Starting positively, there's definitely an artistic flair to this show. The direction is weird, but weird is not always bad, and I always do appreciate a show that attempts to put itself forward in a slightly different way to others. The visual style is also very unique, clearly harkening back to traditional Japanese paintings, and because of that the whole world, the backgrounds and the settings, do look pretty phenomenal. I also found the final three-episode arc to be particularly interesting, a fun mystery in the vein of 'An Inspector Calls' or the work of Agatha Christie.
Unfortunately, I've somewhat run out of positives. Outside of that final arc, I found myself struggling to find any reason to care about anything that happened in this show. The rest of the stories sort of went in one ear and out the other, with my eyes somewhat glazing over everything. They are certainly not character-driven stories, and while that's fine for some, it kind of stopped me from connecting with any of it. It probably didn't help that the pacing is super slow; I'd say every one of the storylines could have taken at least one episode less than they did. There just isn't enough substance in most of them for three episodes.
It isn't just the plotting that's the problem though. Visually, it's also got its issues. While I was being honest saying that the backgrounds and set designs are very pretty to look at, they're spoiled somewhat by some of the most hideous and unappealing character designs I've ever seen, with few exceptions (although the protagonist is thankfully one of those). I also feel like the style is somewhat deceptive; it's easy to come out of it feeling like it at least LOOKED really nice, but the truth is the animation is pretty rough at lot of the time. It's definitely got its moments, don't get me wrong, but it's nothing even remotely special.
In a weird way, this sort of reminded me of 'Monogatari Series'; it's got its weird dialogue pacing, its supernatural aspects, its avant garde stylings. But what it doesn't have, and what I feel hurts it the most for me, is vaguely interesting characters. Everyone involved in all of these stories is just kind of boring. Certainly the medicine seller has more or less no depth at all. It's probably a big part of why I found it all so difficult to invest in.
I watched this with other people. Many of them enjoyed it. I can absolutely see why someone with slightly different tastes to me would. But I can only say for me, and for me, this show just sort of did nothing.
