Part of it is the smaller details. There's a stiltedness to the dialogue and the general tone of conversations, which sounds like a criticism but in reality is the opposite; the stuffiness makes the show feel tonally akin to the writing of authors like Jane Austen, who I love. Absolutely, a queer-as-hell Austen-esque story is hitting the right beats for me.
It's story has definitely been on the simpler side; it hasn't pulled too much in the way of big twists, and while I think it would be entirely unfair to say that the show lacks tension, the stakes definitely feel small-scale. That isn't a bad thing, per se, it definitely works for the story, but it'll be interesting to see whether the rest of the show ramps this up at all.
The main downside is the animation; my feelings on mid-2000s animation are well-recorded at this point, and here it isn't helped by the fact that in the present day, with more advancement in digital animation, Studio Deen are hardly known for their high production values, so a show this much older has no chance of being anything more than practical and generally mediocre.
That said, the characters keep the show well and truly moving. With series composition by Reiko Yoshida (writer of my favourite movie of all time, and plenty of other work I really enjoyed), the characters feel authentic, likeable and complex. Yes, there's that stuffiness to most of the characters, but they're always clearly more than polite and poised. They've all got clear flaws, all got things they're clearly missing from their lives, and also all just a little bit weird in their own ways. It keeps a perfect balance between the high status they hold in the school and the reality that they're people with plenty of growing to do.
Overall, a great start to a series I wasn't entirely convinced by going in. Let's see if it can keep the momentum going into the rest of the show...
