Review of Hyouka

In 2010 there was this weird explosion around a subgenre most didn’t care about until then. Anime with loli detectives started to sprout like mushrooms all over the place as if all of a sudden they were the coolest brand new trend every animation studio just HAD to be part of. Here is the list: I.G.: Loups=Garous J.C. Staff: Tantei Opera Milky Holmes, Heaven's Memo Pad Gainax: Dantalian Bones: Un-Go, Gosick Silver Link: Tasogare Otome x Amnesia I have no idea what had gotten over them; no indication was offered at how this would work, and not even one of them ended up being above average. After a few months ofridiculous hype most in the fandom didn’t care about them either. It’s as if a representative of every studio gathered on the same table and had a bet regarding who is going to do the worst show. Apparently the next one who pulls the same gimmick is Kyoto Animation with Hyouka. Let’s see how much they phailed.

First of all, if you are suckers for that K-On moe style then you will love this show. The budget is over the roof and it looks amazingly detailed, lively, fluent, and cute. Voice acting and music pieces are also good for what they aim to accomplish (making you feel fluffy inside). If though you are one of those who like some originality, then you won’t find any in here. Nothing we haven’t seen before and in my eyes it’s just a watered down combination of Haruhi’s motivational gimmicks and K-On aloof characters. It’s the same school grounds and moe styled artwork we’ve been getting for a decade and I was constantly waiting for Haruhi to bump on them at some point. It’s the exact same artwork and even the sceneries are identical, so why not? And sure, I’m not saying it is ugly or tiresome, just that it looks so similar with older titles by the same company and it feels like a rehash. I’ve seen that already; try something a bit different dammit!
But then again, if it sells, why change it?

The story is slice of life around four cute teenagers and some really shitty mystery cases no sane person would care for more than two seconds about. Their seriousness is of the same level as “Why did the chicken cross the road” and the answers will always be something like “Because it saw a worm on the other side.”
And the award for the most boring mystery cases of all times goes to Hyouka!

As for the rest of the non-mystery duration, it is spend on getting to know the characters. It is supposed to be a motivational show of sorts, since the main character is bored to death and yet doesn’t want to do anything with his life, until a cute girl spurs him to be part of activity clubs, and mysteries, and stuff. He constantly ignores her but she is thrilled with his supernatural ability to figure out fast things like why birds cross roads, so she is constantly begging him to give her explanations. Talk about patting a certain type of people too much in the back.
Are you an anti-social person, with a rosy but otherwise boring life? Someone who deep inside feels you are charismatic and people of the opposite sex should be very interested in you, even if you act like an uncaring person that would normally make everybody to be fed up with you? Then Hyouka is the show for you!

Now, I am not going to say I hated the whole thing, since it is not just comedy and storyless cuteness. Every episode offers a sort of progress as we get to learn more about the characters. The thing is there is very little of that, as most is just about carefree moments and moe-moe smiles. Whenever Chitanda is looking at the screen with those starry eyes of hers, you just want to hug her. There is no escape from that feeling. So it is very important to approach the whole thing from the proper angle; don’t see it as a gripping mystery show with some moe people, but rather a moe show with silly mysteries and subtle character immersion. If you go for the later HEY THERE IS MORE THAN MOE IN HERE! And that is the only reason why anyone should care about this one a bit more than most of anything else in the same genre. Too bad it has no espers, time travellers, or aliens since it is trying to be as realistic as possible … to the point of boredom. Not that it would be definitely better if it had but it sure feels underwhelming as a setting.
It’s still just a school with some teenagers and a bunch of shitty mysteries. SNORE!

There isn’t much of a story or even a solid ending, plus everybody’s backdrop and personality can be described in three lines. So it’s one of those relaxing shows where you are watching for the sake of not thinking and just feeling woozy with the cute faces Chitanda does every two minutes. It’s definitely not my cup of tea but compared to all the other loli detective shows, it’s using what it has in a better way. There are no magical or technological nonsense and the missions are not murder cases solved in 10 minutes and treated like nothing much happened. The mysteries are also just a light excuse for the characters to do something and open up to one another in the long run, it gives them a goal other than studying for school and growing older without doing anything with their lives. It does it in a very subtle way but it feels ten times better to having a NEET loli detective spying people through cameras or a boy transforming to a woman and brainwashing the culprits to admit they did it (you know what I mean if you watched those horrible shows).

Thus KyoAni gets the last place in that bet they all made around the worst loli detective show. That’s right, it has the most undermined detective aspect, thus it wins for not having anything to screw up. Since there is no real tension, danger, or major goal in this show, it just can’t mess up no matter what it does in the end with its own premise. That is the dreaded power of moe; it is never wrong. Just boring as hell, something of which tens of millions of people are so fond of. After a hard day full of exams, deadlines, school bullies, demanding teachers, nagging supervisors, and gang shootouts, you return home, sit down, and relax by watching a show where all you need to think about is why did a chicken cross the road. Oh, right, and melt every time Chitanda smiles.
If you watch anime to feel excitement or make your mind think in strange ways, keep the hell away from this. Slice of life fans can have a big party out of it.

Oh, and Oreki? If you don’t want to waste any energy, you will miss the chance to score with super cute Chitanda, who is so more than obviously all over you. Die virgin and let me have her, ok? And Chitanda, are you by any chance really curious to find out about the mystery of where do babies come from?

And now for some excused scorings.
ART SECTION: 9/10
General Artwork 2/2 (well made)
Character Figures 1/2 (generic)
Backgrounds 2/2 (basic but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Animation 2/2 (very smooth)
Visual Effects 2/2 (nice cinematics)

SOUND SECTION: 9/10
Voice Acting 3/3 (fitting perfectly with the feeling of the series)
Music Themes 3/4 (not great but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Sound Effects 3/3 (fine support in cinematics)

STORY SECTION: 2/10
Premise 0/2 (boring)
Pacing 1/2 (slow)
Complexity 1/2 (not much)
Plausibility 0/2 (too ideal to feel plausible)
Conclusion 0/2 (doesn’t exist)

CHARACTER SECTION: 6/10
Presence 2/2 (super cute)
Personality 2/2 (cheesy but well founded)
Backdrop 1/2 (generic and simplistic but it’s there)
Development 1/2 (subtle but it’s there)
Catharsis 0/2 (doesn’t exist)

VALUE SECTION: 3/10
Historical Value 0/3 (none)
Rewatchability 1/3 (low because of too little plot)
Memorability 2/4 (a well made slice of life show but nothing worthy to remember it past that)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 4/10
Art 1/1 (looks great)
Sound 1/2 (sounds ok)
Story 0/3 (what story?)
Characters 2/4 (sweet but that is all)

VERDICT: 5.5/10