Oreki Houtarou was forced to join the Classics Club. Little did he know that his life was about to change (sort of).
Story :
Hyouka consists of 3 main arcs, and small episodic arcs sprinkled in between.
While I thought each of the 3 main arc were written extremely well, and each small event that happens in the story is actually part of the bigger picture, the episodic arcs does not have enough time for " the story, the plot, the background information of the mystery", whatever you want to call it, to develop enough. Hence, they make each of the small 1 - 2 episode arcs feel pretty rushed. The one single episode arc that I enjoyed was episode #19, as it was the most complete mini-arc in my opinion.
Art :
Rose-coloured or Gray/Grey. This was the opinion of high school life that our MC, Oreki had. The same can be said for the art. There are times where the art is extremely vibrant in order to fit the scene, and other times dull to match the darker tone of the story. The contrast in art styles between scenes and episodes did not affect the consistency, and overall was very pleasant to the eyes and made watching Hyouka a better experience.
Sound :
Openings and Endings out of the way , all 4 of them were great, but the one that stood out the most to me was the very first opening. I can't get that song out of my head! The soundtracks, didn't really stand out in my opinion. None of them had a lasting effect on me, but they were good enough for their purposes and giving more life to each scene
Character :
All 4 main characters are very well developed, and each of them had a widened and more mature perspective, especially the 2 male main characters, while keeping their personality consistent. The other 2 females did not get as much attention as the males, but they got their share of development as well.
Enjoyment :
Sitting in suspense after each episode, I was glad that I didn't have to follow this show while it was airing. It would be a pain, since it is a mystery show with cliffhangers and suspense after all. I really enjoyed this show and it is a great show for fans trying to get into mystery anime but do not one something extremely dark. Hyouka mixes the Mystery and Slice of Life genres very well.
Overall, I give Hyouka a rating of 10/10.
