Hyouka: The Anime Series and the Novel
Are you interested in mysteries? If the answer is yes, Hyouka is here to satisfy your curiosity. Hyouka belongs to the category of “daily reasoning,” meaning that the plot isn’t like the traditional detective series that involves crime. To illustrate, have you ever wondered why someone who consistently arrives early is late for class today? This story is about incidents like this that the main characters are curious about in their school life. Before diving into the work, knowing more about the differences between the novel and the anime would be something that viewers should understand first.
To begin with, the time sequence of the story is different in the novel and the anime. For example, one of the cases in the story happened at the end of the semester in the novel. Yet, in the anime, they solved the case in the middle of the term. Regardless of the time order, the problem-solving process and the cases they encountered had no difference. Overall, the adaption of the anime is appropriate, as it is easier to gather all the characters when the scene is at school. More precisely, if the story started in their summer vacation as it is in the novel, the anime would have to explain how the characters gathered together and that would be a waste of time. Despite the chronological variance, viewers’ understanding would not be affected by the time order differences.
In addition, there are more scenes about the main characters’ love story in the anime than in the novel. In the book, Oreki, the male protagonist, stands as a sole main figure. The female lead in the anime, Chitanda, only appeared to be one of Oreki’s friends, and no love scenarios such as both of them blushing were involved. In order to attract more audiences, it is reasonable to have this adjustment in the anime, so that the romantic elements can satisfy people who like love stories. By introducing the additional scenes, the anime director aims to create different aspects of the characters’ connections. These changes made the relationship of the characters more interesting and also offers viewers of the anime a different emotional experience compared to the novel.
Last but not least, there are more plots in the novel than the animation. Specifically, the anime has zero description of the characters’ life in grade eleven, however, there was even a new character added in the story as all the previous characters turn one year older. Why didn’t the anime include the additional plot? It is because the original work, meaning the novel, hasn’t been finished yet, in spite of the fact that it has been seven years since the last update. The anime stopped at the plot that can be the ending even without the following part in the novel. If readers are curious about what happened after the whole anime series ended, reading the novel would be recommended.
All in all, there are significant differences between the novel and the animation of Hyouka: time sequence, character description and plots. Both works are worth exploring and may arouse your curiosity about your daily life. So, why not give it a try of diving in to the world of curiosities and mysteries?
Sources of the book and the film
[1] 米澤穗信, (2012, April 4th). 冰菓｜Muse木棉花 動畫 線上看. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL12UaAf_xzfpKB3uUvYYbxg3UBOxBZfDl
[2] 米澤穗信, (n.d.). 古典部系列. 嗶哩輕小說.
