Shoshimin: How To Become Ordinary (2024)

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fillerdude Since: Jul, 2010

#1: Jul 6th 2024 at 8:49:59 PM

From the same author as Hyouka comes another low-key mystery series about another smart kid getting involved in some low-stakes cases.

The first episode is out and I'm already vibing with it. I'm curious about what Kobato and Osanai went through, that made them decide to become "ordinary" citizens. As I mentioned in the Summer 2024 thread, everything from the direction to the dialogue paints the two as detached from their surroundings. Except the desserts. RIP to the strawberry tarts.

KnightofLsama Since: Sep, 2010

#2: Jul 7th 2024 at 1:01:07 AM

What a vile crime from that guy. He must face justice before the season is out.

Those poor, poor tarts.

fillerdude Since: Jul, 2010

#3: Jul 7th 2024 at 1:20:17 AM

The camera even paused that frame too, fully acknowledging it was a crime beyond measure.

fillerdude Since: Jul, 2010

#4: Jul 14th 2024 at 5:37:25 AM

Episode 2: Kengo why the hell did you heat up the milk carton?! I do like that he’s more of an oaf than you’d expect from his prior appearance.

Past Jogoro sounds like a pain in the neck. There’s definitely a story behind why he changed, and especially interesting is that the nature of his promise to Osanai isn’t explicitly about becoming ordinary, unlike how he previously framed it. Nice bit of Unreliable Narrator there.

Screwed up that Osanai was blamed for having her bike stolen. Obviously the school is more preoccupied with preserving their reputation.

KnightofLsama Since: Sep, 2010

#5: Jul 15th 2024 at 1:31:01 AM

Yeah, this show is definitely playing it cards close to its chest on the slow burn.

fillerdude Since: Jul, 2010

#6: Jul 21st 2024 at 12:06:32 AM

Episode 3: Sorry Kobato but I, too, want revenge for those limited edition strawberry tarts. Let Osanai take her revenge! Don’t let the gorgeous, scarlet sunset backdrop go to waste!

Seems like Kobato was criticized for poking his above average nose into things that people didn’t want him butting into. Wonder if there’s a specific case that broke the straw, or it’s just something that happened in general. I’m leaning towards the former, and that said case involved Osanai. Because holy hell, Osanai seems like she’s about to wreck that bicycle thief’s entire being. I’m scared (and excited) to see what she’s up to!

Edited by fillerdude on Jul 21st 2024 at 12:46:20 PM

KnightofLsama Since: Sep, 2010

#7: Jul 21st 2024 at 12:54:41 AM

On one hand I'm torn. I too want Osanai to get revenge for her strawberry tars.

On the other hand it feels like she may have the potential to be a potential super-villain and Kobato may need to sacrifice himself to prevent her from going to the dark side.

Seriously I'm exaggerating for comedic effect... but that was ominous as hell.

fillerdude Since: Jul, 2010

#8: Jul 21st 2024 at 1:51:45 AM

Shoshimin: How To Become Ordinary (9) I’m almost certain that Kobato stopped Osanai from hatching a truly devious plot in the past, and that led to the both of them promising to become ordinary.

KnightofLsama Since: Sep, 2010

#9: Jul 22nd 2024 at 2:06:18 AM

Shoshimin: How To Become Ordinary (11) It's looking something along those lines though I'm almost certain there will be extra complications to be revealed.

Still looking to be an enjoyable ride along the way.

fillerdude Since: Jul, 2010

#10: Aug 3rd 2024 at 9:43:28 PM

Episode 4: We get confirmation: you do not want to get on Osanai’s bad side. It’s a good thing her wrath was directed at a ring of fraudsters.

Aaaaaand then someone splashes some water on her head. If the whole series is Jogoro trying to keep her in check then I am happy to ride along.

I had to chuckle at the acknowledgment of our two leads that they have been failing at the whole “becoming ordinary” thing.

P.S. The math was funny! Jogoro you are a pretentious ass.

Edited by fillerdude on Aug 3rd 2024 at 10:00:22 AM

Jaseroque Since: Aug, 2024

#11: Aug 6th 2024 at 8:23:38 AM

I'm pretty sure the maths in episode 4 is wrong, and it's a pretty interesting case too.

Math Stuff

Flat out multiplying the probabilities is a big approximation. I'm pretty sure you should use conditional probabilities to take into account the overlap between the different probabilities.(For instance, if you have 100 southwestern students, 83 of which being 15 years old and 35 having a "suspicious" reason for going to the North Driving School, all of the laters might be suspicious *because* they're 15, in which case you still have only 83 "suspicious" students.)

There's also the problem of the "Age" ratio assuming generalized fraud from the 15 years old population. If you're in a restaurant where there are 5 clients for one staff member, and you see someone going through a "staff only" door, odds are they are authorized there - you don't casually do something you're not supposed to without a reason. So the "Age" unsuspicious ratio could be something like 8:2, but not 1:5.

It gets curious when you check the source material. In the Light Novel, Jogoro has an internal monologue admitting he knows his calculations are flawed and giving a few reasons. The thing is, he's trying to convince Kengo to lend a hand: springing numbers at him without giving him time to think about it is just an easy way to do it.

It's a pretty important detail to me, I'm not sure why you would leave it out of the adaptation. I'll have to read a bit more of the LN to compare, but in general the adaptation skipped Jogoro's thoughts a few times. I get that they can't cram in everything, and it could be a stylistic choice (going for a normal outsider's point of view who doesn't know Jogoro or Osanai), but in practice some nice explanations were left out.

On a completely different topic, if Osanai had a known tendency for schemes or for violence, it sheds some light on the school's reaction to the whole bike theft event. It's still pretty awful for her, but she would be under the school's scrutiny if she's had discipline issues in the past, moreso than the average student.

Edited by Jaseroque on Aug 6th 2024 at 8:33:37 AM

fillerdude Since: Jul, 2010

#12: Aug 6th 2024 at 10:38:54 AM

Shoshimin: How To Become Ordinary (15) I honestly thought that Jogoro drew up the obviously wrong math specifically to mess with Kengo. I didn't believe the author of Hyouka would get basic probability wrong. That's why it was funny! Granted, you do have a point about having Jogoro make that clearer through his inner thoughts.

Great point about Osanai too. I'm not sure if the school knows exactly what kind of stuff she's pulled, but it would make sense to be stricter with a known problem case.

fillerdude Since: Jul, 2010

#13: Aug 11th 2024 at 1:35:55 AM

Episode 5: Russian roulette with German pastries. Liked this case, I was able to piece together what happened well before the reveal. Also now I can’t blame Osanai for her vengeful tendencies, given how much the universe seems to want to screw her over.

fillerdude Since: Jul, 2010

#14: Aug 18th 2024 at 12:04:41 AM

Episode 6: One of the tensest faceoffs I’ve ever seen in fiction. A master detective trying to deceive another master detective. Kobato has nerves of steel, trying to pull one over Osanai. I love it. The variety of scenarios has impressed me a lot so far. Also a bit sad that something bad always happens to Osanai and this time it was Kobato’s fault haha. At least she secured him as a sweets-shop partner-in-crime.

fillerdude Since: Jul, 2010

#15: Aug 25th 2024 at 7:00:58 AM

Episode 7: We went from relatively mundane cases to a drug-dealing circle and an abduction. Not that I think Osanai is in significant danger, because I think she planned it somehow. I would honestly be more worried for her captors.

KnightofLsama Since: Sep, 2010

#16: Aug 26th 2024 at 1:44:59 AM

Yep. That was a real sudden escalation.

Though its was fun to see Kengo (or should I say Kenken) getting trolled earlier. Shoshimin: How To Become Ordinary (20)

fillerdude Since: Jul, 2010

#17: Sep 7th 2024 at 11:54:06 AM

Episodes 8-9: Never mess with Osanai.

So it was pretty easy to figure out the gist of what happened, but it was really cool to see how all the minutiae fit together. I’m glad Kobato even pointed out that Osanai wanted to get the peach pies, because I remembered that their next sweet was supposed to be the candy apples!

And very funny listening to Kobato’s breakdown of the case while Osanai was kinda brushing off and having the time of her life with that ginormous parfait. I also didn’t think too much of the ransom call, assuming it was just to alert Kobato and the police and get them running, but it turns out that Osanai specifically wanted to pin Isawa with a heavier crime. Because it bears repeating: never mess with Osanai.

KnightofLsama Since: Sep, 2010

#18: Sep 8th 2024 at 1:51:20 AM

Yep. I called it. Potential super-villain.

fillerdude Since: Jul, 2010

#19: Sep 8th 2024 at 3:30:34 AM

She's kinda like a supervillain trying to enjoy retirement but life keeps getting in the way hahaha.

fillerdude Since: Jul, 2010

#20: Sep 15th 2024 at 12:53:31 AM

Episode 10: Thus, the first season ends. As does Kobato and Osanai's relationship.

There is so much to dissect in their conversation, but the root of it all is that while they partnered up in order to rein each other in, what happened was they used each other as an excuse to indulge in their decidedly unordinary proclivities. Osanai more or less says that befriending Kobato was part of the plan to take down Isawa ("finishing the last piece of homework from middle school") while Kobato continues to be more interested in showing off his brilliant deduction skills instead of, y'know, actually helping people out.

The worst part is that these two liars are too emotionally awkward to admit that they can just hang out together because they enjoy each other's company. It's kinda amusing that they run into new romantic candidates soon afterwards, but we all know those aren't gonna last.

Now if you'll excuse, I'm gonna let out this scream I've been holding. Six months til the next time we see Kobato and Osanai.

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Shoshimin: How To Become Ordinary (2024)

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