There is no denying Moyashimon is a highly original concept, the story follows Tadayasu Sawaki who has the ability to see microbes with the naked eye, as he enrolls at an agricultural university. One of the key theme of the storyline is manipulation as many of the characters only take interest in him because of his ability. Unfortunately this promising concept is let down by a shoddy plot, that is paced terribly. Over a quarter of the series is taken up by the Spring Festival arc that does next to nothing to progress the story. As a result of this, the series has to conclude everything and come up with a worthwhile ending in the last three episodes. Something that fails miserably, characters are given their own storylines but there are no serious attempts to conclude any of them.
The animation is also not particularly solid, the series cant decide if it wants a realistic look or a comedic one. This is shown best by the character designs, some characters lkike Sawaki and Harsegawa would fit into any realistic anime whilst others, Itsuki, Kawahama and Misato in particular are hard to even take seriously, the fact Moiyashimon is a comedy is no excuse for such extremities in character design. The backgrounds and environments are decent enough, but much like NHK, there's nothing to stand out from the crowd.
Moyashimon is an easily forgettable audio experience, the background music is bland for the most part and does nothing to evoke the viewer. The opening theme "Curriculum (カリキュラム)" by Sarasa Ifu is a nice piece that suits the series well, unlike the ending theme "Rocket" by POLYSICS which is just a mess really. The voice acting rescues the audio experience with excellent performances from all the seiyuu's.
One of Moyashimon's strongest points is it's cast, almost entirely on the grounds of character personality and not their lame storylines. A lot of the character's personalities clash in a way that ensures maximum comedic effect, Sawaki and Hassegawa in particular. Above the characters are funny, interesting and just plain likable. A special mention is in order for the microbes, they really make the show.
Moyashimon is a really enjoyable show, but entirely from a comedic point of view, there is an abundance of laughs and its unusual nature gives a charm that keeps the viewer's attention 'til the end. Be warned though, trying to take it seriously will just get you lost in scientific jargon and be left confused. The episode count doesn't do the show justice, it should have been longer to make the character's storylines worthwhile, that or it should just be eleven episodes of all out comedy
