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ANIME REVIEW: HYOUKA

Hyouka is an iyashikei anime from Kyoto animation , for anyone unfamiliar with iyashikei, it's a genre of anime that have a healing effect. Basically anime that give you the "feel good" vibes , naturally this genre tends to be very subjective as different people have different opinions on anime that have a healing effect for them. An anime that gives me those "feel good" vibes may not do the same for you and vice versa.  As far as hyouka is concerned , it follows a group of highschoolers , Ibara , Satoshi , Chitanda , and Oreki , who are also the only members in the classics club of their school. Although the four have equal screen time and equal amount of character development and character depth , Oreki seems to be the main protagonist. He is a lazy person who lives by the motto " If I don't have to do it , I won't. If I have to do it I'll make it quick". He also possesses a talent for making deductions , now the show doesn't go about making these highschoolers solve murder cases or anything but it does revolve around Oreki and the other members of the classics club solving small scale mysteries like finding about the kid who is stealing stuff from various clubs during the cultural festival . So although the deductions are impressive , the story still manages to remain grounded due to the small scale of these cases. This is what makes it a pleasant iyashikei instead of an exhilarating thriller.

The area where the show shines the most is it's characters , all the characters are unique and complex , all of them have different kinds of problems and their own separate ways to deal with them . This allows a lot of character development and by the time the anime finishes you get this sense of progress which is missing in a lot of slice of life style anime nowadays . The writing is also top notch , this anime is actually an adaptation of a light Novel of the same name and the author's skill is clearly seen in the writing department of the show. These elements added to a magnificent soundtrack and kyoani's beautiful animations make hyouka one of the best anime that I have ever watched.  Coming back to the characters , their interactions are also a major aspect for the anime to work. The way they talk always gives you a feeling that yes , this is how highschoolers talk . For an adult , their problems may not seem much but that's exactly why the show feels real. High school students don't have huge life changing problems their problems are always at ground level and the show manages to portray that really well. None of these characters are worthless , all of them are memorable in their own ways.

The only downside to the anime might be that it's ending was not satisfying because Kyoto Animations only animated the first four light novels , so if you want a full experience , I suggest you to watch the anime and then read the novels from 5th volume onwards and I guarantee that you will have a good time. This is one of the best anime I have ever watched and I urge everyone to give this one a go.

Thank you everyone for reading , follow me on twitter @allaboutanimee for regular anime and manga recommendations , share the blog if possible and have a nice day.



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