The set up of atmosphere in this series works very nicely. Right off the bat they begin throwing hints that not all is right in the town. The more you get into it, the more things seem a little off somehow. It really does make you wonder and make you curious to know just what is going on behind the scenes of this tiny little town.
The every day life bits serve to punctuate the uncertainty of the rest of the series. It's such a lovely, calm town and Saya's life is amazingly idealistic. This only serves to make the skeptics out there wonder why it is so idealistic and if that isn't perhaps hiding something - besides the Bairn, of course.
On the same hand however, compared to the more gripping action scenes? The every day life bits fall very flat, in my opinion. The dialogue is uninteresting, we're not really invested in the other characters Saya is friendly with and a lot of it comes off as just something cute to fill up screen time. It's not technically bad honestly and it does have it's funny moments. However these funny moments are ones we've seen over and over in other series.
In comparing this to Blood+, which has it's share of every day scenes and normal day to day things? Blood+ had the advantage that this normal stuff was a break from the intense action and drama that came on very quickly after the series began. Likewise, the characters Saya Otonashi befriended were decently developed. Some were more well-rounded than others but the characters we were expected to connect with and feel for were built up very well.
Who knows, I have a feeling this lack of characterization may prove an important point later on in the series. Or at least I *hope* it does, as that would make an interesting plot twist in my mind.
