The premise of the anime is as follows: two teenage boys appear out of nowhere, meet a bullied girl called Lisa, and get attached to her in the middle of setting bombs and broadcasting riddles about it. At first, their motivations are a mystery; it's revealed as the show progresses that their goal is not at all inspiring terror, or killing. By the end of the show the final conflict revealed is one of those bittersweet things, a could-have-been-happier-but-wasn't thing, and the story ends there.
In my opinion, the two biggest strengths are the presentation (sound and art), but more importantly the interactions shown between not only the main characters but the many supporting ones. No one character is overfocused on; what draws you in isn't the individual development of any one character but rather the realistic and believable interactions between them. The supporting characters you get a glimpse of feel like people, rather than plot devices; there is tension, and resolution, and a feeling of very human motivations behind their actions, even if said actions do serve to advance the plot and not much more.
The OP, as expected, was incredible. To the level you might not even feel like skipping the intro, especially since the anime is only 11 episodes long. So was the art; the backgrounds were beautiful, the animation didn't lack much, and the settings were just right to evoke emotion without being overly artistic in a way that distracts you from the quiet and down-to-earth feel of the whole anime.
The two lowest scored categories in this review were Story and Characters, with a 7 each; this is mostly because both are pretty simple--though, in my opinion, not at all cliche--and even if this might be refreshing, some people might want more development from both. While the story is complete, it has the feeling of a lot of questions left as is; from Lisa's mother's fate after Lisa leaves, to Shibazaki's original demotion, to the aftermath of the whole thing. Some people might want these questions answered; some people might be content as is, but given that they do exist, the story might fall short in this aspect. It also does require some suspension of disbelief; while the story progresses in a logical manner, a setting that includes atomic bombs and experimental super-intelligence-drugs is a small step away from realism, though it doesn't exactly feel forced, either.
Overall I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a well-paced and beautiful story with a refreshing premise and a bittersweet ending.
