Because this season is primarily dialogue, we have very few action scenes. The couple that we do get is the conclusion to Fortress vs Fortress fight in episode one, and the opening battle of Operation Ragnarok between Iserlohn Fortress and Reuenthal's fleet. Both fight scenes are amazing, which shows to go how far CG has come when it comes to space battles (same quality as Yamato 2199's fights).
Regardless of the minimal space fights, the art and animation still shine brightly. We get some (questionable) character designs, but the artwork is still fantastic nonetheless. The series benefits from the movie-level quality of animation, and I pray that I.G. continues adapting the series, as next season will deliver on the best the series has to offer. Everything will pay off in the following 12 episodes next season.
Having read the novels and seen the OVA (like most of us here, presumably), the story and characters are obviously a 10/10. I have nothing else to say about that.
Overall enjoyment of this season: 9/10.
