Story: 6
The story followed an extremely basic formula to me, on multiple levels. Firstly, although there are several romances budding over the course of the show, each of them are founded on typical stereotypes and cliches of the genre, such as tsundere type development or misunderstand feelings. You know, the good ol' stuff. I will admit that there were a few times that I was surprised at the direction the story *seemed* to be taking, but it was like each major plot point was an after-thought in getting the story where the creators wanted it to end up. I'm hesitant to go into detail for those of you who are genuinely interested in a watch-through, but I do want to say that some of the more prominent plot points appeared forced and ultimately of little significance to the overall story (which can honestly be said for some of the characters as well). I suppose some aspects of the story just seemed rushed, but I don't hold that too heavily against it, as I haven't read the manga and can't speak on if the pace of the anime adaption was solely due to something like time constraint or budget restrictions. All of that being said, despite the progression of the tale seeming a bit off and it being nothing out of the ordinary, by romance standards it is a solid story that offers its fair share of sappy moments (and having come for that, it was pretty enjoyable).
Art: 7
Again, nothing special, but definitely crisp and appealing. My biggest complaint was the frequent (and noticeable, in my opinion) re-use of animation in certain scenes. What made it a little less tolerable was that the bad habit got even more common toward the end, making it difficult for me to take some of the later climactic scenes as seriously as I would have liked to. This is just a pet-peeve of mine, but even so, it wasn't unbearable. I was still able to enjoy the art and the events that were unfolding throughout the series despite that apparent laziness in animation; all in all, the art was one of the highlights of the show, as it remained consistently well done.
Sound: 6.5
The opening was one of my favorite parts about the show, not because it was anything out of the ordinary but because it still did a good job of hyping up the show, which I believe is the most important thing for an intro to do, whether it have the goal of making people feel mellow, restless, pumped up, etc--as long as it represents the anime and gets the viewer invested in some way, I think it's fulfilled its purpose. Moon Signal definitely did that for Otome Youkai Zakuro. The endings were also very enjoyable, and I liked the way they didn't seem to play in a specific order so you never knew which of the three you would be hearing once the episode came to an end. For a short anime with only one intro, it was a nice touch. Now, the actual soundtrack during the show was what I found to be a bit lackluster. There were not many choices in the melody or sound effects you could expect to hear, but the ones that were present were at least decent. I don't necessarily have any complain except for the lack of variety! Overall, the sound was solid!
Characters: 6.5
The characters were about as basic as the story, but likewise, it was enjoyable to follow their development and personal plots. Most of the cast is rather one-dimensional, and even the individuals who aren't don't have extreme complexity or depth to their profiles; however, each of the main characters fulfill their roles well and are at least somewhat interesting/entertaining in their own ways. I honestly don't have too much to say about them, bad or good, except for that they are pleasant to follow despite abiding by the same stereotypes and cliches of the story.
Enjoyment: 6.5
I know I have used the rating of 6.5 a lot, but to me, that just reflects how I felt about this anime overall. I got enjoyment out of it by watching it one time through, but I don't see myself coming back to it because once the end is reached, it doesn't seem to me like the kind of series that was still have enough substance for me to watch it back over.
Overall: 6.5
To sum things up, did I like Otome Youkai Zakuro? For sure. Do I think it's anything special? As you've probably gotten by now, no. I believe it had a lot of promise that it never really added up to, but at the same time, the series got its point across well enough for me to have fun watching it. I would definitely recommend it for anyone looking to relax with a solid romance anime that delivers what it should (although not much more), but if you're looking for something more that has a similar story archetype, well... Inuyasha is still where it's at!
