The first episode is actually one of my favorite and I do believe the story should have followed a bit more its spirit. For instance, Saizou's skills and unwillingful attitude were worthwhile and promising but the feeling fades away as the story goes on and he gradually becomes next to useless. Basically, he's super strong against his comrades before they join in the Braves and also against the general cannon fodder type ninjas but that's another story with the enemy main characters. It's a pain when you see a main character show off so much for lesser results.
I also understand that they needed to make time to introduce the other characters since the story goal was to revolve around 10 braves fighting together. They should have appeared way faster. For example, Jinpachi Nezu appears at episode 8 or 9 I believe.. wait! what? But there is only 4 episodes left!
Story: 6 - Fair : it's pretty much what you expect from a ninja combat based anime. As described above, nothing more or less. The ending comes way too abruptly in my opinion. Its has if they wanted to get it done and go onto the next project.
Art: 8 - Very Good: I liked the style, nothing epic. Enough said.
Sound: 7 - Good: I enjoyed the opening, mostly skipped the ending. The overall BGM during specific events and encounters were adequate and matched the anime theme.
Characters: 5 - Mediocre: I was expecting more, sadly didn't get it. The character development is typical and very basic. You will find some flashbacks about Saizou, Isanami, Anastasia, Miyoshiseikei to add extra understanding of the storyline.
Enjoyment: 7 - Good: Even if the story and characters weren't flawless, I had a good time watching it.
Overall: 7 - Good: It's definitely an anime to watch if you like combat-oriented storylines and a nice addition to the ninja theme. It's nothing epic but definitely entertaining. I would definitely watch it again if I eventually get bored and don't have anything better to do.
Extra comments:
I would have enjoyed seeing a serie of 25-26 episodes out of it. Simply to extend the story and introduce deeper content, elaborate on characters, get Saizou to finally kick those bad guys' ass properly, see Isanami get abusively destructive with her power and also to get a decent fight done between Kamanosuke the psychotic warmonger and Saizou. It would have contributed greatly to a longer and better ending.
