STORY: 6
The story is probably the most polarizing aspect of the show for me, and thus it would be easiest for me to explain this by breaking it down into two sections. The first section encompasses episodes 1-8, and the second 9-12.
Episodes 1-8: Overall, I was unimpressed by episodes 1-8 by storytelling standards. These episodes do minimal backstory and worldbuilding, and tell the story of four pairs of dead people. The episodes failed to intrigue me and most of them were basic rather predictable. In addition, most of the action in these episodes was based on false tension, as the characters stake their lives on the game, but they are already dead. The characters themselves could be interesting case studies but are too predictable to be worth the effort. I found this first section to be repetitive of the story and only really showcases the abilities of Decim and his bar. To be honest, they could have easily squeezed these 8 episodes into 5 due to the repetitive nature of the judging process. Rating episodes 1-8, I would give it somewhere between a 4 and a 5, though leaning more towards a 4.
Episodes 9-12: Coming into episode 9, I was ready to drop this anime for the reasons explained above, but luckily episode 9 was a turning point in this anime. (okay, I wasn't actually gonna drop it. It was so spectacularly boring up to this point that I had to finish it to see where it ended). From episode 9 on, I'd characterize the story as...meta. I enjoyed the last 4 episodes quite a bit and was left wondering why it took so long to get to this point. From here on, basic philosophical questions were posed and answered, which is not usually my cup of tea when it comes to anime, but it was cute and not a bad thing to think about. The characters became more emotional and showed more motive and purpose, which I liked as opposed to the first 8 episodes. Story wise, it was much more enjoyable than the first 2/3rds. I'd rate this section between 7 and 8, though closer to an 8. Theres also a bit of OTP romance thrown in at the end which I am a bit of a sucker for.
Overall, given these two sections I rate the story at a 6. I think episodes 9-12 are fantastic even if they do pose the most basic of philosophical questions, but episodes 1-8 in my opinion were tedious to get through. I think that if you haven't pondered these philosophical questions before, then the anime overall could be more intriguing with it's story and meta-story, but for me it failed to challenge any of my beliefs in any meaningful way. Because of this, along with a dull 8 initial episodes, I cannot rate this story overall at more than a 6.
ART:8
From an unbiased point of view, the art is fantastic. The lines are crisp, animation is smooth, and every episode is consistent. The colors and backdrop are well done and the color palette they chose matched perfectly with the theme of the meta story and the elements of the storyline. The cinematography wasn't the best but it was definitely good enough. I did point out that this is from a more unbiased view, and that is because the character design and art style are not exactly what I like personally, but as it is the art of the show, I'll try not to let that overshadow the obvious effort that went into it. I rate it at an 8, simply because it did not exactly blow me away for it to be 9, and 10s for me are reserved pretty much only for Ufotable stuff. So 8, very respectable score from me.
SOUND: 8
OP and ED are great. VAs are well chosen, consistent, and match the mood of the character quite well. I'm not a huge sound buff so I can't comment on this more than what I have already. The background music is nice, especially in complementing the jazzy bar mood of the Quindecim.
CHARACTER: 7
Again, judging the characters in this anime follow a similar pattern to what is described in the story. For episodes 1-8, there isn't much that was truly intriguing, and most of the supporting cast was rather predictable. The two main characters, Decim and the Black-haired woman also are predictable in what they do. There is some character development, but it is minimal. However, I won't doc too many points in this section since I feel like this lack of development is characteristic and situationally correct. Moving into episodes 9-12 I started to enjoy the characters more. Many of the characters provided development as well as emotional scenes, which although are rather trite, are still emotional and good at making you feel something. So overall, better than the story, but only by one point or so. 7
ENJOYMENT: 6
Once again, this is an amalgamation of episodes 1-8 and then 9-12. If I were to judge these separately I would give episodes 9-12 a solid 8, but I found it difficult to enjoy episodes 1-8 with their triteness. I think that the story is interesting but not intriguing enough for me to enjoy it fully, and so I couldn't rate my enjoyment of this anime at anything higher than a 6, maybe 6.5. Again, a lot of this does come from myself though, having already done some thinking about these more axiological, metaphysical, and epistemological questions. For someone who has not done much thinking towards that end, this anime could be more enjoyable and thought provoking, though in the end no more than a springboard into the watcher examining his/her own philosophical underpinnings.
OVERALL: 7
I liked the ending of the show even if I dislike how I got there. And so all things considered, I rate this anime as good, but not like amazing or anything. I think I would have enjoyed this more if episodes 1-8 were more action packed and paced more quickly, and maybe more time was spent instead building the world that the arbiters live in. Of course, I would have also enjoyed this more if I had watched this like maybe 6 or 7 years ago, before I had built a strong personal philosophical foundation. I like the ending a good bit, satisfies my OTP tastes while leaving the story open ended. Overall doing the math thing I always do, it would be something like 2 for story + 2 for art/sound+ 1 for character +1 for episodes 9-12 +1 for the ending itself = 7.
But honestly its more like 1 for episodes 1-8 + 6 for episodes 9-12 = 7 overall.
Peace.
