This anime is fantastic, but not for everyone. There's honestly very few a̶n̶i̶m̶e̶s̶ sources of entertainment that'll give you the same atmosphere/feeling as SSR, the best way i can describe it is a calming feel of despair.
Layers
SSR isn't a surface level show. It's pretty obvious from the beginning that it's written in a way to encourage the audience to think along with it. The characters and settings are used as a medium to raise up difficult/controversial topics such as life, religion, death and war. SSR is
not subtle with being philosophical and artsy. It happens rarely, but at times the show sacrifices proper dialog flow to bring up these topics. Many details/clues of the world/setting are shown and not explicitly told and i've missed quite a few of them without help from the comment sections. Still, I strongly suggest watching every episode blind before reading comments. If you're wanting a straight forward plot with a typical anime arc then this is the wrong place to look.
Characters
I went into this show with the question "How can you possibly fill 20+ minutes of content for 12 episodes with just two characters?" and i'm quite satisfied with the answer. The two main characters compliment each other so well that they can rival any iconic duo. Chi and Yui felt like a mixture of Calvin and Hobbs + George and Lennie; something very cartoon-like and innocent mixed with pity and reality. The heavy topics explored in the show are all presented through the insightful, different and childlike worldviews of Chi and Yui.
Art and Sound
This anime is beautiful. It's got an unique cartoon-ish art-style for its characters that sets it apart from your typical anime. The backgrounds and surroundings are especially well-done. I felt that the lighting and color scheme was brilliant and tailored especially to this show. The sound effects are top notch and the BGM is memorable and fits the show well. I normally skip Ops and tune out before the Ed even begins but I simply couldn't do the same for SSR. Both Op and Ed are unskippable once it starts, i tried once but felt so guilty afterwards that i went back and listened to it twice. VAs fit their roles and gave a great performance for their respective characters.
I'm not saying you have to be Einstein to enjoy this show but know that it's not meant to be sat through mindlessly. The slice of life tag is both prominent and misleading as SSR is vastly different than most shows sharing this tag. Keep in mind that "slice of life" is very much dependent on who's life it is and what world they're in. SSR does ultimately bring about that "slice of life" feel but through very different means. This anime does NOT have any significant amount of comedic moments and it does NOT have any shots that's meant for fan-service. In fact, this principle applies in varying degrees to the other three tags (adventure, sci-fi, mystery) as well. Ultimately if you want to experience what i considered to be one of the more unique animes out there, then give Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou a shot and it's not likely to disappoint.
