This is one of the BEST animes I have ever seen. It's hard to explain without spoilers, but I'll try. First, the fact that I found Kamui to be too mean at first wasn't a sign of bad writing -- it turned out to be a sign of excellent writing! He has a really interesting character arc, and when you finally find out why he acts the way he does, it makes sense. He has been through a lot, and that's all I will say.
For me, the hidden star of this entire series is Sorata. One of the BEST CHARACTERS IN ANY STORY I"VE EVER SEEN! Sorry for the all caps, but Sorata deserves it! He is a CLASSIC character, in ANY genre. He is the very first character you see, literally. In many ways, I think he is the real hero of X.
The soundtrack at first caught me as dated and cheesy, but it somehow crept up on me and now I can't stop humming it lol : ) Really old school music, but very emotional music that ends up becoming part of the awesomeness of the show!
This show has excellent writing. I never once saw where things were going, and everything had a really solid feel to it. Very human all the way through!
I hate it when a movie or a show just becomes seeing which order all the characters die in. I always think that's lame and means the writer didn't have any real story to tell. I *thought* they started going that way with this series but again, they fooled me. The way the war plays out is extremely creative. When a character does die it has strong impact and meaning. I literally cried over a death in the second to last episode and I think I've only cried over 4 movies / tv shows ever.
This series was truly amazing! Even if you are not into shonen ai, even the straight relationships in this show had a sweetness that I thought was really cool. But X did turn out to very subtly have some of the best shounen ai I've ever seen! It's so subtle as to be almost subtextual but it's definitely there and really moving. Really cool emotions throughout most of the series, especially involving Kamui, Fuma, Subaru, and (embarassed to say I forget Subaru's friend's name).
The ONE thing that I wish was different -- I wish the character who turns out to be the main Dragon of Earth was a Dragon of Heaven instead. I didn't like how they chose their side.
Otherwise, one of the best ever!
