The comedy is both unfunny and frequent -- the worst possible combination. There is a lot of comedy in this anime and my distaste for its flavour is probably a significant reason for my lack of enthusiasm for the show.
Fairly generic SoL characters. Character interaction, particularly for the MC with the rest of the cast, is one thing that the anime does an okay job of. Additionally, the antics of the kids in the show are kind of cute I guess. My favourite characters are Tamako, Miwa, and Naru. Otherwise, the rest of the cast is totally forgettable.
In terms of direction, the tone of the show is all over the place. I feel like I get whiplash sometimes by the way the mood of the show jumps around. Additionally, as I already said, the comedy is excessive and interferes with a lot of potentially emotional or sentimental moments.
Bland art style and unremarkable animation. The OST is similarly unremarkable although the OP and ED songs are okay.
The VA for the young girl character (Naru) does a good job, aside from this the voice acting is unremarkable. Actually, the MC has a deep and sexy voice but that's probably irrelevant to the anime's artistic value. I find the MC in this strangely attractive.
This anime doesn't really excel at anything and is basically just another mediocre comedy-heavy SoL show. It's watchable but I'm mystified by the praise it so commonly receives.
My overall rating for Barakamon: 5/10
For me, this was basically just a 'filler' show to scratch the SoL itch. I think I would have liked it more if it had less comedy and better characters.
I asked other people what they liked about this anime, and the most common aspects were the characters, the atmosphere, and the personal development of the MC as well as his interaction with the rest of the cast. Unfortunately, none of these things really ever clicked with me. I would say that the thing this anime does best is character interaction, but even in this regard it is still mediocre. If the manga provides richer characterization then I'd imagine it's better than the anime.
