Review of Hyouka

HYOUKA: The Ice Cream Anthology I learnt about Hyouka when going through the recommendations thread here in MAL and got intrigued due to the combination of High School and detective fiction. And as a big fan of both genres I decided to give it a chance. STORY (9): It is about a boy, Houtarou Oreki being requested by her sister to reestablish the Classics Club in their school and there he joins Eru Chitanda, Satoshi Fukube and Mayaka Ibara. They encounter mysteries that are happening around the school as well as the events in their outside life in high school. The premise kind of remindsme of Tantei Gakuen Q but still they differ in the execution in combining high school and mystery genres. The opening arc of the series is really interesting and the mysteries are not that hard but not that easy either which can give you a good chance in solving the cases as the episode continues unlike in Detective Conan or Tantei Gakuen Q. Also the mysteries presented are very wholesome.

ART (10): Hyouka was produced by Kyoto Animation and they mostly specialize in high school anime. It is very well done in my opinion. The animation is fluid but the colors are kind of limited in my opinion, but it works well with how the anime is shown.

SOUND (8): Background music for Hyouka is very typical for the high school scenes and for the mysteries, its not much as heart pounding as I have hoped for but they are still reputable. The OPs and EDs used are okay in my book. And if I have to pick my favorite among them, it would be the 1st OP theme.

CHARACTERS (9): The four leads have practically have only two types of demeanor: the quiet and the loud one. Two for each type of demeanor. Houtarou is the smart, lazy and silent type. Eru is the demure yet sometimes "gets in your face" when she's intrigued by something. While Satoshi and Mayaka are practically the same when it comes to personality. Their personalities might be very common but the chemistry between the four works really well. Their designs are realistic as possible such as hair style and color except in the eye color department.

ENJOYMENT AND OVERALL (9 and 9): When I was watching Hyouka, I actually felt very happy every time I get to solve the case presented in the show. The depth of the show is enough for all types people with different thinking to enjoy it unlike in Detective Conan and Tantei Gakuen Q where most cases are really hard. It is a good show to practice basic deduction skills as well as observation skills.