One can have many complains about Kannazuki no Miko, especially about its story. But the very general outline of the narrative is very solid and not entirely unoriginal. At least I have never watched anything like that. It slightly resembles PMMM, but Madoka is almost ten years newer and it's not nearly as edgy. I suppose the outline of Kannazuki no Miko could make a brilliant story but it looks like something extremely difficult to write properly.
And, as expected, when it comes to filling the general concept with details writers fail horribly. HORRIBLY. And unfortunately they fail from the very start, even before the difficult parts begin. The central conflict which threatens Earth is sketched, but basically unexplained. Neither is the mechanics of the world. Main antagonists are so badly described they are unpleasant to watch. They are walking clichés thrown into the world without exposition for short bursts of screen time and used by story mainly as obstacles for the developing romance. They even try to provide some jokes, with dreadful results. Everything seems to be rushed - it's probably the first anime series I would call "too short for its story". Action sequences for most part of the series look like imported from some generic 70s mecha anime and glued to the show by creators' caprice only - Kannazuki no Miko focuses so much on relationships' development that short and boring fights can be seen only as annoying distractions. The outdated and uninspired animation and art design make it all the worse. It's all bad, it's really bad. The anime pseudo-nudity is also present - but here, for the most part, I would call it justified (because it serves mainly as accentuating erotic tension between characters).
Initially the only redeeming quality is (fortunately) the central point of the show - and it's the more or less standard love triangle story. This is still somewhat convoluted but done acceptably well and apart from the character of Chikane it's the only reason I can think of you can endure watching it. And later the series pulls off something not fully expected, fanservice fades away and central conflict begins to play more prominent role (at least not entirely artificial one). It still isn't executed very well - for several episodes I was asking myself "Hold on, hold on, what the fuck just happened? And now? What is happening now? Why? What am I watching? WHAAT?" - but it was more than enough to grab my attention. And the ending actually resolved some of these wtf-questions. Not all however - it's better to look at the story from the distance, because when one looks more closely one can't fail to notice it is full of plot-holes and on event-to-event basis doesn't make any freaking sense. And it's the reason why I hesitate to call the ending good - although it would be really good if it was written by someone skilled. Still, as a very general concept, the story is interesting enough to make one think about such issues as double standards and their implications. I even suspect that if it was handled better it would be less thought provoking.
So who is the series aimed at? Undeniably, you shouldn't watch the series if you've come for mecha battles - they are probably the worst part of the show. If you expect good story with interesting antagonists and well thought-out world, it's also not the anime for you.
But you could like (maybe "watch it with interest" would be more appropriate phrase) this series if you like controversial romance melodrama. And you should probably see this if you are a Westerner who likes anime for its orthogonality to your culture world. And if you are a fervent yuri fan this anime is probably a must see. In all cases - watch it, but be prepared to encounter numerous severe flaws.
