People who order me around
People who oppose me, and...
A complicated plot that is in need of more explanation!
Story: 5
The main character, Raishin, is on a quest to revenge his family and kill the person who wiped out his clan. We join him as he enters a school of some sort and his adventures as he helps out fellow students in trouble.
The problem with the story is that they left out small details that either would have helped explained certain plot holes (Such as why Yaya had to turn off her invisibility) or complicated arcs such as the Loki and Frey arc. Both Cher's arc and the Loki and Frey arc both involved types of politics and relationships that weren't fully explained and left me clueless on why Raishin was helping. The pacing for the series was also fast, the time frame of what was a couple of days to what was a couple of minutes are never shown right, and when combined with the lack of knowledge led this story into a train wreck.
Art: 8
The art was very good. The scenery looked nice along with character designs. I loved how the characters would look when they faced left or right. The use of CG for this series allowed for smooth animation on almost everything, except for certain action scenes (This is the opposite of what Ars Nova did with CG)
Action scenes weren't bad, but there were times in where character movement and animation did not look as well as other parts of fight scenes. A great example would be the fight with Loki, as certain scenes had Yaya and Cheribum looking epic, but other scenes were very confusing. If they slowed down the fight scene and didn't use as many different angles when showing the fight scene, this problem would be solved.
Sound: 10+
Anicca, the OP is a great set up for the series. The song has a very soft start and leads to a metal guitar riff. What more could help set up the plot where puppeteers use puppets to fight each other, since most puppets are machine like. The ED is by far the best ED to come from the fall season, Maware! Setsugetsuka. It may be because I have a soft spot for traditional Asian themed songs, but this song is cheerful with a very catchy beat. The ED alone awarded this series a 10 in sound.
Background music was there to fit the mood, no complaints.
Character: 9
A place where this anime shines is in the characters. All the characters looked amazing as well as had interesting personalities. One of the few things I did get from the story was enough history for each character to have them be memorable. Some of the best characters include; Yaya, the comedic yandere, Loki, the rival who hates more than three things, Frey, the girl with a small personality but a set of big brea... I'll stop. These characters were very humorous and enjoyable to watch.
What about character development? There is none that I noticed in the series, maybe small amounts when it comes to Frey and Loki, but nothing involving the main characters. Is this a problem? I will answer with another question, why change characters that were excellent to begin with? Raishin and Yaya are blessed to be amazing characters from the very start and did not need character development.
Enjoyment: 6
Although the sound and characters were amazing, the story left me so clueless that I was partially bored during all the serious scenes and most of the action scenes.
Also, what was Raishin's power involving Yaya? Were they all different buffs or allowed different abilities involving Yaya? I wish they had explained that, as it would have led to less confusing during the fight scenes. Being ignorant of ones ability that is used a lot doesn't make for great fight scenes.
Overall: 7
This anime had my head do what the ED's chorus says, maware (Spin). With such great sound and art, even great characters, the story was too poorly put together to enjoy all the other things this series did right. Hopeful for a great season two.
