Hyouka 6/10

 

I wish the story of this anime would be as first class as its animation. So crisp, the colors so vibrant, pristine landscapes, creative graphic displays during mystery solvings, and the character design... so damn beautiful. I wouldn’t have minded watching this with the sound off.

 

Let me keep it short. What 'Hyouka' wasn't really able to do was make me laugh. The almost non-existing funny moments, weren't funny to me (too innocent), not my type of humor I guess. The 'mysteries' (which were the core points about this show) were pretty lame, even 'Detective Oreki', who’s a different kind of main character, couldn't change that, at the end it didn't feel like a mysterious anime at all. Satoshi, whose head is a database, was more annoying than entertaining, but sees the potential his friends have/hide.

Besides solving weird mysteries, this group of four high school students tries to figure out the meaning of life and what to do with it, those attempts were not profound enough to impress me, at least their discussions were nothing challenging to me. Eru is kawaii and curious, to the dislike of a certain person, but that's not all to her character, she’s smart but naive, has a weirdly good sense of smell, suddenly starts talking to herself out loud, and most importantly is able to change Houtarou’s lazy way of living (and wins his heart). The 4th in the group that I haven't mentioned yet is Mayaka, girl with a weakness for Satoshi who's nagging 50% of the time, she is pretty smart too - and I'd like to note that I loved the chemistry between her and Houtarou the most.

So, wet get some ‘mystery’ some ‘romance’ some ‘deep friendship’ some of everything… The show is rich in variety and ‘Hyouka’ was able to show me that refreshing different type of story telling that I was hoping for. Still, the weak point is the plot – there is none. I don’t actually care if there is or isn't a certain goal in the story, if the writer of the manga, and the anime makers decide to let the characters just go with the flow, then that’s absolutely fine and can be really good (typical slice of life) but then at least make it interesting enough! Unfortunately, there were plenty of episodes that simply bored me. Nonetheless, nice anime with an open ending, and once again, brilliant art by Kyoto Animation (seriously it's flawless).