When characters are done well in anime, you can usually describe what they're like even without much dialogue. You can picture Haruhi Suzumiya or Okabe Rinarou or Shinji Ikari in your head and imagine how they react to an event because there's a layer of quirks and an aspect of multidimensionality to the way they act. The perception of these parts are the product of a bunch of little scenes, often where the characters aren't saying much at all, where a combination of scene blocking and body language tells us something that runs contrary to the things they say aloud. Okabe and Haruhi may be loud and obnoxious, but these are balanced out by little moments where they work to make peace with the people around them, or display touches of vulnerability and kindness when people are looking in the other direction.
Granbelm... isn't capable of doing this, and the serious nature of the story was reliant on having characters we could connect to this way. Instead, whenever characters aren't showering us with technical exposition (there's a lot, and most of it isn't used) they're telling us their life story, and bashing us over the head with why X character has had a pathetic life. Even during its best attempt in Episode 11, the effect is ruined by lengthy Voice Overs and monologues. Characters are often one-note, and present us little variety beyond being neutral-genki or stoic or streaming mad, and then never really deviating from that. Mangetsu gets some deviation--two modes instead of just one--but in a cast of seven this isn't enough, particularly given the number of scenes where she is absent.
This makes it even more frustrating when we hit the action sequences. From an animation standpoint, these sequences are PHENOMENAL, and you can see the excellent hand-drawn detail and effort that went into this show. Unfortunately, the resulting battles ring hollow because without strong characters to form a proper foundation, I never felt like cheering for anyone, and the victories and defeats do not carry the weightiness of other 'serious magical girl' shows like Madoka Magica or Yuuki Yuuna.
In all, I'm happy that I finished this to get the full picture of what my problem with it was, but I don't see myself watching it again if offered, nor suggesting it to anyone else.
