Gray
I decided to continue watching Hyouka after a grueling week of doing a departmental report that will neither get me paid nor mean much. The protagonist, Oreki Houtarou, is a clever high-schooler who seems to always get entangled in mysteries, which only he can solve, since he is good at observation, deduction, and seeing obtuse connections. It's a tribute to mystery writers like Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, who the anime mentions often. He ends up attributing his success to luck, after which he reverts to his default mode, which is one of detachment, conserving energy, and cynical yet proper responses to everything. Furthermore, however, it also turns out to be quite a deep exploration of how those who like the protagonist are both skilled and passionless, generate a complex relation with those with less competence but with more drive. For one, those who are skilled but attribute their achievements to luck, and spend their lives with the possibili...