Hyouka

From top to bottom, every aspect of Hyouka just oozes quality, and it all ties together to produce one of the most fully realised TV anime series I've ever seen and Kyoto Animation's current magnum opus.

Story 8/10
Hyouka is set in a small, somewhat rural city and more specifically at the highschool of that city. It manages to mitigate the tired 'generic high school' setting a bit by the rural locale which does come into play and has a role in the characterization of many characters. The story itself revolves around the four members of the school's Classics Club and the hijinks they get up to.

Hyouka is often pointed out as being mundane or boring, considering its classification as a 'mystery' and while I can understand this view, I personally found it to be very entertaining from start to finish. The story does involve plenty of mysteries and plenty of deductions, but its usually about unimportant problems, such as how someone got locked in a classroom, not the murder and theft mysteries that are typical of the genre. Despite this, I found that the mysteries were still generally well written and intriguing. Most of the time all of the puzzle pieces will be introduced at one point or another before the explanation and I suppose if you were paying enough attention and cared enough to figure it out before the show explains it to you, you could. Most of the time, anyway. At some points the mysteries can become a bit of a stretch, though its never to the point that its not enjoyable. Thematically, the mundane nature of the mysteries serve their purpose well, as they remain intriguing and interesting despite how boring they should be. However in the end, the mysteries are mainly just enjoyable plot devices to further the main aspect of the story: the characters.

At its core, Hyouka is a story about two almost opposite people meeting and how they change each others lives. While that may sound grand and eventful, Hyouka manages this story in a very gradual and realistic way, something not often found in the realm of Chinese Japanimations. Over the course of the series the two leads, Oreki and Chitanda, are fleshed out, developed and then fleshed out some more through the way they interact with each other, with the mystery and with the other characters. In a way, the biggest mystery of Hyouka is the characters, as you learn more about them and why they are the way they are with each story. The first time I watched the series, I never really fully understood Chitanda's character until the very last scene, where the final piece of the puzzle appeared and everything suddenly clicked and made sense.

The four main characters all have distinct and very different personalities which make for some interesting dynamics and, for the most part, enjoyable character interactions. Unfortunately, at times the writing would change in order to push its story or its themes at the price of making some dialogues particularly awkward or unbelievable. This happens mostly near the middle of the series and while it wasn't enough to put me off it was still a bit jarring seeing a believable character getting worked up over some pretty inconsequential choices. In the long run it made sense for the character and their development but the amount of melodrama is a bit too much for me (especially when watching the OVA in its chronological order). That being said, its relatively minor and I consider that the biggest flaw on this series.

Though some might complain about the specifics of the ending, I personally thought it was very well done, especially considering the ongoing status of the source material. It gives a good deal of closure to the characters and themes presented and comes full circle to show just how much the characters have changed in the year the series takes place within.

Overall, the story was well told and very enjoyable, simple in nature but wonderfully executed.

Visuals 11/10
KyoAni really knocked it out of the park in this department. From the very first scene of the first episode, Hyouka sets the standard for how good its going to look and amazingly meets and exceeds that standard consistently for the rest of the series. Backgrounds all look beautiful, detailed and believable, and the settings in general all have a rustic feel that helps bring the pseudo-rural setting alive.

Character designs are a slightly more detailed twist on the 'KyoAni face' the studio is known for and the level of attention to detail on each character is outstanding. Even minor characters and background extras look to be lovingly drawn and many background characters even reappear multiple times, making it seem as if it were a real place inhabited by these people. Hyouka rarely has a situation where the animation is required to be noticeably good but even so the animation is consistently top notch. Conversations are barely ever just flapping mouths, instead often being fully animated and embellished with the kind of exaggerated body language that only cartoon people can pull off. Its not often that you'll find a scene to be static and the detail in the way each character moves is amazing, with everyone animating in different, believable ways that you would expect from their characters. In addition, small background touches are added in to many scenes that add bits of characterization, like Mayaka childishly kicking her legs while sitting at the table or Chitanda absently adjusting her hair. Hyouka also boasts some of the best crowd scenes I've seen in TV anime.

Aside from the technical points of Hyouka's beauty is its creativity in its visuals. Many things in the show (problems, solutions, emotions, etc.) are visually depicted through graphs, writing, animations and other extra-worldly happenings. I found them all to be well executed and a really good way to accentuate the scenes they were implemented in. If I had any problem with these bits at all, its that there isn't enough of them. The first few episodes feature quite a few, but around the middle of the series they drop off somewhat. In an early scene, the main cast are giving their theories on a particular case and each theory is accompanied by a visualization that is influenced by the character, top student Chitanda's being a straight-forward list while manga club member Mayaka's was very cartoony. In another, a clock's pendulum turns from a circle into a heart once the discussion starts seeming romantic. They're small things, but I found bits like this to be another nice touch of detail.

On top of all this, the series uses colour very effectively to convey tone and other aspects. For most of the show, it has a very warm, earthy palette that adds to the rustic setting. At some points it will get a bit brighter or a bit darker, and they use a really effective recurring pink hue to highlight specific points. The colour palette, as with every other aspect of the visuals, is clearly very well thought out and utilized.

It's also nice to note that the characters have more than one outfit design, and every time a scene takes place outside the school they'll be wearing different clothes. It's the kind of extremely superfluous and unnecessary touch of finish that I appreciate greatly. Helps that they all dress pretty well, too.

Sound 8/10
Like everything else in Hyouka, the soundtrack can best be described with 'beautiful'. Generally, its very acoustic and orchestral and fits the rustic setting well. The especially outstanding tracks to me were the ones used to build up the mysteries, being very low and bass heavy, and the recurring track used during the explanations, which has a very satisfying stinger that punctuates the mystery's end really well.

Voice acting is pretty much perfect, the main cast all have fitting voices that do a good job and nameless background characters will often have popular VAs like Aoi Yuuki and Sugita providing their voices. In general the acting is a lot more dialed back than most anime, and for the most part characters speak pretty naturally and believably.

Overall
Hyouka is a series where every aspect has been meticulously crafted and fit together to create a compelling story with a cohesive and distinct style. The excruciating amount of detail and effort that you can tell went into the show makes this one that really benefits from multiple rewatches.