Story: 10, easily.
It was unique enough to keep me interested the entire way through, and it has a quick pace to it, which I found quite refreshing. As others have mentioned, the first few episodes can be a bit of a drag as the characters are introduced one by one and we settle down into the main action, which essentially progresses through multiple arcs. What really got me was the later half of the series, as all the characters have progressed and been revealed, giving them a lot more depth. It was much better than finding out everything there is to know about a character right at the beginning of the series and not having anywhere to go from there (bleach would be a good example of that)
If you're tired of slow shounens or ecchie's with little or no story holding them together, I'd definitely recommend this anime.
Art: Only an 8, for me.
Watching it in decent quality, 480 or 720p for me, I picked up on a lot of drawing errors than when I initially watched it by streaming. Up close, or from a direct view, the characters look fine, and actually quite good. But when drawn from a different angle, or in the background, they seem slightly misshaped and distorted, especially during the beginning of the anime. Later on into the series the drawing picks up, especially the character design, and they look absolutely fabulous, which is the only reason I gave this an 8 instead of a 7 or six for the initial mediocre art.
Ignoring the characters though, the art was great. Not perfect, but definitely above average. The color palette was picked nicely and suited the overall feel of the anime extremely well. Graphics exist to serve the aesthetics, and the overall aesthetics were definitely above average for me.
Sound: A nice large 9.
I'm going to break this into a few sections for clarification...
The opening and closing music in almost all the episodes were great, making this one of two animes I've watching which didn't make me want to skip the beginning songs, the second being Fairy Tail. There were never any songs that didn't feel like they fit with the anime's theme, they weren't completely memorable, but definitely good to listen to.
The background music was perfect, in every sense. A light almost funky feel for most of the non-serious stuff, and a deeper, but not "dramatic," music for fighting scenes and drama sections. Again, it fit the aesthetics of the anime quite well, and helped contribute to the structure and mood without being too in the way.
The character voicing was the only average part for me. Most characters were voiced well, however Lambo and Haru pained my ears to no end, especially the prior. None of them had especially remarkable or notable voices, you wouldn't be able to pick them out if you heard them by themselves, but you would definitely know who's talking if you knew it was from this anime only. Again though, Lambo having an annoying voice was the biggest downside on that one for me, especially since he is a major character
Characters: 9
The characters were all unique, and each had recognizable attitudes and interests that set them apart from each other, in fact, quite a bit of the anime is based on the attitude difference of each character, something you notice from the beginning, and lasts until the very end. Each character was easy to remember, visually different, and had a great overall design to go with them, from their clothes to their weapons and attitudes.
I should note here that the only thing stopping this from being a 10 is the annoyance of Lambo. As a character I found him very irritating, not just with his voice, but his actions and attitude as well. I do understand that he was meant to be seen as annoying, and is pointed out as such in many, many scenes, but that still means he is an annoying main character, and if you're not too fond of kids, will likely push your tolerance a tad as well. Especially considering the frequency with which Lambo is a part of the anime, being a main character in a very large fraction of the episodes at least once.
Enjoyment: 10~!
Despite a few flaws, the anime was extremely enjoyable and refreshing. It kept me hooked all the way through, and had that little gleam of "promise," even in the slow episodes that can be quite boring and easy to drop out on. It's definitely a growing anime, the more you watch the better it becomes, and the final arc will have you on the edge of your seat until you're too tired to stay conscious.
Overall, this is one of my favourite animes to date, not the best anime by any means, but it's definitely up there with other great shows. Watching between the lines was also quite rewarding, as you pick up little extra details, like Tsuna wearing a different pair of underwear every time his clothes rip. It's not that important, but hey, the small things still count.
Side note: it wasn't the focus of the anime, but it did seem to be slightly sexist, whether on accident or on purpose. Virtually every non-fighting female character is weak, extremely dependant and emotional, saying lines like "It's our job to clean and cook good meals for them, so they can fight at their best!" Even the female characters that do fight enjoy cleaning and cooking when they get the chance, and seem weaker in general compared to the male characters. Mind, it's not something that will detract from the anime, and it usually slides by without being noticed.
