Oh, it’s that time of year again. You can tell just how excited I am about the cultural festival.

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Episode twelve had all of its focus on the cultural fest — the Kanya Festival — and showed that the anthologies have been completed in time for distribution. Perhaps the only problem was the collective mishap of how many copies were requested for print. Hey, it happens to everyone, and to be honest, I wouldn’t have gotten only thirty copies even for a seemingly forgotten club. Aside from that, it would only be a matter of actually selling the anthologies. To be fair and honest, I wasn’t all that gung ho about school spirit past elementary school but I still would have purchased one just because. I was a bit relieved to see that a copy managed to sell outside the projected in-club purchases. Smile, Houtarou, you doofus! 

I don’t recollect a mystery here other than maybe a minor case of missing apple juices or whatever the clubs outside were chirping about. Unless if I missed something really crucial, I found this episode quite straightforward but teeming with good potential for character development. 

For one, Mayaka. She’s always taking jabs at Houtarou for his laziness but it seems like we can finally dig deeper into her character. It’s important for me to know her more, like her perception on cosplay versus dressing up, and her involvement with the manga society. And not to make comparisons, but what her cute side consists of. I’m sure Mayaka being sad isn’t the best new face she can have on. 

Satoshi’s over-excitement (my Saturn!!) and Houtarou’s taking care of the booth are obvious contrasts that only reminds me more of how boring a person I am. The way I can relate to Satoshi’s excitement is the way I can relate to how almost willingly Houtarou’s decided to stay behind and conserve energy. It doesn’t help that Mayaka had her thing to take care of and that the club only has four active members but I’m sure staying behind alone is purely enjoyable. Cheers from the isolated third floor window! 

Finally, for all you Chitanda Eru fans — come on, I know there are more of you — you got to see plenty of her face. And her seriously ADHD cuteness. If she’s not genuine in the way she acts, we’re all just being dubious in thinking she’s playing us with her moe charms. If anything, she is doing exactly what she is supposed to do at a school festival and that is indulging herself in whatever fun activities, including calligraphy, karuta and dressing up (or is it cosplaying?). However, she does have a strong sense of responsibility but that can always waver when her pair of metaphorical glasses cannot set her straight in a mission to sell every copy of Hyouka.  

Still craving a mystery but I can live with a good closing to how the anthologies sell. And loving the ED sequence. 

GO Rating: 3/5

Ah… I’ve seen these characters somewhere before…