Preliminary Note:
A few things before I actually get into this review.
1st. I actually got into this anime via Galneryus, one of my favorite J-Metal bands.
2nd. This is based on the second time I watch this anime. When I originally saw this anime, I thought it was the best thing ever. However, I stopped watching it after Mario and Inc. got revenge because I felt like it ended there. Trust me, it did. Anyways, onto the actual review.
Thesis:
Rainbow is somewhat of an overrated AND underrated anime. The anime definitely evolved my taste in anime, but looking back on it, it's definitely not as good as I originally thought it was. Though having a few gems, I feel that the anime was incredibly weak in some spots.
Story - 5/10
In short, the story is good after a certain point until they kill a character in which it goes down from then. SPOILERS ahead.
The 1st half of the anime had a pretty good story in my opinion. To keep things terse, 7 kids in a post-war detention center learn to get along so they can escape it. Their two main enemies are one of the prison guards, Ishihara, and the prison nurse/pedophile whose name I forgot.
3 of them eventually make it out. However, the story reaches the climax when Sakuragi dies to Ishihara and the nurse. Sakuragi is sort of the "big brother" character to the rest of the 5 kids. After he dies, the rest of the 5 plan for revenge on the two, in which they get. If the anime ended there and right there, it would've been higher for the story.
But it didn't. The second half of the story switches from a story about breaking out of a detention facility and bromance into a sort of edgy slice of life... and bromance. It's cool and all, but it wasn't what I signed up for. I feel the story feel incredibly flat, and it was sort of hard to keep interest after a while.
Art - 6/10
The art can be good in some parts, but I felt like the art overall was meh. I felt if it was much more animated than a few still frames in some places (such as the fire scene), it definitely would've been a bit more investing.
Sound - 8/10
Going back to my prelim, the reason I watched this was for Galneryus. I also got some other magnificent gems such as Dear Night Rainbow. The music was definitely a plus.
Character - 6/10
The only 7 characters with any actual depth into them are the 7 main characters. Ishihara and the nurse guy are just villains solely to be villains, and everyone else is just sort of stale in my opinion. And even then, the main characters can be stale at some parts.
Enjoyment - 5/10
During my second watch of this, it was sort of hard for me to accept it wasn't what I originally made it out to be- a masterpiece. Perhaps since I watched a whole bunch of other prestigious anime such as JoJo's and FMA:B, when I come back to this, it does give me nostalgia, but my improved tastes had made me more critical of it than I originally was.
Final Score = 6/10 (+1 for Nostalgia)
Is it a good anime? No. Is it bad? No. It's flawed at some parts and shines at others, but it evens out to make it just an okay anime. If you're relatively new to anime (or I think you just have a shit taste), I might recommended this to you. It's better than most. However, if you have a developed taste in anime, I'd suggest giving this one a pass.
