I'll be breaking my review down starting with what the anime did best and moving towards what it needed to do better.
Sound - 10
The soundtrack/sound in general is, without a doubt, the main reason to watch this anime. One decision that you will either love or hate is that professional singers do the singing in English instead of the voice actors. While it might slightly break the immersion, the songs sound unbelievable. There is a nice mix of all kinds of genres: from Carole & Tuesday's soulful and delicate singing, to Ertegun's EDM, to Ezekiel's rapping, to even opera at one point. There was not a single song throughout the series that I did not enjoy. That being said, the heart and soul of this anime is the song "Loneliest Girl" which gets teased in the first episode and fully sung a bit further into the series. The first time I heard Loneliest Girl I was in actual awe and I got goosebumps from how phenomenal it sounded. Great anime makes you feel something when you watch and listen to it, and listening and watching the performances of that song made me feel like I was watching a masterpiece. This anime is up there with Your Lie in April and Cowboy Bebop for the only anime I would give a 10 to on sound.
Art - 10
The other element that was perfect about Carole & Tuesday was the art/animation. In my opinion, an anime has truly amazing art when it is both aesthetically pleasing and has a unique touch that gives the anime a distinct style. Carole & Tuesday's artists and animators knocked this out of the park. I love the design of the characters, and the design of the world is even better. Set in a futuristic city on Mars, the gorgeous detail placed into every scene is stunning. The best examples of the unique art style and fantastic animation comes in the two opening themes as well as in the instruments used throughout the show. Another nice touch in the style of the anime was naming each episode after a famous song and presenting episode titles on record disks. Many minor decisions like this make give the show a lot of character, and adds further uniqueness to Carole & Tuesday. After watching a single episode you'll be able to see why I gave the art a perfect score, this is legitimately one of the best-looking anime I've ever watched.
Character - 8
This is where Carole & Tuesday takes a small step down in its basic elements. While I think that a few characters get wonderful development, very few side characters give you a reason to really care about them.
I think Carole and Tuesday are both interesting, likable, and have faults that make them relatable. Their backstories got a fair amount of attention and their friendship matures with the two of them as the guiding narrative of the anime. Angela also gets some excellent character development. Without spoiling anything, she goes from being a selfish pop star who reluctantly does what her mom (dad?) tells her to finding meaning and independence only after battling loss, drug addiction, and insecurities. Side characters like Gus, Ertegun, Flora, and Desmond also get interesting looks into their backstories and what drives them. There are a whole bunch of characters, however, who's actions and personality really only exist to drive the story along. Dann, Tobe, Jerry, Kyle and Tao all could be very interesting but they come off as 2-dimensional as their motives and background are either not explored or given a short/shoddy explanation. Some characters, such as every contestant on Mars Brightest, was flat out unlikable, especially Pyotr who is cringey at best. That being said, how good an anime's characters are is judged mostly on the main cast, in which case Carole & Tuesday pass with flying colors with help from the aforementioned side characters who did get a fully developed look into their character.
Story - 6
This is where Carole & Tuesday really goes from being a candidate for anime of the year to a must-watch seasonal anime that has its issues. The story is good, but certainly not great. I attribute this lack of excellence to a sub-par finale. The story of Carole & Tuesday's ascent to fame starts off very interesting, but gets a bit "reality show-esque" halfway through as the story focuses on the duo's competition in Mars' Brightest (basically American Idol). Weirdly enough, this arc of the story is where I feel the anime's true climax happens. After that, the show gets political with views of immigrants from Earth as a topic of elections clearly meant to mimic real world views on immigrants. Angela's life also takes a dark turn. All kinds of political incidents like forced deportation and bombing occur, and everything is clearly building up to this big action put on by Carole & Tuesday that's going to really make a difference in the political direction Mars is heading. In reality, the action doesn't really mean much or accomplish anything and seems more of a "the power of music" trope. All of this combined with some weird love interests from numerous stalkers, a journalist, and even a kind of strange relationship between Angela and Tao leads to a choppy storyline. The story receives a 6 instead of lower due to being generally very enjoyable and an impressive integration of seemingly one off-episodes into the main storyline which is Carole & Tuesday inspiring others in their life through music.
Overall - 8.5 (but I couldn't pick that option so 8)
While my enjoyment was for the show was a 9, my actual rating when taking valid complaints into account was an 8. Therefore, I think an 8.5 overall is the rating I feel most comfortable with.
The bottom line is this show is a visual and auditory masterpiece with certain faults in the story. Going by which shows this season got the most attention, this anime is criminally underrated and a true MUST WATCH in my opinion.
