Story: 7/10
There is politics and complicated webs of relationships between characters. Plus, there is undeniable appeal in following an underdog who, through suffering and circumstance, ends up attaining great power. Unfortunately, there's a lack of depth and emotional punchiness - it's too much wish fulfillment, evil is completely evil, good is completely good, there's no complexity in how the story plays out.
Art: 9/10
Fluid animation, amazing (!!) backgrounds. Inconsistencies - some jerkiness and unimaginative framing bring the score down.
Sound: 8/10
The soundtrack is beautiful, I love, love how they incorporated traditional chinese instruments to bring the world to life. But - the sound is occasionally used very heavy-handedly. Emotional moments that would have worked better with silence is instead embellished to death (like, please, we get the point). Similarly, the voice acting is stereotyped.
Character: 8/10
By themselves, the characters are great (especially the protag). Glaring weakness is - the characters don't grow and they vary from being "somewhat" to "highly" stereotyped. Again, good and evil is too clearly defined. It's disappointing to see side characters reduced to cannon-fodder to help the plot along.
Enjoyment: 7/10
The characters sorely need more depth to them. I didn't enjoy this despite the lovely art + music, because my personal enjoyment hinges on great character stories, and I felt this was lacking in MDZS (particularly comparing the animation to the novel).
Overall: 7.5/10
I can't, in good conscience, give this more than an 8 given how skillfully comparable scorers have handled their own themes. On a superficial level, this is very good. But if you want something a bit more insightful, a bit more artistic, a solid 9 or 10, I'm afraid you won't find it here.
