Madlax

I'm not too crazy about this anime, it is a test of one's patience. A huge chunk of this anime is boring...very boring and everyone lacks a personality. Because of this, over half of the anime was unbearable to watch because it was just so slow and boring and everyone was practically emotionless, they all speak as if they are all on Valium. This anime is a bit vague and pointless yet the biggest thing I dislike about this series is the fact it sets out as a “normal” story and then ends as science fiction.

~art/animation
The art and animation aren't bad, but it's not as ... if it's anything noteworthy enough to be an attraction to watch the series.

~sound
The music for this series is on the mediocre side. The OP was very generic sounding....not bad, not good, not worth listening to more than two or three times. The score throughout the show was average...some better than others. But I will credit this much, I really loved the ED theme.
I watched this show in English, the cast did the best they could and I don't hold this against them because I have seen their other works and I know that it's not really them but how the show was written and how the characters are supposed to be.....boring.

~story
What's the point of this anime? What is the story behind Madlax? Is it really a genius piece remarking on the ideological argument that violence is intrinsic to the human condition or is it just sci-fi rubbish? Frankly, who knows...and who cares? ....I don't for sure! The story and plot is a hot ass mess and all over the place. At first it seemed to be about a civil war, then about a book, then comes some religious cult, then off course the assassin named Madlax. There doesn't seem to be a single central unifying element to this series....”girls-with-guns” is not really central unifying element for telling a story. Just a very superficial reason to create this kind of story/anime.
There are some points in the series that are moderately interesting but those only come during the last 25% of the series as more and more revelations and confrontations occur.

~characters
UGH! Utterly boring and monotone characters! Nothing ruins an anime more for me than boring characters. I don't mind characters that speak slowly or the one character that doesn't speak or behave robotically but when the whole cast is like that then it affects the whole emotional landscape and tone of the show. No one gets angry, no one yells or raises their voice, there's no humor or laughing or panics...etc... Everyone just has that slow and constant way of speaking, boring....monotone. But also a lot the characters are ridiculously supernatural without any real explanations....and like who in their right mind [a soldier no less] uses a tank to shoot at a single girl with a gun? Or a maid?

~verdict
Kind of a pointless anime that was created to cater the fans of the “girls-with-guns” genre.

"I'm confused!"

If you are looking for a good thriller with a solid amount of mystery watch Noir, not this anime. This anime has the potential to be a masterpiece with its ideas, however you will be lost in unnecessary vagueness, unfinished sentences, unrealistic action and mystery build on something that looks supernatural until the second part of the final episode where everything finally makes sense. The feelings I was left after watching this anime is sadness, not for the story, but for anime itself. Once I got the idea, I realized, that if implemented properly this anime had the chance to bring me to tears, ... but unfortunately the way the story developed in the first 25 episodes negates everything.

Story: 3
The story explores a normal rich girl, its maid, and an assassin, that looks like they have nothing related in common, but they are joined by a mystery in their past. Their connection is related to the "human essence" - what a human being can do when they are pressed between their consciousness/morality and their will to survive. It has something to do with the civil war mentioned in the synopsis, but since all this is explored only in the second half of the last episode, there is not much time for the idea to evolve or to feel any tragedy. The rest of the episodes feels like a waste of time.

Art: 6
The art is fair considering the year this anime is produced. The shadows are partly transparent and there is sufficient details. Some backgrounds are actually amazing, but this contrasts with how the characters are drawn.

Sound/Music: 3/8
The sound in this movie is poor. There is a clear studio-room echo that negates the feeling of the open scenes. It is not a problem with the voice acting, which is good. It is a problem with the recording, and it is not due to quality of sound, but the simplicity of the sound recording.
However, the music is the only thing that stands out in this movie. The name "Yuko Kajuira" can ring the bell from the Noir OST. Unlike Noir, I do not consider this OST to be "masterpiece", but it is very very good. I watched the opening most of the times only for the song. And the songs "Nowhere" and "Lost Command" are amazing. The OST is dynamic enough for the action.

Character: 3
The characters and story combined is the weak point of this anime.
First weak trope is the unfinished sentences in the dialogues. If properly implemented and with a sufficient background, this trope can increase the sense of mystery. However, the writers misunderstood that - they used the trope without a background story. I did not feel any tension building in any episode.
Second worst is the invincibility. I can refer to Noir here. The assassin work in Noir is shown from the moment of receiving a job, throughout planning and executing the job. The "Noir" anime understands that if assassin is really good and you are his target, you will first see their face once you have a bullet inside you - planning and surprise. And here we have a Madlax that have just "talent", she just moves and shoot without looking and no bullet hits her, while she kills everyone. So realistic... :(
And finally, the characters that talk so much of the "human essence" has zero sense of justice. It seems the only thing no one dares to kill is exactly "the bad guy". Instead, the characters are willing to shoot their friends, because that is their human essence? That view is not an essence of normal people, that view is not the essence of the sociopaths. It is just unrealistic and hard to grasp.

Enjoyment: 4
I enjoyed watching the backgrounds while listening to the music. I enjoyed a little bit when finally everything made sense. But most of the time I did not enjoy this anime. I just sit there waiting with a hope that all this mystery will be resolved to some smart idea. Yes, there was a climax, but no outro. There was no consequences of the climax, so I all my hopes were in vain.

Overall: 4
This anime is decent enough to lose your time if you have nothing else to do. When it comes to assassins and guns, I prefer animes that stay firmly on the grounds of realism, instead of flying into the skies of the supernatural. Considering, it clearly misses the point of the "human essence" most of the time, it is an anime that if you really think about what message it tries to convey, you will be disappointed. However, if you are looking to just relax and enjoy nice music without any thinking, it could be enjoyable.