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You will be satisfied if you pretend the entire anime is only seven episodes.

Story: The anime is divided, generally, into three arcs; each arc gets progressively worse. The first arc, episodes 1-7, are the most enjoyable because Akagi is still only a junior high student, and the oddity and elusiveness of his character - a random boy who walked into a yakuza mahjong game - are the most striking and poignant. By the third arc, episodes 15-26, you basically have ten entire episodes devoted entirely to "OH YEAH?" "YEAH" "OH YEAH?" "YEAH, IMA CHARGIN MAH LAZERZ". I found myself skimming those last ten episodes, not to mention the plot behind the final arc itself is pretty random. You could argue that it's there, connected vaguely by preexisting factors in the story, just to let Akagi show off, therefore, it's a type of dues ex. The ending is also quite disappointing: it's supposed to be a symbolic end, but does not do any justice to the anime itself, which is supposed to be an adrenaline thriller. Once again an above-average anime kills itself by falling back on meaningless garbage.

Art: Nothing to complain about, unless you hate huge noses.

Sound: Nothing spectacular.

Character: All the average joes were believable characters, mob bosses, corrupt cops and body gaurds. Akagi was an interesting but poorly developed (due to crap ending) character. The Final Boss was a hyperbolic character, but he gave the final arc a demented, sadistic undertone that was enjoyable to a degree yet became just a laughable caricature as the final arc progressed.

Enjoyment: Hell yeah, the first two arcs were incredibly enjoyable. Same kind of feeling you get from Kaiji or similar keikaku doori shows.

Overall: Akagi has its merits, but it's way too long and drawn out. read more

As an episodic anime, Natsume Yuujin-Chou (NYC) does a decent job of propelling a story within a set framework of twenty minutes. Comparing it to something like Voices of a Distant Star does indicate that NYC can create tension and properly resolve such tension, but the emotional levels to which each episode rises aren't very high. This is the main premise of NYC, I'd say, which is, through the common device of "monster of the week", to establish a premise and problem and later solve it through various means. NYC does a good job at this - it is superb at being mediocre - not a bad thing, really.

The art is palatable. There aren't any particular scenes that come to mind where financial frugality is horribly evident. However, the art is not spectacular. Obviously, do not expect Miyazaki, but you'll be 'spared' from Hal film maker's rather 'choppy' animation style. Once again, NYC excels at being mediocre.

I had to rate the sound higher than the art. The OP and ED tunes may not be for everyone, but for the most part those are irrelevant with fast forwarding. The BGM is rather soothing, do not expect many pop songs, do not expect much percussion or the ubiquitous presence of a drum set. NYC features soft woodwinds (the occasional recorder!), light strings, the piano, acoustic guitars, etc. The style of these pieces are slightly reminiscent of the music from Kure-nai and Sketchbook ~full color'S~, both of which had compositions produced by Ken Muramatsu. If you enjoyed the soundtrack for those two anime, you will not find the BGM for NYC displeasing to listen to. Yet again, they are not breathtaking nor marvelous - they get the job done, and as such are superbly mediocre.

Many of the characters are present for background noise, namely Natsume's two friends. There is very little development since new characters are introduced every episode, and I am even hesitant to say that there is much of any development in our protagonist himself (this does not constitute a spoiler). This anime is plot-centric and utilizes characters not for the sake of their development but for the driving of the story. The characters are believable in the sense that they are humanistic, but they are really there as devices.

Despite NYC's mediocrity, it is very enjoyable; it is relaxing and not dissimilar to the way that Aria is soothing. As a good measure, I dropped this after five episodes because, really, once you've seen episode one, you've seem it all, only in a different articulation, flavor, or timbre, if you will (but I picked it up again). NYC is also clever, subtly employing thematic elements that you won't see in any superficial anime. However, this alone cannot do NYC's mediocrity any justice, and in the end I'm forced to give it a rather mediocre rating. read more