Regarding gore and violence, there are a couple of strong scenes, but they are few and far between. Fans of Gantz and Elfen Lied will not be impressed.
The artstyle is great and frame by frame it looks really good. Problem is, the animation is stiffer than I'm comfortable with. The animators really just put in work where absolutely necessary. Thus, the character speaking will move and behave normally, while all around him freezes in place. Even wind blowing in the hair is obviously reserved for the one in focus. Bah. At least the fighting scenes and special effects got the love they deserved.
Character design is fine for a shonen. Hair colours, wierd clothes and weaponry in abundance.
The intro song is pretty good, if you can get past the emo engrish lyrics. Ending song is well produced but didn't hook me. The background music is varied and unusually well done. No repetetive midi plinky-plonk to be heard. The japanese voice acting is average or slightly above.
Story-wise, it's a mixed bag. Mixed with cliches, that is. The "kid turns into super hero but struggles with his own insecurities" and "mysterious magic girl with a challenged intellect and hot body" are staple commodities in anime and it takes something more special than this for me not getting bored of it. The grand plot is a bit compelling in all its wierdness, but a lot is left to the imagination. A good 2nd season would hopefully be able to bring this score up a notch or two.
Most of the cast has a lot of potential, but not much of it is realised as the plot just drags all of them with it with no time for anyone to really shine.
