The anime is split into two story arcs with the first being the better one out of the two. In the arc, Kotarou learns a lot about the girls during their club activities. At times he is also attacked by mysterious creatures forcing him to use his abilities to survive. The overall story of the arc is interesting and later takes a lot of unexpected turns. At times however, the plot can seem a bit rushed and may leave the viewer with a lot of questions.
The second arc mostly follows the ribbon girl, Kagari, as Kotarou learns more about who she is and why she’s following him. Although the arc starts out pretty well, in the end it turns into a rushed mess with the anime trying to explain all the questions raised earlier in a way too short span of time. It also does constant twists that are all done in such a short amount time they only end up confusing the viewer. The ending feels like it was intended to be the something amazing but the writers simply didn’t have the time or the talent to execute it properly. In the end it turns out to be nothing but random events and twists happening constantly with the viewer having barely any idea of what’s going on.
The interactions between the characters were the best parts about the show for me. One of the most enjoyable things about the first arc was watching Kotarou and the girls living their school lives and doing Occult Club activities. Also, the first half of the second arc, which heavily features both Kagari and Kotarou, was the best part about the otherwise lackluster arc for me.
Kotarou is very different from the characters in other Key series. He doesn’t have the personality of the typical harem protagonist, making him one of the most unique main characters in a Key anime. Kagari starts out as an emotionless character but later on goes through a change and learns about the positive aspects of humans. The girls in the Occult Club are also very interesting characters. At first, they seem to be there just to create the harem setting most Key series are known for, but throughout the anime it’s revealed that there’s more to them than meets the eye. Some of the girls also have interesting backstories. While they help flesh out their characters, they end up feeling a bit too rushed to have any kind of emotional impact present in other Key anime. The show also feels way too short for the amount of characters in it which leads to a lot of the side characters not getting nearly enough screen time.
I have some mixed feelings about the animation. The 2D animation for the most part is decent but can dip a lot in quality in certain scenes. There are still certain moments in the series such as the first ending theme that I feel are really well done. The 3D animation is definitely one of the weakest points in the series. It can be very low quality and feel out of place in a lot of the scenes that use it. Even the frame rate in some of the 3D scenes is very low, which should be unacceptable for a pre-rendered scene.
The soundtrack is really good which is to be expected from a Key series. It fits the overall theme of the show really well and does a good job supporting a lot of the scenes. I also liked the opening and ending themes as well as the voice actors of the show. One of the noteworthy performances to me was Hanazawa Kana voicing Kagari as I felt like she did a good job portraying the curious nature of this mysterious ribbon girl as she learns about the daily lives of other people.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about Rewrite. The show has its moments but ends up being way too rushed. It has a lot of potential with the story and the characters being interesting but suffers from poor execution. The anime felt like it was way too short to properly tell its story and flesh out all the characters. I’d recommend skipping it unless you’re a big Key Studios fan.
