This is one of the shows I have higher hopes (if not expectations) for, seeing as it’s based on light novels that are closer to actual novels, and the premise, art, and everything surrounding it remind me of Hyouka, which is a masterful show when it comes to dealing with the small moments of human interactions. The preview made this show look very pretty. The director and vice director are inexperienced, so I’m going into it mostly blind. But seeing as it’s a mystery, you’ll all be pleased to know that the series composer worked on Mawaru Penguindrum and Yuri Kuma Arashi, so should be up to the task of handling potential complexity.
Story / Theme:
I thought before this show even began airing that it reminded me of Hyouka, and it might have caused me to find more similarities as I kept watching the show, but boy do I feel this show is trying to be Hyouka in various small ways. It’s really not a bad thing, just as Psycho-Pass trying to be Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and paying constant homages to it wasn’t a bad thing, seeing as both Hyouka and Stand Alone Complex are two of the better anime shows ever made. But it’s there, and more than that, all those psuedo-poetry like lines, all those “so cool” line about how this world stopped moving, or the nature of death feel as if they try to appeal to a certain crowd, of which the protagonist Aku no Hana would definitely be a member.
Geekorner-Geekulture. 