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In brief: Houtarou wants to take it easy and not get too involved in high school's extracurriculars - he'd rather go straight home and sleep. He's prevented from fulfilling this dream for a couple reasons. The first is his older sister, who asks him to take care of her old Classic Literature club and keep it from being disbanded due to a lack of members. The second is Chitanda Eru, the other person who signed up for the Classic Literature club; she's there to solve a mystery regarding her beloved uncle who was in the club decades ago, and she thinks that Houtarou can help her solve it. Through immense effort and the help of two other friends-turned-club-members, they do solve it, but in doing so they all get a taste for solving mysteries.
***Spoilers for the anime below.***
I'm so glad this was recommended to me - the friend who recommends his favorite shows to me has, let us say, a poor batting average, but with Hyouka he knocked it out of the park. I think there's almost nothing I disliked about it! Here's a short list of what I enjoyed:
1) The animation (and all good things to poor Kyoto Animation from here on out, I hope). It's just gorgeous. People and scenes are naturally rendered, with scads of organic movement and a lovely color palette (Eru's purple eyes in particular are gorgeous, as well as the occasional fantasy scene that Houtarou imagines when she's talking to him). The characters fill the space around them, to the point where you could say, "he has weight" or "she fits there". If not for the little touches that elevate it to art, it would be easy to forget that it's not live-action or 100% rotoscoping.
2) The characters. My word, they act like people. Houtarou is smart as hell, but that means when he makes a mistake based on another smart person leading him into an assumption, he's not likely to be able to recognize his own flawed thinking. He has a mental crisis when this exact scenario happens, and starts to believe that he's just an idiot who thought he was smart. It's so relatable it hurts. Eru has an infectious curiosity, to the point that she has a catchphrase for it, and it's so fun to see the other characters drawn into her charismatic wake. Satoshi has the worst case of inferiority complex I've ever seen, and it's shown seriously, and he never gets any sign that he's wrong to judge himself against Houtarou. It's so painful to watch, and you just want to reach through the screen and give him a hug. And Mayaka, my goodness. She's that Childhood Friend, who tried the tsundere thing and it just did NOT work, and she's trying the long game of devotion with no sign that it'll be repaid. These children, oof, I want to take them all under my wing.
3) The plot. Not everything needs to be life or death stakes. The show does a great job with keeping the mysteries domestic and small in scope, but imbuing them with seriousness. Would we normally care about the intended ending of a video club's entry for the cultural festival? Of course not. But the video club cares enough to ask for help, and the Classic Literature Club works together for one of the longest story arcs to try to solve it. The club also fails, on occasion. Houtarou makes some careless mistakes from hubris, and sometimes the answer to the mystery doesn't matter, because everyone involved has moved on. The journey to finding an answer is more important than the outcome.
4) Sneakily feminist. There is an almost perfect gender balance... not just in the four-person Classic Literature club, but in all the speaking extras and the background mob characters. Our world's 50% female and this anime has no bones in showing that, which is such a pleasant departure from most media. Furthermore, there's very little gender bias or stereotyping. Some of the club heads are female, and that's just how it is. One of the most mad-scientist-type characters is a girl. Eru is planning ahead for inheriting her family's business. Some guy challenges Satoshi to a cook-off at the cultural festival. Speaking of Satoshi, he has an openly acknowledged talent for sewing. About the only area that isn't totally neutral is romance - specifically, Mayaka's pining is not paralleled by anything Satoshi is doing (he's trying to decide just how much he's willing to commit to a relationship, which is very mature, but also a very Male thing to do). On the other hand, Houtarou just Can't Spit It Out to Eru, which is gender neutral but exasperating.
I would recommend this show to virtually all audiences. Unless you need some shoot-em-up action in your shows, give Hyouka a try.
My reviewing system for films and shows that are NOT anime: 1-5: I hated it. I also don't think it has redeeming qualities, so you shouldn't watch it either. 6: I didn't like it. It's not my thing, I didn't like the execution, I don't want to see it again. However, I don't think it is a BAD film or show - it has qualities that will recommend it to those who like that kind of thing. 7: It was fine. I didn't love it, and I don't need to see it again. I won't be sad if I never see it again. 8: I liked it. I didn't love it, and while I'd like to see it again, I wouldn't want to see it often. 9: I loved it. I would be sad if I never saw it again. I might want to see it every few years. 10: I loved it beyond description. I wouldn't mind re-watching it every year.
********************************* Clarifying my Anime rating system: My number key below is an attempt to parse the small differences between 5 and 6, 7 and 8, & 9 and 10. When I rate, I consider my own enjoyment, the characterization and the plot, the appearance of the animation, and occasionally the soundtrack - in roughly that order. An anime will lose at least 1 point for presence of deal-breaker tropes (for example, comedic pedophilia), and more if the trope(s) ruined my enjoyment. On the other hand, it will gain at least 1 point for artistry in animation or sound. I don't expect to rate anything 1-4, as I would probably never finish watching something in this range of rating.
Cautious Recommending: 5: In this case, it started out with a higher score and slipped over time... because I normally don't watch anything that I would score below 6, except for movies (small time commitment). 6: I may or may not have watched the whole show, but I recognize deal-breaker issues in it, and I'm unlikely to rewatch. It just wasn't enjoyable enough for me to forgive its flaws. There would be huge caveats to any recommendation.
Likely to Recommend: 7: There's two types of 7s (ideally I could rank the second one 7.5). For the first, I didn't like it enough to think I would rewatch it, but also didn't see huge problems in the plot, characterizations, etc. and thought it was worth finishing. I might suggest it to someone if I know they like the specific sub-genre or other work by the studio. For the second, I recognize shows/movies that have high quality but just aren't my cup of tea. Not my thing, but usually I at least respect the work. 8: I had a good time watching it, but it didn't move me the way a 9 or a 10 does; it's possible that over time I would upgrade it if I liked it more on reflection. I would be willing to rewatch it if a friend wanted to watch it with me. I may or may not buy the DVDs (I'm more likely if there's something unique about it). I'd recommend it with the occasional caveat.
Highly Recommend: 9: I enjoyed it very much. It may have had one or two issues, but not enough to diminish enjoyment. It's possible that over time I would downgrade it to an 8 (changing tastes) or upgrade to a 10 (realize it's never left my mind). I'm likely to rewatch, and likely to buy the DVDs. I'd recommend it to most audiences. 10: Virtually flawless. I'd definitely rewatch, and definitely want to buy DVDs. I would shill this to anyone.
EDIT: for years when I'm participating in the MAL Anime Challenge, any anime in the Completed section with a * in the note was watched for the challenge. Similarly, if I'm participating in the MDL Drama Challenge, any drama with a * in the notes was watched for the challenge. Previous years' challenges will have their * removed.
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