*This review contains spoilers*
Story :
FRANKly speaking, it was quite good in the first arc, as in that it actually made sense for how the story was going. The show had an actual depth to its story, the world building and such. We were curious as in how did the world became that disastrous, why did the klaxasours invaded earth, or who are the mysterious 'papa' and why aren't there adults etc. It had a lot going for it, especially the characters, their story was actually properly laid out, given proper explanation for each and everyone of them. It was great, until episode 18 and onwards. They spent way too much time dealing with sub plots, they didnt have time to develop for the major plot twist in episode 20, which ultimately lead to utter disappointment, very VERY DISAPPOINTING in fact. Ever since episode 20, everything felt rushed, nothing makes any more sense at that point, nothing from previous episodes lead to that major plot twist, pacing was bad, everything was just poorly written. Another thing that originally was going for DITF was that how they developed the characters, the hints behind every slight twist for the characters in the story was actually quite rewarding once u find out, for example how innocent the characters was, the fact that they didnt knew what was love and how they eventually learned about it. It was quite fascinating, but gradually it just seemed like a plot to push the story forward, instead of actually being something interesting. I was really hoping that they wouldve kept doing what they was doing in the first arc, but it didnt, and the story eventually just crumbled.
6/10
Character :
This was a HUGE thing going for the series, why? Because they actually gave proper back story for every character, they had episodes dedicated for them so that even the side cast was properly developed. Yet again, after episode 18 (and onwards), it just became pure garbage. The motives behind every character became unclear, it seemed like every character was clueless as what they were doing, and do they expect us audience to understand them when themselves dont even? Every character from the first arc was ACTUALLY like-able, from how they were actually kids to how they resolved the conflicts between themselves are mesmerizing, it was good. But after that everyone seems to be irritating, the overused recap scenes of Zero Two and Hiro, love triangles, everlasting arguing of the casts, it was just poorly scripted. If anything, if they had made the series less of a story of human fighting against their fate and actually trying their best to survive and eventually developing their emotions, it wouldveDEFINITELY been much better than what it had become.
6.5/10
Sound :
Soundtrack on the other hand is pretty much the exact opposite from the others, at the first arc is was just 'meh', and on the 2nd arc and final arc it became substantially better, the ost became something memorable, not something that just fits into the background. Opening was decent, there were 6 different endings and all of them were very good, no complaints here. Voice acting overall is very good, seeing as some cast are still quite new at voice acting, they really made the characters sounded ever so lively, something worth praising.
8.5/10
Art :
When Trigger did the first 15 or so episodes of animating, it was nothing less from a studio known for making things vivid, smooth. Fight scenes were astonishingly good, the use of different angles and perspectives made the fight look much more intense, and the motions were on point. But what really TRIGGERed me was the part after Trigger's, A-1. A-1 really never seem to learn, from the front, everything seems okay, but if look ever so closer to the details in the back, it really falls behind, even actions scenes look so much more choppy, so unrefined, just plain bad, but hey I mean, its A-1, what do u expect?
9/10 (Trigger), 6/10 (A-1)
Enjoyment/ Overall :
I still enjoyed the show, since I was actually emotionally invested to the characters. Would I recommend this show to anyone looking into it? By all means sure, go ahead and watch a few episodes of it, people might actually like it, as Ive seen people being fine with most part of the show including the major twist. But is it worth while for someone that is seriously looking into a good show having high expectations? No, don't. You should probably stay away from this, if anything, Evangelion might suit u better if u havent watched it, or even Gurren Lagann. To conclude this show, again, as aforementioned, it had the potentials, it had a lot going for it, before it was premiered there was so much hype surrounding it, the show delivered for the majority of the first arc, but crumbled into pieces since then. Its quite surprising on how the people behind the show managed to mess up so badly, and its just a disgrace for us who were willingly giving so much support for the show. If anything, I really wanted this to be my favourite show, just too bad it turned out like this.
6.5/10
