Story - 8/10
There's a good story here that blends family drama, a fish out of water protagonist, his joining the Exorcism Division and making friends, the beginnings of coming of age, solving mysteries with some difficulty and getting embroiled in Imperial Politics plus all the pain in the ass crap that entails. There are comedy bits that work really well once I got used to the stylistic artistic choices made by the team.
Character - 7/10
The characters are not the usual archetypes and we don't know everything about them (yet) so there's plenty yet to be discovered in subsequent seasons. The author does a good job of developing a rich world with some hints to the magic system and each character has something that sets them apart, plus all of them are super attractive so this probably falls in the bishounen category of show that I enjoy watching. As of the end of Season 1, I find the paint brush wielder to be the most fascinating one.
Art - 8/10.
The CGI is actually detailed and good, with the high resolution version it actually stalls on streaming because of the amount of processing power needed to render things beautifully. The battle scenes insanely beautiful. There is one part in the last episode that did something different that I've never seen before, it is one of the 2 special things that elevated this show to a 8/10 rating overall, and that is the paintbrush guy's contribution to the bathing pool fight. My mouth dropped open in a "wow, they did that ... and it looks great!" when it was playing. Moments like this are what make me love anime.
Sound 10/10
I would be hard pressed to find this level of sound quality in many anime. The OP and EDs are wonderful. The battle and ambient sound effects are accurate. What sets this anime apart is a Shamisen Duel in Episode 10 that is just phenomenal to watch and listen to. I may have replayed it several times because of how impressive it was as a spectacle. While the lady had a good singing voice, the male singer's voice is so next level that if he is a real singer, I would purchase tickets to hear him sing live. It made me an instant fan. That's impressive. This sequence was the second standout sequence in what would have otherwise been a 6 or 7/10 series.
Enjoyment - 9/10
I had a great time watching this and will be starting Season 2 shortly!
Overall - 8/10
The unexpectedly funny comedy and a good story make this a series worth watching if you're a fan of bishounen (handsome, handsome men everywhere doing awesome stuff). The 2 things that set this apart from other anime in a "new and different" way are the standout Shamisen Duel and the Paint Brush guy's final fight. Both make this memorable, and it ended up being much, much better than what I initially expected.
