The Great Detective is cool and composed. He has an aura of elegance around him. His powers of deduction are bordering superhuman. Unlike the detectives in hardboiled detective books, great detective is often in good terms with the police force. He has very little interest in women and is perhaps asexual. He doesn’t need to carry a gun; his strongest weapon – the powers of deduction are always with him.
The Great Detective trope started with Edgar Allan Poe’s Dupin, who later served as a basis for perhaps the most famous detective in fiction – Sherlock Holmes. The Great Detective trope faded into obscurity as the Golden Age of Detective Fiction ended in the West.
In Japan, the Golden Age of Detective Fiction never quite ended. It just transformed into something new, branched into many subgenres. As such, the trope was kept alive too. Called “Meitantei” in Japanese, these characters are still very much alive in Japanese detective fiction.
One of the most unique portrayals of a Great Detective I’ve seen also comes out of Japan, in the form of a teenager. “Koten-bu”(mostly known as Hyouka in the West) series by Honobu Yonezawa features the main character, Houtarou Oreki, that seems to fit into the trope in some ways, but defy it in others. When discussing Houtarou Oreki, people often mention his trademark cynical and lazy nature, his disinterest in everything that requires effort. These traits, although important to his character, are not what define him for me.
I see Oreki as Honobu Yonezawa’s take at how a Great Detective inside the body of a teenage boy would be.
Oreki displays extraordinary skills of deduction. He can solve any mystery if he puts his mind to it. But that’s the thing; he doesn’t. Unlike Great Detectives, like Sherlock Holmes, Poirot or Ellery Queen, who are driven by their curiosity to solve the mystery, he displays apathy, uninterest, and low self-esteem befitting of a teenager.
So, where does his motivation come from? A girl. What else would a teenage boy be interested in?
Honobu Yonezawa stripped the motivation – his curiosity away from the Great Detective and placed it into another character.
Oreki’s motivation for solving the puzzle is presented in the shape of Eru Chitanda. Chitanda’s main trait is her single-minded curiosity. When she’s presented with a mystery, she can’t think about anything else and naturally reaches out to Oreki to solve the mystery and sate her curiosity. Her persistent and stubborn nature is the only reason the puzzles presented in the story are ever solved. She’s the force driving the story forward.
Being a teenage boy, charmed by her, Oreki can do nothing but go along with her requests. The Great Detective is a teenager. He has no motivation to solve the mystery; he just wants to slack off. Until a girl comes along, bringing the curiosity along and sweeps him off his feet.