I hate slice-of-life stuff. You know, if it's gonna be slice-of-life, at least make it interesting. Thankfully this anime succeeded at that, but failed in a lot of other ways. I don't know if there was genuinely enough of a plot to even complain about pacing, but it did feel like you could watch any given episode and be just as lost as you were at the end of the last one. There's not a whole lot to complain about because the story is just there, it's not getting in the way of any of the characters, who are the real selling point here. I should say the story is pretty good, but I can't. Hyouka has a very unique beauty to it, something I've never seen in any other anime before, but it really doesn't come into play with the story very much.
There's not a whole lot of animation, as compared to many other mystery series out there. A few diagrams here and there, character speculation and thought, and so on and so forth are brought forward very nicely by the art style, which appears to be of very high quality in terms of production. Color isn't one of this anime's strong points, but where it is employed, it is executed very well and serves to set the mood almost all of the time throughout the show. I did find this aspect to be quite enjoyable.
The sound work is interesting, to say the least. They could really have gone over the top with this series and made it twice as interesting as it ended up being, but it does a decent enough job of setting an atmosphere. There's very little to be set up, however; the whole series, especially as it revolves around the main four characters, could have been executed a lot better than it ended up.
The characters are thankfully very engaging. Perhaps the most unique thing about this anime is that all four of the main characters really share the spotlight; it rarely, if ever, feels like any one of them is being favored over the other three, and that's a good thing, because on their own, each character is pretty bland. It's only when the group shows up to make sense of things that Hyouka shows its true nature. In particular, I liked Oreki Hotarou the most. He has the kind of attitude where you can tell he really doesn't care very much, but when it comes down to it, he does show quite a bit of compassion for his friends, which really redeems him.
Overall, Hyouka needed a better climax and perhaps a little more entertainment value. I honestly would have loved to see the series go over the top, such as a slightly more serious Scooby-Doo, but for what it is, it's enjoyable. I would recommend at least giving it the once over and figuring out what there is to this series that makes it worth your while. This is a very love-it-or-hate-it series, and I'm just barely straddling the line.
