The strongest strength that Strange Dawn has to offer up is the surprising depth it offers up with exploring its world and characters. The series believably explores the hostilities that take place between the kingdoms and isn't afraid to kill off its tiny characters with serious injuries and blood being on prominent display at a number of points in the series. A number of major characters within this world also get their focus to explore how the war's toll is affecting them with characters like Shall and Levian trying to do what they can to attempt to bring peace for their groups, while others like Dall are willing to manipulate others for their personal gain and are not afraid to sacrifice others if it ensures them power and status of some sort. There is also some subtlety that the series offers up in exploring the customs related to the tiny people in this series, a main one being the use of footwear symbolizing the closeness of relationships and social norms established within their culture.
Praises aside, Strange Dawn is not without its imperfections. The beginning and ending for the series come about rather suddenly with how Eri and Yuko wind up in the parallel world, as well as the resolution to the series that kind of feels like a deus ex machina with how things were progressing. The first half of the series can be a bit slow for some at moving things along as this is mostly used to focus on major characters and exploring the world Strange Dawn offers up.
In addition, Eri and Yuko seemed mostly worthless with their addition to the series. While Strange Dawn does believably explore the inconveniences both have from being whisked to another world such as lack of access to electronics or a toilet, they seem to mostly exist as observers of the show's events and contribute little to the series since they either largely go along with the direction of others in the case of Eri or being selfish and largely caring for their own needs as Yuko goes through.
Still in spite of its faults, Strange Dawn is still a surprisingly solid and mature children's anime that explores the hostilities of war faced among its inhabitants and the toll it can take on them. It is at least worth checking out once so you can get a feel for what the series offers up with its surprisingly mature storytelling.
