Indeed. Gonzo's character designs were a hell of a lot better, despite being the terrible studio that they are.
It's pretty disgusting that KyoAni doesn't even challenge themselves anymore, they just crank out the exact same types of shows, and quite honestly, they were getting worse at animation quality every season. At least this seems like one very tiny step forward after all the steps back they've taken. Hyouka was them taking cues from Shaft's playbook but doing it properly at the least, unlike K-ON (where KyoAni displayed their mimicry of Shaft's overwhelming laziness) and their Haruhi work was very environmentally friendly with all the recycling. Nichijou was them ripping off Azumanga Daioh.
Still, the sad truth is I have a weakness for eyepatch characters...so in a way, you could also say they're stealing from shaft here too.