When I picked TO up, its MAL rating was at 6.75 (and is probably going to get even lower). Daunted by this low score, I didn't know whether to watch it or not.
Thank God I did.
==[Pros]==
- Art/Animation. Though this show may be 100% CG, it's 100% good CG. The second episode proves that. Save the characters, everything is so beautiful. There's no glitches and mishaps you might see with hand-drawn works.
- Soundtrack. A lot of the time, the show simply pans out to let you soak in the art. And it plays some great background music at the same time. I usually don't take much note of a show's BGM, but TO really brought it out with minimal dialog and maximal (?) music.
- Sci-Fi. The best sci-fi (except mecha) stories make the technology seem both believable and commonplace. TO accomplishes this. It combines the new, creative ideas of light-speed traveling and planet colonization with the age-old plots of "man waits for woman" and "Romeo and Juliet." The sci-fi puts a fresh new spin on the plots, and the plots make the sci-fi believable. It's a win-win-win combination: the sci-fi is improved, the plots are un-cliched, and the viewers are guaranteed a great show.
==[Cons]==
- The design of the Bazooka in Episode One. Honestly, that looks like a giant phallic symbol. It looked wrong the moment I saw it, and I couldn't unsee it.
- CG'd characters. The animation only slips up with the characters. Though normal people fidget and move around, most anime don't show that. CG is different - if you don't make a CG character move around, it looks eerily unnatural. However, TO goes overboard, making the characters move around TOO much.
- CG in general. A lot of people claim to be hand-drawn purists, but CG is in just about every anime (except for Miyazaki works). TO just takes it to the next level. I will admit that it took a while for me to get used to the CG, but it wasn't much of a problem after ten minutes or so.
- Physics. A lot of the stuff that happens doesn't follow the laws of physics. People can't change direction in space by swimming. You can't break through a window in a space station that easily.
==[Conclusion]==
I guess a lot of people must have dismissed this show as CG crap after watching one minute of it, or brainwashed mecha fans like more action with their sci-fi, because this show is clearly underrated. I suggest you look past the CG and see the true value of TO. You'll be glad you did.