The biggest flaw is that I watch aviation anime for one reason.... the pilots. I think pilots are one of the coolest types of characters there are for an anime. Gundam and mecha pilots are super awesome, but I LOVE seeing actual plane pilots do their thing especially because of the pilot x plane relationship and watching them both work together to overcome obstacles... its AMAZING. I also love their passion for planes and flying... I love that kind of stuff.
Kotobuki does not have this whatsoever. Thats the biggest flaw...
The second biggest flaw is that there are 6 main characters, all pilots.... and only one, Reona, really acts like a pilot. Zara had some great moments as well and both of them deserved WAY more screentime. And dont get me wrong, the other characters are fine. They just arent pilots, especially Chika and Kylie. If you watch pilots you know what I mean. If they just had other roles on the airship and let Reona and Zara be the only two pilots, that woulda improved the story 20x. This anime wasnt specifically CGDCT but it definitely had some of the themes, but the serious style of art and story was the main focus.
The third flaw was the inconsistant anination. The guys look and move normal, but the girls look like 3d vtube models for some reason and the contrast of these characters really stands out on screen. Normally this isnt something that bugs me a lot, but it definitely didnt help an already failing anime.
As for the pros, the plane scenes are AMAZING. Its obvious the studio had a lot of knowledge on WWII planes and it clearly shows in the battles. Sometimes they even show pilot pov which is SUPER cool. If they had studied pilots as much as the planes, this anime coulda been AWESOME!!!! The planes and the fight scenes are definitely the strong point of the anime. Additionally, the anime got a LOT better in the second half (which is good because the first half made me drop it, but then I picked it back up). It still has all the flaws I mentioned earlier, but the story plot got a lot more decisive instead of just random air pirate battles each episode/episodic format, and the battles got better, and the stakes got higher. The last battle was fantastic as well. I think if someone is a WWII plane enthusiast they would probably love this anime, whereas I am more of a pilot enthusiast.
But even with all that, it went up from 5.2/10 to 6.2/10.
Quick Breakdown
Story: 7/10, it gets better in the second half
Characters: 4/10, Reona and Zara were great, Emma and Kate were ok, Kylie and Chika were fine but should not have been pilot characters
Sound: 8/10, it was pretty nice
Visuals: 6/10, a little inconsistant and not very pretty but epic animation on the planes is awesome
