[Pocari_Sweat]

As I mentioned before, people who are not even fans of Kyoani enjoyed Hyouka. From my experience, it's the ONLY kyoani anime, where it doesn't rely upon their signature moe antics, silly gimmicks, exaggerated slapstick humour or melodrama for its appeal but rather an understated, gradual and subtle approach. Except for Chitanda, who was kinda moe bait but even she got development towards the end. It felt like I was watching a noitamina series at times but with a big ass budget.

I'm not even kidding when I say Hyouka is my favourite Kyoani of all time now. I like Haruhi but I'm not a particularily big fan of the franchise, I don't like Key and I careless about the K-on/Lucky Star/Nichijou/Chuunibyou type of series either. Which leaves me just FMP:TSR, which was also great but that was a very long time ago and Kyoani wasn't quite polished then.

People want proof? Go ask the likes of Reckoner and Guardian Enzo etc well. They are pretty critical of Kyoani themselves yet they also praise Hyouka.