Secondly, this is my first review. Figured I've got to try it out sometime.
Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica was, to sum it up in four words, downright disappointing but intriguing. This anime had a lot of potential, and might have been a wonderfully fulfilling anime if not for the plot and characters. Both were lacking majorly.
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Story (3):
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The plot in Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica skipped all over the place. It had no real direction. Characters, events, problems, and other details were sifted through like the director was going through a pile of useless toys, playing with one after the other. At the beginning of the anime, the story seems good. The main character, Phoron, is obviously the protagonist, and his companion, Corticarte, was a joy to watch. But by the end of the first episode they had already finished saving a random lady (who's voice was extremely annoying). They spent no time in forgetting about this incident. From there on ensued the never ending slew or random jobs that were thrown at them. The rest of the anime is composed of random "challenges" (I'm not even sure you can call them that) that either involve Phoron and Corticate or other supporting characters. The plot skips around; one moment you are looking at the past of Phoron, the next he is looking for a lost kitten. There was never a real "bad guy", or antagonist, in this series. Ever few episodes he changes. Akatsuki was a good antagonist for awhile, but in the end he was defeated by the fact that Phoron and Cortcarte knew more about his past than he did. In fact, all of the enemies in Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica were much too easygoing and easily defeated. The spirits on the protagonist's side were super powerful, but the viewer was never given an explanation as to how they got that way, or who they really were. The battle scenes were lacking in action. All the spirits seemed to have three actions: Deflect via invisible force field, shoot balls of light that were colored in correspondence to the spirit firing them, and wave attacks where the spirit sliced his/her hand in the air and sliced things. Despite only having three moves, the Corticate and the other spirits were portrayed as super-powerful beings.
On the good side, the idea of the anime was brilliant. Who would have thought of controlling super-powerful spirits with instruments would have been so cool?
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Art (5):
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I can't say much about the artwork. It wasn't brilliant, it wasn't bad. Mediocre. The action scenes were OK sometimes and flat out dull-looking sometimes. There are two blunders that made me give the art a five:
1) The instruments. As cool as controlling spirits with instruments sounds, the instruments themselves flat out sucked. Crazy neon glowing lights on top of a saxophone don't make it super-powerful. A motorcycle that turns out to be a tricked-out piano doesn't make the piano any more cool than a normal one would be. I think that if the Danists (the people who control the spirits) just used old-fashioned instruments the idea would have been much more likeable.
2) The playing of the instruments. No matter how many times you play that piano with your fingers in the exact same position as they were last time, different sounds shouldn't come out... (the playing was stiff, unrealistic, and dull. Phoron seemed to only have three or four finger positions when playing his piano)
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Sound (2):
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For being a musical anime, Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica failed miserably in the sound department. Pianos do not sing. Saxophones do not sing. Violins do not have drums. Every time Phoron played his piano, what sounds came out? Definatly not piano ones. That's right- his piano sang. And the songs were not even that great. Sure, they might've been good by themselves, but they didn't fit in this anime at all.
As for voice acting, Phoron and Corticate sounded great, actually. Everyone but the lady at the beginning and Perserte twins sounded good.
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Characters (3):
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There didn't seem to be much character developement throughout the anime. Although we found out about Phoron and Corticate and the other supporting characters, they themselves did not change. Their personalities were all OK, I guess. The Perserte twins were just there for show, though. They did not partake in any real action once, despite being prized members of the Tsuge Divine Music Player Office, while everyone else were out working their butts off.
The antagonists were lacking as well. Barely any depth. Hardly any developement.
Now, this anime is catagorized as a "romance". This is a grave misunderstanding. Although Phoron and Corticate love each other (it's obvious), it never goes anywhere. In fact, there is only a one episode in which Corticate and Phoron show their emotions for each other. Even then, Corticate just shows her love by finding a song for Phoron to play when he was feeling down. Then, of course, by that time he had already got over his problem, and all that Corticate did to help him went to waste. He never found out, and no romantic moments ever happened.
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Enjoyment (7):
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Despite all its faults, I found myself thinking about Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica. I was drawn to the anime episode after episode, even though each episode left me disappointed. I can't pin it down, but I enjoyed it pretty thoroughly. I would recommend watching it, despite the faults.
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Overall:
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Overall, I give Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica a 6. It wasn't THAT bad, in the end.
If you think you can get past the jumpy story, the OK fight scenes, weird and crazy instruments, horrible sound, and bland characters, you should watch this anime.
