I'll be real here peeps: This show isn't a 10/10 ground breaking anime, but it really isn't trying to be.
At the same time it doesn't feel like waifu-bait shounen/isekai trash that's been churned out season after season with little differentiation from the rest, it sits somewhere in the middle of fun new stuff and comfort food.
It's a perfectly solid (as far as I know) original series with its own little thing going on.
Things that you should know before going in:
This show looks absolutely great. That's it, it's just well animated, as is to be expected with two industry powerhouses manning the guns here.
The show does NOT have an outstanding great story. (As of episode 4). You get a decent bit of world building and some backstory, but overall the general depth of the story feels similar to what Fireforce has to offer, just with a greatly condensed cast of characters (again, as of episode 4). There are some hints of an overarching mystery-esque plot going on, but overall so far it's been pretty much based around the main character with an "in medias res" start and a bunch of backstory afterwards.
The show's music is pretty good, but it should absolutely NOT be expected as a music anime. Music plays an important role, but as a musician I can definitely find myself seeing a lot of "popular appeal" rather than actual music knowledge going into this. You're not going to learn just about anything about playing a piano from this show, and also not find any proper in depth discussions about the nature of music - but it's a shounen-esque show, so I wouldn't expect that. The focus of this show is definitely the battles, and not the music - music just happens to be part of the power system of the world.
The main cast are going to make or break it for you probably in terms of enjoyment. I personally really enjoy the main cast, but I can see why people might not.
We have:
-the classic gloomy wannabe edgelord main character who is actually a decent guy but just way too much of a teenager
- the bigger sister who's always looking out for the main characters, the voice of reason, and also ignored by our two lead teenagers
- and the living weapon that's just an absolute moron. Not incompetent in battle, just really really dumb or uncaring of anything out of the mission. Kinda like Arthur from Fireforce to draw the parallel once more.
- Bonus: The slightly gay mentor character who is an absolute delight whenever he is on screen. Seriously my favourite character so far, and I hope he shows up more over the runtime of the show.
Bonus points that the show gets from me: As of episode 4 we have straight up no fanservice in terms of borderline ecchi shit. There is a somewhat romantic subplot going on (maybe?), but for what its worth, this show about a gaccha game does NOT include any incredibly obvious boob shots for the sake of booba on screen. Really appreciate a show not going overly ham with that straight off the bat. That being said, we got a hint at a femme fatale character in the OP of the show, so that's probably going to change at some point later in the show.
Overall a show I'd recommend to anyone who feels a lack of Shounen this season, and doesn't have too high of an expectation when it comes to depth of the show.
