There are times when Hyouka makes almost every one of its contemporaries look positively amateurish by comparison. There are certain things this show is all the time.  It’s slick, it’s sophisticated, it’s clever, it’s astonishingly well-made from a technical standpoint (and I apply that to the writing, too).  Even if […] Read more

Hyouka – love it or hate it (it’s mostly the former with me) there’s sure as hell nothing like it. I’m really not able to measure this series using any of the guideposts I normally do, because not only doesn’t it measure up against them, but it doesn’t even try.  There’s something […] Read more

Well, looks like Hyouka is back to proving it can squeeze 22 minutes out of anything, no matter how inconsequential.  Needless to say, that’s definitely a comfort zone. I suppose the highest praise I can pay to Hyouka is this: not only can’t I think of another anime that would […] Read more

I hate to say it, but I may have gotten to the point where I want my Hyouka with a little bit more plot. For better or worse, the epic “Kanya Festa” arc of Hyouka has dramatically reshaped the playing field.  It raised my expectations of what this series was […] Read more

Even if it had never done or will do anything else of consequence, Hyouka would go down as a worthwhile series based on the strength of the Kanya Festa arc alone. Hyouka is a good show, and pretty much has been from the beginning apart from a couple of hiccups.  […] Read more

Would it kill KyoAni to have just one of these bit parts filled by a no-name seiyuu? I have to give full credit to Hyouka, a series that’s really raised its game in this culture festival arc.  There was always an insidious quality to the way the show wormed its […] Read more

I knew it had to happen sooner or later – Hyouka dropped a plot bomb on us. It was fun while it lasted – the most fun culture festival I’ve ever seen in anime, in fact.  But all of that was always headed somewhere, and that somewhere is here – […] Read more

The jump in quality from “Eba” to Kanya Festa” may be one of the most dramatic intra-series leaps I can remember. One of the first comparisons I made with Hyouka was to “Seinfeld”, and this arc really goes a long way towards showing just why it felt that way to […] Read more

This week on Hyouka: nothing much happened.  And thank goodness for that. OP: “Mikansei Stride (未完成ストライド)” by Saori Kodama I’m more convinced of it than ever – when it comes to Hyouka, less is more.  The series is far sillier and stranger than you might guess at first glance, but […] Read more