This anime seems to be an average harem anime at first. However, a second look reveals a flawed attempt at introducing many innovative, but poorly done, aspects to the genre. Though sometimes the characters are entertaining and the story decent, the overall plot line and confusing ending all but destroy what this anime could have been. This show fell way short of what I was expecting.
Animation:
Green. I know that the setting is a rural village but the entire color palette leans unnaturally towards green. Otherwise, animation quality is average for its time. I wasn't a particular fan of the character styling, especially how some of the guys were drawn.
Sound:
This is one of the better aspects of the anime. The OP is refreshing and the entire BGM encompasses many tracks with an Irish, fllute-based flair. Note that the majority of the voice talents for this show are new. The only exception is the main male character who is voiced by a girl (his voice just doesn't sound right the entire show...). Overall, not a bad job but better VAs would probably have brought out the characters more.
Story:
This is a painful downside of this series. There are quite a few plot twists in this show but they also happen to be predictable. Yet, they manage to pull of the twists in a way that feels unnatural and rushed.
Add on a rushed ending that doesn't explain much of what happens (one of those fast forward by 5 years) and, well, you've lost me. This show definitely had potential but the execution crushed all hopes of its success.
Character:
Though the characters all have quite a bit of depth to them, there are many aspects that don't seem to fit quite naturally.
First of all, Hirose is supposedly blind and has been blind for years. However, once he meets the fairy Otoha, she magically grants him the ability to see. The kicker is that once he starts seeing, the others don't notice anything at all and act as if he could see all along. The explanation for this comes late in the show though I still don't think it is a satisfactory reason. Hirose seems to be the typical nice guy but late in the show he acts somewhat erratically and seems to lose his head.
The other characters seem slightly more coherent, though Hayami Kohinata and Hinata Kagura still have a few holes in their story line by the end of the show. Despite these holes, the two girls are dynamic characters that grow with the show. However, the rest of the villages are like sheep, just going with what the village leader thinks. This is a detestable situation if you ask me and giving supporting characters a brain wouldn't hurt too much.
Value:
There are a lot of pointless beatings of poor Hayami and a lot of random fan service (to supposedly cancel out the beatings?). I personally watch for the plot line and developments between the characters. While the first half of the series does a fairly good job of introducing the characters, the latter half butchers it with halfhearted developments and horrifically executed plot twists. I usually archive most of what I watch, this was one of the few exceptions where I decided to skip.
