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I really enjoyed Stella Jogakuin for several reasons. It wasn't your typical slice of life anime, either.

I will try not to include any spoilers, as I have completed this anime several times.

Shikyubu has followed the tried and true formula of cute girls doing cute things, and I see it as a major twist to the slice-of-life genre. It was entirely and genuinely a show worth watching.

I gave the story a ten, and this can relate to the character also. The synopsis itself can see why its a sore thumb in the world of anime- the main character, Yamato Yura, undergoes through high school, ... hoping that things will change, and her life is turned completely upside down when she is introduced to Survival Games.

Survival games, as in it's damn airsoft. Seriously.

Stopping there, I implore you to sift through the #c3-bu tag on tumblr and see why this art was considerably well more than others. In the survival games that took place, and trust me, in airsoft, the field should feel like a battleground- dynamic in design, flanking routes, cover, foliage- everything. Airsoft is simulation. Tangent there, but still, c3-bu shows the atmosphere of it all. Very good art at no compromise.

As for the sound, the sound engineers have seemed to make the world of Shikyubu come true despite the extremely-rich schoolgirl practices and all-pink campus. The background music wasn't orchestral performances on huge backdrops- it was light and fluffy, reflecting the light and fluffy school.

Then, the survival games kick in. And amidst the fury, the strafes and the BBs flying everywhere, strategy and conquest, objectives and failure. It's all evident in the soundtrack. Honest to all, it is really damn good.

The reason? It's Jazz. An unexpected and amazingly fitting genre of music for the anime's airsoft scenes. It is an unexpected tone and a rush from Jazz- to the slow, soft closed snares acting with the main characters stealthily going around enemies, or the loud, sharp shrieks of brass with the rush of gunfire. It perfects the moment. It made the anime worth its while.

The characters where the low point, but all around good. Even though no one really accelerated and felt flat, it was Yura Yamato that really was the main character. She was, it seemed, the only one to be evolving. Still, the characters are definitely memorable- Sonora Kashima, the babe, the star player, the student that became the mentor. I could continue, but it isn't worth the while.

Rushing on, I enjoyed this series, and combining this with my top statements and ending it on a whim, I loved this anime and will support it to the death. The anime died on its first season, but it died, as it said, "guns blazing."