It had everything that I want in an anime and it presented every element so well! Down to the last frame of the ending credits, this show was stylised / animated immaculately, had its characters fully developed, kept its plot interesting and fully engaging and the soundtrack was absolutely perfect.
I will preface the rest of this review with the fact that this anime is not the 'pop' anime that appeals to a wide audience... the story, characters, art and sound of Zankyou no Terror are subtle, engaging and very artistic. I wouldn't go as far as to say it was art house, but every aspect of this anime was stylised just how Watanabe intended.
The themes of this anime, even without the violence are very mature, I would not recommend this to anyone below the age of around 16.
I know some people weren't a big fan of the 11 episode structure and the pacing that it brought. I was a little also skeptical, however, I never found the story rushed or so slow that it was boring. It spanned the perfect amount of time for the story and allowed all of the characters to develop and unfold along with the developments and twists of the plot. I was worried that after I finished the last episode I would long for more, however, the ending was so perfect that I am happy with it being finished.
Speaking specifically about the ending (no spoilers) the final twist that was introduced added another dimension to the story that perfectly wrapped things up. Without the addition of this it would have left what was a very well spanned closed story much too open. I also love the fact that they give a final 'one year later wrap up' tying off ends with the few other main characters from the story.
The soundtrack was created to perfection by the incredible Yoko Kano! When I first heard that she was creating the soundtrack for ZNT I automatically thought it would be a very up beat 'bebop' style soundtrack, however I found that the the many subtle tacks (such as Lisa's theme) to be very beautiful, as well as still having exciting 'up beat' tracks for the action scenes!
This music tied in also with the art style. The art in this anime was very refreshing for me, as the integration of the CG and hand drawn elements were so flawless that it felt very reminiscent of classic golden or silver age anime. The details in everything from everyday objects to explosions of buildings were spot on and created a great sense of realism in this anime's world. The bleak, simple colours of the characters contested beautifully against the full saturated colour of the world around them.
The depth of the story and characters is incredible, with many subtle themes playing out through plot devices such as the constant mind games between the main characters. The main characters of the story are introduced with the audience knowing almost nothing about them. As the story progresses and the plot develops you learn more and more about the main two and grow very attached to them and their background. The use of only minimal characters in the story allowed for each character to be thoroughly developed without the pacing becoming to fast.
Watanabe and Yoko Kano have really outdone themselves with this one... I loved every second of it and will be waiting for a box set with 5.1 and then re watching this again and again and again!
10/10
