What on earth is worth living to your utmost ability? Hell if I know. That is the way Oreki Houtarou views the world and how he lives. He doesn't see much value in expending energy which could otherwise be used more wisely, like studying or reading or sleeping. He is extremely lazy. Is there anything wrong with living a "colorless" life? No. Some may not believe me but it is actually way better than having a "colorful" life, that is, if you don't have anyone to share your colors with. Well, Hyouka is nothing more than a happy slice of life in which Oreki Houtarou slowly forms bonds with those in the Classics Club.
I am not going to explain what is already said in the synopsis so on with the review.
Okay, first, let me start with the good.
The art and animation is great, I wasn't disappointed in the slightest. The sound is decent as well. At certain points the background music would kinda throw me off, but I got used to hearing it and even kinda liked it. My favorite song is the first OP, it feels very slice of life and has an uplifting tune. The second OP wasn't as good as the first one but it was still okay. The EDs were both okay, the animation in them were both kind of interesting at first but I did end up skipping them after first couple times I heard them.
The characters are outstanding and their development throughout the series is done very well. As someone who highly enjoys character development I was really able to enjoy this anime "Hyouka" or "I Scream" aha. It is simply phenomenal, the way the characters grow out of their shell, each character gets their own screen time, but the character that developed the most was Oreki Houtarou who starts out as a lazy minimalist who's only wish is to have a "Colorless" life. And to be honest, I got the most enjoyment out of his mannerisms and his development.
Granted, this is a mystery type anime, the mysteries themselves aren't very interesting. They aren't the main point of the anime, they just serve to satisfy Eru Chitanda's curiosity who drags the MC Houtarou in, practically forcing him to solve them for her. I found this very enjoyable and you mainly learn about the characters through these mediocre mysteries (there are a couple of the mysteries I found very interesting though). The reactions whenever Houtarou solves an extremely simple case are sometimes very dramatic and this could be distasteful for some viewers. I hardly consider this a deal breaker, though, what matters to me most is the character development.
OVERALL: (9/10)
The most important aspect of this anime is the characters, not the story. This anime mainly rolls on character development and I personally believe that what makes up a good story is not the story itself, it is the characters. And in that sense this anime passes with flying colors!
Hope you found this review helpful and, hopefully, if you could submit feedback, whether you found it helpful or not, that would be greatly appreciated especially since this is my first review.
