Review of Hyouka

Now here is where i begin my fruitless attempt to put into words what i actually thought of Hyouka. Which is actually harder than you may expect, because this is just one of those shows where i can’t really think clearly on what it was exactly that i like. Well to begin I should mention what may be the most obvious; this is by far the best animated show I’ve seen all year. Characrers are detailed and had fluid motion, all the desighns were likable and it all added to that slight sense of realism that persists thoughout the experience. Background were all equally beautifulwith bright colors or muted colors to to great effect when need. Even something that I had never seen before: a handheld shaky-cam effect, which impressed me to no end on just a technical level. This proved to be one of the main examples that i use when i argue thst anime has spoiled me in turms of 2D animation quality, it just looks that good, yet still manages not to be overbearing, and instead allows you to get immersed in the experience.

The more difficult thing to really pinpont and talk about (though i’ll probably end up talking alot anyway) is the story and characters. In my opinion characters are the most important part in any anime because they can make or break it independent of the plot. The plot can be a great or interesting idea, but if the characters aren’t at all interesting or likable I’m not going to enjoy the show as much. However this is definitely an are in which Hyouka excels. One of the things that one may consider essential in a plot-filled story is the idea of character development, that a characters have to grow along that story. Since this is more of a slice-of-life ( actually more than any other show ever, but I’ll get to that later) that same idea doesn’t apply and the growth has to be applied a bit more subtly, much more how it may seem in real life. If you look at yourself yesterday or a few days ago you may not see any substantial difference, but if you do the same a few years ago it should be more noticeable. And that is the case here; as you look on an episode-by-episode basis your not likely to notice all the changes, but look at the characters on the first and last episodes they are different. I won’t go into detail with everyone but take a look and you’ll see it. Above all else the characters are also very likable, or at the very least I liked them enough to come back each week. The girls were very adorable and the interactions between everyone felt very natural.

All of this also added to an over-arcing sense of realism. Besides the look an the characters the passage of time and structure of the “plot” made it feel like real life. From the introduction and as wells as various elements in the show itself you may have been lead to believe that this is a mystery show, perhaps in the vein of Scooby-Doo or Sherlock (awesome British show by the way) but I don’t really believe that this is the case since a major percentage of time is spent not solving mysteries but rather doing other things such as enjoying the school festival or going to an Onsen. Sure there are mysteries bu I never felt that it was the main focus outside of a few episodes or in other cases certain segments of certain episodes. It almost gave me that sense that Hyouka was confused and perhaps didn’t really know if it wanted to be mystery or straight slice-of-life. In the end I came to the conclusion that this may be one of the best adaptations of real life I seen in an anime, with an underlying theme of mysteries in order to tie the episodes together. Thing more or less seem to just happen in Hyouka usually without in sort of foreseeable meaning or reason to them, and events play out very naturally much like in real life. You don’t remember things that happen day to day, you remember big events or ones that mattered the most to you, festvals, vacations, or smaller events such as Oreki investigating his teacher or trying to prove to Chitanda that he can’t be trusted to solve mysteries. Real life also doesn’t have a clear plot or constant themes other than those you make for yourself. All of which is the case here; not much is consistent in terms of plot as you watch, and its not until you look back that you realize that had this been your life this may have been how you would remember it with all the subtle shifts and changes intact.

All of these changes and shifts made Hyouka a hard show to really give a rating for since I never had a clear idea throughout of what I was meant to look for or enjoy. In the end all that really matters is that I greatly enjoyed watching every episode and continued to maintain Kyoto Animation’s consistent quality standard.