The Story
From what I hear, this season deviates from the manga. However, since I do not read manga and believe an adaptation should be able to stand on its own, I do not care if this is true or not. So, what's the story? Highlander. It's Highlander, albeit Highlander-by-way-of-buxom-superpowered-women: a limited number of superhuman beings, some good and some evil, fighting it out in one-on-one battles because they all seek to win a contested and immaterial prize that each one desires, for in the end, there can be only one. Yeah, if you liked the story of Highlander, then you'll like this. And since Highlander is one of my all-time favorite movies and Highlander: Endgame one of my favorite guilty pleasures, I'm very biased in favor of Sekirei, which deviates from its Highlander root just enough to stay fresh.
The Characters
The opening character scene in Maison Izumo is easily the best way to re-introduce characters that I've seen in a show. Each one is allowed to interact with each other and the voice acting and animation characterize them very strongly. Each one also has a different relationship with each other one, and no two characters talk to each other in the same way. This is a perfect portrait of Sekirei's characters: they're all unique, they're all memorable, they're all easily distinguishable from one-another, and while the archetypes they're based on feel familiar, they do have traits that set them apart from those archetypes, though these aren't made clear from the get-go. Point is, the characters, even the minor ones, are all well-conceived and each are compelling in their own right. That's not to say that EVERY character gets long interactions with one another, but this is a series with over 20 NAMED characters, not counting all the ones that appear as one-off opponents for the main characters. I expect quality, not the impossible.
The Sound
I rate this a ten mostly because I was never distracted by the sound quality or music, which is always a good thing, but DAT OPENING. Holy crap, that is a badass opening number: starting off calm, picking up speed as it builds intrigue and shows us our characters, before finally going full-steam-ahead to set the tone of the action and the show. Brilliant.
The Art
At first, I was taken aback by the character design, particularly the way the breasts and eyes were drawn, but it's done in a way that makes it stand out. I really love how no two characters look alike, from the hair to the eyes to the clothing. They look almost like they were designed with pastel paintings rather than anime artists, and it helps give the series identity. I didn't spot any major flaws with the animation but, again, totally biased in favor of the show because of the freakin' awesome story and characters, totally possible I missed all the lazy animation moments and that this series has terrible art. So sue me.
Enjoyment
I tell people that this action-heavy, character-driven show about busty women and sexy men hitting each other is my favorite anime, everyone always laughs at me. I constantly try to convince other people to check it out, and people say it's just a shallow fan service anime. To them, I say nay. Sekirei is the antithesis of your run-of-the-mill action-ecchi show: the fan service is kept on a leash, the characters are all given likable personalities (even the villain is hard to hate sometimes for how over-the-top eccentric and full of himself he is) and the pacing flows from one episode to another. This is my kind of show: the one that gets even better the more I think about it and analyze it, unveiling new layers of win as I delve deeper into it. Few other shows do this, and even fewer do this while also putting a fresh spin on a beloved hardcore '80s action movie. Really, the only way I could think of to improve this show (aside from giving it the 3rd season it deserves) is to bring Freddie Mercury back from the dead to do the soundtrack.
