Let me start off by saying that I really liked Chaika -The Coffin Princess- It reminded me of a video game so much with it's action sequences. A JRPG to be more precise. The intense amount of action made me feel like picking up my controller (yes controller, JRPGS should only be played via console!) and mashing buttons! The story is pretty simple. I really like that Ichiro Sakaki didn't add unnescary and complicated details about certain events or characters. I like that everything naturally builds upon from the foundation. Like first we're introduced to characters, then the story, next the back-story and so on, which is why I say it's straight-forward. I like seeing simplicity in shows with settings placed in older times because it makes it easier to follow. Perhaps the only thing I didn't care for was the speech of Chaika(s). Her... their, speech pattern was so annoying and in addition to that, I honestly didn't care for Chika Anzai, role this time around. I like her in Sound Euphonium and a few other titles but honestly.. I just had too many mixed feelings. Lastly, going back to the story again, I would've liked to see more character development in terms of the main characters strength. The fights are great and all but I like to see new moves and special techniques that the characters learned and there wasn't any of that in Coffin Princess.
The animation was great, for the most part. I wasn't too keen on the actual character designs because I felt like there were a few too many characters with the same "gothic" style. Battle scenes were pretty great. I liked the magic battles especially towards the ending of the season 1. Everything became a lot more intense in terms of drama and the animation quality really improves the mood.
The soundtrack was pretty unnoticeable for the most part. I mean during fights the background music wasn't really intense of dramatic enough to get me exciting.
Overall, Hitsugi no Chaika is a pretty fun and enjoyable title. Again, and I cannot stress this enough it's pretty straight-forward so character has goal, character somewhat carries out that goal and so on. Overall I gave this title an 8/10 because it is indeed pretty remarkable! Great story, good and like-able characters, and lastly, pretty awesome battles!
