At a glance it looks like it should be an amazing, melancholic story with gothic overtones. And it looks like the components are there - nice music, mystic stories, england in early 20th century.... except for some reason it doesn't work. At all. I finished the whole series and felt literally nothing. The events happen, sometimes they're clearly supposed to be dramatic, dark or fantastic, but they fail to deliver any impact properly. And I don't know why.
Detailed breakdown below:
Story: 5/10:
The story follows basic premise of finding and dealing with "forbidden books" which contain some secret knowledge which grant people strange abilities. Usually there's a caveat involved. In a sense, it is somewhat similar to Mushishi except that instead of Mushi there are books. Most of the anime fail to follow any single theme, and the middle of it could've been watched in any order. The disappointing thing is... sometimes some possibly important events just... end. No conclusion. As if they wanted to pursue some story, but at the last moment decided "nah, we're done. " and wrapped it up quickly. This happens very often. They introduce some adversary, some sort of new book, and end the story at an inconclusive note, just pretty much declaring that the spisode is over. You see at the ending and see that there's a room for some sort of followup, or possible plot twist, or for some sort of continuation.... but it never happens. They just drop storylines without concluding them and never talk about the stories again. It is incredibly weird.
Art: 6/10:
Well, few backgrounds look like they're processed photos. I'm not sure if they are actually processed photos, but they still kinda stand out and do not really match the art style of characters. On occasion there are art shifts, and in some of those occasions visuals look worse. I would say it is above average art, even though the characters could use a bit more detail.
Sound: 7/10:
The ending theme is quite good, even though it is no "Lilium". There is nice melancholic music throughout the anime, but the thing is it somehow isn't harmonious with the actual story. This is the case where the music might be better than anime itself.
Characters: 5/10:
Everybody is odd and everything characters do is done half-heartedly. Dantalian herself, on occasion tries to act "cute" (not sure how to better put it), but it honestly looks forced and ab it out of place. Something is seriously wrong with acting in those series, although I'm not sure what exactly, and can't put my finger on it. I did like (at least, a bit) a certain character in a certain jacked which arrived only for a few episodes.... but that's about it.
Enjoyment: 5/10:
I pretty much felt nothing while watching it. Wasn't impresed/fascinated with it, but also didn't hate. I suppose it means the title is okay?
Overall: 5/10:
It is really, really, really, odd. There are many bits and pieces in this anime which suggest it was meant to be something astonishingly amazing. However, the pieces never play well together, so the amazing miracle doesn't happen. It is clearly supposed to be a drama, horror, horror, mystery... instead it looks like not very interesting slice of life movie. The conclusion doesn't help either. The beautiful ending theme hints at something dark, but the rest of the material doesn't deliver on the promise. Or something.
So, I can't really recommend it. You could check first few episodes, maybe?
