a) write my first review of a series of anime I enjoy the least
b) continue torturing myself for 7 dreadful episodes before finally called it quits
My way of scoring a series is a bit different from MAL's rating scales. But anyways...
1. Story and direction - weak. The background story is not being properly introduced (or rather not being introduced at all to the audience). We had to make assumptions. Poor directions - not knowing where this is going and this is the bad kind of "not-knowing" and the worse kind of "lost". Overused storyline left a bad taste in the mouth like the leftovers from 2 days ago (i.e. the girl is going to school and singing to herself about how good the weather is, then saw a dog-like creature, contemplating whether to touch / pat its head or not while realizing she's already late for school, decided not to and dashes to the school, girigiri safe as the teacher is about to check the attendance. Repeat for at least 3 episodes). Score = 2 [Worse, could not be tolerated, too late to be corrected].
2. Animation - not that bad, but very generic CLAMP animation's characteristics. Censorship or not, it could not save this series. Very dull colors but at least it is not as pathetic as Togainu no Chi's overall quality of animation. TogaChi is on its own level of dreadfulness and eye cancer to the max, but that's another story. Score = 5 [Average, not too bad but not remarkably done either].
3. Characters - very poor. Also, generic CLAMP characters that could be found in most of their work. Characters with really long legs, megane, twins, insufferably kind people, twin tailed girls, silent male characters, recycle characters from other CLAMP works (hello, Watanuki.. so you're a dog now, huh?), basically useless characters that made us wonder what is the purpose of these characters and whether they would do this series any good by appearing in it. I couldn't find myself to like any of these characters and at some point, I was glad that they died. I do not feel any connection to any of the characters. Score = 1 [Worst, but still get a point for trying].
4. Voice acting - poor. Mizuki Nana should focus on singing. Fujiwara Keiji should not focus to voicing father/dad characters and should voice badass characters like Ali Al-Saachez (god I hate him in this but he's done a good job to make me hate the character), Ladd Russo (so badass I think Shizuo is the Ikebukuro version of Ladd Russo), Maes Hughes (so he's a father but also a badass soldier and confidant) and Sonchou (who'd resist a kappa?). Other voice actors done a fairly average, to forgettable acting. Score = 2 [Worse, could not be tolerated, too late to be corrected, a disappointment].
5. Sound (OP / ED / BGM) - below average. Forgettable OP, generic Nana ED, pretty cool BGM at times, oh wait, only one theme sounds cool. Failed to remember others. Score = 3 [Below average, does not leave any impression, passable].
Total score = Story/direction (2) + Animation (5) + Characters (1) + Voice acting (2) + Sound (3) = 13
--> Overall rating: 13/5 = 2.6 (rounded to 3 because I'm trying reduce the amount of my pessimism).
