Not only was episode 19 a haven for Houtarou/Chitanda hints, it also supports my theory that Houtarou is simply not an ordinary human being, even by anime standards. The connoisseur of strangeness, Haruhi, may even agree with me.
Seriously, this kid makes a completely out-of-there guess about a mundane-sounding announcement at school being related to counterfeit through pure conjecture… and at the end of day, turns out to be right. This kid is better than actual police detectives!
If Houtarou’s name was Ryuuichi instead, I wouldn’t doubt that this was a prequel to the Ace Attorney/Gyakuten Saiban series of visual novels.
+10 points if Chitanda’s first name was “Mayoi” or “Maya”
I was also amazed at Houtarou in here. He came up his theory from a simple one sentence announcement which turned out completely correct. Gotta agree that he’s no ordinary human being O.O
@-blacksheep: Hopefully Houtarou stops being overly modest after reading that newspaper article. There’s a limit to denial. xD
Agreed, pulling off such a detailed mass of information out of some simple details is simply…UNBELIEVABLE. 😛
@feal97: If Houtarou wasn’t so lazy, I’m sure he’d do great in a Critical Thinking class. 😛