If you cannot see past this art style, you are ignoring what QUALITY really is. The story development and character arcs reach the single point of god, the artstyle isn't even BAD, it creates the definition of story. Would you even take this anime seriously if the artstyle had all of the characters look like moe loli? i don't think so
It BAFFLES me this anime, it reaches character development deeper than the pits of the universe in 11 episodes. Something that isn't even PARALLELED in any mainstream anime within THOUSANDS of episodes. The artstyle isn't flashy like jojo, which in itself is a extremely well crafted style. It's use of realism and subtle color changes puts itself equal to jojo's artstyle but vastly different.
Honestly this artstyle is refreshing; it doesn't follow the same "industrial" stereotypical overtly sexual obsessive bs. I could speak miles about the extreme sexualization of anime and how it constantly churns the same story over and over again, but that takes away from this anime.
Every match they have, they use these stories to convey the emotional weight both characters are carrying into their match, no one is truely evil in this anime; they all have their stories and they are all human; we can empathize with every single players story and we want both of them to win. But the out come of each match only allows one person to win. These GOD DAMN STORIES convey SO MUCH MORE than a simple "hit ball with paddle game", all of the characters PROGRESS with their life. They get BETTER at the game, they LEARN life LESSONS.
TL:DR
This review has slowly turned into a rant, so I'm going to end with this, when is the last time; that all of the characters had STORIES to their persona; when was the last time that they PROGRESSED in life; When's the last time they LEARN LIFE LESSONS.
