#5: The Truth of the Classics Club and Its Past

This week’s episode brings us to a breaking point in the current mystery, and gives a little more exposition on how Oreki really feels about life. We kinda see a different side of him, but this is still Hyouka, and this is the best episode yet. A meeting with a certain someone’s scheduled. Let’s get this going.

First off, there’s no OP this week. Instead, we get a feel for a new side of Oreki. One who may just long for the colorful life described in the series thus far. He’s not sure, however, but he can’t help but feel a certain way when he’s around the members of the Classics Club. In this episode, Oreki wastes a lot more energy than usual, and it’s interesting the way things play out, to say the least. A talk with his sister brings Oreki one step closer to solving this mystery. Turns out there’s some facts missing, and there’s only one person who the club can talk to in order to get the answers they need, the librarian, Itoigawa. Oreki calls the meeting and tells everyone this after describing how there may be either some holes in his own theory, or how they may have not went far enough into the theory to confirm it. Itoigawa is the only person they’ll be able to ask about the Sekitani Jun incident, and just what happened at the school forty-five years ago with the cultural festival.

Now for the truth about the incident. Looks like Itoigawa confirms that Oreki’s theory is almost exactly spot on. I’d expect nothing less from this genius. He questions if Sekitani Jun was a volunteer for the leader of the movement. Sadly, he was not. The leader’s name was kept a secret, and Sekitani Jun was basically a stand in, forced to be the face of the movement. He was therefore, the one to be expelled, even though the movement succeeded in keeping the length of the cultural festival at five days. This leads to why the anthology is named ‘Hyouka’, Japanese for ‘ice cream’, or with a play on words ‘I scream’, which is why it’s named that. With that being said, we find out what Sekitani Jun had told Chitanda that fateful day she’s been trying to remember. Now, we’ve got the Classics Club ready to write the newest installment of Hyouka. Oreki will be writing the main article for it, about the Sekitani Jun incident and what they’ve discovered. Later on, Chitanda tells Oreki that she doesn’t want the memories to be history, basically. Oreki’s still got a lot to learn about people’s feelings, but I feel that this episode gave him the breakthrough he needed on a path to a more colorful life.

Next Episode: To Commit a Grave Sin