Story 3/10:
The plot started off pretty good (I still haven't watched Code Geass, so I'll be judging this solely on what I think about GC), I grew interested in the origins of the presented virus and the powers the MC suddenly possessed, and also with the misterious cute teen/singer called Inori. The fact that Shu was a shy, good-for-nothing HS student still didn't bodered me, yet.
This story starts to draw me out when Shu starts giving use to his new powers, presenting us with so many plot holes and character actions that make little to no sense. The main story itself is good at least, but so many side plots get thrown in, that they start to mess with each other. Some highlights of what I hated the most in the story are:
(SPOILERS ahead)
. The fact that Shu just forgot about his past, even if "on purpose". Who the hell forgets about his own sister, who he spent 5 years with? Even the fact that Haruka probably never talked to Shu about it annoys me even more.
. The presentation of Mana as a "villain". Sure, she was the first to touch the rock, which made her the first to contract the virus I guess. But is she beeing controlled by the virus or by Daath? And most importantly, why is her own brother not trying to save her? She was obviously changed by the virus, she was not like that as a kid, yet Shu tried to save everyone except his own sister who had fallen to a terrible fate. Makes no sense to me.
. The amount of times Yahiro betrays/uses Shu and he just makes him his friend is too damn high, the arc where he kills Jun is actually an enjoyable one, but this trust/hate thing between the two ruins the link.
. When Inori says Gai ordered her to be friendly to Shu to get him into their group, but this point is never touched again, instead, Shu keeps falling for Inori as nothing happened.
. Daryl starts off as a hateful villain, killing civilians cold blooded, but midways they give the impression that he's regretting his actions when he meets Tsugumi, but of course he goes back to his old self like nothing happened to fight the good guys in the final battle. And guess what, they try to make him a good guy in the last episode again, could the writers even decide what he was going to be??
. Comparable to Daryl, Arisa changes sides just too many times, fine she grows to hate Shu (we all do, ah ah), but the fact that she "loved" Gai would make her realize he had changed and not follow him to kill her own grandfather and go against her previous comrades. (also it made sense she already knew GHQ were the bad guys, why in hell would she join them? Love for Gai? Even anime love obsessions have limits)
The main storyline itself has some plot holes as well, but I won't be mentioning them all to not make this too long. What made me rate the story 3 instead of 2 were the actual good parts, the storylines of Gai, Hare and Haruka, they were emotional, they made sense, but they didn't cover up the bad parts of the other storylines. I had hopes the last episodes would redeem the rest of the anime, but it was the exact opposite. Instead of answering questions, it left me with even more. The world where Shu and Gai end up makes no sense, seems just like an excuse for Shu to gain the necessary power to cure all the diseased. Then Inori disappears instead of Shu, with no answers to why whatsoever, and Shu returns blind, just.. wtf?
Characters 7/10:
This is somewhat of a separated opinion, if I was to rate characters as Main and Supporting I would rate Main Characters a 4/10 and Supporting a 9/10. And this just shows how hatable they made the main character.. But seriously, I loved the supporting characters, most had great stories and development (to a certain extent), Ayase, Haruka, Hare, Tsugumi, Oogumo and Arugo were lovable characters, the rest fell a bit short, but they weren't as bad as the main characters. And by main I mean Shu, Inori and Gai.
I think everyone already knows why Shu is hated, good for nothing, controlable and not dependable, that magically grows courage and strength for a big fight to lose it all over again right after. I might have liked him a little bit in the beginning, it seemed like he was developing as a character, but (SPOILER) on the second part, right after Hare died, I lost all my hopes in liking Shu, I know he was "pretending" to be a douche and all, but a smart character wouldn't even reach that solution. From that point on is just him regreting his actions and Inori and supporting characters helping him make his decisions until the last battle.
I wouldn't say I dislike Inori, but I don't like her either, the character seems too liveless throughout the anime, she just follows orders or desperately follows Shu when suddenly she builds an obsession for him midway through the anime (due to beeing Mana's replacement, but still that should have been there from the start then). Also her backstory could have been made better as well, why was she a monster?
Gai is just a very complicated character, I kind of liked him, but I think his story wasn't explained well enough. He was a strong character but at the end I felt like the writers just completely destroyed him. The reason he fought was because he didn't like that Mana chose Shu over him and then Inori did the same? I didn't think Gai was a bad character, but imo his story could have been explained a lot better at the end.
Art 10/10:
This is where the anime shines, and noone complains about it, it was a big budget project afterall. The fighting scenes are outsanding, and the lanscape views are amazing as well.
Sound 9/10:
Nothing to complain about, supercell make great music, EGOIST's voice sounds amazing, only reason I won't give it a 10 is because I found Inori's song a bit repetitive, they could have made one more song instead of playing the same one over ad over.
Overall 6/10:
Even though the story was the worst point of GC, it still kept me interested in watching the next episode, I wanted to know what happened next, even if some answers never came. The supporting characters helped a lot too keeping it interesting. This anime is worth to watch if you're looking for anything except for a consistent story. You have everything, from comedy, to incest, to mecha fights and magical powers to akward attempts of sexual intercourse, to emotional deaths. The story is still good, it just could be a lot better, therefore a waste of potential. All it lacks is consistency, due to its huge plot holes that might leave you clueless at some points.
