The Hyuoka OVA, What Should be Had, was presented in the Hyuoka listing I used (WCO) as 11.5. Logical, like the full Hyuoka series. At the point when the opening sequence had Houtarou in a ponderous reflection on his friends Chitanda, Mayaka, and Satoshi transitioned to 'chalk-sketch' Houtarou running about the school campus in glass reflections until Chitanda pulls him back into reality ... in that semi-amorous of handholds. Romantic notions between Houtarou and Chitanda were always on the back-burner in the series. Feasible, but perhaps not happening.
The OVA accomplishes two goals for the Hyuoka project. First, it offers an introduction of Houtarou's sister, never seen in the first half other than letters and e-mail. Sister does make an 'appearance' in episode twelve, and then she goes back to her globe-trotting ways. And, as to the 'appearance,' sister is never seen full-faced. I could tell you how she looks like, but never with certainty. Anyways, she is better known for that older-sister 'I know better than you' voice.
Second, and more importantly ... fanservice. The premise of this episode is Houtarou's sister ropes Houtarou in filling in at the swimming pool. Knowing that this would be nothing more than sitting around and making money, Houtarou accepts. Swimming pools means girls in swimming suits (Mayaka's is frilly and relatively modest), particularly bikinis. Chitanda looks great in her white one (great mystery in life ... why are white bikinis classic?). Fanservice was lacking in the series, other than the gratuitous hot bath episode were Houtarou, wondering how Chitanda looks in the girl half of that establishment, faints from overheating. This makes up for the vast number of moments Houtarou notices Chitanda for reasons other than her annoying curiosity.
Mysteries need crimes, even if there aren't any. The crime of the moment is Chitanda's perception that a woman has lost a white earring at the pool. The four friends go searching the area until Houtarou deduces that the item of white on the woman's ear lobe might not have been jewelry at all. To test his hypothesis, Houtarou asks Satoshi, and then Chitanda to lift a reluctant Mayaka. This silly act done, Houtarou could reconstruct the so-called disappearance of the 'white item.'
As plots goes, the mystery was not Hyuoka's best. It just played on that buried theme of Houtarou discovering Chitanda. The converse nature of lethargic Houtarou and perky Chitanda needed a push to get some serious considerations of love-connections. Houtarou’s hesitant lusting over a girl in a white bikini was unnecessary, especially after 22 episodes of slow bonding so that Houtarou doesn't necessarily confess love, but he does admit that Chitanda's ambitious life goals could just be as easily his.
Slow and easy seems so much better than wham-bam.
The OVA uses the music and animation techniques of the first half of the season. The usually muted coloration gave way to the brighter rays of summer, so the OVA was a celebration of a season well-begun. It just didn't have the intensity of a well-thought out Hyuoka plot, just the intensity of the customary pool scenario, which is a poor substitute.
Screenshots
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