Story (9/10):
In essence, Hyouka is a romance veiled by its mystery element. The puzzles that the Classics Club must solve follow a Sherlockian format; all of the clues necessary to solve them are presented before giving the solution. I found these mysteries to be very engaging, and often contained very clever twists.
The romance element is unlike most; this is not a cheesy story that has the boy/girl swooning all over the place. Instead, Hyouka takes a different approach; there is a certain degree of doubt and fear on top of their feelings that makes the characters so much more human, and caused me (at least) to empathize much more with their drama.
Art (9/10):
The animation is very good quality, and it's obvious a lot of effort went into its production. Hyouka also has it's own unique style whenever Hotarou begins to solve his mysteries. It's not always 100% photogenic, but it was certainly a pleasure to watch.
Sound (7/10):
The soundtrack fits the atmosphere of the anime well, but it's not the most outstanding I've heard. I adored the first opening song, although I didn't care as much for the other openings/closings. By no means does the music detract from the series though; it's simply no masterpiece.
Character (10/10):
Hyouka does something that I'd like to see every single story (let alone anime) do: dynamic, believable characters. As mentioned before, Houtarou and Satoshi were initially quite confident about their own identities, but the events of Hyouka changed them in a way that was subtle enough to not be glaringly obvious, yet just enough to make you believe in their thoughts and actions as though they were human.
Ibara and Chitanda were also good characters for different reasons, particularly Chitanda. Since Hyouka is told from Houtarou's perspective, it's not always clear how Chitanda thinks or feels, and Houtarou is often left guessing in this respect. Chitanda unintentionally teases him in such a way that leaves him in doubt of their relationship, and leaves me (personally) shipping the hell out of them.
Enjoyment (10/10):
Hyouka's mysteries kept me constantly engaged in the story, whether blowing me away with the ending revelation or smugly satisfied by solving them (albeit only the easy ones). The love developments between the four friends also left me choking up a bit, and I definitely empathized with all of them. I actually ended up rewatching the series a few times, each time noticing the importance of once scene or clue in a mystery and picking up increasingly more cues that lead up to the character's drama.
Overall (9/10):
I'd recommend this anime to literally anyone. I personally enjoyed every bit of this series, and the only thing preventing me from giving it a perfect score is knowing that everyone might not enjoy it's open conclusion. Without giving spoilers, I will say that it's thematically perfect, but for some others it was unsatisfying. Don't let this dissuade you though, Hyouka is a brilliant series that deserves anyone's attention.
