During a period of where I was looking for romance/fantasy anime, I stumbled upon this anime, and was unsure to watch it due to the mixed reviews. I eventually started watching Grisaia, and finished it the day I started it. Yes, it's a bit short, and the pacing may be seriously wrong, but overall it's still a good anime. Not a great one, but still good enough to keep you interested. Now, let's get started with the review.
Story - Overall: 7
There really isn't a story in Grisaia, but here is the jist of it: A guy named Yuuji wanted a regular school life, and eventually was able to join a high school where there are only 5 other students, who are all girls. All the students have a troubled past, and Yuuji helps these students deal with there past. That's basically it. It's simple, but still is enjoyable.
Art and Animation - Overall: 8
The art in this anime is absolutely stunning, filled with bright colors. Sadly, the animation in the 3D parts of this anime are extremely choppy, and are left to be desired.
Soundtrack - Overall: 7
The soundtrack in this anime is really nice and fits well, and the opening is one of my favorite openings in anime of all time. No real complaints here.
Characters - Overall: 10
Every single character in Grisaia has a personality. No little the screen time, every character felt different and fresh compared to the overused anime archetypes (except for michiru, but she is waifu material anyway). Yuuji, the main male protagonist, is also one of my favorite main characters in anime ever, because he just is so different from the generic harem protagonist. Anyway, this is probably my favorite cast in anime ever.
Overall Enjoyment - 8
This anime is really good if you can overlook the pacing, the choppy animation, and skip the visual novel. If you pretend the visual novel doesn't exist, it's actually really good.
