I am a sucker for "dark" Mahou Shojo shows and while the story had potential it felt severely lacking. The pacing was alright (it is a slow burner but the reason is understandable), the way the story is told is alright but some things felt forced and while the mystery was keeping me from dropping the series, the reveal was disappointing. I think there is not enough information presented to give certain things substance and value; I felt as if they happened for the sake of happening.
Minor side note: there were a bunch of really uncalled-for panty shots and I wouldn't mind if the context was that of an ecchi, but ... like ... they are just 14-year-olds running, why feel the need to use that angle?
Art: 5/10
It served its purpose, but that's about it, there were very few scenes that stood out to me visually. The Djinns and the different transformation outfits were kinda nice though, more in the sense that I was wondering what the next would be like.
Sound: 4/10
Not bad but forgettable (both the OST and the VA).
Characters 4/10
This is tricky. At first, I didn't like the characters, I felt as if I had seen the main girl cast a thousand times in different shows and I just couldn't care enough for them. But by the end I kinda liked them? They compliment each other and you get some glimpses of the worries and struggles of ALMOST* everybody important throughout the show and there are some moments with nice dynamics and I like that these are kinda subtle but they can be a bit too subtle. The protagonist, Ichika, did have her development, but although her whole premise is nice, it didn't really reach out to me. My biggest complaint is the antagonist, I don't know if I missed something, but as a character, it felt extremely flat, just served the purpose and that's it.
*some characters that appear in one episode are given much more background than characters present in all (or almost all, can't remember) episodes ...
Enjoyment 3/10
I watched the show at x2 speed after some point and still felt like I'm wasting my time. There were some brief moments I liked, some others felt so ridiculous, some others just bland. Overall quite forgettable, highly doubt I'm gonna revisit it.
Overall 4/10
I can see why some people like it, but to me, it felt painfully mediocre and not as well-executed as it could be. If you're looking for dark Mahou Shojo there are much better alternatives.
