STORY
This anime reeks (in a good way) of a creepy, traditional Japanese horror story. Unfortunately it isn't the focus of the show. The story is in one aspect psychological and in the other... just a predictable murder mystery with a dab of sci-fi.
ART
It's designed by CLAMP so of course it's gorgeous! Downright pretty to look at times and mind bendingly creepy at others.
CHARACTER
I would call this anime a psychological thriller. Why? Well I don't want to give any spoilers. But the characters' messed up psyches are one of the things that really got me interested, made me want to finish the show. These are NOT normal people but at the same time if you didn't "see" inside their heads, you'd think it was just another normal mystery show about some Average Joe guys.
ENJOYMENT
Oy. This show reminds me of .hack//SIGN in that it has soooo much potential and falls a bit flat. Like .hack it's gorgeous and has great sound. But so little action and way too much talking about nothing. There are at least two episodes of some of the characters sitting around talking about what mouryou are. And it's like reading the dictionary. I literally fastforwarded through one episode to nearly the end and they were STILL talking about nothing. Even the characters mention how long winded it was getting. And the studio threw in some psychological shots of what the one eccentric char might be thinking about while being bored to tears by the others; sadly, it reminded me of the pathetic Stephenie Meyer biography comic book. And it still manages to be excruciatingly boring and goes nowhere. But I digress-- sorry for the rant. That's just one "arc". There are quite a few enjoyable aspects of the show, it's just difficult to walk into it expecting a fantastic horror/thriller and getting so much less than that.
