Hyouka

This anime might be one of the best mystery anime I've seen. This is really something wish there were season 2. But there aren't enough material so no chance. It make you want to see more by each episode. This is a must watch anime.

I really like the work of Kyoto Animation. Unique and fantastic art style, perfect music and even more perfect stories. Hyouka almost has all of them. Or to be more precise, it had the potential to have all them.

The plot is nothing complex: Oreki Houtarou, our first main character is an energy-conservative guy, who has to join the 'Classics Club'. He meets our other main character, Chitanda Eru, who is tireless and very, very, very curious. Thanks to this ever-curious girl, Oreki is dragged into many mysteries and investigations, which is, of course, the complete opposite of the boy's lifestyle.

I have the obvious reasons why I like this anime. It's written at the first paragraph: it has the characteristics of Kyoto Animation's works. However, the thing I would consider the best in this anime is, the implementation of the story. Making a show about investigating mysteries can be pretty hard, especially because it can easily be boring and/or unnecessarily complex, especially at the slice of life genre. Luckily, Hyouka manages to remain interesting and entertaining, with the help of its well-written characters. The situations are somehow remarkable and down to earth at the same time. Hyouka is a school example of how to make a slice of life anime, which maintains the interest from the start till the end.

So what's the problem with it? The answer is simple: the length. Hyouka is an adaptation of a light novel series, so it still has stories to...adapt basically. However, there is a great chance that will never happen (unfortunatelly) for obvious reasons. Still, me and everyone who loved the show will wait patiently, if it ever gonna happen.

Hyouka is a story about a high school boy who would rather not exert energy on everyday school life. However, after being urged to join the Classic Literature Club, but gets swept up in a girl's desire to investigate the simple parts of life. Hyouka revolutionizes the slice-of-life genre by diving deep into it's characters and pins down what makes them tick. No detail is left behind and every primary character is a changed person by the end of the series. The protagonist, Oreki, is a masterfully-crafted character and captures the sense of a apathetic high schooler perfectly. He also contrasts well with the other 3 main cast members who are very lively compared to him. As expected of Kyoto Animation, the animation is unparalleled. The musical score flawlessly mixes classical pieces with the up-beat ones. All in all, Hyouka is not only a well-oiled machine, but a innovative one at that. It's rare to see an anime have a plot so well-written while being consistent, two things which Hyouka does in stride. There is no doubt that anybody who watches this will become instantly attached to the Classic-Literature Club and their endeavors involving the everyday high school life.

Although the mysteries of the anime are intriguing and I had a lot of fun following them and trying to solve them, over time, you realize that the anime suffers from the lack of a story line. The solving of the mysteries does not take the characters anywhere and does not evolve the plot, thus causing a certain lack of interest in continuing to watch.

If it wasn't for the beautiful art, the good opening and ending songs and the good character development, hyouka would be just another anime about the daily student life of its characters that I would pass by and wouldn't have finished watching, because, let's be honest, there are many similar anime of this type.

I've just watched this series in this New Year Day through an introduction of my sister, and I jumped right here after finishing it. The story is really great, maybe because I am an introverted person and I really find myself through the main character, Houtarou (not the investigate part, for sure :D). The way it got the viewers into the mysteries along with the series is just so exciting, though they are all just some a bit more-than-ordinary-stories that happened in a high- school student's everyday life, and all of their beautiful, innocent emotions. Also the work of art is just so good comparing to all manga anime I've watched. If you want to find sometime to relax and get some good-old-memories from your student time back, or even you are not, this is sure a good series to watch. Enjoy :)