A high school girl gets transformed into some super weapon and gets an identity crisis. What will her boyfriend say? One of the animes I classify as "one of THOSE". A classic, containing both epicness, humor and heartthrob.
Animation
This is really nicely animated. Great character design, wunderbar backgrounds and moods and some cool (but way too short) combat sequences.
Sound
Ok, I don't really know japanese, but to me, this was the best voice acting I have heard this far. They sound like real people (and actually continue panting when they stop running... stuff like that). I especially like Akemi's voice.
And the "warm metallic wolf-cry" sound of Chise activating always gives me goosebumps!
The opening theme is all right, nothing special. The ending song is good, though. A bit slow but beautiful if you are in that mood.
Story
Ok, there are some very fundamental stuff not explained... What is this war that's going on? What has happened to bring the whole world to the brink of destruction? Exactly what has happened to Chise?
These questions are not that important to the story, however. The driving force is the characters, and how extreme external circumstances affects them. That this extreme circumstance is a war that you won't know much about, you'll just have to accept.
This is a love story, and a great one. How much can love take before it breaks? How much can people take before they break?
The story is a wee bit fragmented; sometimes there are big and wierd chronological jumps and since the characters are spread out between battlefields, school etc, there are large contrasts from scene to scene. Mostly this works well, though.
Character
This is a rare case of "hey these characters are actually human!". You understand their motives and behaviour, and they realistically break down more and more as the situation tightens. And Chise is actually likeable. I usually don't approve of the girfriends the storymakers have chosen for the main guy. Her constant fight against herself is sad yet beautiful to behold.
Despite there being quite a lot of characters of different kinds crammed into 13 episodes, they all get to develop.
Value
One of my favourites! I'll watch it again in a few years when I'm in for an emo ride.
