Review of Hyouka

The first time I watched Hyouka I was half asleep in the middle of the night, binging it until the next morning. However, that severely diminished my viewer experience. I was taking everything at face value. I assumed Oreki meant everything he said. I did not understand a lot of the sentences. I did not appreciate the animation because I was so focused on getting through it. In the end I thought it was an okay show and I moved on. However, rewatching it now, it is much better than I thought. Oreki doesn't actually mean what he says. When he monologues about other people's rosyhigh school lives compared to his "gray" life, it is not him being edgy. It is his acceptance of where he is. He prefers his simple, low energy life because he hasn't really found anything to enjoy or dedicate himself to.

When he joins the Classic Literature club, he is nervous about this change in his life. In a way, I kind of relate to this position. I am assuming he was worried about being disappointed. He didn't want to get into activities that expend energy and might not be fulfilling for him. At the same time, if it is possible to bring color to his life, he doesn't mind it. He is unsure whether it will eventually be a good or bad thing, but he secretly hopes that it is a good thing.

Hyouka is not only a story of Oreki bringing color to his life, but also the development of his 3 other clubmates. I cannot tell you their stories because that would be a spoiler, but I just wanted you to know that the drama does not revolve around only Oreki. Oreki and clubmates solve low-stake mysteries together. This is the first time I've been invested in mysteries that, in the grand scheme of things, don't really change anything.

Although I have no attachment to any of the characters (maybe Oreki a tiny bit), I cannot deny that they are well written. They are not as well written as Skip and Loafer, but that's a really high bar for anime. Hyouka still has better characters than most anime. Chitanda's energy and persistence gives plausible reason for Oreki to be solving puzzles. Fukube is an interesting character by himself, but he also acts as a counterweight to Oreki. When Oreki disagrees with Fukube, it's as if Oreki is having an internal dialogue with his self doubts. It also works the other way around. Ibara doesn't play too large of a role in the story, usually just being the straight man, but she is an okay character either.

The animation is great, the drama is great, the mysteries are great. I am keeping it at an 8 now because I'm still rewatching the start.

EDIT: It's slow at some points so remember that.