Review of Hyouka
I honestly didn't even know this anime was even suppose to be a detective anime, all I heard from others was that was a drama/romance anime and had really good visual's, (Like most Kyoto-ani productions do.) So the "detective" aspect came as a surprise to me, a good surprise nonetheless as I do love mystery and detective games, however unlike the other detective games and anime I've watched and loved (Such as Danganronpa) it didn't have as nearly as heavy of a tone with it's mysteries. Unlike something like Danganronpa that chooses crazy characters and extreme-over-the-top murders to be it's "selling point." Hyouka takes amore laid-back set of characters approach and more believable crimes and mysteries they have to solve. Nothing they solve is extremely unbelievable and i'd go as far as saying the first mystery they solve is the craziest they will get. It's something normal high school students might actually solve within their daily lives. It was nice seeing this more laid back tone within a detective/mystery style show as most detective works, (Such as Ace Attorney or Danganronpa) go for a more over-the-top approach. There's nothing wrong with over the top, it's just enjoyable to see some more believable mysteries every once and a while.
As stated at the beginning of the review, the anime has the "gorgeous artwork" Kyoto-ani is known for with a fun cast of memorable characters. While all these characters stand out in their own right I really wanted to highlight the main "detective" Hotaro Oreki. Typically I don't find myself loving the main character however I gotta say this is one of my all time favorite protagonists. His "laid-back energy conservation lifestyle" is one of the best main character traits I've seen, really embodies most anime viewers personalities. I never once really found myself yelling "HOW CAN YOU BE SO DENSE" well watching him like most "in love" main characters and I actually quite enjoyed most of the scenes he was in, even when any of the other "more interesting" main characters aren't supporting him on screen, he was still interesting to watch and had some good comedic moments. I don't highlight the main character a whole lot in reviews however I did feel some importance in highlighting Oreki, as he's one of my favorite main protagonists of all time.
A little side note, the music was absolutely one of my favorites parts of the anime. I don't know much about music so i'm not gonna go into it, but when they started working on a mystery and that soundtrack kicked in, god was I hooked.
All in all I loved this anime, it got boring at certain times and a few of the mysteries were extremely hollow or just dragged out for too long and stuffed with filler but I still managed to enjoyed my timel watching this anime, even if you're not a huge fan of the mystery genre, the characters and animation and even comedy are enough to be worth giving it a watch.