters out of these shots.
When we cut to the others they’re grouped
together, but the closest any of them get
to sharing the screen with Houtarou is when
his leg is bouncing and Satoshi notices it.
Him bouncing his leg causes ripples in his
tea, calling us back to the opening 2 minutes
which signified this change — and indeed
this bouncing is also a change, he’s visibly
upset at himself for not figuring it out earlier,
as well as the fact that apparently for the
last 50 years this message has gone unnoticed.
He slaps his leg down, and asks the question
that causes everyone to start to put it together.
Finally, the rest of the club shares the screen
with him, but it’s only for a brief second.
The following shot cuts out Satoshi and Mayaka
- as though Houtarou is trying to speak directly
to Chitanda as he’s answering her question.
After Houtarou clarifies again that it’s
a pun, Chitanda is now cut out from the shot
- with Satoshi realizing it first as he’s
closest to Houtarou, before Mayaka recognizes
the answer as well.
As Houtarou hands Chitanda the meaning behind
Hyouka - fulfilling his promise to help her
- the soundtrack swells, replacing any words
spoken in that space with music instead to
convey the story.
As we cut out Chitanda is crying, some mix
of nostalgia, joy and sorrow.
Chitanda and Houtarou are both standing as
though they’re alone without anyone else
in the room.
The sunset providing this powerful lighting
that creates a striking visual pallet that
is joined by the striking sounds of her visualization.
In all of the earlier flashbacks - both the
librarians and Chitanda’s - there were zero
sound effects with the exception of the burning
bonfire - just the ost and the
voiceover.
So for this visualization to suddenly feature
sound effects, as raw as the chomping of flesh
and bone, the horrific scream of Sekitani
Jun as though it’s been processed through
a gramophone, and the thousands of stamps
and bites being layered across the audio track
it’s practically a shock to the system.
But as we fade to only young Chitanda’s
crying, her voiceover as she recounts her
feelings, and the last few notes of the song
- we are left with pure silence and just a
shot of Houtarou and Chitanda.
And while the following shots remind us of
the others presence, everyone with a melancholic
smile on their face regarding what we’ve
learned here - those two are the focus - as
Chitanda thanks Houtarou, who dodges with
his standard “I was just lucky” looking
back at the sheet of paper Chitanda’s holding.
The meaning of Hyouka - the crappy pun - is
I Scream.
A message that no one could hear, trapped
in time because Sekiatni Jun didn’t have
the strength to vocalize it.
That is the meaning behind Chitanda’s tears,
and that is the essence of “The Hyouka Moment”
- the voicing of a silent scream, and track
#43.
Again Episode 5 is a masterpiece from top
to bottom in an already masterful show, and
I’m sure I’ll be breaking down more scenes
and elements from it in the future.
But for now, having already spoken about the
opening 2 minutes, and these closing 4 - the
conclusion to the Sekitani Jun arc creates
a strong baseline for which we can look forward
to the future episodes, and the two upcoming
arcs.
Thanks for watching.
