Review of Hyouka

Hyouka is a deceptive little gem of a show. I dislike when anime take place in schools. It's an overly used setting which is lazy and stale. Most annoying of all things is that main characters will often be overpowered dorks who have no problems decapitating humans and monsters alike, but have issues looking at gravity defying and poorly drawn boobs or having a non-stuttering communication with any human being. Somehow we are expected to take this as completely fine and logical setting. Hyouka approaches school life the way it's meant to be. Boring classes sprinkled with moments of interest and laid back life. No asingle worry in the world or thinking how the hell am to survive until next month only on cup noodles without my body giving up on me. In this laid back school life Oreki, although claiming he likes conserving energy, is constantly trying to escape boring existence of real world. Mostly through novels and mangas until Chitanda sways his heart and keeps his mind constantly busy with petite mysteries student life presents.

Characters are splendid, multi-layered and completely believable to be students in a school. Animation is done with a lot of care and attention to details. No lazy reuses of shots or taking shortcuts. Sound design is able to easily transport us into this wonderfully painted world.

It's a splendid show I would recommend to anyone. While there are no hard to solve mysteries or action of any kind, the setting it paints makes me wish I was back at school... even though I hated mine.