10/10 and beyond

Written by tmw92 on May 1, 2012 at 6:43 AM

This anime is definitely one of my favourites actually killing me (figuratively) to have to wait one week for the updates. It is an amazing anime that really pulls you into the "lowpowered" lifestyle of our main character Hotaro Oreki.
The animation is beautifully coloured and lighted with very inventive ways of symbolizing Hotaro's many discomforts.
The soundtrack is pleasant and fitting for this anime. Especially the opening song.
The characters are lovable and unique. They're not your usual cliche collection of characters making this anime very easy to fall in love with.
Hotaro is the type of person who will find ways to use the least amount of energy possible although he has an incredible hidden talent that gets him pulled into all sorts of situations and also he happens to be voiced by Yuuichi Nakamura. His best friend Satoshi is like the complete opposite of Hotaro being involved in a variety of clubs, a walking database and a very bright, funny, cunning and charismatic person voiced by Daisuke Sakaguchi. Chitanda is a "smart", airheaded girl with bright purple eyes, unusually sharp senses and an unquenchable curiosity that causes Hotaro many problems whose voiced by Satomi Sato. And last but not least Ibara the volunteer librarian who clearly dislikes Hotaro for being close to Satoshi and therefore hates losing to Hotaro in anything, voiced by Ai Kayano.
The plot is a collection of short stories at the moment (it just started so of course not much has happened). Looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.

It is an anime that will reel you in with the first episode and have you begging for more. For those interested in mystery, school life and comedy then I highly recommend Hyouka to you. The series will be about 21 episodes long but fingers crossed for a second season. There is also an OVA set to be released in Jan 2013 alongside the third volume of the manga and for anyone who loved the anime there's also the novel the anime is based on.