Pros:
Comparing it to the movie, all i can say was is that it's less dark. No elements of loneliness, desperation, or sadness significantly appeared in this series apart from that one minute of it as compared to the 30 or so minutes put into highlighting the desperation of "Not finding a hospital when your master is sick". It's slightly different and I think while it's not true to the story, it at least suits the more light hearted themes of the visual novels. Unfortunately I can't credit that a lot since I have to really oversee a lot.
The audio is rather nice to listen to. Quite spacious with an average sense of where the sounds come from. It's a touch warm, and I never felt the need to turn down the volume because someone's voice sounds shrilly.
The eyes of every character looks very nice and decently designed.
Mehs:
The artwork to my surprise was different. I complained about the edgy lines and jagged frame rate of the movie and this totally fixed it. Lines are nice and smooth and easy to watch while things are a lot smoother to my eyes now. The issue comes in at the sacrifice. Everything looks super simplistic. Kinda like slapping beauty mode. There's not a lot of detail in anything really. So while it doesn't offend my eyes, it doesn't help its case either.
Characters are generally inoffensive but bland. They are very likeable especially if you like me, already played the visual novel so you don't have to worry about one of the cats getting on your nerves. Issue being that they are extremely simplistic and one dimensional. They are as bland as it can get.
Cons:
Artwork while being extremely bland, the bigger offender is the inconsistency. I noted that around 9 minutes or so when Coconut, Azuki and Maple were sitting on the wooden floor, you can note that their bodies are way off proportions. Asked a few friends and they also knew what i meant. Coconut's head for the past 15 seconds look way too big for her extremely small body. Like botched photoshop.
How to improve your experience with this anime:
Firstly, put more attention into their eyes rather than their entire body and maybe you might not be as critical about the proportion issue. Secondly, constantly telling yourself every 5 minutes that the visual novel is a lot better. It helps. Thirdly, watch the movie, it may make the blandness a bit more tolerant.
Conclusion:
I think that if i were to describe this and the movie in one word, it would be "unjustified".
I would understand if the story didn't have enough time to elaborate and so on yes. But the issue is that everything from the story, artwork, sound, character development etc, all felt like they are lacking so much that it didn't do the visual novel any justice.
The visual novel has a much better and more developed story, way better color and art style, better quality sound and much better character development. It didn't make any sense that the difference between this and the visual novel is like heaven and the taco bell bathroom. The anime in itself isn't bad, but it certainly wasn't good enough to warrant its existence. It felt cheap.
Maybe next time. Maybe.
