The show starts off pretty weak, crafting an unfocused, generic, and nonsensical story for the entirety of Part 1. Filled with mystical powers, crazy fighting, a boring setting, a generic anime villain, and a good chunk of forced drama with some characters that weren't developed and I didn't care about. It did little to pique my interest, but I enjoyed it enough to keep going.
The series didn't really pick up for me until I got to Episode 10, where Part 2 begins. The story remains nonsensical, but the setting and the characters both become much more interesting, making the second part of the series feel much more enjoyable. I also really like how in Part 2, the characters really drive the story, and turn the tale into something more interesting than it otherwise would have been. The pacing is somewhat inconsistent, but the whole thing kept my interest until the end.
The art in the show seems very accurate to the comic's art style, and I really love how they use stark, contrasting colors to evoke a certain tone in different scenes. However, the animation is inconsistent... sometimes things move smoothly, and other times, there's a lot of still frames and limited movement. This is probably due to the show's relatively small budget, but it still makes the art in the show seem like it could have been so much more.
The soundtrack is well done, even if it generally stays out of the way. There were a few times where I noticed the score, and thought it sounded nice, and really added to the tone of the scene, but none of it is very catchy. Well, that is, aside from the opening and closing themes, which are pretty great. The second opening in particular was really great, and super catchy. After a few episodes of listening to it, I would find myself singing along to it at the beginning of each episode. The soundtrack gets bonus points from me for that.
As for the overall audio mix, it's got some high impact sound effects that are perfect for this kind of series, but they tended to repeat here and there, and the mix itself didn't blow my mind or anything. Still, quality work.
Overall, I really enjoyed this series. It starts out weak, and even when it gets good, it's still a bit rough in a few spots, but the pros certainly outweigh the cons. Between the series' world, and it's characters, as well as the soundtrack, there's a lot to like here. By the end of it, it wrapped up the story nicely, and left a really good impression on me.
