The Short Version:
(+)The music is delightful.
(-)The entire thing feels rushed.
(-)The characters aren't really fleshed out.
(-)You can tell they just want to get past the beginning of the game in the first episode.
(-)The art quality is below average for its time
The Story (6/10):The story is a simple thing to grasp in this show, one of the main characters is more or less chosen by 'God' to become the Child of Regeneration and save this world from it's own destruction, basic 'Save the world plot'. But there are points in the story that WILL throw up a "Dafuq?" flag in your brain. An early example is what would be the first boss battle in the game, where some "baddies" have appeared in the MC's village and threaten the populace, the MC and head baddie duke it out, the hero wins, but then the show cuts to the villages salvaging their burnt down houses, this is the point where I thought, "Hang on, where the fuck did the rest of the baddies go? Did they die? Or did one of them just go, "Well I'm going home, whose coming with?" Then the rest of the lads followed him. There're a couple of these moments throughout the OVAs but there's not enough of them to leave you questioning the entire show, just a fair amount of it.
Another thing with the story is that it horrendously rushed, like someone on the development team just said, "Ok, I know we need to make this good, but let's just get through all of the beginning of the game so we can get to the better stuff A.S.A.P." If you're not a fan of fast paced anime, this may very well throw you off, as the entire show for the most part, plays out in this format.
The Characters (6/10): Their are 5 Main Characters in this anime, to get these guys and their relation to each other out of the way for future reference:
Colette Brunel, The Child of Regeneration and childhood friend to Lloyd and Genis.
Lloyd Irving, Male lead and evident love-interest of Colette.
Genis Sage, Child mage and brains to Lloyd's brawn.
Kratos Aurion, hired bodyguard of Colette and probably knows more about the situation then he's letting on.
Refill (Raine) Sage, group healer and big sister of Genis.
The characters as a whole are a fine group, but individually they would not hold this show in the slightest. But as a group though, they hold it just enough to keep you going. The love exchanges between Lloyd and Colette are cute, Kratos fills the mandatory badass slot but he pulls it off without also being an asshole, Genis and Raine are there to help Lloyd and Colette along and almost nothing else.
After 4 OVA's I feel that we know just enough about the characters that we get their emotions and motivations, but not enough to feel for them in any given situation, and another thing I noticed was that there are what I call 'Houdini' characters, characters that pop up for a couple minutes then disappear just the reappear later on.
Art and Sound (14/20): Now if you actually read the anime info off to the side, you'll notice that this anime was in fact animated by ufotable. I'll warn you right now, don't expect their Kara no Kyoukai, UBW, level of animation, it isn't here, but the animation that is there is good for the time, you're looking at Fullmetal alchemist level of animation, not Brotherhood, just the original series, but with smoother edges. Special note that, even then, they had their 3D revolving on point.
The sound isn't your everyday fare. The OP is actually rather calm compared to modern day anime and the ED is much the same, and the voice acting is standard but special note to Kratos' VA, his voice is so good.
What do you think of this anime?
I won't actively go out a look for a physical copy of this show, I wouldn't even buy it if I just saw it at JB Hi-Fi and thought, "Yeah lets buy that one." I would've seen this in the recommendations and just streamed it at home.
Would you recommend this anime?
Yeah I would, only for the last stretch of the show, so unless you pre-plan to watch all three parts, you might very well only watch this part but I implore you get watching, you'll be pleased.
Goodbye my brethren, see you in the next.
