CHARACTERS: 3/10
While many of the characters are likeable, almost all of them are flat and uninteresting, including the protagonist, Jean.
The most interesting characters in the story are Jean's best friend Nino and one of the five chief officers of ACCA, Lilium. These are the two characters with the most thought put into their backstories and intentions.
Jean himself is the most boring character in the show. He doesn't seem to have any goals or ambitions. He doesn't seem to have any drive or emotion. He's completely deadpan the entire time, at most cracking a smirk or raising an eyebrow.
STORY: 6/10
Do not be fooled: this is not an anime filled with political intrigue like all of the descriptions say. This is an anime about baked goods and cigarettes and I can't explain that any further without veering into spoilers.
The first seven episodes each spend time setting up dominoes only to knock them down the very same episode and then never address them again. If you only watch the first three episodes of the series, I will tell you now that you will never again hear of the serial arson plotline even though it goes completely unresolved. The same happens for every single interesting plot point that gets put forward. You spend 18 minutes excited to see how things all come together, then in the last 3 minutes before the end credits, Jean stumbles through, everything falls apart, no consequences are felt, and nothing changes. This is the cycle until Episode 8, when things finally pick up.
The plot twist at the end of Episode 7 is where things get really interesting, even if you picked up on all the hints and saw it coming. Unfortunately, Episodes 8-11 are the only episodes worth watching, as Episode 12 completely shirks all of the buildup from the previous episodes and tries to tie everything up in a neat little bow. It's rushed. It makes no sense. Nothing gets resolved. Almost nothing is different from the beginning of the series from the end.
The score is 6/10 exclusively because Episodes 8-11 are excellent. Episodes 1-7 and 12 are a boring slog that focuses too much of their time in bakeries and not enough time addressing any of the actual issues Jean is meant to be investigating. If I were to give a score based on those episodes alone, I would give this section a 1/10.
SOUND: 7/10:
ACCA's soundtrack isn't bad. You get some funky beats here and there, which can be fun if you're listening for them; otherwise, the music seems to fade too far into the background to notice. The OP track is a blast, and the ED is very pretty. The voice acting in the series is good, but nothing particularly notable.
ART: 8/10
The only reason that I didn't score the art for ACCA a perfect 10 is because there are some clear corners that were cut in order to afford to make it as beautiful as it is. The show is almost like a painting come to life. The colours and linework are brilliant, and the lighting is always perfect. There are so many gorgeous shots littered throughout this anime, it's a wonder anyone manages to talk about anything else when it comes to this show. Annoyingly, most of the budget shows in the final episode, where every other shot shows characters without faces, even in close-up shots.
It pains me to score such a beautiful anime so low, but aesthetic is all ACCA brings to the table.
