Hyouka, to me, is all about finding out the life that one wants while living it. As obscure as that may sound, it talks about a few high school kids transforming from being conservative and self-serving (in their own ways) to proactive and reflective. While on the micro-level it explores the life adventures of these students, it subtly touches on greater topics beyond what you see, such as societal pressure, political influence on education, and responsibility of knowledge, etc. How these aforementioned are hinted throughout the show is simply exquisite and beautiful.
As expected of Kyoto Animation, the art is poetic and just right down to every detail to support the plot and establish the atmosphere of the show. The characters design is above average and not too exaggerated to retain its realism. The entire show is as real as daily life can get, which is great in its own way. Great job on Satomi's part to make a slightly-on-the-edge-of-being-annoying character sound cute and almost likable.
What I love the most about this show is the subtly in almost everything yet having emphasis at the right place/time like a prose or a song. That being said, there's still a right amount of dissonance in which the characters struggle at one point or another. Well, life doesn't come without its turbulence. Also, I really enjoyed the way it toys around with the audience by not giving too many hints away so there's always a push to finish each episode and no reason to scream "imbecile" at the screen.
Although there are so many great things about Hyouka, the way it divides into several mini plots makes the show sometimes really fun to watch yet other times kind of slow and plain. I guess life is sort of like that, which makes this directive layout reasonable, but this takes away the hook factor and renders my rating down a notch.
I would totally recommend this for anyone; it's a great show to go in between heavy psychological and action watch lists. I know that many don't find this type of anime to be their cup of tea (since that's how I started out), but I find this one to be better than some of the other Kyoto works such as Kanon or Clannad. You'll definitely like it (at least most parts of it) so give it a shot.
