Hyperphantasia and the apath from Hyouka
If no one is talking about this anime, then I will. But it´s probably not about what you expect.
(Fantasy of Hotaro Oreki while talking to Eru Chitanda for the first time)(https://mageinabarrel.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/hyouka-episode-1-chitandas-spell-1.png)
Hyperphantasia is the condition of having extremely vivid mental imagery.
Hyouka is a slice of life mystery anime directed by Yasuhiro Takemoto and released on 22. April 2012.
It’s about Hotaro Oreki, an apathetic and energy reserving Highschool student that solves mysteries inside his school, only driven by the optimistic and extremely -and I mean extremely- curious Highschool girl Eru Chitanda. Together with their other two friends, they crack at those mysteries as part of being the classic literature club.
Now.
I could talk hours upon hours about this anime. Every mystery in this anime is well structured and unpredictable but obvious when you rewatch the show. Even the name of the anime- hyouka- is a mystery, maybe the mystery of the anime.
That’s for another story though.
Aside from the plot, there’s, of course, the amazing OST.
For one, there’s this very nice remix of Cello Suite No. 1 by Bach that I think everyone should listen to. Not completely, maybe, like, idk, 10 secs.
There are other ones, like Demonstration with a fluctuation (揺らぎを伴うデモンストレーション), perfect for any detective story.
Ah, just so lovely…
I want to talk about something else, though.
Out of all things, that I love about this anime, there is one thing I love the most.
The visuals.
You, dear reader, could ask yourself now:
„This is a slice of life anime, right? I don’t think the visuals or animation can be that impressive…“
And well, you’d be right, but not quite either.
I’m talking about the hyperphantastic imaginations that Oreki has when he is talking to chitanda or thinking about a current mystery.
The dear reader I’ve just addressed as a stylistic choice to make this whole essay more interesting would say:
„Wait…Oreki is this apathetic and lazy guy that has a knack for solving mysteries…alright, but…hyperphantasy?“
Yeah, I get what you mean, it makes not a lot of sense that this Highschool boy has such a vivid imagination…it just doesn’t sit quite right.
But please, just bear with me, alright?
I’ll give you some examples.
Hotaro, after first entering the earth since prep room, which is the classic lit club room, chitanda, already in the room, got locked in the room without having a key. Oreki, telling her about locked room situation is also right about to go home (apathetic, remember?) until chitanda tells him kind of frantically that she has to know how she got locked up in this room.
Now, take a look at the scene:
Isn’t that…well, I don’t know how to describe it. Detailed? Fantastic?
In any case, these „imaginations“ are the very different from the anime’s style and are always something else. Sometimes it´s whimscal like this scene but at other times, the anime takes the visuals of an old school comic or using innminate objects like car-crash dummies with Noh/Kabuki masks from japanese theatre to renact scenes in which Hotaro wasn’t there.
And I want to emphasise that part: where Hotaro wasn’t there.
He’s the only one seeing them, proving that this is his imagination and only his imagination.
In another clip, Oreki feels like Chitandas curiosity is influencing his decisions and willpower, basically making his decisions for him.
In his imagination, the choice of helping and not helping chitanda to solve the mystery are layed out choices. Like the choices you have in a menu.
And chitanda acting passive as a maid/waitress shows that she actually can’t influence his choice. He can just blow her off, it is not his responsibility in particular to help her solve a random mystery at their school. In his imagination though, she grabs his hand and pulls it with force to the other menu i.e the choice to help her. With a smile plastered on er face.
This proves that chitanda has a lot more power over Orekis decisions than we might think.
We also know it’s only his imagination because Chitanda snaps him out of it, saying: „Are you okay?“
Not only is this a very interesting way of including the visuals as a nice stylistic element to wrap up the content of the mystery, it also tells us a lot about Hotaro as a character. While he isn’t talking a lot and is mostly fine with keeping to himself because talking to people requires a lot of energy for him, the images in his head are a heavy contrast to that. Especially because this imagery, situations can be overwhelming for him, like when for another mystery, Hotaro, Chitanda and Fukube are standing in front of the main school buildings bulletin board. This, only for Hotaro, is so overwhelming that he has an imagination where the characters from the numerous posters are spilling from the bulletin board and burying him in it.
It’s not just a nice stylistic choice that is a lot of use for wrapping up the mystery, it is an essential part of the show and Hotaro’s character to show his way of looking at the world and different situations. It helps to understand him and what he is thinking, without him giving a monologue about it. It makes us see feelings, especially the ones that are negative.
In another episode, Hotaro gets influenced by a girl in the class 2F, Irisu, to finish writing a script for the class 2Fs murder mystery film. The script was almost done but the original script writer, Hongo, had fallen ill and could not finish writing the script.
I say influenced because Hotaro was not helping Irisu to finish writing the script out of his own volition. She was asking him to “solve the mystery” Hongo has intended and praising him, saying that he is the only one that can help him because he has a special gift. A talent.
After Hotaro discovered that Irisu only said this to him to make him write the script because she did not want to do the work and does not attach her name to anything, that is not a success, he was…let’s say, less than pleased.
During his stage of denial that his deduction and version of the script was wrong, we get an imagination of his feelings on the whole matter:
Not only does he criticise himself for not actually acknowledging Hongo’s feelings while trying to solve her script, he feels ridiculous for not thinking his deductions through like an observer, rather than a storyteller. Influenced by Irisu, he just came up with a good story that Irisu used to make the film a success, not to tell Hongo’s intended story. He feels used. Just like a puppet on strings. The people clapping are not even people, but hands that do not say or think about the script and how it ended up being. After this scene, Oreki walks home defeated when he sees a poster for an upcoming theatre show for children. It is a mystery with a dog being the detective. The big, red text below saying Let’s go Detective !!
Can you solve this mystery ?
Hotaro, feeling understandably trolled punches against the the wall where the poster is
I don’t have definitive proof for it but after thinking about Hotaro’s imagination not only as a stylistic choice not only but as a trait for his character, who is saying that this poster is really there…
It could be an imagination judging from the very convenient timing and the dogs hair color being the same as Hotaro’s. Because he feels just like this dog (a sort of cartoon/puppet that is being ridiculed and used for literal and metaphorical child’s play) it is not that far off to think that this is not a real poster but just his imagination.
Whether it is his imagination or just a not so fun coincidence, we can’t be sure 100% how this was intended.
So what is my whole conclusion on this…
I would say that these visuals provide an excellent way for the audience to engage with Hotaro’s feelings. Observant watchers especially will have a blast while watching the show because it has so much sudden, hidden details that anyone would miss on their first watch. Which is also why this anime rewards you for rewatching it. It has been around 5 or 6 years when I fist watched it and it is still one of my absolute favorites to this day. If you have time, please watch it, it is totally worth it !!
(And because I love this clip but could not put it anywhere in here, have this <3)
That’s it for today. Have a great day and consider subscribing if you liked it!!