Forum - View topicShoshimin: How to become Ordinary (TV).
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11443 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Shoshimin: How to become Ordinary (TV) Source: Novel (ongoing @ 5 volumes by Honobu Yanezawa) Demographic: Shounen Animation Studio: Lapin Track Genres: mystery Themes: school Plot Summary: Jōgorō Kobato wishes to live a quiet and ordinary life after a painful experience. He and Yuki Osanai form a "mutually beneficial relationship" as Yuki also wants the same thing. They start high school as classmates with a plan to spend their peaceful days as ordinary people, but unfortunately, they keep getting wrapped up in mysteries and disasters as they happen one after another. Air Date & Platform: July 6, 2024 (Saturday) Available on: Crunchyroll Episode Count / Runtime: Pending Last edited by Tony K. on Sun Jul 07, 2024 2:57 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2665 |
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The first episode made me think of Hyouka plus a lot of style and movie quality/feel animation to top it off. Jougorou appears to be the insightful teen detective minus some social skills causing him to appear uncaring at times, Yuki seems relatively normal so far (though trauma is coming after that double murder at the end) and Kenho seems like a pain in the rear. Just like with Hyouka the relatively innocent case gets made into quite the big performance. The difference is how stylish and a tad over the top Shoshimin can be.
I am a sucker for mystery so count me in for more. |
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Edjwald
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Yah...I enjoyed this, but I found the fragmented conversations where they blipped between space and time kind of confusing. For example, I didn't really understand what they were talking about when they mentioned a way to get to the bakery quicker and how they'd better be careful or there would be severe consequences.
I was wondering if they stole the bike they were riding, but then their bike got stolen and they were screaming "Thief" without any fear of getting called on it Was the thing they were afraid of riding on a main throughfare because they didn't want to get recognized? Maybe they met because the male lead's boy detective act got him involved in some incident with the female that was traumatic and sensational, and that's why they're trying so desperately to blend in and stay under the radar? Maybe they're afraid of the Japanese equivalent of paparazzi? But the mystery and enigma surrounding them helped add to the atmosphere. My only complaint is that the mystery surrounding their situation was a lot more compelling than the mystery of the missing pochette (spelling?), Not only was the affair low stakes even for a school drama, but the way it was solved seemed like an asspull. I thought the way the guy was running all over the place was suspicious too, but to go from that and damp socks to reconstructing the entire scenario felt more like a task for a psychic than an Encyclopedia Brown wannabe. Edited to add an observation. |
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Darkmagick
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I believe this part wasn't actually meant to be a mystery. Double-riding a bike was banned in Japan (because it's dangerous), and apparently cops crack down on kids who ignore the rules and do it anyways. That's why they weren't riding the bike in the first place, and Kobato was just pulling it along with him. So basically, they were doing the teenager version of "speeding to get to your destination when you're running late, knowing that if the cops pull you over you'll be even later."
You'll be shocked to hear that this is, in fact, from the author of Hyouka. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2665 |
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It does indeed not shock me but it is a bit of a bummer in a weird way. I really like shows like Hyouka and Shoshimin (thus far) and more authors writing such works would mean a bigger chance of getting more of them made into anime.
To be blunt: I want more mystery anime. |
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Edjwald
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Cool, thanks for clearing that up 
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ACｘS
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1:
Ngl the synopsis got me interested a little. And the more I watch, the more intrigued I got. Why? These kids are weird. I don't know if it's just me, but it feels like these kids have never socialized before or something: - Why was Osanai feeling jumpy after spotting a girl at some corner? - Why is Dojima always in a bad mood? - What did Dojima mean when he said Kobato wouldn't "botch a cerebral task"? - "An ordinary person would never stand out. They must spend every day in peace and do everything possible to avoid anything that interferes with that." ← who the hell would say all this? A person who explains how to be ordinary, isn't ordinary. - Why would Osanai wait for Kobato instead of just going to that cake shop by herself? - Why is Dojima being such a hard ass at finding somebody's pochette? (I admit: I didn't - know what a pochette was.) - Who the hell would call the police over a missing pochette in a school? - Which kid actually lists "activities for today", like Osanai did? - Kobato did some detective work over Takada's actions, but seriously, which kid does this? - Osanai wanted the strawberry cakes so much, yet she left them outside the store? Really? Sorry, but that turned out to be a laundry list of weird things about what I saw. Maybe I'm just overthinking. I will say one thing: this show is intriguing. Normally I wouldn't bat an eyelid at yet another high school drama because man, we all know how this genre has been done to death. Yet, here I am and I'm not sure why. The show's letterboxing makes it feel like I'm watching a movie. The characters' unusual conversation dynamics and strangely subdued responses raise my curiosity. I don't know what the deal is between Kobato and Osanai, but definitely something's going on. In fact, sometimes it feels like these kids are aliens and they were given a book on how to behave like typical high school kids (I know it's in the title, but still, why is it even like this?). I will say it again: this show is intriguing. It does feel a bit like Hyouka but that show was more obvious with the idea of being detectives. I don't understand what's going on for this day, and more importantly, I want to know what's going on. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1586 |
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I agree, there is something almost alien about these two though, and although I don't think the show is supernatural, I found it the most interesting part of the show. .
I'll try some of your questions though since a poster helped me out with one of mine. . Why would Osani wait for Kobato instead of just going to the cake shop herself? The store would only sell one tart per customer, so she wanted him to buy an extra for her. She was probably shy too, though by her own words she'd been to the store herself the year before. - Why is Dojima being such a hard ass at finding somebody's pochette? (I admit: I didn't - know what a pochette was.) If it's basically a purse, it's somewhat understandable. What I don't understand is the conviction that someone would steal it and abandon it or hide it as a prank. - Who the hell would call the police over a missing pochette in a school? If it had ID and such it's understandable. - Osanai wanted the strawberry cakes so much, yet she left them outside the store? Really? It might be like wearing a backpack into a store which would raise some shoplifting concerns, or be considered rude, like taking a bag full of McDonald's meals and eating it in a Wendy's. Presumably crime in Japan is a lot more sedate than in most parts of the US and leaving stuff on your bike outside wouldn't normally be considered unusual in itself. |
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
Exempt from Grammar Rules
Posts: 633 Location: inland US west, pretty rural |
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Ep 2
More weirdness, in a quiet, slice of the life of somebody who has really changed, somehow? An Old Friend wants to know of the main character, 'What's up, man? You've changed, in a way I don't understand. You're ... nice? What gives?" The old friend seems more than a little pushy, for an anime high school character. So this bothers him, I guess. It's almost like one of those Westerns where a feared gun-slinger doesn't wear a gun anymore, and it unnerves people. And then it takes half or more of the ep to solve a mystery so minor I can hardly see anybody caring about it. But a sister of the old friend acts like a real life sister and gets genuinely pissed about figuring it out, which I liked because I have two sisters and I have seen them just be annoyed about the oddest minor stuff I'd do. So these characters seem very real to me, which I like. At the end, the female friend - Osanai? - says, minor spoiler[You were having fun. You can go back to that if you want; and he says, no, it was just a Sunday, it was a one time thing.] I am liking this show. I found it interesting and the pace ok. And it is not stamped out of a mold entertainment. And no girls have the high pitched anime girls voice, which I really hate. So one star for that alone. |
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ACｘS
Posts: 961 |
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2:
I am so guilty of this. Okay, this is a lot more like Hyouka than I thought, in good and bad ways. Good that it's a detective show that sets you mentally percolating. Bad that it's a detective show that sets you mentally percolating over stuff that ordinary people don't care about. So it's actually nostalgic for me. Hyouka was good, but I remember being low-key frustrated because they solve riddles for the sake of solving riddles (not problems per se). Remember that one time when Oreki and Chitanda were stuck in a shed and wanted to call for help without everyone noticing? Yeah, they found a way, but I couldn't give two shits about the problem in the first place. Ordinary people would just call for help, and everyone else probably wouldn't care. But no, these kids needed an excuse to be Sherlock. I was hoping that the story would follow up on what happened at the end of the previous episode, instead of simply moving on. Plus, there's the whole elephant in the room about Kobato just wanting to be "ordinary" and move on from this past. Perhaps that's the irony of this show: trying to be ordinary but asking questions and solving problems that ordinary people otherwise don't care about. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1586 |
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This show had me flashing back to Hyouka too, and for similar reasons. I had forgotten - or I guess I just didn't actively think about it ever - just how minor some of the "mysteries" in that show were. Sometimes when the female lead announced that she was officially interested, it seemed that she was the only one who was, and it was the main reason I always liked the show for being its own exotic animal but never loved it.
This show almost seems like it could by Hyouka three years later, after the characters inadvertently stumbled into a mystery that got dark and were traumatized by it. In fact, it would have been kind of awesome if this were Hyouka 3 years later, but I guess that would have violated the widespread anime belief that all shows have to be set in middle school or high school. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2665 |
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Hyouka went a bit too far/silly sometimes but I do think not all mysteries/cases need to be that serious in nature. In Shoshimin we may not have a Chitanda saying the cursed words every single episode but we do have Kengo who seems determined to get the former/true mc back into action.
My question is how serious the show will get. Will the reason for Jougorou's early retirement as a detective be a dark/ominous event or will it be not much more of note than the hot coco case. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3670 |
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3.
Kobato: I needed to pass as a normal person because no one really appreciated my powers of deduction and found me annoying Osanai: I needed to pass as normal on account of all the bodies. |
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ACｘS
Posts: 961 |
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3:
I admit that the whole test thing is a bit ingenious. But man, that's a lot of work just to cheat on the test. Plus, wouldn't the teacher notice that masking tape with the answers, especially when the tape was facing toward the teacher? I'm on Osanai's side. If someone had stolen my bike and ruined my cake, and has gotten away scot-free, and I'm the one treated as the bad guy? Screw that guy. Being grateful is what ordinary people do? What, Kotabo has never had anything stolen before? Kobato learned the hard way that people don't appreciate him helping out? Guess what: people don't want help, especially if it's unsolicited. Even if he solved it, he did it only to please himself, not help whoever he helped (at least that's the impression I got). Frankly sounds like a "you" problem. The elephant in the room remains: what the hell happened to him? He still sounds like an alien trying too hard to behave like an ordinary guy. Are we going to learn about his past someday? Even Kengo doesn't know, apparently. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1586 |
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She seemed pretty demonic with those red eye effects and monotone. Of course, anime does that all the time just to signal yandere mood shifts, . |
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