Houtarou Oreki

Houtarou Oreki is the lead male protagonist of the 2012 Kyoto Animation TV series Hyouka, adapted from Honobu Yonezawa's Koten-bu mystery novel series.

Thanks to KyoAni giving Oreki a handsome appearance, he became a powerful force in anime character popularity contests in the early to mid-2010's. The student made his name in the International Saimoe League male exhibitions, reaching the semis in 2012 and winning the Scepter the following year. However, his title meant that he will be banned from playing in future main tournaments for eight years.

Still, Hotarou's strength in ISML remains in its Tournament of Champions contest. After mediocre finishes in 2017 and 2018, he advanced to the final round in 2019, losing to Oregairu's Hachiman Hikigaya. Oreki then returned the favor in 2020 when he won against the same opponent in the final; with Chitanda's triumphing in the female edition, this resulted in them becoming the first pair of contestants from the same series to win the ToC in the same year.

Oreki is also well-received in the r/anime subreddit, but in terms of performance in AnimeBracket contests, he is a middle-tier contestant. His best finish happened in Best Guy 3 where he narrowly lost to Soma Yukihira by 5 votes in the round of 16.

In the anime shipping wars, "Houtarou Oreki x Eru Chitanda" is considered one of the highest quality ships in anime, despite not being given an explicit romantic resolution for the two. The pair are a powerhouse in r/anime's Best Couples / Ships tournament, garnering their best result in Salty Sea III where they lost to Monogatari main couple Koyomi x Hitagi in the final. Overall, they have appeared in the elite eight in five out of six appearances. The Hyouka couple also finished runner-up in ISML's own shipping contest after they got outclassed by Kaguya-sama main couple (Miyuki x Kaguya) in 2019.

Houtarou will return to the ISML Main Tournament in 2022.

Icons

Main Tournament
Houtarou is expected to make his first Main Tournament appearance in ISML 2022.

Pendant Record
Although the 2015 crowns are not counted as pendants in the "official" ISML records, in this wiki they will be counted because they are part of the seven gems.
 * Appearances: 1

Best Couples/Ships
Couple icons

Gallery
Total wins = 9 + 1 = 10 (2)


 * 1) ISML 2013 male exhibition tournament (Scepter) ★
 * 2) ISML 2020 Tournament of Champions ☆
 * 3) w/z Best Guy Contest 2019
 * 4) Aniplus Character Tournament 2013 ★
 * 5) Pekin University Yuanhuo Moe S2 Male Division (2020)
 * 6) Anitown Moe Tournament 2012 Spring
 * 7) The Great Awwnime Bracket 2012 Male
 * 8) Sakurasou-Moe 2018 Couple Div (w/ Eru Chitanda)
 * 9) 2020 Anime Trending: 2012's Grand-off
 * 10) ISML 2021 Tournament of Champions ☆