There are some anime that when you see some sequence from the show, it immediately catches your attention. Indeed, when I looked up Hyouka, I was curious. Having seen it's catchy OP sequence, I was determined that this was an anime that I had to see. I was definitely not disappointed.
When making a live action film, the director can tell a story through many mediums: the dialogue, the actors, and the cinematography. While the director can create visual effects, he/she is bound by the physical world. What makes anime so fascinating and appealing is a director has one additional tool at his/her disposal: the artwork. With the lift of a pen, an artist can realize any image he/she can think of. That power is extraordinary because the way you can express your ideas is virtually limitless. Indeed, the artists at Kyoto Animation were flexing their artistic muscles and produced scene after scene of artistic virtuosity. The crisp animation, the fantastic backdrops, and the amazing "theory explanation sequences" (where Houtarou, our MC, is doing his explanation of what happened in the mystery) are all part of this fantastic visual journey planned out by the Kyoto Animation artists.
The sound is also very strong. The OST is composed of mostly classical music. Being a classical music fan, I appreciated their choice in using Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 as the main background music. If the art hadn't already provided a great experience, the music picked up whatever slack the art left behind. There is one piece of music they play when a new mystery arises that sounds a tad creepy and watching this anime at night made me reluctant to go to sleep. Perhaps the composer was trying to achieve a mysterious atmosphere but to me, it came off as creepy. The first OP and ED are very catchy but the second OP and ED fell slightly short. Nevertheless, they were very good. A cool fact if you did not know already: Houtarou is voiced by the same voice actor for Tomoya (Clannad: After Story) and his sidekick Satoshi is voiced by the same actor for Sunohara (Clannad: After Story)!
As a non-frequent mystery watcher, I felt the story was really engaging. Basically, we follow Houtarou, a brilliant sloth, as he reluctantly joins/re-establishes the Classics Club at his school (even perhaps coerced) . Unknowingly, he meets Chitanda, a girl who also happens to be interested in joining. These two characters have really great moments together. Chitanda is a very curious girl so anything piques her interest. Reluctantly fueled by her curiosity, Houtarou sets his thinking gears into motion every time she says, "I'm curious!" We all know a great mystery is ahead of us. The types of mysteries that the Classics Club solves are very intriguing and realistic. Mainly, they are characterized by their simplicity. But when Houtarou gives his theory (and usually it’s the answer), we come to realize how we often overlook so many details. Of course, given these interesting cases, I found myself attempting to solve the cases before Houtarou can but obviously, I always lost to this great detective mind.
The only negative aspect of Hyouka was that the story started off slow. The mysteries during the slow episodes were engaging but felt drawn out. In addition, the characters had close to no development in the first 10 episodes so that also contributed to the reason that Hyouka was a tad boring in the beginning. However, after those 10 episodes, the characters got much more exciting and subsequently, the story as well.
Another trip in Hyouka is its romance. Although Hyouka is not in the romance genre, there is some romance in the anime. If you were brought here because of a romance recommendation, you may find yourself unsatisfied by the end.
Aside from the strong art, Hyouka also has a cast of strong characters. Aside from the 4 main protagonists, there are some characters who appear but not given much development as they are only used for one or two mysteries. That means we get much more screen time for our main people! The other two characters who eventually join the Classics Club are Satoshi, a walking database, and Ibara, who is probably the most "normal" person in the entire group. The characters develop really slowly but this way, we get the immersive experience of how the character feels at the first stage before they move onto the next stage. They are very likable characters in that they have their struggles that we can relate to. For instance, Satoshi wishes to be a great detective but given that he is a "database" he is much slower than Houtarou at coming to conclusions. Satoshi's struggle is how he must reconcile the fact that he may never be as good as Houtarou.
Overall, Hyouka was an enjoyable anime. Great mysteries, great visuals, and great characters. If you are a fan of mystery, this is definitely an anime for you. If you are simply into artwork, you will have no problem immersing your eyes in all the glory that is Hyouka.
Thanks for reading my review! Let me know what you think of the anime! "I'm curious!"
