I knew that it got really popular but that wasn't enough to get me interested. I started seeing gifs and thought "Oh a cool comedy series" but I don't normally like straight comedy series, I like involved storylines. And surprise surprise, this isn't just a comedy, it's got a pretty good story to go along with it, with an action comedy sort of thing.
I saw Trash Taste talking about it and how it was masterfully cast and does the manga justice and even that it engulfed the entire top MAL anime list for a time. All I can really say is that I understand the people who don't want to buy into the hype but I was pleasantly surprised and enthralled by what I got so hear me out, give it a shot.
The characters are great, they all got their own layering. At first I wasn't too sure about the supernatural elements they introduced with Anya but seeing them put into play, I can understand and makes it seem like a better anime because of it.
I don't really want to spoil anything about the story or arcs but I will say a few things about the characters.
I expected the dynamic between Yor and Loid to be a sort of "rivalry" similar to Love is War, since one is an assassin and one is a spy and then Anya would be the comic relief to break the seriousness but that's not the case. Yor is actually pretty laid back, she's only super serious when she's in assassin mode and I think really that was the best decision because she isn't as cold for the sake of being cold, she's more like a happy go lucky kind of cold almost like she doesn't know any better. That ends up easing some of the tension on Loid because he too is learning how to be a father, just in a different way.
All three help each other in some way, I do however feel that while we get moments focused solely on each character, Loid is the "main", it feels like everything that is done is for his cause. That isn't to say that the other characters are any less, it just seems to lean a little more in one direction than another. What is Yor's goal? What is Anya's goal? It's all to help Loid and find love at the end and they have great chemistry but maybe needs a little more to make its other characters bloom on their own.
My main complaint is that they sometimes get sidetracked, so the goal will be about Anya's school and then we're introduced to Yor's brother which I'm fine with but the problem is that we're constantly getting reminded of the goal "Ah yes, that's right! Anya needs to get stars in order to join the elite." even in the last episode to which I ask, who is watching the last episode that doesn't know what's going on? It just gets annoying and I know this isn't the only anime guilty of it by a long shot but I just don't see the constant need to remind in this day and age when it's only the first season.
So, what I decided to do was to wait until the second part to post my thoughts and boy was it fast tracked to come out, Anya was becoming what Baby Yoda is to Disney, even more reason to quality check. And to top it off, they doubled down by introducing a dog in the first episode. As gimmicky as it sounds, I still found it quite wholesome.
The popularity has obviously died down with it not even piercing the top 50 anymore and nobody seems to be talking about it. Had they actually waited and gave fans something to think about and look forward to, a nice detachment to remember what it was like without it, then I think it might've done better. It also doesn't help that so many other anime have gotten almost just as popular since then from Chainsaw Man to Attack on Titan's return to Bleach's return, not that those are really a comparison in terms of genre but it just goes to show what sort of phase anime is going through.
My favorite moments are from part 1 but part 2 is still of good quality, there are a lot of great jokes and moments and story progressions that I think are worth seeing.
