The story was very original in that it took the two common anime genres of mecha and high school life and slammed them together. The coupling of these two genres was very successful because it gave the light heartedness of school life with the seriousness and politics of mecha. Surprisingly the darkness and comedy made a very elegant contrast. I really liked how the action always had a purpose rather than some anime were there is a 5 episode long battle scene that isn't really all that important in the scheme of things.
Art: 8
I thought the art was very good because it had it's own style but wasn't pretentious. And for an anime released in 2002 it definitely had superior art than others in that time frame.
Sound:7
I'm writing this for the english dubbed version and while I really liked the voice actor that played sousuke I wasn't really impressed with kaname's voice actress every now and again her voice simply didn't sound sincere. The supporting actors all had varying degrees of success from okay to very good. The accompanying music was okay.
Characters: 9
I really loved all the characters in this anime. They all had their funny and heartbreaking moments and none of them were the conventional shounen characters. Rather than being the testosterone filled, save the world hero Sousuke is a serious in control person who comically fails at functioning in a society where you can't use weapons against other people. Kaname isn't the typical damsel in distress. Though she lacks formal training she always tries and even succeeds in helping herself. All the characters had faults that made them even more endearing. Frankly I have trouble describing the characters in the correct light but rest assured they are the type you become quickly attached to.
Enjoyment: 10
Nothing in this anime is perfect but something about it stands out and just makes it plain enjoyable and fun. It's the type of series you watch in a day because its just hard to stop watching.
Overall: 9
Theres just something endearing about this anime that makes it great. The stories and the characters are fun yet thought provoking you will laugh one moment and then be deep in thought the next. I've rated anime higher than this one but never really enjoyed them as much as this one it's definitely one of my favourites
