Prodigies Jogoro Kobato and his shy friend Yuki Osanai just passed their highschool entry exams for the same Funato High. Both have made a promise to support each other to become "ordinary people" who won't stand out. Jogoro tries to hide his obsession in cracking mysteries and flaunting his knowledge. Yuki on the other hand used to be quick tempered and quick to overdo revenge on people but has now chosen to be distracted by desserts instead. Meanwhile Jogoro's friend Kengo Dojima who is more brawn, doesn't like the way he's been trying to hide himself.

And so, despite finding themselves driven by old habits, our "fox" and "wolf" continue their attempt to be normal while keeping each other in check.

Watched this because it's based on a novel series by the same author who wrote Hyouka, Honobu Yonezu, which I enjoyed.

Very first episode already hits you with a little highschool drama mystery which it has in common with KyoAni's adaptation of Hyouka. It's just full of little daily life incidents that get turned into some kind of mystery like how was cocoa made. It's bit of slice-of-life too as the characters do grow older over time.

Only issue is there isn't someone like Eru there to add some fun over-exaggerated scenario to it or signature, "I'm curious!" It actually felt pretty dull. Instead it keeps swapping out the backgrounds which look pretty nice by Studio Ara which doesn't really help. The soft voiced convo between Jogoro and Yuki doesn't help either, which kind of lulls you to sleep.

Often you'll see a hint of our protagonists' true colours or in Yuki's case, unhinged sadist style revenge which kind of feel unused to add some spice to the show.

City of Gifu looks nice. The show seems to avoid brand placements unlike most (well almost... drinks are still branded parodies). Think the first thing that made an impression were the way the eyes are rendered. Very colourful. Staff must also have had fun giving Yuki various makeovers.

It starts off pretty dull but picks up towards the second case of S1 "Limited Summer Tropical Parfait Incident", despite feeling out-of-place in the direction.

It's not your regular romance with warm fuzzy moments. Yet, it still feels pretty wholesome with the characters putting up and pointing out each others flaws, just being there for each other. It kind of reminds me of Garden of Words in a way; just the human need to feel connected with someone but not quite in the same sense as loneliness.

It's a bitter sweet show so if you're expecting something as cute, fun and innocent as Hyouka, you're going to be disappointed. Direction is fairly different with a bit of mind game mixed in but you'll have to stick around for it to happen.

Season 2

OP theme isn't too bad but the visuals are a bit weird. ED on the other hand is better than the first imo. There's also a subtle change where the sweet that drops out matches the title.

First case "Limited Autumn Chestnut Kinton Incident" picks up after the two had broken up and focuses more on the new characters Urino and his good looks friend Hiya. A series of local arson incidents take place and the school newspaper club decides to get involved.

This season was better than the first with some twists and just a bit of silly direction. Good to see it didn't go down the cliche routes. Since no new novels are out yet, it'll probably be some time before we see our odd couple at their higher education stage of life in Kyoto.