Mahou Senshi Louie

I would rate this a 7.5 if I could. It has a message, it has entertainment value, and it isn't as ecchi as one might think from a casual glance.

The female characters are surprisingly deep and I found that I knew real-life women who could be compared to each of them. On the one hand, one can watch this show as merely being a bit of fan service, counterbalanced by a male buffoon, thus making a compromise show suitable for viewing in mixed male-female company. I take the show more seriously; I think the writers are making a point about how ... an old-fashioned masculine man can get along with aggressive, independent female co-workers who are *not* romantically attracted to him in the slightest. I think it's trying to make a point about modern gender roles. I could be reading way too much into it.

At the same time, it's very intertextual, which is a fancy way of saying it rips off cliches from all kinds of sources that have come before it. IMHO the writers do a great job of ripping off a diverse selection of sources -- not just swords-and-sorcery, but also murder mysteries, martial arts stories, etc.

When I think of Rune Soldier, I almost immediately think of Slayers: sword bearing warriors, magical items, monsters, sorcery, etc. It's definitely a comedy, and nearly impossible to take a situation seriously until the very end. There were quite a few times I laughed out loud while watching this. The series is 24 episodes long, and it felt like an appropriate length. There weren't really any dry episodes or filler that was noticeable either. The last three episodes were more or less dedicated to the ending, and although there were events leading up to this it almost felt like an abrupt twist to finish things ... up, but in the end I was pleased with the way things were handled so I can't complain. If you dig comedic anime and the old school RPG setting then I'd highly recommend this.

Maybe back in the day it was something to go gya gya over (according to the person who rated it a 10) but to me it was cliche after cliche. Some of the scenes are cute, but there's nothing new or surprising in the story. The episodes are very skippable, I'd compare it to saiyuki where there is really nothing to tie all the series together except for the same characters that keep appearing in them with a couple attempts at humour. So, you can skip a bunch of the episodes as I did and still not miss a thing. I guess, most of the ... part that you could call a "plot" appeared in the last couple episodes of the series and even that was soooooooo predictable that you can just skip through it. So, I recommend that you watch this if you are really bored, or in the mood for watching something really predictable and bla.
Also, as another personal rant comment, the guy is supposed to be a crappy magician so why is he practicing with swords??!!! shouldn't he be training to become a better magician???