STORY:
Children of the Whales is ridiculously angsty. I mean there is some heavy stuff that happens early on with a character death that we're SUPPOSED to care about *eye roll.* It's like nachos but there's only one tortilla chip submerged in a sea of cheese.
The story finally picks up around episode 7, but who really wants to wait that long? Not me usually...
To be honest, for a story centered around emotions it took too many episodes for me to feel anything.
On top of that, the slice-of-life element leaves a serious mood whiplash.
SN: WHY IN THE WORLD DO WE NEED AMPLE FOOTAGE OF A DUMB DANCE!?! She looked so stupid. (this will make sense to those that have watched it).
CHARACTERS:
The characters are really flat, and I couldn't stand Chakuro, the main character. He just seemed too cookie-cutter like many other anime male leads.
Ouni was my favorite though you could argue that he's a cardboard cut-out of an anti-hero. Still, I would've liked this show much better with him as the MC.
Lykos was boring. I've seen this character too many times. Nothing about her stands out.
ART/ANIMATION:
It was good. I think the style made some characters look a bit cutesy, but I liked it overall.
SOUND: (English Dub)
Music is forgettable.
Voice-acting was meh/average. I feel like some voices fit the characters well but they had no passion for dramatic scenes or they were too weak like Suou's.
OVERALL:
If you don't mind waiting a LONG TIME to pick up interest in a story, then you should try watching it. It was a real struggle for me to get past ep 2., but it's not the worst show. I thought Ouni was the gem of the show.
Still, I will watch a season 2.
