Story 8, Art 10, Sound 9, Characters 8, Enjoyment 9, Overall 9.
-Story 8/10: The story felt like the embodiment of progression for low level MMO characters. People awake in a fantasy world with no knowledge of why or how, and their sole option for survival is to become a volunteer for the army. Basically-- fighting monsters and the such to make money and survive. This story revolves around a party of the "leftovers" that no one else wanted in their party off the start. Summed up, the story is their progression and survival day-to-day in this foreign place. At times it can be slow to the point that the story feels almost slice of lifey, but it's executed so well with some great music and beautiful scenery.
-Art 10/10: Easily the highest point for this show. The art itself isn't super HD beautiful works, but rather they look like water-color hand painted backgrounds; it's very refreshing. It's like they used the really great concept art for the show, and just said, "hey this is good enough just use this", and it is!
-Sound 9/10 : Another high point for this show. Almost every tense, exciting, or emotional moment has perfect music to make the moment just that much more enjoyable. The action has rock, the fun even has some rap, and the beautiful and emotional moments have calm and soothing songs.
-Characters 8/10: The characters in this show are very easy to like or even fall in love with. The main party feels simple to relate to, you grow and progress with them. Most of the characters are kind, sweet, and moral- with one an exception, which whom you'll know from the start if you watch. Only downfall is the MC's trainer/master is absurdly over-sexualized. I'm all for ecchi, but it's pulled off in a way that isn't even... sexy... or enjoyable. It's actually distracting and stupid.
-Overall 9/10: I kept my eye on this show to see if its ratings would raise by the end, and they did. I heard the first few episodes were cliche and unwatchable, they werent bad. It starts slow but picks up and was overall one of the best serious fantasy shows i've watched in a long time. Hoping for a season 2!
