Honobu Yonezawa, the author of the original work, participated as an adaptation consultant, but entrusted most of the work to Shoji Gatoh and Kyoto Animation, believing it was more important that Hyouka be a good anime than a faithful adaptation of the novel.

According to an interview with SakugaBlog, director Yasuhiro Takemoto volunteered to direct the series, and it was he who invited screenwriter Shoji Gatoh to participate in the project.

The fictional city of Kamiyama, the setting of the story, is based on the author Honobu Yonezawa's hometown, Takayama, in Gifu Prefecture.

Several real locations in Takayama served as references for anime scenes, such as Hida Senior High School (the basis for Kamiyama High School), Kajibashi bridge, Miyagawa morning market, Hiejinja shrine, and the cherry blossoms of Garyu.

Composer Kohei Tanaka revealed in an interview that the use of classical music in the soundtrack, including pieces such as Fauré's Sicilienne and Bach's Air on the G String, was a specific request from author Honobu Yonezawa.

The name of the fictional city and the title 'Hyouka' itself hide a pun: in Japanese it sounds like the English expression 'I Scream' (ice cream), used as a warning message left by a former club member.

In 2018, the Anime Tourism Association included Takayama in the list of '88 sacred pilgrimage sites for anime in Japan', and the city distributed 10,000 maps showing the real locations that appear in the series.

The Red Cross of Gifu used Hyouka posters in blood donation campaigns, and the Takayama police produced wet tissues and folders with series characters for crime prevention campaigns.

Hyouka ranked 25th on NHK broadcaster's 'Best Anime 100' list and was elected the number 1 anime of spring 2012 on the BIGLOBE Animeone website.

Several Blu-ray volumes of the series entered the weekly Oricon sales ranking, with volume six reaching first place in the week of November 26 to December 2, 2012.