If you are going to like this anime you will know by episode one, Van is a hilarious character, simply because in a world surrounded by crazy people he is pretty much the calmest one of them all, because he pretty much knows he will win. Whenever he pulls out that belt sword and brings down Dan you know its about to get good real quick. Wendy is an amazing companion character, being literally a complete opposite of Van, but the two cope with each others quirks and get along. Carmen99 might not be around, and mostly shows up to advance the plot, but she brings a good form of humor by showing that Van still has points where he isnt the best. Ray is simply one of the coolest characters to ever come out of anime, his mech is amazing, and he stands to show how serious the whole show really is as he never really jokes around like everyone else.
I think one of the biggest draws to this anime is Vans determination to achieve his goal. He gets mad when he loses his chance to face the man with the claw, and he takes down whatever stands in his way to get to him. But also, Van is still human, and he does get hurt, and has to rely on Wendy at some points to get through situations.
The Man with the Claw is a depiction of what an anime villain should be. A character that isn't really evil by any means, but just has his own goals that conflict with the world view. He is a calm person, there isn't a single moment that he gets angry, seeing every situation against him as a chance to grow, and every time his plans go wrong he reflects on that event and grows himself. Him and Van make a perfect Hero vs. Villain situation because of how opposite of each other they are. Van is determined to kill the man with the Claw, while he just wants to love everyone in the world.
The villains in this anime are simply amazing. All the minor people in the beginning show how the world has changed from what type of society we are used to, then the main group on mech riders steps in and the whole world just turns upside down, you don't know if Van is really in the right anymore.
The only character i really dislike is Fasalina, she just goes against everything this anime wants to be.
The setting of this anime is also great. When it first starts out its shown as a desert world, kinda like the world Trigun made, but then it changes, there is entire cities and oceans and forests and ruins and all sorts of changes in the environment you don't expect, and all to find out later what the real point of the planet itself is and it just blows you away.
Plus every Mech is different in this anime, but each is so different that they are all kind of equal because they can all do something that the other can't. There is never one truly superior mech, everything has a weakness to exploit, even the super mechs the main villains use (this kinda sounds like what Aldnoah Zero did but its better because its not all based on some super smart kid making all the moves).
There also is not a single boring episode, I remember each and every single episode of this anime, mostly because of how unique every one of them are. The show goes from forcing Van to conform to dress attire for a formal event on a Zeppelin to Bokimi (Which is a shameless fan-service episode for the sake of fan-service, and brings a moment of humor to conflict with the progression of the anime thus far).
I think that anyone that thinks this anime is bad doesn't see past the main plot. Its about a guy riding a mech in the future trying to get revenge, nothing really original, but if you look at what the anime does with that plot, and the characters it uses to make it happen, it becomes something completely new. Every character is like a different condiment, you need them all to make something be good :)
