Uta-Kata, as we may expect from its premise, is mostly episodic in nature. It's always a different story that has our main character use the power of Djinn to resolve a certain arising trouble. The problem is that the Djinn Trials in question... are executed without any substance and contribute very little to the plot. They are neither preceded with interesting drama buildups (or, in some cases, *any* buildups at all), nor actually feature any interesting aspects themselves. The circumstances surrounding them that lead Ichika into using a Djinn are low stake (in both physical and emotional sense) and forgettable. The theme of "using powers has consequences" is in fact almost absent. There is no real payoff for sticking to the show if you don't like it early "because it gets darker", it doesn't really. As for the mystery and its reveal, it is - ironically - paced much faster than most of this show and severely underwhelming.
Uta-Kata, in my opinion, will not generally meet the expectations of someone who would decide to watch it based on the recommendations section (Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica, Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Princess Tutu, Mai-HiME). As mentioned before, it leans more towards slice-of-life, there's far more laid-back character interactions about nothing and beach episodes than there is psychological content, dark twists, emotional drama and so on. Throwing in a scene of mysterious black haired lady watching Ichika and playing ominous music once per episode isn't really it, sorry.
