Art 10/10
Reference level. Probably one of the best, graphically made anime in year 2015. You want to scream, why my favorite anime doesn’t look that good?! Studio Bones just delivered everything you can imagine. It feels brushed by Da Vinci or Michelangelo. You don’t like that genre? You don’t like mix of aliens/supernatural stuff in this perfectly feeling retro city, bit like BioShock? That will be true probably for a lot of, but try just one, two episodes, just because of gorgeous Art.
Another thing to mention are camera angles. You feel the director is playing with you, like an artist, photographer trying to pick up the right way to preset the scene. As they say, one picture is often worth thousand words.
Sound 7/10
Many will be captivated by the Retro/Jazz music that will come from your sound systems, but for me music in BBB it's a bit bland, not distinctive enough, lacking the kick and often feeling quite far away, not overwhelming you. It fits the anime theme very well, together with voice acting, and generic sounds that each anime has, but that's just it . Music is a very personal taste, but if you are like me a fun of dynamic, powerful type of sound (Metal, Rock guy here) it will probably be just OK. OP is good, and the music theme in last episode is partially different from the previous ones - expect classical music, for instance from Swan Lake, and that's a big plus for me.
Story 7/10
Good and that's just it. Its episodic, each episode often deals with different issue in this twisted version of New York, following our young protagonist. Due to some "special" circumstances he joins Libra (they are not normal humans, obviously) on their quest to protect the balance of Big Apple, that yeah... its twisted, supernatural, with tons of freaks, monsters and God knows what else lurking in the depths of the city, that in fact is pretty much isolated from the rest of the world, by a big...wall of fog. Just imagine a parade of strangest creatures, that come from the Netherworld and live, work together with the rest of us humans. Now, there is a thread that connects each episode and we see its culmination in the last two, three episodes, but pretty much each of them is a standalone product. Especially halfway through the anime, it can be a bit confusing, because you just don't know where its heading, and it's as much as beautiful as irritating. There are quite a lot of bricks moved, here and there with some potential to expand them in the next season or seasons and although the story somewhat concludes in the last, double episode, there are a lot of questions left unanswered in my opinion.
Character 6/10
What I find most lacking, are the characters. On one hand they are very distinctive, or try to be very distinctive, but at the same time expect for the MC and 2,3 others, they are just shallow. It feels a bit like a game - pick a trait, a laughter, some funny power and multiple it by twenty. BBB is one of those anime that bombards you with share amount of characters, often just appearing once, and forgoes the development of those that could deepen the story. But that's the direction the studio took with the episodic story. The good part is, it has a solid amount of likeable characters and builds a good foundation for them to be more explored in the next seasons if they ever happen to be. Plus the fact that a big cast makes you feel like the world is really alive.
Enjoyment 8/10
The anime pucks a good punch. It's just well made, definitely a high production value. It has its own sense of humor, and that's another thing that Rie Matsumoto, the director of the show, is playing with very well, often mixing serious scenes with some funny speeches, behaviors, it feels like you should take a lot of stuff seriously but up to a point. Now, don't expect romance, that just not the type of show. Come here if you enjoy a lot of craziness, different directing style and generally superpower/supernatural genre.
Overall 7.5/10 (Why can’t we score halves?!)
In the end the anime gets from me 8/10. It's a solid, standalone product, with a quite satisfying ending, huge cast, and distinctive music and very good graphical performance.
