ART: This show is anything but cutesy. Well, that might be saying too much. They push the cute at first, then club you in the face with realistic characters. The art is amazing. I can't stop staring at the characters' eyes, which look as watery as their own world. And Shioshishio (the underwater world) is just gorgeous! It makes you want to live there.
STORY: Rather than a slice of life similar to K-on, this is more like a drama in the vein of Kokoro Connect or Shinsekai no Yori (without the killing). While the characters are adorable, they have some serious issues. And the cute, young art style just emphasizes that they are tweens dealing with the drama of simply growing up as well as some more serious issues mixed in (dating a widower, falling in love, needing an outlet to express your emotions, wishing ill on your best friend because you're in love with the guy that loves her and all that will will makes you hate yourself, etc.). On top of all that drama there's the sea god's "spokesman" who may curse you by making your knee sprout a talking fish...like tweens need THAT kind of problem?
CHARACTERS: Well, most were very likeable. Hikari is your typical angry, angsty guy similar to InuYasha. I don't usually like characters like that, but Hikari seems to almost physically grapple with his feelings to the point that his anger is clearly a metaphor as he struggles to understand himself. Then there's Manaka, who seems at first glance to be the typical wilting flower that can't stand up for herself. Except that she grows as well to the point that she's not only standing up for herself, but protecting her friends as well (there's an episode where Hikari is utterly amazed by this). I don't know, sounds cliche but it isn't. There are two characters that were a little too much like what I've seen in every other anime like this, and that bothered me. One is Chisaki who loves Hikari and is sad all the time because he doesn't love her. Her character resolution by the end of the series was unexpected and it worked well. The other is Kaname who is the gentle, almost feminine support that compassionately loves the unobtainable female. He seems "too nice," but definitely has a lonely, jealous side.
What was great about the characters is that there aren't good guys and bad guys. They're just kids with a multitude of feelings. Having a negative emotion doesn't make you evil.
STORY: The show has a time skip, but it's different than most. And all the character resolutions and evolutions make sense and anticlimactic, but if they were done any other way it would have been a completely different show. There are major events going on in the world of this show, and that seems to make up for anything else that is lackluster in an an anime (but may seem over the top in the real world). A great show! Good for fans of moe as well as fans of drama.
