~ Art
The art is kinda amateurish looking though it's not totally bad. Use of lines, shape and proportion are all OK, however the actual shading is pretty weak. The color palette is very simple and has a “paint-by-numbers” look to it. The hero is of course blonde with blue eyes *rolls eyes* with matching the colors for his boots, gloves and jacket., The heroine is blue-haired with blue eyes and the sorceress woman is violet-haired with violet eyes.
CGI is used in small doses but all for the wrong reasons like monsters melting away and cheesy-cheap looking ocean/water distortion but it's not really used for the fight scenes or special F/X. At the end, they use more CGI but again it's very cheesy and cheap-looking. Another clue that this show is for a younger audience is that scenes are reused constantly, especially the heroes' attack moves.
~ Sound
I watched this show in the English dub and it was pretty good. Each of the actors properly conveyed the right mix of emotion and humor into their characters. Also the guy who did Kira Yamato's English voice stars in this show as Claude Kenni, he is a very good actor.
The music is on the generic side, the OP sounds like typical shonen anime electro-pop synthesizer music. The ED is a somewhat peppy sounding feminine rock song which was still on the generic side.
~ Story
As with most children's stories, the plot is pretty basic. A guy gets thrown into a strange world and goes on an adventurous quest to return home incidentally saving the world while he's at it. But what really makes Star Ocean work [for me at least] are the individual episodes, the situational humor and the connection between the characters. The story is told in a very childish and straightforward fashion with all the requisite of humor as can be expected from shows of this nature. Therefore don't look for any deeper meaning or any sophisticated narrative elements like irony, metaphors, or complex plot twists.
~ Characters
The characters are pretty much what make the show what it is. At times they seem pretty stereotypical with the typical anime/RPG line up: the hero, the healer, the wizard, the rogue knight, the thief/bandit[s], the comic relief....and so on, but then they did some unique things like throwing in some modern elements like doctors and scientists [also electricity].
The unity and overall good-naturedness between the characters is what I found most admirable and enjoyable in the show, I really like when a band of characters go off on an adventure and really stick together and help each other. Star Ocean is really good at portraying unity....and because of that I don't think I found any one character annoying.
At the very beginning I didn't like Claude because he just seemed so brash and heedless of caution, even though I know it was because he had a point to prove that he was not just some kid living under his father's shadow, Commodore Kenni. Thank goodness he changes during the anime and quickly learned when to turn on the bravado and when to switch it off. Once that character flaw was removed, Claude became my favorite.
I also liked Ashton very much, he carried his share of the show very well and despite what everyone else in the show was saying about him, he's actually a pretty skilled swordsman and a very likable character. It's easy to see why the two-headed dragon got attached to him.
I also liked Celine and Rena, the two girls of the group. They are basically two sides of the same coin except Celine plays the sexpot card and Rena plays the short, cute and helpless card.
~ Verdict
Overall I'd say it was a pretty cool show. Maybe it's not the “OMG!!! this is effin' EPIC!!! Lemme tell all my friends about it!!!” kinda show, but it kept things light and I was entertained. So if some one was interested and asked me about it....then I'd tell them to check it out, it's pretty good and funny.
