The only good arc was the uncle arc at the beginning. All of the others were very bland so there was no reason to care about the mystery at all.
The only good arc was the uncle arc at the beginning. All of the others were very bland so there was no reason to care about the mystery at all.
To be fair a lot of detective fiction is like that, you don't care about the characters as much as the cleverness of the puzzles. The problem is that in this series you are made to anticipate romantic development between the main characters and it is just cock-teasing bait that goes nowhere.
On one hand, Hyouka should have committed to the romance because half measures are bad, but on the other, romance doesn't fit with the show and it should have focused on a friend/companion type relationship instead. The show chose the wrong direction, and half measures make it weaker than it could have been.
If it focused on a friend/companion type relationship then would it have been more appropriate to have an all-male or all-female cast rather than let's face it, two couples?
Mayaba, or whatever her name was, could have been excluded. That would have kept the show focused on Satoshi, Chitanda and Oreki. It's not unbelievable for a friend/companion relationship to form between them.
Or for that matter how about leaving only Oreki and Satoshi would have been enough? You know the detective and his sidekick to make it seem like the detective is not talking to himself. What does Chitanda provide to the plot beyond baiting Oreki into solving mysteries by being all moe moe over him? If Chitanda ceases to be a romantic interest I don't see any utility in her being there. I mean sure it's her uncle's notebook but it could have been someone else's uncle.
Chitanda should have been an interesting character that fundamentally altered the relationship between Satoshi and Oreki. It’s a far cry from what the show is now but it would have been better.
The only way I can think that Chitanda could have altered the relationship between Satoshi and Oreki is through a love triangle... And that would have been worse.
By having a different personality and a way of thinking that changes how they see things.